Blackmagic Forum

I am doubting the quality of the USB-C cable that comes with the Samsung T5 drives when it comes to connecting the drive to either the Pocket PC or the UMP G2. From other's experiences, have you found a reliable brand of USB-C cable that works with external SSD including the T5? When I say reliability, I mean consistent in its data transfer and speed reducing possibilities of drop frames. Thanks!

Please don't reply to tell me to use CFAST cards. I already am. However, there are times when I need to use an external drive (client and post requirements) hence for the inquiry.

Hi Ellory,

I've been using the Samsung cable but just got the Kondor Blue 9" cable. It does seem just a tad to short but it fits. The jacket and the fittings seem much stronger. You are welcome to take a look if you're in the hood. Hope that you are well.

Marshall Harrington wrote:Hi Ellory,

I've been using the Samsung cable but just got the Kondor Blue 9" cable. It does seem just a tad to short but it fits. The jacket and the fittings seem much stronger. You are welcome to take a look if you're in the hood. Hope that you are well.

Hi Marshall,
Thanks for the offer. I did order the Kondor Blue last night from Amazon. It does look stronger. That's disappointing that it might come short. Hopefully I can make it work or will have to return it. Hey, we should go for Ramen again. I can come over near your hood.

I received the Kondor Blue USB-C cable today. It's essentially a thunderbolt but at 10Gb/s. So far, I have not gotten a drop frame with the Samsung T5 with 6K @ 24fps with the P6K. But I wonder if I am going to get better results at higher frame rate with an original Apple thunderbolt 3 cable, which is advertised at 20Gb/s. Or does it not matter at all? Also, the Kondor is a very short cable and I have to work it around other things to connect between the UMP G2 and the T5 in a smallrig T5 cage that's a little distant from the connector.

This cable has never failed me in over 2 years of use on my BMPCC 4K recording BRAW 3.1. Sometimes the camera needed to be rebooted to recognize my SSD with the original T5 cable. My cats chew on my Samsung T5 cable because it is so gummy. They don't like to chew this one because it is harder and better shielded. It's rated at twice the speed of USB 3.1.

It is the right length for me to loop it into the open spaces between my BMPCC 4K and a Smallrig full cage to store it when not in use. I doubt if this could be done on a close-fitting Tilta cage. Maybe the extra length will help to prevent it from kinking from use.

Angelbird USB 3.2 Gen 2, 20 Gb/s Type-C-to-C | 50 cm

https://www.amazon.com/Angelbird-50cm-U ... B07RSVF2WR

Using this is easier than smearing Tabasco sauce on my cable, like Cat 6 installers do to thwart mice.

I’m looking to try another cable for the UMP G2. The Kondor is short. Has anyone tried a TB4 cable with the BM cameras and Samsung T5? This one is up to 40gb/s. Is this better in preventing drop frames from slow usb cables?
https://www.amazon.com/Thunderbolt-ORIC ... =1-11&th=1

While I like the idea the right angle cables, they don't always fit like I'd hoped they would. They definitely don't fit into the locking devices that work with any of my cages.

I cannot remember where I saw the post about this cable but OPSO USB C to USB C Cable (0.72ft), 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps 100W 4K was recommended, and I found it on Amazon UK so purchased it a few months ago as I kept having problems with data transfer @ 50fps to Samsung T5 using the cable that came with it.

It's a very short cable but that does mean it's not flapping around, and I have the SmallRig cage on my BM 6K Pro. So far no problems.

Scott

Marshall Harrington wrote:While I like the idea the right angle cables, they don't always fit like I'd hoped they would. They definitely don't fit into the locking devices that work with any of my cages.

They have it with the straight end also.
https://www.amazon.com/Thunderbolt-ORIC ... =1-11&th=1

Wondering if something like this might make it easier to manage?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... amera.html

Frank Engel wrote:Wondering if something like this might make it easier to manage?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... amera.html

Reading the reviews it sounds like a nice drive caddy with some minor flows that can be easily overcome. At the current 40% off, I went ahead and ordered it to give it a try. This will give my G2 or P6K the option of using 2.5” SSD cartridges.

Ellory Yu wrote:I’m looking to try another cable for the UMP G2. The Kondor is short. Has anyone tried a TB4 cable with the BM cameras and Samsung T5? This one is up to 40gb/s. Is this better in preventing drop frames from slow usb cables?
https://www.amazon.com/Thunderbolt-ORIC ... =1-11&th=1

Don’t buy this cable. It is not compatible with the Pocket 6K or the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2. I am not sure if it will work with other models but certainly not the ones I just mentioned. The Kondor is the better option.

This would be a perfect opportunity for BMD to sell (or ideally provide) a certified usb cable. All the cameras can now record to drives, plus the VA & ATEM products. Seems like they could shut down all this kerfuffle and people losing footage by having their own cable that just works.

Ellory Yu wrote:

Frank Engel wrote:Wondering if something like this might make it easier to manage?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... amera.html

Reading the reviews it sounds like a nice drive caddy with some minor flows that can be easily overcome. At the current 40% off, I went ahead and ordered it to give it a try. This will give my G2 or P6K the option of using 2.5” SSD cartridges.

I received the Oyen Digital Lynx two days ago and tried it on the Pocket 6K. First, some observation about the device. (1) It's completely made out of aluminum enclosure however it is heavy. It comes with 1/4-20 mount threads which is nice. (2) The cover where to insert drive is made of rubber. It's okay but I think they could have done a better cover, like a snap on plastic that actually encase the drive. (3) Which leads to my third point, have the drive is exposed. However, it is firmly securing the drive and you can't just easily pull it out. The manufacturer recommends using TLC NAND Flash SSD and not the QLC, which I did used.

Having said that, I inserted a 256Gb drive. I was able to format it and use it, writing BRAW 5:1 6K @ 24fps and BRAW 8:1 6K 50fps, and also BRAW 3:1 4K @ 24fps. But every time I stop recording, I would lose connection with the camera and have to unplug and plug the SSD cable back. I spoke with their technician, and he said that it is possible the camera is not providing enough power to the dock.

Anyway, I think I will try it out on the UMP 4.6K to see if it does not lose connection. If so, it may be the UMP provides more power to the dock. I'll need to see how much amp is being drawn by the dock. Since I bought it 40% discount, it was cheap enough I might just keep it as an extra dock for my computer and if it works with the UMP, then will use it with the UMP too.

The Oyen Digital Lynx dock consumes 0.5w via the USB port. I cannot find any information on the Pocket 6K or URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 as to how much power does the USB in the camera provide for external drives. If anyone knows this, please share. I'm trying to diagnose if power is causing the dock to disconnect from the camera.

Mike Potton wrote:This would be a perfect opportunity for BMD to sell (or ideally provide) a certified usb cable. All the cameras can now record to drives, plus the VA & ATEM products. Seems like they could shut down all this kerfuffle and people losing footage by having their own cable that just works.

Regular USB cables are fine. It's just the one that comes with the T5 is garbage.

ShaheedMalik wrote:Regular USB cables are fine. It's just the one that comes with the T5 is garbage.

Exactly it ships with a ‘regular cable’. I don’t think there is such a thing as a regular cable with usbc. Some handle 10Gbps, some handle 40Gbps, some just charge and carry no data and some work but then kinda don’t.

I’ve helped out a chap who could mount a drive but couldn’t copy data from it at all (it was the cable). It’s a cowboy field ripe for an offical solution.

Strange thing is, I have 12 Samsung T5 drives, they all work with their included cable, on P4K, P6K and P6K pro. On some PC ports they are slow, on other ports fast. A PC problem certainly.

I bought three even shorter USB-C cables. 1 does not work at all, the other two are fine.

Unfortunately the USB-C specification does not require any visible ‘label’ to distinguish the capabilities of their various implementations. A bit troubling that they can be so insensitive to the end-user. It’s good when the box a vendor labels includes a complete and accurate description, but once the cable is put to use, there’s nothing to help us.

Just go with the Angelbird cables. They are dependable. Cable quality and performance are a mixed bag on Amazon so why take the chance. Pay a little more and go with a dependable cable. The angelbird 50cm is 19.99 on angelbirds site. Amazon has it for 29.95.

I went with Kondor Blue as Marshall suggested. It’s reliable except a tad short but works with the T5. I’m still trying to figure out the Lynx dock why it loses connection with the pocket 6K intermittently.

A it of eventful horror yesterday with cables. As I previously mentioned, I bought the Kondor usb-c cables. In fact I got 2 of them, one of the pocket 6K and another for the UMP G2. Yesterday was a shoot that we were doing using both my gear. However there were 2 locations going so I took the UMP as cam-a and another cam-op took the p6k to shoot the a different location. I had the Kondor cables in both bags. The old Samsung original cable was somewhere in the bags as well. The night before, I run some extensive test with the T5s and Kondor cables with both cameras. I have both cameras on BRAW 8:1 5.7K @ 60fps on the P6K and BRAW 8:1 4.6K on the UMP. It worked like a champ. This was the settings. So the next day we split up. We met at base camp around 5pm. The cam-op person who shot on the p6k complained that he was getting so much drop frames alerts and I was stunned. He said that the T5 was the problem. When he showed me the drive, it was connected with the original cable. I immediately knew what happened and I was furious. Long story short, we lost a lot of the b-rolls. However it looked like it can playback on the camera but on the computer those files were corrupted. I’m not sure if those corrupt clips can be restored. I’ve been working with my DIT to see if there’s something we can do to salvage the clips now. If anyone has any suggestions, please share. The moral here, do not use that Samsung cable at all. The Kondor was a good investment, but unfortunately…

I bought a LaCie drive and had trouble with inconsistent mounting so I ordered a Kondor Blue cable. It was going to take a while to arrive so on a whim I bought a Samsung drive. No problems with it at all using the included cable. The LaCie drive also worked as expected with the Samsung cable. When the Blue Kondor cable showed up both drives worked fine with it. Since then I have been using the Samsung drive/cable exclusively with no issues. I am primarily recording ProRes HQ @ 24 or 60, 4k or UHD on a 6k Pro.

If the missing frames are not too obvious, you may try and record that playback directly. Both the camera or the BRAW player will repeat the last good frame until they get a new one. So, you'll get short freezes.

You can try to record the camera's output or a full-frame playback from the computer with a hardware recorder.

One suggestion would be to try out a few different brands of USB-C cables to see which one works best with your Samsung T5 drive and your Pocket PC or UMP G2.

Results may vary depending on the specific devices and cables used, so it's important to test out a few options to see what works best for you.

Some reliable brands of USB-C cables that others have had success with include Anker, Aukey, and Belkin.

Sorry to hear about your bad cable day Ellory. I think Phil Holland recently wrote that not bringing backup cables for everything is mandatory practice and I agree.

I personally have not had trouble with the cables that came with the T5's.

The Kondor Blues at 9" are definitely about 2-3" to short for my liking, though I really like the way they are made.

The Angelbird Donald posted about looks promising but at 50cm or 19-20" is to long.

Somewhere in the middle please...

Uli Plank wrote:If the missing frames are not too obvious, you may try and record that playback directly. Both the camera or the BRAW player will repeat the last good frame until they get a new one. So, you'll get short freezes.

You can try to record the camera's output or a full-frame playback from the computer with a hardware recorder.

Thanks Uli. I can playback the clips from the camera but on the BRAW player, nothing shows up. I will try your latter suggestions. Meanwhile, the producer is willing to reshoot them next weekend. This time, just to be safe, I will use CFast cards.

Marshall Harrington wrote:Sorry to hear about your bad cable day Ellory. I think Phil Holland recently wrote that not bringing backup cables for everything is mandatory practice and I agree.

I personally have not had trouble with the cables that came with the T5's.

The Kondor Blues at 9" are definitely about 2-3" to short for my liking, though I really like the way they are made.

The Angelbird Donald posted about looks promising but at 50cm or 19-20" is to long.

Somewhere in the middle please...

I bought 2 Kondor cables last week for the Pocket so to have a backup. I was going to use CFast on the UMP G2 and the T5 on the Pocket. But last minute conversations led us to shoot both cams with a T5 so we split the Kondor. Well, unfortunately the cam-op person grab the Samsung cable without thinking instead for the Kondor.

I agree the Kondor is slightly short and being thick it is hard to twist or bend, while the one from Angelbird is too long. I think a 12” to 14” is the ideal length.

You are better off using this and Crucial MX500 SSDs. I've been using this set up the last two years.


$12
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M08LCXW/?c ... _lig_dp_it

Here's the cable for it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DK2GPHZ/?c ... _lig_dp_it

1TB Crucial MX500 $99

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077SF8KMG/?c ... _lig_dp_it

Ellory Yu wrote:

Marshall Harrington wrote:Sorry to hear about your bad cable day Ellory. I think Phil Holland recently wrote that not bringing backup cables for everything is mandatory practice and I agree.

I personally have not had trouble with the cables that came with the T5's.

The Kondor Blues at 9" are definitely about 2-3" to short for my liking, though I really like the way they are made.

The Angelbird Donald posted about looks promising but at 50cm or 19-20" is to long.

Somewhere in the middle please...

I bought 2 Kondor cables last week for the Pocket so to have a backup. I was going to use CFast on the UMP G2 and the T5 on the Pocket. But last minute conversations led us to shoot both cams with a T5 so we split the Kondor. Well, unfortunately the cam-op person grab the Samsung cable without thinking instead for the Kondor.

I agree the Kondor is slightly short and being thick it is hard to twist or bend, while the one from Angelbird is too long. I think a 12” to 14” is the ideal length.

You need to throw that cable away.

ShaheedMalik wrote:

Ellory Yu wrote:

Marshall Harrington wrote:Sorry to hear about your bad cable day Ellory. I think Phil Holland recently wrote that not bringing backup cables for everything is mandatory practice and I agree.

I personally have not had trouble with the cables that came with the T5's.

The Kondor Blues at 9" are definitely about 2-3" to short for my liking, though I really like the way they are made.

The Angelbird Donald posted about looks promising but at 50cm or 19-20" is to long.

Somewhere in the middle please...

I bought 2 Kondor cables last week for the Pocket so to have a backup. I was going to use CFast on the UMP G2 and the T5 on the Pocket. But last minute conversations led us to shoot both cams with a T5 so we split the Kondor. Well, unfortunately the cam-op person grab the Samsung cable without thinking instead for the Kondor.

I agree the Kondor is slightly short and being thick it is hard to twist or bend, while the one from Angelbird is too long. I think a 12” to 14” is the ideal length.

You need to throw that cable away.

The Kondor? Why?

The Samsung cable.

Uli Plank wrote:The Samsung cable.

Oh yeah! Took it out of the gear bag and left it in my boxes of old goodies.

I've been using thunderbolt cables and seems to be the most cheap and reliable option

muriloresende wrote:I've been using thunderbolt cables and seems to be the most cheap and reliable option

I did buy a thunderbolt cable and it didn’t work with the P6K. I mentioned it earlier in this thread -> viewtopic.php?f=2&t=162387&view=unread#p861849

Ellory Yu wrote:The Kondor? Why?

I was talking about the Samsung cable.