HDMI connection causes Red One BT to crash

[Chris Pyle]

Has anyone experienced this? I have a Small HD DP4 as my EVF (powered by D-tap off the camera battery) and sometimes just bumping the connection (on the camera end) causes the camera to crash. No picture and the screen on the back of camera goes blank and I have to re-start. I know, I know....HDMI not recommended for professional use. A proper viewfinder is on the list. But for now, do I have a camera issue, or is this just a quirk of the HDMI connection? A whole bunch of Gaff tape solved the problem, but not a great long-term solution.

 

[Freya]

Chris, this sounds really bad.

You've mentioned before about your hdmi connection and almost implied it was loose in some way?
Is the actual connector in the camera loose and causing these problems?
I mean do you have these problems even when you connect the viewfinder without the right angle adapter?
Also check you don't have a bad HDMI cable. HDMI cables are cheap so it is definitely worth having 2.

If it is the actual camera connection I really, really advise you to discuss the problem with red.
The cameras come with a 3 month warranty and you shouldn't have received the camera with this problem.

The camera crashing implies something is shorting to my mind. This is really very bad. The HDMI is relatively safe compared to shorts in other connectors but all the same, you don't want anything shorting in your camera.

As I say, remove the right angle adaptor, check with another cable, if you narrow it down to the actual port on the camera, then you need to speak to the red people. The connector on the camera should not be loose.

Freya

 

[Chris Pyle]

Thanks Freya, The connector built into the camera is tight, it is just the cable and right angle connector that are a little loose. I will try other cables and without right angle as you suggested and see if it makes a difference. I was planning on contacting RED next week (before the warranty runs out...) I think you are right about something shorting. My assistant mentioned feeling a small shock when he touched it the other day.
Chris