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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 :)

Sound Devices PIX 240 ProRes/DNxHD Video Recorder with EPIC

Offline for Red One

Offline for Red One

Simon N said:
Same here, got a Red One and would like to know how functional this would be... waiting for Epic Stage 3 call, but if next job starts before delivery it would be great to offer this as an option to speed up post which was a major point for those in production that had used the Alexa on previous jobs -they see the easy option of no transcoding time, and time is money after all.



This is really only an offline option for Red One. Only Epic and Scarlet does a proper real time de Bayer. Red One SDI out has very noticeable aliasing. But as an offline option it should work just as well with all three cameras.
Click to expand...
 
Just to confirm we are currently investigating what it is in the EPIC's boot up sequence that is upsetting PIX so that we can come up with a fix. Its a bit of a strange one: - the many other camera models we've tested do not have this effect.
The workaround is simple as has already been mentioned:

Either:
- Connect EPIC SDI out to PIX after the EPIC has booted up
or
- Replug the SDI cable after the EPIC has booted

Paul Isaacs
Technical Development Manager
Sound Devices
 
Anyone have any glitches trying to view files recorded from the PIX240 on a Mac?

Just finished a project with a Scarlet/Pix combo and noticed my 1 year old 17' MBPro (Core i7/2.66GHZ/8GB Ram) had major problems dealing with files: having the drive mount to desktop took up to 30 seconds, opening any sub-folders brought up the "beachball" but was successful after waiting at least a minute, trying to quickview files in finder was impossible- nothing but glitchy playback, opening files directly in QTPro7 or QTPlayer X had same result, trying to copy files gave me an error prompt, unmounting the drive locked up my system. Made me very nervous to say the least on the confidence of the recording.

However, looked at the files on a 3 month old 27' iMac and same drive/same files worked fantastic! No problems at all, lighting fast mounting/playback. Everything looked/sounded as it should. Very impressed!

Then looked at the files on a 2nd 2 year old 24' iMac and same drive/same files worked good, but not great. System hung a little, but got through everything as normal. On dismounting/ejecting though, locked up my system.

All three Mac's were running Lion 10.7.2. Used FW800 on all Macs to view files.

Any ideas?? I thought it might be a Lion thing, but since all are running same OS/version, makes we wonder??

Alex
 
No problems here with mounting (albeit a tad slow), playing or unmounting on a MB Air under Lion.
 
Simon N said:
Same here, got a Red One and would like to know how functional this would be... waiting for Epic Stage 3 call, but if next job starts before delivery it would be great to offer this as an option to speed up post which was a major point for those in production that had used the Alexa on previous jobs -they see the easy option of no transcoding time, and time is money after all.

On another point, I understand the mov/mxf situation can be sorted with a quick import into the edit, however, standalone mxf would resolve all avid issues would it not?

I still think an on camera module would be the way to go.
Click to expand...
Just did a quick test with my redone. The camera triggers start stop just fine but the timecode doesn't match. You also do not get full screen. It could be useful for editing if you were willing to do a manual match back to the red files. Here's what you get recorded:
 

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Alexander Mitchell said:
Anyone have any glitches trying to view files recorded from the PIX240 on a Mac?

Just finished a project with a Scarlet/Pix combo and noticed my 1 year old 17' MBPro (Core i7/2.66GHZ/8GB Ram) had major problems dealing with files: having the drive mount to desktop took up to 30 seconds, opening any sub-folders brought up the "beachball" but was successful after waiting at least a minute, trying to quickview files in finder was impossible- nothing but glitchy playback, opening files directly in QTPro7 or QTPlayer X had same result, trying to copy files gave me an error prompt, unmounting the drive locked up my system. Made me very nervous to say the least on the confidence of the recording.

However, looked at the files on a 3 month old 27' iMac and same drive/same files worked fantastic! No problems at all, lighting fast mounting/playback. Everything looked/sounded as it should. Very impressed!

Then looked at the files on a 2nd 2 year old 24' iMac and same drive/same files worked good, but not great. System hung a little, but got through everything as normal. On dismounting/ejecting though, locked up my system.

All three Mac's were running Lion 10.7.2. Used FW800 on all Macs to view files.

Any ideas?? I thought it might be a Lion thing, but since all are running same OS/version, makes we wonder??

Alex
Click to expand...

Hi Alex
I think that this is probably due to the MAC Spotlight search engine scanning the entire PIX drive. This takes a lot of system resources and could affect mount / unmount /file copy time etc.
You can prevent Spotlight scanning the PIX drive, by simply following these steps:
- Mount your PIX drive caddy on the MAC. Allow the drive to fully mount i.e. wait for the caddy drive LED to stop showing disk activity - this may take several minutes since Spotlight is scanning all the data on the disk.
- Go to MAC's System Preferences, select Spotlight, then the Privacy tab.
- In the privacy tab, click on '+' at the bottom of the list window and then select the PIX drive, then click choose. The PIX drive should now be shown in the privacy list.
- Exit Spotlight prefs

Now you should be able to unmount, mount, play files without a problem.

Paul Isaacs
Technical Development Manager
Sound Devices
 
Last edited:
Shane Kelly said:
Just did a quick test with my redone. The camera triggers start stop just fine but the timecode doesn't match. You also do not get full screen. It could be useful for editing if you were willing to do a manual match back to the red files. Here's what you get recorded:
Click to expand...

Shane,

What time code mode was your PIX set for?

Make sure it is set for Ext TC (SDI,HDMI) when recording files in Red mode.
 
Paul,

Thanks for the quick reply. I will try your method on my next project- it will be EPIC/Pix240 next week. I'll report back on exactly what happens... I appreciate you taking the time to offer a solution! Look forward to it...

Alex
 
Is it possible to have an Epic/Scarlet file format that blows up the image in hardware enough to remove the black bars, would this not be a cleaner way of doing things?
 
FWIW, the Ki-pro mini appears to be a decent off board recorder for Epic and Red One... no idea on Scarlet yet...
BUT... no built in screen..
 
It's definitely worth it, in particular if you need better audio without the Pro I/O module or additional audio channels. We measured audio quality, and it's top notch – well, you may have expected it from this company.
 
I don't hear a lot about the Atomos Samurai as a recording device. It works great with the Epic. The recent firmware updates to help with record flags really make it a set it and forget it proposition.
 
David Kurvers said:
I don't hear a lot about the Atomos Samurai as a recording device. It works great with the Epic. The recent firmware updates to help with record flags really make it a set it and forget it proposition.
Click to expand...
Forgive me for being naïve . Epic requires an Atomos Samurai ?? Is RED still releasing beta cameras?[/U][/I]
 
M.Paul El-Darwish said:
Forgive me for being naïve . Epic requires an Atomos Samurai ?? Is RED still releasing beta cameras?[/U][/I]
Click to expand...

No, the Epic doesn't require a Samurai. The Epic even playback clips now. However, if one would like to start editing some Prores LT, Regular or HQ files with timecode reference then both the PIX and Samurai are handy options. It could save loads of time transcoding unnecessary footage. It's also a handy tool near an onset monitor. People can offload the playback from the camera assistant to the Samurai.
 
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