Fiber camera connections

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Matt Certa

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Fiber camera connections

PostSat Aug 10, 2019 8:54 pm

I’ve been running 8 ursa broadcasts cameras with fiber chains all year. Upgraded to the new firmware when it released. This weekend I started experiencing a new problem at 2 different show sites.

1. 2 cameras at each location, the fiber “green” light would not show without power cycling the head a few times. Never had this happen before.

2. And I also had 2 CCU’s that would not connect at all to the fiber back at all. Typically the ccu screen would show power handshaking going on. But no visible attempts to connect. Cleaned my fiber, swapped cables and cameras and no change.

Anyone experience anything similar?
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pederdingo

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostSun Aug 11, 2019 9:19 am

Have you looked at the fiber ends with a microscope to make sure they are clean?
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Balazs Kovacs

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostMon Aug 12, 2019 6:56 pm

Hi,

We are experiencing almost the same issue + the return signal sometimes lost, which needs to be reconnected on the ccu side, to get back control over camera.

What resolution are you runnning the system? We experienced this when we changed from 1080 50i to 3G 1080p50. Also we noted that the side return does not support 3G Level B (i don't think it supports level a)

We could pair a fiber back and ccu which would never come online totally almost 9 out of 10.
I've opened a support case for that.

Does your back or side ret1 ret2 button functions?

Balazs
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pederdingo

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostTue Aug 13, 2019 3:50 am

Are you saying the camera back would have a red fiber led, and when unplugging and reinserting the return on the ccu it would light green?
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Matt Certa

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostTue Aug 13, 2019 3:58 pm

One show was running 1080i 59.94 and the other at 1080p 59.94 (outputting A level). The image pro scaling for my led walls seems to like A a lot more than B.

I was keeping the fiber cable plugged in but toggling the camera head off and on. Then the fiber connection light would go from red to green.

I’ve also noticed that the CCU power and fiber red/green lights on the monitor absolutely do not state the status that the fiber back is showing.
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pederdingo

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostTue Aug 13, 2019 4:05 pm

I've had similar issues since the new firmware update, but I just though it was dirty fiber.
Seems it might be software related
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Matt Certa

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostTue Aug 13, 2019 4:23 pm

Ill put a email into BM since it seems to take a crowd to get them to look at anything. My gear is getting back to the shop and im going to bench everything tomorrow and see if I can make any more sense of things.
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Xtreemtec

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostTue Aug 13, 2019 6:01 pm

Do you guys also have clicking relay syndromes after you power off the base station? Have found 2 base stations already from clients that complain that the high voltage relay keeps toggling after power off.
Daniel Wittenaar .:: Xtreemtec Media Productions ::. -= www.xtreemtec.nl =-
4K OBV Trailer, ATEM TVS HD, 4M/E Broadcast Studio 4K, Constelation 8K, Hyperdeck Studio 12G, Ursa Broadcast 4K, 4K fiber converters with Sony Control
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Balazs Kovacs

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostTue Aug 13, 2019 9:09 pm

pederdingo wrote:Are you saying the camera back would have a red fiber led, and when unplugging and reinserting the return on the ccu it would light green?


Yes exactly. I've also made some video for BM support so they see this issue.
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Balazs Kovacs

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostTue Aug 13, 2019 9:10 pm

Xtreemtec wrote:Do you guys also have clicking relay syndromes after you power off the base station? Have found 2 base stations already from clients that complain that the high voltage relay keeps toggling after power off.


Hi Xtreemtec, yes I also experienced this relay toggling almost always after powering off the ccus
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pederdingo

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostWed Aug 14, 2019 6:04 am

Balazs Kovacs wrote:
pederdingo wrote:Are you saying the camera back would have a red fiber led, and when unplugging and reinserting the return on the ccu it would light green?


Yes exactly. I've also made some video for BM support so they see this issue.


I've checked on my cameras, I have this problem on one of my CCUs/cameras as well
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Robert Schemitsch

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostWed Aug 14, 2019 9:34 am

Same here on three CCU/Cameras:

Red light until you plug in the return again,
Relay clicking after power off
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Fofic BV

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostWed Aug 14, 2019 10:41 am

Hii,

We are Fofic an Blackmagic Reseller in the Netherlands, just got a customer with the same issue (red Fiber LED)

Contacted the engineers from BMD.
"Please can you connect a valid return video signal to RET1 and see if the behaviour with the fiber LED persists
If this resolves the behaviour then we are aware of this behaviour and it will be resolved in a future firmware update. The CCU should function as expected.
If this is not the case them please get back in touch and we will investigate further"


By this issue this was the case so it is waiting for BMD to make a bug fix.
If this doenst solve your`e issue u need to contact BMD
Technician @ Fofic
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Knut Bussian

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostThu Aug 15, 2019 10:29 am

To make things even funnier:

I recently sent a 10 months old Camera Fiber Converter (CFC) to service since it did not work anymore. BM returned a new one to me, without any notice why / what was wrong with the old one. That's okay by me since the problem was solved.

When I connected it to the camera I had to update to the latest firmware due to my CCU's. Update went smooth - everthing worked fine and I put it in the box for about a week.

Then I needed it for a job and things went nuts. I experienced the same handshaking issue: CFC showed power: green, fiber red. The camera was not controllable but CCU showed fiber & power green! I switched cables on CCU side: both cameras / CFC and CCU's showed green / worked. Switched cables again: same issue as above (red fiber led on the new CFC).
Cleaned cables with LEMO cleaning pen on both ends, both cables and camera connectors. After powering on, I had false colors transmitted via fiber but this time the fiber led was green on both ends and the camera was controllable remotely????

Image
Image

Turning power on / off didn't change anything. Only when I loaded a setup file inside the camera with the new CFC the false colors were gone - the camera was usable.

Back in the office I looked into this issue and found out, when I connected the new CFC to the other CCU everything was working fine (both CFC's, both CCU's showed a green fiber led). But as soon as I connected the NEW CFC to the other CCU (which of course have all the same firmware) the ON AIR led of the CCU started to flicker...

Even when cleaning / switching cables the issue remains the same. I only get a clean connect / signal in one specific combination of CCU and CFC.

So it is working somehow...

Knut
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Matt Certa

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostThu Aug 15, 2019 9:03 pm

Am I correct in seeing that 5.0.2 was the previous Camera patch that was for the fiber system.

In addition to the bugs we found, I seem to have 2 fiber backs that dont want to try to handshake and boot up at all. Might there be an accessable fuse in there?
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Gary Adams

Blackmagic Design

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Re: Fiber camera connections

PostFri Aug 16, 2019 3:55 pm

Hello Matt. There is no fuse for this purpose. A good way to test the Studio and Camera Fiber system by itself is to first put the camera to Internal reference in Setup. Then loop the SDI output on the back of the Studio Fiber Converter to SDI #1 input on the back of the Studio Fiber Converter. This is just a test but you should be able to power cycle the unit and see the camera at any frame rate. This would take around 30-40 seconds. I will admit every once in a while, the Camera Fiber LED remains red which requires another power cycle. But most of the time it will boot up correctly. If your units do not work in this way, you should contact Support in your region.

Regards, Gary
Gary Adams
Blackmagic Design

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