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RS-422 problems, random error messages
Hi Everyone and thanks in advance…
I have an 8-core MacPro that I use a Blackmagic Decklink HD Pro capture card with. It’s been running fairly stable for a while and I’ve had capture and edit to tape frame accuracy with all of our decks (HDCAM, D5, DigiBeta, HDCAM SR, DVCAM, etc.).
Every once in a while I would get random error messages while capturing or editing to tape that would say “New Tape inserted, you may want to change the reel name” (or something along those lines) when there hadn’t been a tape change. But this only happened here and there and I would just click OK and go along capturing like it never happened.
Yesterday I started a batch capture from offline clips using a Sony HDCAM SR deck in 4:4:4 dual link. (The problem also occurs when doing a 4:2:2 capture using the frame convert). My system had always been rock solid with the SR decks before, but suddenly it’s capturing at about 50% accuracy with 50% of the captures being between 1 and 20 frames off. I’m also getting that “new tape inserted” error message a lot, as well as several other error messages
-“tape unthreaded” (it’s not, and I can see the deck shuttle while it says this, I have to close my capture window and re-open it to stop the deck from shuttling)
-“deck in local” (it’s not)
-“timecode break” (there is none)
-“time code change from non-drop to drop frame detected” (nope, not there)
I pulled the plug and let the computer sit over night. I did my recaptures today and got through it, the error messages were not as often but they were still there, and capture accuracy was still at about 50%, so I capture with a bunch of handle and eye matched everything.
I have the newest drivers installed for the decklink card, and I did a reinstall anyway, I tried trashing the FCP preferences, I re-seated the RS-422 cord on the back of the card, and I tried multiple different decks. I’m thinking about doing a complete reinstall of Final Cut. But before I do that I’d love to know of any suggestions. Thanks,
MattTech Specs –
8-core Intel MacPro
5GB RAM
OSX 10.4.11
FCP 6.0.2
Decklink Drivers 6.6.2
X-Serve RAID -
12 Replies
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You might check where your RS422 cable is running, as you may be getting interference.
RS422 is a differential scheme, so it’s usually pretty good against noise, but you may also have a ground loop or a lot of electro magnetic interference. Try plugging the deck and the computer into the same electrical source and see if that helps a ground loop.
You could add a ferrite component to the cable if it is electro magnetic interference. Here’s a PDF on it from Fair-Rite, a company that makes such devices.
https://www.fair-rite.com/newfair/pdf/CUP%20Paper.pdf
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Is the deck directly connected to the DL card or are you running through a patch bay?
Matt
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Everything is run through a patch bay, so I don’t have the option to plug the deck into the same electrical source as the computer. We have a pretty maxed out machine room, but the decks work fine with our Avids and our other final cut system (G5 dual 2.0 with Decklink HD Pro).
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How long is the run from the problem system to the machine room?
I have had control issues off our patch bay and always with the system with the longest run. The first issue was due to the way the bay normals. At my house we section off a portion of the audio bay so we can use TT to patch control and the patch bay was just a one way normal so the signal was being split between the patch and the normal. Second issue was the 9pin connected to the deck was loose weakening the signal just enough to cause problems for the more distant FCP systems. I’d double check your signal flow to see if at any point there is something that would weaken the signal.
Also I assume you are also connected to house tri-sync or none at all and just syncing to video output.
Matt
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My Mac is actually in the machine room and I use a KVM switch to monitor in the editing bay. I thought it could be something in the patch bay as we use tie lines to patch from one side of the room to the other, so I tried patching right from my MacPro to my digibeta deck which are right next to eachother in the patch bay (and right on top of each other in the rack) in order to rule out the tie lines. It still has major issues. I’m guessing it has to be either the connection to the patch bay coming directly from the MacPro, the RS-422 cable coming from the card, or the card itself. I’m going to see if I can figure it out but in the mean time any other ideas would be very appreciated. Thanks.
-Matt -
Update:
I tried a new breakout cable from the card – NG.
I tried a new RS-422 cable from the breakout cable to the patch bay – NG.
I tried routing that new RS-422 cable to a different position on the patch bay – NG.
I’m starting to think it’s the card…going to re-seat the card and see what happens.
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To bad the G5 DL card is PCI-X however the breakout cable I believe is the same. It would rule out that as the problem. What slot is DL card in?
Matt
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i’d bet its the Black Magic Driver 6.6.x..! That firmware update wreaked rs422 contol hell on one of my 4 mac’s. Back off to 6.4 and see if it acts better, hopefully less like an old bipolar girlfriend…..
del
you cant hear my inner voice scream… can you..?
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Thanks Del I will try that… for those who are interested I got this email back from Blackmagic which is a bit disconcerting…
Hello Matt,
We have been notified of this issue from other customers as well in the past
few weeks. We did get in touch with Apple and apparently this issue is not
only isolated to our cards but across other venders too which makes us think
this might be something that the Final Cut crew have to address but we are
seeing if there can be anything done on our side to rectify this issue.I assure you we have been working with Apple continuously to track down this
issue and what exactly is causing it. I have gotten many system profiles and
workflows of how to regress this issue. But I will go ahead and add the
information you have provided me to the list that I have.We are attempting to facilitate this process even more by supplying more
diagnostic information to Apple rather then system profiles and steps on how
to reproduce the problem. Apple now is looking for a Batch Capture list and
the associated Project file for when this error is happening.My guess is that they are looking for a particular pattern or they have
narrowed it down a bit more which is why they are requesting only this info
at the moment. If you get a chance to get me that, I’d really appreciate it
so we can finally fix this issue.So at this point there is no immediate fix, but it is something we are aware
of and are actively trying to address. If you can give us that information,
it would be most appreciated.(I left the Engineers Name out here)
Support Engineer
Blackmagic Design Inc. USA -
Hey Del,
Can you email me the 6.4 driver package? It’s not on the blackmagic website anymore. pairofhands@earthlink.net. Thanks!UPDATE: Sorry, I should learn to look harder next next time, it was on their site just not in the most obvious place.
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