Videohub problems

[Chris Pearse]

Hi Shane,

I couldn’t be sure what’s going on here. But I would certainly suggest contacting the Blackmagic Design support office in your region for more help if you have not already done so. Our email support form can be found here:

https://blackmagic-design.com/support/contact/

And the support numbers can be found on the company page here:

https://blackmagic-design.com/company/

Chris Pearse
Technical Support Consultant
Blackmagic Design EMEA

[Shane Betts]

Thanks Chris

I managed to get onto Hersch today and he’s been very helpful. Apparently it came down to a miscommunication with a new receptionist – of which they seem to have a plethora. Mel is a hard act to follow.

I’m now starting to wonder if perhaps the power supplies for the Videohub don’t like the power from our UPS. Hersch has some ideas to discuss with me tomorrow but I might try powering the unit direct from the mains in the meantime. Stay tuned. Thanks again.

Cheers
Bettsy

[Bob Zelin]

Replies below, and Shane – describe your system – are you using a MAC or PC as a server, and are your clients MAC or PC ?

We have just, for the second time, replaced our faithful Studio Videohub with a Broadcast Videohub and, for the second time, are having no luck whatsoever. The first one just would not be recognised by the server and we sent it back.

REPLY – exactly what does that mean “would not be recognised by the server” – what was your server ? Did you assign your server a STATIC IP ADDRESS, and have your clients enter that static IP address in their Blackmagic preferences ? Details please.

After waiting for two weeks, we got a new one, only to find similar problems.

REPLY – it’s very VERY unlikely that you have two different units with the same problem – the problem is probably your server or your setup.

Deciding that two in a row couldn’t have the same issue, I fooled around and discovered that one of the power supplies would, for some reason, power the unit but not provide USB.

REPLY – I don’t know what this means. the Broadcast Videohub has 2 power supplies, but can run on just one (if one fails). The USB connection has nothing to do with the power supply. The single USB port plugs into your server. The server has a static IP address, and is on the same network as your clients. Your clients assign that static IP address (that you have on your server – like 192.168.2.3), and then you can connect.

The other one, when you booted in the correct order, and held your tongue just right, would boot up and establish a USB connection. We needed the extra ports so I decided to just go with it and prey for no power outages. Worked for a couple of weeks and now this.

REPLY – you don’t have to boot up in “the correct order”. You can boot up, without even the USB cable plugged into the Videohub, and say “woops, I forgot to plug in the cable”, and plug it in, connection is established, and away you go.

Some of the inputs and outputs seemed to be hard-wired. No matter how you set it, input X always went to output Y. Odd and very frustrating. Tried software updates and reinstalls and permissions repairs etc. etc… In the end we rebooted the system and guess what. No USB connection again.

REPLY – have you FLASHED THE FIRMWARE ON THE VIDEOHUB ? Do you have MAC clients and a PC server – because when I did, I had all kinds of issues. We put in an antique G5, and all problems went away. I now use cheap Mac MINI’s for my server for the Videohub, which works perfectly.

I’ve tried all the rebooting sequences possible and all the power supplies in all possible configurations and still nothing. Tried updating firmware but the installer tells me there is no Videohub connected. Nobody at Blackmagic seems interested or able to suggest anything (the receptionist briefly spoke to Hersch and came back and said he didn’t know much about these and that was it)

REPLY – I am not saying that you don’t have 2 dead units, but it is very unlikely. Can’t you change your server – even temporarily – you can use any crappy office computer as a server temporarily. It could be the USB port on your server, it could be the USB cable !
The way you troubleshoot is you CHANGE COMPONENTS.

Anybody else have issues or possible suggestions regarding getting these things to boot with USB enabled? Thanks for any help.

REPLY – I would like you to tell me EXACTLY what your server computer is, exactly what static IP address you have assigned to your network port, and I would like to you change server computers.
You must eliminate the possibility that it is NOT the Blackmagic Videohub, and that it’s your other equipment. This way, when you change everything (which is easy) – then you can go back to blaming the Blackmagic hardware.

Bob Zelin

[Shane Betts]

Hi Bob, thanks for your reply.

I had tried eliminating every component… What I hadn’t tried was eliminating them in pairs:-)

Turned out it was a combination of Mac OSX Server 10.6.5 (works OK on Server 10.6.4) and a USB lead. Needless to say, the usual methodical approach of replacing each component, one at a time, testing and, when things didn’t change, returning to the previously working state to test something else just doesn’t work when two things break at once.

Had tried: Two hubs. Three USB leads. Ref in, Ref out. Mac Mini (OSX Server 10.6.5), Xserve (OSX Server 10.6.5), MBP (10.6.5), PC (Win 7 Ultimate 32 bit). Combinations of three power supplies, in all combinations of both ports. Power from the UPS and direct from mains. Also tried four different shirts, two pair of jeans and a change of underwear. Nothing.

Turns out that the combination of the dodgy USB lead (which works fine with other components) and OSX Server 10.6.5 will not work. Hersh from BMD came out with his laptop and another router and it took three of us about an hour of trying combinations before we got it licked. We’re watching closely. I now have it hooked up to another Xserve, running OSX Server 10.6.4, and using the USB cable I stole from Hersh. We got it running and none of us was willing to unplug that cable;-)

So, thanks Bob. And thanks Hersh.

Cheers
Bettsy

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Shane –
why are you running an expensive computer with OS-X Server on it for the Videohub ? You can run el cheapo useless old MAC G5 if you want for the Videohub. Just curious.

Glad things worked out.

Bob Zelin

[Shane Betts]

🙂 I’m not. Just have a few Xserves in the rack where the Videohub lives and used them to isolate out the Mac Mini that performs Videohub and Kerio duties. Also tried MBPs but they’re not that safe sitting on the pullout keyboard tray so the Xserve did the job of isolating. Also, as the Mac Mini is running 10.6.5 Server, I wanted to test the Videohub with 10.6.4 Server. Again, the only machines in the house running this OS are two not-yet-updated Xserves. the third Xserve has been updated and I used that one to test the OS update on different hardware. I guess that’s the advantage of rolling out updates across the facility instead of just bombing the place from Deploy Studio.

Cheers
Bettsy