SDI not working!

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

I use my Scarlet primarily with my TVlogic 5.6" LCD through SDI. Today the SDI connection seemed a little finicky and was dropping out, and at some point the camera did a weird thing where the image had a big green box in it but the overlays still looked fine. I rebooted the camera figuring that usually works when the camera has given me graphical errors in the past, and now the SDI port on my Scarlet does not seem to work at all. This is a big problem, since Scarlet HDMI with the TVlogic takes 20 sec to detect Scarlet's HDMI output any time I change display modes, unplug BNC, reboot, etc. This is definitely a big problem since SDI output is quite critical and I doubt this is an inexpensive fix if it is a hardware issue. I tried wiggling the connector and I tried testing all my cables and my monitor and the cables and monitor clearly work since they instantaneously accept and display the signal from my FS700's SDI output. The SDI port on my Scarlet seems to be completely normal physically, no wiggle, no damage, and no visible issue with the center pin. The SDI port seems very robust and on my setup is fairly hidden and well protected by other hardware on my rig so it seems pretty unlikely there was much strain on the port. And SDI clearly worked last time the camera was being used. I did a hardware rediscover and switched firmwares and changed modes on the SDI output and none brought the image back up. What the heck is going on with my SDI? Any suggestions?

 

[Jack Shanahan]

Toggle the different outputs?

 

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

Yes I tried different firmwares and tried disabling/re-enabling the SDI output as well as changing resolution and frequency modes. There does not appear to be any signal at all because the TVlogic monitor doesn't even do anything when settings are changed, no "invalid mode" or anything, just no signal at all with any combination of settings.

 

[Kemalettin Sert]

You tried with different monitors?

 

[Quentin Devillers]

I get the same issue, I have to send my Scarlet back to RED workshops...
Unfortunately Happy to see I'm not the only one...

 

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

You tried with different monitors?

Well the monitor worked fine previously on the same firmwares and still works fine with other SDI sources. Also I tested the SDI output on my hyperdeck recorder and the Scarlet's SDI signal is not detected at all either. It seems quite clear this is an issue with the Scarlet and not with the monitor or the cables since they all currently work with other SDI sources. Something happened to the Scarlet's SDI and there was some odd graphical corruption briefly before the SDI stopped working as I mentioned, I just have no idea how or why it happened or how to fix it...

 

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

I get the same issue, I have to send my Scarlet back to RED workshops...
Unfortunately Happy to see I'm not the only one...

Ugh, I really don't want to send my camera back again, I already had to send it back for a $1600 power module repair (fortuantely covered by production insurance) since the camera isn't protected at all against reversed polarity power nor is it covered in warranty.

Glad to see someone else having the same issue so I'm not crazy, though I'm sorry you are having the issue... Can I ask what the repair is costing you? Sounds like you havent sent it in yet, but I'd be very interested to hear if they diagnose the cause of the issue so I can avoid it in the future, since I cannot see any good reason for it yet. This makes me a very wary of investing another $9500+tax in the same camera body even though I've already preordered the dragon upgrade. I'm tempted to just have them repair it when I send my camera in for the upgrade anyway, though it will be a real pain to go without SDI for so long since HDMI doesn't completely work properly with my TVlogic monitor either (long detection delay issue I mentioned).

It just seems a bit crazy that this is the second repair in about a year even though it's hardly worked 20 days in the 1.5 years I owned it, and I take extremely good care of it. Never had to send any of my many other cameras back for repairs, and I've used them all much more heavily...

If this is an issue others are having, I'd really like to hear from someone at RED about the issue regarding how to fix it, how to avoid it in the future, etc.

 

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

So first I thought my SDI wasn't broken because it works on my Hyperdeck Shuttle 2 and my TVlogic SDI broke so I didn't have anything else to test the SDI with. But I was just on a shoot where my HDMI somehow also broke and it turns out my SDI does not work with any monitors, only with the Hyperdeck for some reason, so I was mistaken in thinking it was working I guess. I had a chance to test the SDI with the very popular Panasonic 1710, and my newly repaired TVlogic 5.6, and it does not work with either of them even though it has in the past. For some reason it does work with the Blackmagic Hyperdeck Shuttle 2, which then has HDMI and SDI loop out signals that work with all monitors I've tested.

So now my HDMI doesnt work either. Tried 5 different known working monitors and many different cables. What the heck is going on. It was a real pain in the ass to show up to a shoot recently and find all of my monitor outputs were broken (I don't own a Touch LCD). We had to delay the first shot by 4 hours because of all the time we lost troubleshooting and then getting a completely different camera to shoot on... What a nightmare. And the day before the shoot I had tested the HDMI to be working with two HDMI monitors and the SDI to be working with my Hyperdeck so I thought all was well.

Of course I didn't find out until after the shoot was over and we had to shoot on a different camera that the Scarlet still worked if I put all monitor outputs through the Hyperdeck connected through SDI.

I really don't want to have to send in my camera especially if I'm going to have to again for the Dragon upgrade, but this is getting ridiculous.

I guess my only option now is to do a several thousand dollar repair or bolt my Hyperdeck 2 to the camera and always have to use it with the camera to get any monitor outputs.

What's worse is that my TVlogic SDI and Marshall HDMI monitors both broke while connected to the camera, so its possible the camera is malfunctioning and breaking monitors I connect to it. Or maybe the Scarlet broke the TVlogic SDI but the Marshall monitor broke the Scarlet's HDMI? Is that even possible? there is so little power going over these monitoring connections its hard to imagine one device is breaking another just by being plugged into it by SDI/HDMI. But it does seem odd that both my SDI and HDMI separately stopped working at the same moment a monitor stopped working.