[Bob Zelin]

This “looping the Y into the Ref IN of the 1800” trick, is a trick that Grant Petty came up with. Now Grant knows more about most things than I will ever dream of knowing, but he is WRONG about this technique. The original mindset for the Decklink card, was that it locked to the SDI Input video, and did not require a Genlock signal, and this was a big push for Blackmagic for a long time – that you don’t need genlock, because the card locks to input video. Well, this is NONSENSE (except for SDI and HD-SDI signals) – and in my opinion, Grant was wrong about this technique, and since those days, Blackmagic cards all have Genlock on them now. The Beta 1800 wants to see a signal going into both it’s Video Input and Reference Input, and when you put the VTR into play, a signal comes out of the Y output (a B+W composite video signal with no burst on it), and this can “fool” the Beta 1800 into thinking it’s got a reference signal, but you still get into trouble , and you still get all the error messages.

When you say “hey, I got it to work” – well, I get AJA I/O boxes to work sometimes with other FW400 devices on the native FW buss, but ITS WRONG, and I EXPECT PROBLEMS when I do it. I can “jury rig” 23.98 systems to work without a Tri Level Sync generator, by disconnecting all reference inputs, and forcing the system to lock to input video, but ITS THE WRONG THING TO DO. I can get a horrible VHS machine to record onto a Beta VTR, by looping the composite video signal into both the Video and Reference inputs of the Beta VTR, so it tracks the reference with the unstable input – avoiding a TBC – BUT ITS THE WRONG THING TO DO, and you have to be a MORON to work this way on a regular basis, if you make your living this way. These techniques, and others, are teriffic in an emergency, but if you make your living doing this, you can afford $300 for a black generator, $300 for a TBC (not needed with an AJA I/O product), and the few bucks required to do most of what we need to do, to make a living.

This ain’t a hobby – you feed your family with this stuff. I can use a sponge to paint a room – why buy a paintbrush or roller. But you’d have to be crazy to do this if you were a professional painter.

You own an $8000 VTR, a $4000 computer, a $1500 capture card, probably lots of other great pro gear, you can afford the $300 (or less on ebay) to get a black gen.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

It’s amazing how, when you keep asking questions, you get more info. First off, you CANNOT HOOK UP ANY OTHER FireWire devices to your MAC when you use the AJA I/O box !!!! Lets’ start with that problem. (I know that you said you just disconnected the FW drives that are
ususally connected – but you CANT use FW400 drives on your system without an additional FW400 PCI card).

With that said (and NO OTHER FW400 devices on your system), one more time – shut down your system (including the I/O) restart your system (including the I/O), and with the Beta VTR connected DIRECTLY to the I/O, try again. If this fails, go to http://www.aja.com, the Support page, find the UNINSTALL DRIVERS for the I/O, and uninstall them, and reinstall them. IF this still fails, and you can’t get deck control, trash your FCP preferences (tell us if you don’t know how to do this, and we will tell you), and restart FCP and try it again. If it STILL fails, it’s time to call AJA support on the telephone.

With all of this said, I am ASSUMING that you have a RS422 cable that actually works, and is not some home made piece of junk (is it an original Sony RS422 9 pin cable). If it’s a tan or white 9 pin cable you got at a computer store, there is always the possibility that it is an older modem cable that is not wired like a straight thru Sony 9 pin cable. I’m not saying that is what you have – I am just making a guess.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Winston –
this is a common problem, unique to the horrible audio meters on the UVW-1800 Beta VTR. Simply put up AUDIO TONE from your FCP system, and output that to your Beta VTR (with no tape in the machine). See the tone on your meters on the Beta machine ? Set them to ZERO (or use your mixer to make the meters read ZERO). Now output your project. Tone looks correct, but the program material looks LOW. This is normal for the horrible averaging audio meters used by Sony in the 1800. Just make sure that tone is at ZERO, and you will be OK.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

It’s not funny anymore responding with my hysterical “I will kill you” rants about this subject.

So the answer is YES, you do. The Kona Reference IN is an INPUT. It needs black from a black generator, like a Horita BSG-50, just like the REF Video IN. Before eating dinner this evening, order a black generator. If you have to go to the bathroom first – hold it in, and order a black generator first. The Kona will not provide anything to lock up your Beta 1800. If you want that blue stop light to stop flashing, if you want the ERR-093 NON STD REF to go away, if you want the NON STD REF error to go away, order the black generator. And no, you cannot order the cheaper Horita BG-50. And no, you cannot use the Grass Valley Sync Generator on ebay for $25 “Buy Now” that has sync, subcarrier and blanking outputs, but no color black output. And get a 75 ohm BNC terminator when you place your order, because you need to terminate your inputs.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Jerry –
it’s not a stupid question at all, and YES you can.

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

you MUST get the RS422 patch panel out of the loop for this testing. I just had a similar problem – where I built the RS422 panel, and everything worked with one FCP system, but on the second system I could not get a Beta 1800 to be controlled (but the first FCP system on the same patch panel controlled the Beta 1800 just fine). PLEASE hookup the VTR directly to your AJA product, and test it WITHOUT the RS422 patch panel.

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

the only firewire 400 device on your system should be the AJA I/O LA – and NOTHING ELSE. If you demand to have something else that is Firewire 400, you MUST use a FW card in your MAC. If there is no room in your MAC, sorry – . The same rules apply to the AVID Adrenaline and AVID Mojo products as well.

I have no idea of where you will find a PCI Express Firewire 400 card that is compatible with the MAC Pro.

If you say “how do other people do this” – they use FW800 via the FW800 buss, or use SATA, or Fibre Channel, or SCSI. No one is using FW400 drives or FW400 devices AND an AJA I/O box on the same native buss. Like I said before, neither is anyone using a modern AVID product either.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Bill –
you are the first person I know that is running EditShare with 10Gig E. PLEASE PLEASE let me know on this forum how things work for you, with your Kona FCP system.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

If you use the Kona 3, you get the K3-Box for $299, which give you analog outputs. They are RCA, but this goes very nicely into the Behringer or Mackie audio mixer – you are using it for monitoring only anyway. Audio from RCA’s doesn’t “sound better” than audio from XLR’s, and just remember – the audio inputs to both the Mackie, Behringer, Soundcraft, and other cheap mixers are stereo 1/4″ phone plugs – not XLR. If you go into the XLR inputs of these mixers, you will get peak distortion problems.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

if you get the Axio, you will be the second “pro” in Orlando to get it – Ben Kupfer is the only pro Axio user in Orlando now. Everyone else has either AVID or FCP with AJA hardware.
You will be very happy with the HUGE and the ATTO FC or SCSI cards, but you should consider SATA if you want to save money. You know how to reach me if you need help.

Bob Zelin