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Epic SDI won't work on steadicam monitor

Adnan Siddiqui

Adnan Siddiqui

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We were shooting a music video on a steadicam and when the steadicam op. connected his monitor to the SDI on Epic, there was no picture. We tried restarting and even tested it on a studio monitor. It worked fine on studio monitor but no picture on the steadicam monitor.

Has anyone ran into this problem?
 
It's not on or his monitor does only have 50i or 25p standard. The epic outputs 25psf a newer standard that is not liked by a lot of 3rd party gear. Thats my guess...
another guess / workaround would be to run the camera in another project framerate, like 24p and see how the monitor takes it...

Not sure of the above, but it might be worth a test if nothing else work.

Another check is to see that you got signal out of your camera by connecting it to another SDI monitor..


Edit: reread your post so yes steady guys monitor is probably old and does not take the new signal... you could put a up down cross converter from BM in between to make it work.
 
Isn't Steadicam monitor composite signal input only?
 
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The HDMI and SDI are both enabled in the menu, we tried almost all variances. As it happens, someone with the Epic-M called me today to borrow my Epic cuz he ran into a similar problem, where the SDI won't work on a steadicam monitor. The HDMi works fine though. I'll try to updated the firmware again, but I just did that 2 weeks ago, so I'm not entirely sure if its a monitor problem or a firmware issue.
 
Björn Benckert said:
It's not on or his monitor does only have 50i or 25p standard. The epic outputs 25psf a newer standard that is not liked by a lot of 3rd party gear. Thats my guess...
another guess / workaround would be to run the camera in another project framerate, like 24p and see how the monitor takes it...

Not sure of the above, but it might be worth a test if nothing else work.

Another check is to see that you got signal out of your camera by connecting it to another SDI monitor..


Edit: reread your post so yes steady guys monitor is probably old and does not take the new signal... you could put a up down cross converter from BM in between to make it work.
Click to expand...
Is the HDMI 1080p24 (that I thought was indicated by the new 24 Hz setting in 3.2.13), really 1080pfs24?

Maybe that would explain why only one of my monitors reads 24 Hz (with some issues), while both read 60 Hz - and the Black Magic card won't read 24 Hz at all.

I hope I'm missing something basic and misunderstanding your post?
 
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HDMI monitors work fine. The problem is with the SDI monitor on the steadicam. I have to test it on another newer steadicam monitor to see if the problem persists.
 
You need to be more specific about the system. What sled, what monitor, does it work if you run straight into the monitor and bypass the sled? There could be a dozen issues. That's what prep days are for.

Nick
 
Trying changing the Epic's SDI output resolution between 1080p and 720p, and also change it's refresh rate between Auto, 29.97hz, 25hz, etc (reboot between each change)
9/10 this has fixed it for me when a monitor doesn't like what the Epic SDI feed.
 
OPERATIONAL NOTES SPECIFIC TO BUILD V3.2.16:

HD-SDI is True Progressive and does not support 1080i or 1080 PsF signal formats.
 
Noted, guys. i'll get more specific details for future, but the steadicam Op was hired for a one-day shoot and at the time, I didn't know what the problem was. The Epic's SDI was test via a studio monitor before bringing it on location. The information provided here is definitely useful and for future shoots with steadicams, I'll use the info provided here to diagnose any possible issues. Thanks
 
Had he ever put an HD signal through his Steadicam? Certain Steadicam's only have composite throughput - and the Zephyr for example has the HD-SDI on the front of the top stage, and composite on the rear of the top stage.

Might not have anything to do with the monitor...
 
I agree. Prep is crucial. And older steadicam aren't HDSDI ready & I learned the hard way when red one was out and showed on set believing my Tiffen Ultra Cine would handle it and it didn't so I ended up using the red monitor noga armed out. I now must to prep with any new camera I fly on my rig. It is possible the rig wasn't HD ready and and a downconverter was needed.

Were you getting a signal on the set monitor via SDI?
 
On a side note, If you hire a steadicam op, and I mean an actual steadicam op, not some guy with a steadicam, there shouldn't be anything that you can throw at him that he can't handle. That's why it costs 2 grand a day. Because you have back up systems for everything, and all of the gadgets and widgets to make anything work.

Nick
 
Jean Bernard said:
I agree. Prep is crucial. And older steadicam aren't HDSDI ready & I learned the hard way when red one was out and showed on set believing my Tiffen Ultra Cine would handle it and it didn't so I ended up using the red monitor noga armed out. I now must to prep with any new camera I fly on my rig. It is possible the rig wasn't HD ready and and a downconverter was needed.

Were you getting a signal on the set monitor via SDI?
Click to expand...

No Steadicams are HDMI ready - the cable type is not sled-post friendly (it won't fit - too thick). Alll Steadicams are threaded with SDI cable, which can be used for either SD or HD signals. Most ops use a a Decimator as the best SD monitors are actually better for framing.
 
Steadicam op here. Had the same problem. I got new hd sdi cables, 75 ohm, for the top and bottom of my sled. Worked fine after that.
 
Nick Gardner said:
On a side note, If you hire a steadicam op, and I mean an actual steadicam op, not some guy with a steadicam, there shouldn't be anything that you can throw at him that he can't handle. That's why it costs 2 grand a day. Because you have back up systems for everything, and all of the gadgets and widgets to make anything work.

Nick
Click to expand...

Mostly true, but the epic has caused a lot of headaches for steadicam ops. Unlike any other camera, including the Red One, there's something going on with the signal that is tough to replicate for the purpose of troubleshooting. There are severe strobing/ghosting issues, and sometimes no image at all. And I've spoken to many ops about this, including the $3K/day guys, and they still have problems. Best solution is prep, but as we all know, you never know what will happen with a red come shoot day. I don't think it's fair to blame steadicam ops, regardless of rate, for monitor issues when tons of people are having the problem, all with different brands of monitors.

Rob Ruffo said:
Most ops use a a Decimator as the best SD monitors are actually better for framing.
Click to expand...

This used to be true, but most guys are switching to HD now. Transvideo and Cinetronic monitors are the top choices. Problem with SD now is having downconverters fail, especially the decimators, so by going HD you're taking one less variable out of the equation. I have two AJA downconverters, which are great, but generally only use them for the SD transmission, as well as with Epic since the HD signal only works about 50% of the time.
 
Did a shoot with my Epic on a steadycam rig a few weeks ago and we got this adapter, that reconverted the signal from the Epic to the steadycam (SD) monitor. I managed to get an image once, but after a reboot I never managed to get it working again, so we had to deal without that monitor.
 
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