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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Sonnet Echo Express III R

Just got off the phone with Sonnet today and they've addressed the Rocket power issue with a revised riser board. That is in all currently shipping units. After hearing the news I bought a unit today which included Thunderbolt 2 and the new riser card. Installed Rocket and every appears to be working great. Only footage I had around was 5kws 3:1 and I was getting 21FPS transcodes to ProresHQ.

Two notes:

1) Does NOT appear to be hot unplugable.. Is this normal? After the rocket is recognized by the system, either by booting with it attached or plugging the box in after the systm is already up, if I pulled the thunderbolt cable.. Obviously when not accessing the rocket, and with redcinex closed. The system will crash.

2) The latest version of RCX 22.2 causes render speeds to drop to like 7FPS vs 21FPS (testing with 5Kws 3:1) so there's an issue there..

Works excellent with RCX ver 22.1

Joe
 
Joe - any before/after performance improvements with TB2 vs 1? Also, are you having to send your whole unit in for the riser and TB2 upgrade or is it a user install deal?
 
My unit came with both the updated riser and thunderbolt 2 cards installed. My laptop is only thunderbolt 1. It would definitely be interesting to see if thunderbolt 2 made a difference. New Macbook Pros are thunderbolt 2, but I'm yet to invest in one as I rarely work from a laptop, which is why I'm still on my 2011 MBP. Im prolly gonna finally upgrade on the next MPB update.. Based on past timelines gonna be Feb - July of this year..

Guess I should have listed.. Specs for 21FPS
17" Early 2011 MBP 16GB Ram, 2.2GHZ Quad Core i7, OSX 10.8.5, Epic 5KWS 3:1 source

I would expect both upgrades are user installable. You'd need to contact Sonnet and see how they want to handle it. I know for sure that they'd advertised the TB2 as easily user installable.

Joe
 
I bought a Sonnet in Dec. getting the TB2 upgrade this week, I wonder if the riser board is the right one? Will I have issues with RRX?

i have the Sonnet Echo Express SE II
 
Mark Andersen said:
I bought a Sonnet in Dec. getting the TB2 upgrade this week, I wonder if the riser board is the right one? Will I have issues with RRX?

i have the Sonnet Echo Express SE II
Click to expand...

I cannot comment on Echo Express SE II or anything other than Sonnet Echo Express III-d. The riser I'm referring to is for the III-d

I dont think either Rocket card will fit you your II SE.
 
the mlink box for the original rocket is hot-pluggable....red tech support did not believe me but it is:)....and it is half the size of the sonnet....
will try the TB2 sonnet though and compare speed...
 
The red rocket is thunderbolt compliant, it will connect during bootup, but it's not completely thunderbolt compatible as a plug and play device (sometimes it does work, but usually it is not hot pluggable). One other trick to get the Red Rocket to work in a Sonnet thunderbolt case is to add a second card, don't know why it works but sometimes it does.
 
Spoke with Sonnet and both the new Riser and TB2 boards are user swappable. Just fill out the form here and they'll mail the TB2 upgrade:
https://secure2.sonnettech.com/thunderbolt2upgrade/store/validate.php

For the riser you need to email them for an RMA. They'll charge a $200 core charge until old boards are returned.

As a side note, does anyone know where the Serial number is located? I grabbed mine from BH and it was botched up with their stickers. I think I'm criss crossing serials with their UPC stuff.
 
ok...this works for me...
shut everything down, unplug the sonnet (both power and TB), plug in the sonnet power only, start you mac, once you hear the chime (and see the apple) plug in the TB (make sure it is connected to the mac)...log in, the card and box should show up and work properly....i find it is quite a bit faster in the middle slot....waiting for my TB2 upgrade but i am getting almost (just a little slow to start) full 5K 24fps over TB1 right now.....
 
Paul - the NEW riser has R42 removed. So on mine (old/outdated) I have R100 missing and R42 present. Hope that makes sense.
 
Paul,

Trying to follow the thread. For context, I ordered my chassis directly from Sonnet (rack version) and it should be here this week...am I correct in assuming that your workflow- unplugging the thunderbolt, powering up, replugging the thunderbolt, etc...is based on the fact that you have an early version of the express III-r?...in other words, my question is will I have to do the same to get my rocket to work? I ordered mine directly from Sonnet so that it would have the new riser and TB2 already installed, vs. through a third party which might have had earlier versions of their stock in inventory.

Again, really appreciate your help...reading everyones replies, was still a little confused...
 
Rome Will said:
Paul,

Trying to follow the thread. For context, I ordered my chassis directly from Sonnet (rack version) and it should be here this week...am I correct in assuming that your workflow- unplugging the thunderbolt, powering up, replugging the thunderbolt, etc...is based on the fact that you have an early version of the express III-r?...in other words, my question is will I have to do the same to get my rocket to work? I ordered mine directly from Sonnet so that it would have the new riser and TB2 already installed, vs. through a third party which might have had earlier versions of their stock in inventory.

Again, really appreciate your help...reading everyones replies, was still a little confused...
Click to expand...
i have the TB1 version with the old riser...waiting for both TB2 board and new riser right now.....the workaround (which really isn't bad) should really only apply to the "old" TB1 version...i seriously doubt sonnet would ship an upgraded version with issues...but then, i guess they shipped the first version:)...
hope that helps
 
It does Paul...thx for the quick reply...MUCH APPRECIATED! Have a great rest of your Sunday.
 
so now i have the TB2 installed in the echo express III D and now it really does not work at all....the little plug-in late trick does not work anymore either....will hopefully get the new riser board tomorrow and that will hopefully fix it...
 
Thanks for updates Paul. Still waiting for Sonnet to get back to me on my serial info so that I can process this RMA and upgrade. BH botched my shipping box with stickers and I can't retrieve my unit's info.
 
Jason Osterday said:
Thanks for updates Paul. Still waiting for Sonnet to get back to me on my serial info so that I can process this RMA and upgrade. BH botched my shipping box with stickers and I can't retrieve my unit's info.
Click to expand...
serial number is on the box and also on the bottom of the unit...
 
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