Panasonic HS400 freaks out when switched to HD settings

[Mark Walleman]

I’d start by giving this a quick read (if you haven’t already): ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/business/provideo/manuals/AV-HS400AN_oi.pdf

I have the HS410. Panasonic just sent out version 2.0 software for mine, but it looks like the 400A is up to version 3.0. Using the manual, you can determine what version you have (pg98).

Download it here: https://www.panasonic.com/business/provideo/support/software.asp

There, you’ll find the firmware and instructions for installing it.

If you still can’t get it to behave, I’d recommend performing an “initialization” (pg99 of the manual) to completely reset the switcher to its factory settings.

Mark D. Walleman
Relay House Inc.

[Dan Roy]

I appreciate this very fast response, and I’ll go ahead and upgrade the firmware, but I’m still curious if there is a particular explanation or even a good guess about what’s going wrong. Here’s a link to a video I took of what happens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOOQoJ3pWkk

If you or anyone else has an idea please let me know. I’ll try upgrading the firmware tomorrow and post my results.

Thanks again,
Dan

[Mark Walleman]

When you attempt to change the system format, does it just remain flickering? Or does it automatically switch back to 480i?

If it just remains flickering, have you tried cycling the power? While the HS410 lets you change format on the fly, some switchers require a reboot to complete the system format change (just guessing here).

If it switches back to 480i, I’d recommend an “initialization” to completely reset the switcher.

Mark D. Walleman
Relay House Inc.

[Dan Roy]

Sorry for the late response but I’m still having trouble and I hope someone can still give me some advice.

To follow up on both of your posts, the switcher is on version 2.00.03 and when I did a power cycle after changing to both 1080i and 720p, it comes up blank. For clarification: when I change back to 480i it flickers for a few seconds then comes back with both cameras visible.

I’ll attempt an initialization once I check with the previous video op to make sure I don’t end up erasing essential settings (I’m still reading the manual for a way to save the curent settings), but I have one more question about updating the firmware. I’ve attempted it several times now and the board is not seeing the update file.

I followed the instructions – initialized a 1GB SD card (Function > Memory > SDCard > Init), downloaded the zip dropped the .hsd file in the SYSTEM subfolder (proof) and put it back in the switcher. But when I go to load the new firmware (SDCard > Load > System) it doesn’t show up under the “LoadFile” column. When I select Execute (by pressing F5) to attempt to install in desperation, it does not give me the status indicators “Loading version up file” or “Version up completed”, and the Version setting (System > MainVer > SysVer) confirms that nothing has changed. I’ve even tried adding the update file to each of the subfolders (IMAGE, HS400 and root) and changing the permissions of the file so that Everyone is set to Read and Write just in case.

I don’t think it’s the card or the procedure I’m using either. If I choose Save instead of Load, I can save the current software version to the card, and when I select Load the software shows up under the LoadFile column and I can reinstall it on the switcher.

Anyone have any other guesses about why this switcher isn’t reading the software file on the card?

[Dan Roy]

Wanted to follow up here for posterity. The problem with the switcher is that our cameras (Canon XHG1) were set to SD LOCKED under the SDI SPEC. setting – i.e. they were sending an SD signal from the SDI output. Turned this off and now HD comes in just fine.

I still don’t know why the switcher won’t recognize the firmware file but going to let that sleeping dog lie for now.

Thanks everyone for your responses.

[Dan Roy]

One final follow-up. The problem was our cameras had the SDI connection set to “SD Locked” mode, i.e. they were sending an SD signal to the switcher in spite of the camera itself being in HDV mode. Turning this off fixed the issue.