Question for Bob, or anyone that wants to chime in.

[Gary Adcock]

[J. Montellano] “So why use the Addenda vs. Firewire? Any benefits?”

FW protocols are not frame accurate with a tolerance depending on your Operating system between 2 and 6 frames.
Passing the serial data via RS422 the protocol is frame accurate and can run longer than 15 feet.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
Chicago, IL

[Bob Zelin]

I usually build facilities, or more complex rooms (rooms with multiple VTR’s), and setup patch bays or routers along with the FCP system. So I usually install a RS422 patch panel. It is very convenient to simply patch the RS422 VTR control from the AJA Kona into multiple VTR’s via a RS422 patch panel. You simply make the HDV VTR a RS422 device with a $148 dollar adaptor, and then you are never crawling on the floor to disconnect cables.

The same applies to all video decks, where you bring up your video cabling to a patch panel. You certainly can crawl behind the equipment, and uncable every time you want to plug in a different VTR – but how much is this worth for your time and aggrivation. If you are a “home editor”, with one Beta VTR and one HDV VTR, then I would crawl around the equipment too, but if you are in a professional enviornment, where you have banks of equipment, it seems pretty silly to drop to your knees, where the G5 is, get a flashlight, unplug the firewire cable and plug in the HDV VTR, when you can simply move one patch cord.

Even if you were in a FIREWIRE only environment (HDV, DSR11, AJ-HD1200A), it makes sense to get a Tecnec Firewire patch panel, rather than to keep disconnecting cables all the time (and the associated audio and video cables to your audio and video monitoring system).

Bob Zelin

[J. Montellano]

Thanks for all the info. I figured that firewire probably wasn’t as frame accurate as 422 protocol, but i thought i’d ask. And for the record we do have a Canare patch panel, and it makes a world of difference. No more flash light, weird stares at your butt, and the foul langaunge has gone down!

Any recommendations on a RS422 patch. The one I was looking at was https://www.markertek.com/SearchProduct.asp?item=12XDB9F%2FF&off=2&sort=prod . I remember seeing another floating around that used “special” RJ45 in the front vs. the serial cable.

Thanks again.

J. Montellano

[Bob Zelin]

I usually “build my own” for the RS422 bay, which is the TecNec PB8-R4R4
CAT 5 coupler patch bay. Then I use generic CAT 5 cables (real cheap !, and easy to test), and RJ45-9 pin adaptors. I screw the RJ45-9 pin adaptors into the AJA (or AVID), and all the VTR’s, and then I can patch around using generic CAT 5 cables. This works great, and the cables never fail.
You can get RJ45-9 pin adaptors at http://www.milestek.com. This solution is dramatically cheaper than going with an ADC RS422 9 pin patch panel.

Bob Zelin

[J. Montellano]

Interesting. I’m wondering if I can do a 8 port with 4 firewire and 4 RS422, or hell a 16 with 8 and 8. Now i just need to find the firewire adaptors and will be on my way. Any ideas?

J. Montellano

[Bob Zelin]

listen, TecNec (distributed by Markertek) sells firewire patch bays. You are OUT OF YOUR MIND if you are going to try to save money by building your own firewire bay/combo RS422 bay. Buy the prebuilt Firewire bay from TecNec at http://www.markertek.com, and everything will be working for you in 2 seconds. I only mention the “build your own” RS422 CAT 5 bay, because the cost difference is about $1000, not $100.

Bob Zelin

[J. Montellano]

Well Bob, Thanks for crushing my hopes! Just Kidding 🙂 I know that you would set me straight in my ways. I figured Markertek would just integrate the 2 for me since they do have a custom order patch.

Thanks again.

J. Montellano