[Marek Bilski]

Hi Susana, Ok, so it is the firmware…if you feel comfortable with sending your EX1R to Sony for an upgrade, that’s cool. We are also more than happy to help you, guide you through it. Best- Maggie

MxM Express

[Marek Bilski]

Hi Susana,
When did you purchase the adapter?
What size/capacity is the SanDisk Extreme Pro – 16GB or 32GB?

In regards to your firmware upgrade, it is possible to do this yourself.
Best- Maggie

MxM Express

[Marek Bilski]

Hi Susana,
To reassure you, in relation to your media error, the Hoodman adapter is an unlikely cause of your problem…
The reasons for infrequent media errors can be caused by: –
(a) firmware version of your camera; we recommend the latest version for your EX1R 1.10v mininum, 1.15v being the latest.
(b) The SDHC memory card – not all memory cards are equal and occasionally they can cause an issue.
1) Can you please let us know what firmware version is your camera on; and
2) what SDHC media/memory card are you currently using?
We are more than happy to help you work out the best workflow solution.
Regards, Maggie

MxM Express

[Marek Bilski]

Hi Jordan,

If you purchased in Oct ’09 the chances are, your SDHC adapter has a first generation internal controller based on the GL827L chipset.

At that particular time, the controller was not working very well with 32GB memory and Sony’s firmware.

From testing, we established that when we used that particular controller (GL827L) which Kingston was also based on, they all produced audio drop outs @ approx. 27mins duration.

The only way to fix this error is to try to load the footage in the clipbrowser and move the cursor left and right on the timeline and try to locate the precise position of the error (audio drop out) and try to cut it out with in and out points.

My suggestion for the future, is not to use ATP 32GB with your current Sony firmware until you perform a Sony firmware upgrade and migrate to 1.20 version which has eliminated that particular error on ATP 32GB memory cards only.

We had no choice, as we had no help from Sony, to come up with a solution ourselves and this is where we ended up improving and upgrading to the current controller which is a single chip solution, and has no issue with this particular error.

MxM Express’s card is easily recognisable with this new controller by the new orange label. This newest and the lastest controller has been used in Hoodman’s and MxML SDHC adapters for the past 6 months.

MxM Express

[Marek Bilski]

Hi Jordan,

I might be able to help you, if you can provide the firmware version you currently have on your camera and as well when you approx. bought the adapter.

I had a similar problem but only with the first generation of adapters and it all came down to Sony’s firmware.

MxM Express

[Marek Bilski]

I’d like to restate that memory cards are not all built equally. Failure will happen regardless of what memory card you use if they are mishandled or not used appropriately. eg If we keep pressing the power button on your pc to shut down, you will eventually get the blue screen of death…
Memory cards are no different…
There are a lot of new users which have to progressed from tape to solid state recording…and we all have to basically learn a new workflow, how to handle and choose the appropriate memory card based on sound advice…
Just because you don’t get a media error, this is no guarantee of the long term durability.

MxM Express

[Marek Bilski]

Hi Mike, sorry to give you bad news, but reading through the posts, damaged may have occurred to the controller on the SanDisk memory card. Unfortunately they do get damaged as the controller in the memory card is embedded in the memory chipset. I know you don’t want to hear why, but, the majority of the time they get damaged by some of these reasons: –
* ejecting the memory card out of the adapter while still on the camera;
* power failure; and
* incorrect ejection from laptop or PC. A lot of clients which I’ve dealt with tend to just put the memory cards in the reader and just pull it out once they are done…
* Using the memory card on other devices; and then trying to use it again on the camera…and so on.
Unfortunately, to access the data the memory has to be physically stripped and try to be salvaged that way, which is quite costly.
We have clients who are using our first generation MxMs with SanDisk Ultra II with no issues what so ever to this day, but also, have come across a select few with SanDisk issues as you have described above for the above reasons I’ve listed.

MxM Express

[Marek Bilski]

Can you please provide more information as to which generation MxR and what brand of SDHC memory cards and what capacity?
I presume it is 16GB need clarification and what firmware version on your EX3? As Craig suggested, a firmware upgrade might solve the problem with certain memory cards.

MxM Express

[Marek Bilski]

Hi Tim,
“Can I ask how volatile a process upgrading the firmware on an EX1 actually is?”

Tim, it can be very simple or it can brick your camera.

My computer knowledge is rather extensive, mainly hardware, so I feel very comfortable around PCs or laptops. To upgrade, all I did was make sure I read the instructions and followed them and used a laptop without any software or hardware issues.

I suggest if you don’t feel confident, take it to an authorised repairer.

MxM Express

[Marek Bilski]

“with the prior firmware (1.20 & 1.10)” Sorry, it should have been prior to 1.20 & 1.10…my current firmware is 1.20

I’m a bit confused how you derived 6 hours
I used 3 x 115 minutes 32GB memory cards which give you just under 6 hours, which actually translates to exactly 5 hours and 45 mins. I could have kept going, but I wanted to test during S&Q recording, that the camera would switch automatically from slot A to B, which it did twice. Obviously, not all 32GB capacity is equal, so the duration will vary between 112mins to 115mins depending upon the brand, ours was 115 mins.
Also, the new firmware upgrade has caused a loss of duration of approx 2mins on 16GB and 4mins on 32GB.

maybe you mean 25/60
Here in Australia, we use PAL system, so the base frame for over cranking would be 720p/25fps and over cranked to 60 fps.

GREAT commentary
Yes it does feel like that sometimes…

MxM Express