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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 :)

TIME AND DATE ISSUE...really?

Is anyone having this issue with a Weapon 8K shipped in the last 60 days?
 
No real news or solutions to add, but just as another data point - after a few weeks of daily multi-hour AC-powered use (actual amount of hours unknown), the date and time held after about 8-9 days of total non-use. Before the daily AC-powered use, the date and time wouldn't hold overnight.

Would be good to know exactly how long the camera can be left without AC powering before the internal battery can't hold the date and time, but I guess it's something I'd have to test for myself, with, I assume, the charging and depleting times varying from battery to battery (and maybe even varying with temperature and amount of charging/depleting cycles the battery has done).
 
Well, just saw this thread and thought I better check my cameras as they have been sitting powered down for a while now as I have been derailed with some other priorities lately and RAVEN was back to 1/1/2010 and also same issue with EPIC-W. Have them on AC power now seeing if the battery will recharge and hold or if it is a lost cause. I am also a musician and have some old synths (90's) which if not powered up in a month or two can have the battery go low or die which will corrupt memory, then I have to reload patches, which is a huge pain, leave them powered up for a few hrs and all is well for another 30-60 days or more.

I am really surprised that new DSMC2 cameras still have this issue and need to be sent back to RED for something so trivial, needs to self perform task.

For now FoolControl App to the rescue, syncs date and time with my iPhone with the press of a button and can restore any lost key presets quickly as well. Not ideal I have to even deal with it but paying for shipping and insurance, risk involved, and down time without cameras is not the path I want to go down at this time. I should not have to put run time hrs on the camera brain every few days just to keep date and time. As someone else suggested if a firmware change that would allow internal battery to charge by just being plugged into mains without being completely powered up would be ideal as I could periodically do this as part of my routine when not in use for a length of time.
 
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So I have been thinking about this and I figure I will have to spend some money to get it fixed. I could either ship back to RED and get it fixed at my cost for repair and shipping.

Or - tell me if this might work - I could spend a couple hundred bucks getting a Tentacle Sync device and just plan on jamming TC everytime I start up the camera. I know I could just reset the date/time with every start but this gives me extra capability.

Thoughts?
 
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Interesting idea Terry. I just tested it though with a Sound Devices 702T (which generates Ambient TC) and it wouldn't reset the camera's date, just the time. Maybe other time-code generators can reset the date?

Edit - Must have been mistaken, it didn't reset the actual clock either when I tried it again.
 
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Brand new Epic W with 3.9 hours on it doing the same thing... Was told from RED tech support that this is a "feature" of DSMC2. Was told the same turn it on and let it run for 24 hours to trickle charge it. Is it too late to ask for my Epic Dragon ant $15,000 back???
 
DC Chavez said:
Brand new Epic W with 3.9 hours on it doing the same thing... Was told from RED tech support that this is a "feature" of DSMC2. Was told the same turn it on and let it run for 24 hours to trickle charge it. Is it too late to ask for my Epic Dragon ant $15,000 back???
Click to expand...

RED seriously said it's a "feature"? Seriously? I'm usually not trying to talk ill of Red because they do a lot of good things, but this is bullshit.
 
DC Chavez said:
Brand new Epic W with 3.9 hours on it doing the same thing... Was told from RED tech support that this is a "feature" of DSMC2. Was told the same turn it on and let it run for 24 hours to trickle charge it. Is it too late to ask for my Epic Dragon ant $15,000 back???
Click to expand...

I've seen Epic Dragon do it too, so don't send back the Epic W for that reason. :-)
 
Steve Sherrick said:
I've seen Epic Dragon do it too, so don't send back the Epic W for that reason. :-)
Click to expand...

The difference is that I could go a month without touching my Epic Dragon and it would be fine. Brand new Epic-W and have this issue... I also checked my Scarlet-W, which I haven't touched in 6 weeks and same issue. Currently powered on and have 20 some odd hours to go to in order to hopefully use time code on my cameras.

STOKED.
 
Björn Benckert said:
Will be interesting to se if the VV upgrade cures this.
Click to expand...

Probably DSMC3 and hopefully a user replaceable battery. I already said it before, I wouldn´t even mind but I´m scared the internal rechargeable battery will die early from frequent deep discharge, most likely short after warranty.
 
DC Chavez said:
...Currently powered on and have 20 some odd hours to go to in order to hopefully use time code on my cameras...
Click to expand...

Got a PM (from someone else) asking for clarification after I mentioned the camera clock wouldn't reset after jamming TC from an external source.

So just to clarify, the camera will sync to the external time-code and record that, but it won't change the time (or date) you see in the camera menu settings.

There's a difference and a disconnect between the time you see ticking away on your your monitor and the time value you see in the menu settings (left over from before you jammed the TC).
 
Les- I'm fully aware of how time code works. I am also aware with this dead battery scenario, every time you power down you would need to re-jam, as it starts at 00:00:00:00. I have also been on productions, and will be on one starting Monday, where each camera doesn't have loc-it boxes, so we use time of day as reference to line up sequences among various cameras.

Also, it looks pretty bad when you had over a card and the footage all has a date of January 1st, 2010. I don't want that on my productions and I for sure don't want to do that in someone else's.

I guess what I am getting at is that the brand new camera should not have to run for 30 hours to work at 100%.
 
Hmmm. I think I could make a tool that would allow the updating in bulk of the time and date metadata from a "general" starting point.

I've got a few things on my plate right now, but it would easy enough to spend a day or two on.

DC, this is something you've experienced on your Epic-W and not your Scarlet-W? Just curious as I'm looking to learn how many people have been effected by this.
 
Phil-

So I just got this Epic W, set up keys, black shades, time etc -3.9 hours total on camera. Left it sitting for a week, and time/date reset.

Booted up Scarlet-W which saw a last shoot day of late August- same issue. Jan, 1 2010.

Ran both cameras for 30 hours yesterday, set date, powered down, removed battery and was ok last night. Will go test in the next 15 min and will let you know.

Looking back at it, I had a time/date issue back in July, after Scarlet had been sitting for a few weeks. Had to reset with every boot, and then ended up overnighting a Tentacle Sync as a "fix." Couldn't figure it out until I got the Epic and then checked the forums. Fast forward a few months and here we are.

Just seems very shortsighted to have a battery in the camera that requires running it so often to maintain a charge. Even more of a hassle that the camera has to be ON in order to charge said battery...

I think I want my Epic Dragon back... lol
 
Phil Holland said:
Hmmm. I think I could make a tool that would allow the updating in bulk of the time and date metadata from a "general" starting point.

I've got a few things on my plate right now, but it would easy enough to spend a day or two on.

DC, this is something you've experienced on your Epic-W and not your Scarlet-W? Just curious as I'm looking to learn how many people have been effected by this.
Click to expand...

Phil,

Count me as being affected. It is annoying but not critical for me. I left the camera running for 4 hours last time and we'll see if my next use this weekend has changed anything.
 
This is also an MX Issue, happened to my Scarlet-X a year and a half ago, now it just happened again...I was also told the battery is a part of one of the internal boards so the whole board has to be replaced. Since this internal battery typically has such a short life span...you think it would be like a motherboard battery that can be easily removed and replaced...

This may be something for RED to consider in the future...as this seems like a silly reason for me to be without my camera for a week or more when I ship it out for "repair" when there is potentially such an easy fix.
 
Well, count me in too!!

To say i'm pissed off would be a HUGE understatement!

Working as 1st AC and rented my camera to
the production. My first foot in the door with
this group and had nothing but trouble.
Made me and my $30k camera look bad!

Wouldn't save the DPs preset i built, time code
jumped, wrong date on files.

It's completely crazy to me that my 10 year old
computers still have their internal battery working
but my $30k camera batt dies in a week or two!

Curtis
 
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