Komodo and Audio over SDI

[Alex Lubensky]

Hello there, I was shooting a TVC commercial recently on Komodo, and was stuck with audio not feeding through SDI. The setup was exactly this one - the sound guy was sending a summ to the 3.5mm port on Komodo, Audio levels and everything was fine on Komodo itself, but the playback village wasn't getting any sound sent over SDI through the Teradek Bolt 1000XT while recording. They did recieve the audio if it was in playback mode, but no audio when it was in record mode.

Did someone happen to see the same issue? The camera was on firmware 1.5.1, it was a rental one.

Komodo setting were:
- 6k HD R3D
- audio set to external
- audio levels set to +10, actual levels where somewhere in between -6 to -12
- SDI was set to 1080p 25hz

 

[Thomas Buchan]

I get issues sometimes where the audio is set to external and I won't get any levels. A restart gets it going again.

 

[Tom Rothrock]

I am on firmware 1.5.3.
I have audio from an external source run into the Komodo's 3.5" audio input jack.
I can confirm from the level meters on the top screen that the Komodo is receiving this audio.
I can confirm via the RED Control app on my phone that the Komodo is receiving this audio.
I can confirm via plugging headphones into the 3.5" headphone out that the Komodo is receiving this audio.

1. Audio Source = External -> no audio on SDI
2. Audio Source = Internal Microphone -> internal microphone audio on SDI
3. Audio Source = Internal and External -> only internal microphone audio on SDI
4. Audio Source = None -> no audio on SDI

I have tried restarting, and still no joy.

 

[Tom Rothrock]

Ok. After a night of research I think I've found what's going on. The metadata on the SDI stream indicates four audio channels present at all times. It is my assumption now that channels 1-2 are always the internal mic and channels 3-4 are always the external input; they only actively send audio when the associated input is unmuted. I don't know if this is a software or hardware limitation. All the hardware I am currently using wants to deal with only the first two audio channels, so this is a frustrating complication.

 

[David Quintana]

Ok. After a night of research I think I've found what's going on. The metadata on the SDI stream indicates four audio channels present at all times. It is my assumption now that channels 1-2 are always the internal mic and channels 3-4 are always the external input; they only actively send audio when the associated input is unmuted. I don't know if this is a software or hardware limitation. All the hardware I am currently using wants to deal with only the first two audio channels, so this is a frustrating complication.

I have come across this same issue and I agree that it is because channel 1 & 2 are set to internal. If we could get an update to move external mic to channels 1 & 2 I think this would solve the issue.

I stream very often and luckily I don't use camera audio often but I had a small shoot this past weekend that forced me to add more steps to something that should have been very simple because of this issue.

I will be trouble shooting this weekend on a solution.

 

[Dmitry Litvinov]

I had same issue at the last shooting, so one solution I found - connect Komodo's headphones output with "stereo in" on my video transmitter. Not the right and convenient solution, but at least it works(

 

[Clovis Libert]

I had same issue at the last shooting, so one solution I found - connect Komodo's headphones output with "stereo in" on my video transmitter. Not the right and convenient solution, but at least it works(

same here, for live stream i t alway been good enough for me.
but i have a sound guy we always find another solution where the sound doesnt need to pass by the camera.

 

[Tom Rothrock]

I have just updated to beta firmware 1.5.4 to see if it fixes the problem, and still no joy.

I attached a SmallHD Cine7 and using the audio meters on it I have determined:
1. Audio input set to NONE = no audio on any SDI channels
2. Audio input set to INTERNAL = internal mic audio present on channels 1+2, no audio on channels 3+4
3. Audio input set to EXTERNAL = no audio on any SDI channels
4. Audio input set to INTERNAL+EXTERNAL = internal mic audio present on channels 1+2, external audio present on channels 3+4

What troubles me is #3; there should at least be the external audio present, even if it's only on channels 3+4.

There are devices like the AJA 12G-AMA ($1000) that can remap the SDI audio channels, but that's also complicating the fragile SDI situation and is yet another thing to need to power and carry (and troubleshoot).

 

[Tom Rothrock]

Ok, the 12G arrived yesterday and after playing with the audio channel remapping I have to correct my diagnosis. It seems the Cine7 doesn't like no audio on channels 1+2. When input is set to EXTERNAL-only, the external audio does transmit on channels 3+4. The Cine7 just doesn't show it.
It's annoying having to add a device into the chain, but at least I can work around the problem.

 

[Corey Allen]

Would be really nice to be able to remap the channels internally. I ran into this problem today trying to run my Komodo with an external mic into OBS and spent nearly two hours troubleshooting my connections and software before finding this thread