Sad Scarlet-X... Let it begin

[Martin Weiss]

I would really like RED to succeed but all these anomalies make me really leery of buying a RED.

When I bought my first serious Sony about 10 years ago, I had quite some trouble. Difference was, there was no open support forum where I could ask about it.

Also remember, there are 2000+ cameras out there and really just a few isolated reports of problems. Problems do occur, but while RED might be far away for us non-US shooters, they are extremely responsive, and you don't have to sign up for some platinum coverage; it is all included.

Please, let's not blow this out of proportion.

 

[Jordy Wax]

We'll get you fixed up and back in action ASAP Jordy.
The number of troubled reports are so small considering the number of cameras in the wild, but we vow to stomp out any troubles as efficiently as possible...

Thanks, Sean. It's great to know RED is at it 24/7/365.

When I bought my first serious Sony about 10 years ago, I had quite some trouble. Difference was, there was no open support forum where I could ask about it.

Also remember, there are 2000+ cameras out there and really just a few isolated reports of problems. Problems do occur, but while RED might be far away for us non-US shooters, they are extremely responsive, and you don't have to sign up for some platinum coverage; it is all included.

Please, let's not blow this out of proportion.

Martin, I totally agree. There are way more cameras out in the wild working than there are broken. This is my first experience with RED support and I could not find anything online about the error I'm having. I'm simply logging my experience as a resource for others.

 

[Jordy Wax]

----UPDATE----

It's been 11 days since my Scarlet broke. Just received an email this morning (3/12/11), letting me know that a specific "component" necessary to repair my camera is back ordered, and the repair will take longer than the standard 3-5 days to fix it.

 

[BigLu]

Jordy where are you located?
If its any city near me I will everything I can to see if i can help you out.

I wont be doing anything too far beyond what everyone here is suggesting and everyone seems to really care this gets worked out, but sometimes going over firmware updates and re seating items and starting from scratch can help.

Best of luck
Luis

 

[Jordy Wax]

I really appreciate that, Luis. My camera has been at RED for 5 days, and they determined that a component is not working on it, and that component is back ordered. I'll be sure to keep everyone informed on what specifically is broken, and what steps were taken to fix it.

 

[Jordy Wax]

Just got a call from the RMA dept.They said they've located the component needed to fix my camera, and they should be able to have my camera in the mail by tomorrow evening. Fingers crossed!

 

[Adriaan Kirchner]

Sorry about your cam!

 

[ErnestoDeCarvalho]

Hi there, I'm in the middle of shooting a film in a remote area in Brazil and unfortunately we just had the very same problem as the original poster here (same error message while recording and glitch on the screen). It becomes impossible to shoot, and some clips shot before the problem actually occurs have some defects (drops) which is even scarier, considering it didn't give any warning). It seems completely random, and we haven't done anything strenuous with the camera, not in the least. We're desperate as we are amidst production.


I'm wondering: how did this turn out, Jordy? Did it really need a replacement of a component? And has any one else had experience with this problem? Can anyone suggest anything?


I contacted Technical Support and they're asking for the camera back for evaluation... It's a terrible situation, as we can't send it from here, and it pretty much stalls ours schedule, which involves several people. We've been trying to go forward with our Making-of camera (a 5DIII) but it's just not the same thing.... I'm trying to do whatever I can to see if I can circumvent the problem, so I did a force update, removed and reinstalled all the modules etc. As the problem is a bit random (the camera can run for a couple of minutes without it happening) I'm hoping I can find some way to get it at least to stabilize until the end of the film (we have another 10 days to go...). Currently testing it without the side-handle to see if there is any luck like this, but I'm not keeping my hopes up.


Up to this problem, during the first week of shooting, we were having a real blast with the camera. Even though we really made a financial effort to buy it with all the necessary accessories, I did not imagine how easy and practical it would be. Watching dailies in Redcine with a Macbook Pro is simply delightful. Heat has been quite easy to manage (nowhere near the Red One), it's not heavy, and with a good small setup (using Red parts, mostly), it is really useable as a doco camera... (And we are direct cinema people!). We're just really really sad this happened to us... But it hasn't affected my trust in Red, I know this is not even final firmware, and that the company is running against odds. It's just that we are in a very bad situation. I hope we can get some comprehensive assistance/explanation of this soon. Anyway, even though this is my first post (I've been visiting the forums for some time) I hope someone chimes in with some advice. All best!