IO HD and sony AVW A500 Digibeta Problem…

[Bob Zelin]

Hi –
It’s Sunday, and hopefully management at Creative Cow will remove this unnecessary, abusive response to your question.

you write –
i am trying to do a layback using FCP 6.0.5, AJA IO HD with latest drivers and firmware and a avw a500 deck(Macbook pro 2.4 using ESATA Raid 5 drive,plenty of speed).Timeline on FCP is SD 525 ProRes HQ,Easy settings for AJA IO HD ProRes ntsc 29.97.Deck is connected with RS 422 for control,SDI out of the IO going to the left side SDI input of the deck,IO HD sending Component to a SD monitor as well.Not using a generator,i don’t have one but the sequence is SD and deck is connected straight to IO,so i don’t know if this could be the issue.

REPLY –
I bet you $100 (and I will donate $100 to any charity that you like if I am wrong) – that you do not own this DVW-A500. You don’t own a mixer, you don’t own speakers, you don’t own anything other than our MAC Book Pro. And I bet it’s not a Cal Digit HD Pro – it’s a drive array using a slot 34 adaptor, so you are only getting 120 Mb/sec.
I bet that you are plugging your speakers directly into your I/O HD, or out of your MAC, and are not even able to monitor the output of your DVW-A500 that you rented/borrowed. I bet that you DID have audio, and that the audio degraded, and distored, and eventually disappeared.

you write –
The problem is that a cannot record any sound,although i can monitor it using the deck headphone output and i can see audio coming in by looking at the deck level bars.Video image is also garbled,but is being recorded.Timecode is fine.The video i see on the SD monitor that is coming out of the component out of the IO is perfect.I changed cables,sequence settings,audio and video are completely rendered.Tape was stripped following the same settings as the timeline.

REPLY –
this is my suggestion.
Go to the local Blood Bank in your area. Donate 1 pint of blood tomorrow morning. Maybe donate 2 pints (no one will miss you anyway). Then order an AJA GEN10 (or dare I say it – a Blackmagic Sync Generator) or go to https://www.ebay.com and look for a Horita BSG-50
for $189 (certainly your blood is worth $189). Now, plug your black generator into the REF Video input of your DVW-A500, AND into your Reference INput of your AJA I/O HD (and yes, you better have a 75 ohm BNC terminator for your AJA I/o HD for the looping input) – and open the AJA Control PAnel, and select EXT REF instead of Video IN or INT REF.

Now, edit to tape or print to tape, and monitor your output of your DVW-A500 thru your headphones, (since you obviously don’t own a mixer to monitor the output of your DVW-A500 rental or borrowed VTR), and you will now hear audio, and see it on your meters.

By the way – the DVW-A500 had an input select function, so you can choose between Analog audio, AES/EBU audio and SDI Embedded audio – I can only ASSUME that it is selected to SDI Embedded audio and not AES/EBU or anlaog.

If this does not work, write me back, and I will respond to you right away. Remember, your relatives do not need your blood as much as you need an AJA GEN10. Your life will not be complete until you own an AJA GEN10, so even if you have to sell your organs, buy an AJA GEN10.

Bob Zelin
ps – not only does AJA not give me a commision on the GEN10, they have NEVER sent me a box of cookies.

[Gustavo Mendes]

Hello Bob!
I actually have most of the equipment you said minus the Gen 10,that i really want to buy.I plugged the deck to a mixer with xlr cables,but there isn’t any sound coming from it either.No audio degraded or distorted.Tried the IO HD to the mixer with xlr and it has sound coming from the laptop.I was using the deck headphone out put just because it was easier.As i said there is audio coming into the deck because the level bars are moving and i can hear from speakers or headphones.
I know how to select the inputs for the deck,it is all selected for the SDI input and the output was for the headphones and,later,for the xlr outputs.If the problem is the lack of video ref,i’ll be more than glad to donate my blood.

Always learning….

[Gustavo Mendes]

Forgot to say,the deck is not mine,it is a rental.

Always learning….

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Gustavo –
you write –
The problem is that a cannot record any sound,although i can monitor it using the deck headphone output and i can see audio coming in by looking at the deck level bars

REPLY – well, if you have tried to simply play back something, and you don’t get any audio out of the deck, AND what you say above is true (you see level coming in on the meters, you can monitor it thru the headphone jack on the DVW, but no audio playback) – well, the deck has got a problem ! I know that is not what you want to hear, since it’s a rental, and you are probably on a delivery deadline, but from what you describe, it sure sounds like the DVW-A500 has got a playback problem. It’s easy to have the audio input selector in the wrong position – it’s easy to have a FCP menu set incorrectly – but it sounds like you have everything setup correctly.

Sorry I don’t have a quick solution for you.

Bob Zelin

[Gustavo Mendes]

Thanks for the help,Bob.I asked someone else to do it.I appreciate the help on a sunday,made me buy a GEN 10 anyway.

Always learning….