Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

The place for questions about shooting with Blackmagic Cameras.
  • Author
  • Message
Offline

miemue

  • Posts: 9
  • Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:34 pm
  • Real Name: Michael Müllner

Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostTue Jan 21, 2020 11:40 pm

Just got my Video Assist 12G 5'' and already have some major issues.
First thing: The old Sdi (Mini Sdi) Cables form the Video Assist don't work. You need new mini or micro BNC cable which is hard to get. Can't find any informations on that online.

Second: The screen has a terrible green/yellowish tint, which you cannot calibrate or fix. So all the talk about hdr, wide gamut LCD... is useless because what u see is far away from what you get and the screen is useless for more than checking focus.

I want to like it, but at the moment it will go back.
Offline
User avatar

Robert Niessner

  • Posts: 4946
  • Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:51 am
  • Location: Graz, Austria

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostWed Jan 22, 2020 9:24 am

Michael, is it possible that you have a LUT on your camera out enabled and also a LUT on the Videoassist?

And this cable is sold as compatible:
https://www.videodata.de/shop/products/ ... hwarz.html

EDIT: the cable above seems not to be the correct one, looks like an error.

The difference between the DIN BNC and Micro BNC is that DIN uses a spring pull-back mechanism and Micro uses the same twist to lock mechanism like the full size BNC.

At B&H I found this cable:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... di_4k.html
Saying "Thx for help!" is not a crime.
--------------------------------
Robert Niessner
LAUFBILDkommission
Graz / Austria
--------------------------------
Blackmagic Camera Blog (German):
http://laufbildkommission.wordpress.com

Read the blog in English via Google Translate:
http://tinyurl.com/pjf6a3m
Offline

vovovov

  • Posts: 3
  • Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2019 11:08 am
  • Real Name: Valtteri Osara

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostWed Jan 22, 2020 10:50 am

Sorry to hear about the problems, hope they get resolved.

I don´t have access to test the new Assist 12G 5", so i´m interested to hear more of the new model, if you don´t mind :)

How is the battery life and fan noise with the new model?
Offline
User avatar

Iskandar

  • Posts: 14
  • Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2019 10:17 am
  • Location: Rotterdam, the Netherlands
  • Real Name: Iskandar Bwefar

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostWed Jan 22, 2020 11:49 am

Noticed the same thing regarding the color on the 7". Not LUT turned on, but the image looks quite a bit warmer than what is actually recorded. Hope this can be addressed through firmware.
Offline
User avatar

Robert Niessner

  • Posts: 4946
  • Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:51 am
  • Location: Graz, Austria

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostWed Jan 22, 2020 12:10 pm

I'd prefer if one could calibrate the monitor like Atomos has with several of their products, which is really helpful.
Saying "Thx for help!" is not a crime.
--------------------------------
Robert Niessner
LAUFBILDkommission
Graz / Austria
--------------------------------
Blackmagic Camera Blog (German):
http://laufbildkommission.wordpress.com

Read the blog in English via Google Translate:
http://tinyurl.com/pjf6a3m
Offline
User avatar

rick.lang

  • Posts: 17173
  • Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:41 pm
  • Location: Victoria BC Canada

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostWed Jan 22, 2020 2:27 pm

Darn it! Already ordered the 7” yellow screen. Oh well prefer that to the 5” green screen.
Rick Lang
Offline

miemue

  • Posts: 9
  • Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:34 pm
  • Real Name: Michael Müllner

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostWed Jan 22, 2020 2:31 pm

Just noticed that the color tint changes when you press playback. From magenta to yellow/green.
Offline
User avatar

Robert Niessner

  • Posts: 4946
  • Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:51 am
  • Location: Graz, Austria

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostThu Jan 23, 2020 11:58 am

Today a firmware update was released. Maybe it fixes your problem?
Saying "Thx for help!" is not a crime.
--------------------------------
Robert Niessner
LAUFBILDkommission
Graz / Austria
--------------------------------
Blackmagic Camera Blog (German):
http://laufbildkommission.wordpress.com

Read the blog in English via Google Translate:
http://tinyurl.com/pjf6a3m
Offline

miemue

  • Posts: 9
  • Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:34 pm
  • Real Name: Michael Müllner

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostThu Jan 23, 2020 12:39 pm

Unfortunately not, still the same
Offline
User avatar

Robert Niessner

  • Posts: 4946
  • Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:51 am
  • Location: Graz, Austria

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostThu Jan 23, 2020 3:28 pm

miemue wrote:Unfortunately not, still the same


I would contact BMD support with some pictures of the screen and ask them if you need to RMA.
Saying "Thx for help!" is not a crime.
--------------------------------
Robert Niessner
LAUFBILDkommission
Graz / Austria
--------------------------------
Blackmagic Camera Blog (German):
http://laufbildkommission.wordpress.com

Read the blog in English via Google Translate:
http://tinyurl.com/pjf6a3m
Offline

miemue

  • Posts: 9
  • Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:34 pm
  • Real Name: Michael Müllner

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostThu Jan 23, 2020 6:49 pm

It's not a hardware defect, just how the monitor works. Screen is good, runtime ok, but the software and colors are far from real and shift randomly. I got a support ticket, but if it takes too long i have to send it back, otherwise I have to live with it. Also braw is not activated yet, so apart from being a monitor that thing has no use for me at the moment.
Offline

Chris Leutger

  • Posts: 325
  • Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:00 am

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostThu Jan 23, 2020 7:45 pm

Now I'm regretting passing up those SmallHD xmas deals because I thought these were going to be great. D'oh!
Amateur Auteur

AMD 7800X3d 8c 5 GHz - GSkill DDR5-6000 (EXPO) 32x2
Nvidia 1080 Ti 8GB - WD SN850x 2 TB
Resolve 18.5 - Ubuntu 22.04
Offline

projekt2501

  • Posts: 6
  • Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2020 4:17 pm
  • Real Name: Christopher Haug

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostTue Feb 11, 2020 4:43 pm

I see the color problem on mine as well. Also the gamma. Partially "fixed" by entering playpack mode and coming back to live. But if you open Vectroscope you see the colorspace and mine does stick to Rec2020 for some sources what is wrong and i can't change it manually as there are zero settings in the menu for colorspace or gamma.
Offline
User avatar

rick.lang

  • Posts: 17173
  • Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:41 pm
  • Location: Victoria BC Canada

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostTue Feb 11, 2020 6:12 pm

The colour space and so on are determined by the video stream you are sending to the recorder, not the BMVA12G.
Rick Lang
Offline

Kristian Lam

Blackmagic Design

  • Posts: 957
  • Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:11 pm

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostTue Feb 11, 2020 10:40 pm

miemue wrote:Just noticed that the color tint changes when you press playback. From magenta to yellow/green.


Please download Blackmagic Video Assist 3.0.3 which is now available on our support page. This should resolve the color tint changes in playback.
Offline

Nick Lavigne

  • Posts: 172
  • Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:36 am
  • Location: Connecticut, USA
  • Real Name: Nick Lavigne

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostWed Feb 12, 2020 3:19 am

Side by side with my Ninja V and BMD 7" I see no color difference.
Offline
User avatar

rick.lang

  • Posts: 17173
  • Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:41 pm
  • Location: Victoria BC Canada

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostWed Feb 12, 2020 4:24 am

Thank you, Kristian and the BMVA12G7 team. That was quick!
Rick Lang
Offline

Chris Leutger

  • Posts: 325
  • Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:00 am

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostWed Feb 12, 2020 7:38 pm

That's great, good to know for when I go to the store for the great monitor shoot-out.
Amateur Auteur

AMD 7800X3d 8c 5 GHz - GSkill DDR5-6000 (EXPO) 32x2
Nvidia 1080 Ti 8GB - WD SN850x 2 TB
Resolve 18.5 - Ubuntu 22.04
Offline
User avatar

rick.lang

  • Posts: 17173
  • Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:41 pm
  • Location: Victoria BC Canada

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostWed Feb 12, 2020 8:33 pm

Chris, the store may need to update their BMVA12G7/5 firmware to 3.03.
Rick Lang
Offline

Chris Leutger

  • Posts: 325
  • Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:00 am

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostThu Feb 13, 2020 1:44 am

I don't expect that, I just mean that I won't hold it against them. I'll know that I can update it when I get home.
Amateur Auteur

AMD 7800X3d 8c 5 GHz - GSkill DDR5-6000 (EXPO) 32x2
Nvidia 1080 Ti 8GB - WD SN850x 2 TB
Resolve 18.5 - Ubuntu 22.04
Offline

projekt2501

  • Posts: 6
  • Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2020 4:17 pm
  • Real Name: Christopher Haug

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostSun Feb 16, 2020 2:58 pm

@rick.lang
I can use a capture card like Kona in 4k mode but still be using the individual channels in HD 709. That is pretty much standard procedure in Video Assist software like Qtake and other software as well. If I am not allowed to specify color space by myself and BMDVA doesn't know nor recognize what I am doing it won't work out. Furthermore I guess it is not using Rec2020 though the scopes are in 2020. The colors look to accurate. It is very confusing if you don't even know what it is doing. Every other boradcast monitor let's you check color space. That is basic. And there is still a range error or something wrong with reproduction of blacks. When we had the tint problem, coming from playback the blacks were black. Now with 3.0.3. firmware they are no longer, but at least the tint is gone. Hmpf. And I just had by accident the monitor menu on for an hour on 2500 nits and it burned in. Took a couple of minutes till the symbols disappeared form my screen. I wonder if one day they will stay forever, if only one hour highbright can have such an effect.
Offline
User avatar

rick.lang

  • Posts: 17173
  • Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:41 pm
  • Location: Victoria BC Canada

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostSun Feb 16, 2020 3:34 pm

Thanks for the feedback. On my screen, I’ve only seen a “Rec 709” displayed. But that may be related to either the LUT I was using or the colour space. As you mentioned at this point we don’t know how to interpret everything and I don’t recall any mention if it in the manual... I should Search in the manual.

When you no longer saw deep black on the screen, is there any chance you previously had a different look applied?

As for the burn-in, I haven’t run a test yet for more than half an hour outdoors at 2500 NITs. Good to know there’s some image retention like that. I may be wrong but “burn in” may better describe what can happen with an OLED screen where the ‘ghost’ of an image never goes away. I think that is not normally going to be an issue with an LCD IPS panel.
Rick Lang
Offline

Diman Ku

  • Posts: 22
  • Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2015 8:45 am

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostTue Feb 18, 2020 7:36 am

It can support St.2084 scope with correct metadata injection on video signal. But yes I do agree a manually select gamma and colour space is the better way to go.
Offline

projekt2501

  • Posts: 6
  • Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2020 4:17 pm
  • Real Name: Christopher Haug

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostTue Feb 18, 2020 12:13 pm

No, I did not change any settings or luts of course. The old firmware just made blacks black whenever I came out of playback mode, together with the color shift. When it was restarted colors were ok but blacks washed out again. Does nobody experience that? Has maybe anybody a camera that can output a black frame for status overlays an check if this black frame is way more grey than the top black bar of the VA that always stays there. Also maybe wanna compare the image of a dark scene and how VA displays is with any other monitor and check the blacks. Of course one could crank up the contrast, that makes it appear nicer but the blacks still are grey and lack of detail at the same time. Furthermore you can't stay on high contrast as for brighter scenes the details in highligts will disappear if you are over 60 or 66 contrast. Thanks.
Offline

Howard Roll

  • Posts: 2506
  • Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 7:50 am

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostTue Feb 18, 2020 9:28 pm

HDR Scopes are clippping at 60? Is the output 10 bit? Sounds like HLG not HDR. Additionally some tone mapping schemes are relative to the monitor's brightness.

The absolute best read on all the tasty flavors of HDR the who, how, and why is right here. https://www.smpte.org/sites/default/fil ... es/HDR.pdf There is so much real information it's intoxicating.

I'm the last person to give BM a break but this whole HDR transition is going to be a little bumpy for everyone. Five years ago we had trouble sourcing monitors that could do 24/25P with the same ol' Vanilleo. Now we're talking about hundreds of permutations of HDR when we still can't get SDR gamma sorted reliably. Yikes.

Good Luck
Offline
User avatar

Jamie LeJeune

  • Posts: 2012
  • Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:33 am
  • Location: San Francisco

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostSat Feb 22, 2020 9:40 am

There aren’t hundreds of permutations

There are really just two specs — ST2084 (aka HDR10) and HLG

ST2084 is designed for capture that will go through post production at a later stage

HLG is designed for live transmission of a single signal that can be displayed on either an SDR screen or an HDR screen

All the stuff beyond that — Dolby Vision or HDR10+, etc. are just custom tone mapping metadata schemes that can be added to HDR10 files to preserve the original artistic intent on screens that can’t hit 1000 nits.
www.cinedocs.com
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4601572/
Offline

Chris Leutger

  • Posts: 325
  • Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:00 am

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostSat Mar 07, 2020 9:02 pm

I made it to my local store last week and compared the Shinobi vs the VA 12G 5" with my P2K. I didn't see any major difference in screen quality, but it was late afternoon on a rainy day. The BMVA12G monitor had hepatitis, but that's fixed with the newer firmware. Big takeaways, the noise from the BM12G's fan was clearly audible. Not loud, but there. Interesting note is that it follow the heat sinks up and is barely audible from the sides. With my shotgun mike forward and to the right, it might not be an issue. The Shinobi is lighter though less than I would have thought. I nearly bought the Shinobi right then and there. However, I've read some issue people have with focusing, so I need to go back and do some real testing. The store was about to close so I didn't have much time to check that. In the interim I've read about the upcoming Red Komodo and am interested in that. Since it's SDI only, the BMVA12G wins with both connectors since Shinobi is either or. I'm hoping to get back in the next week to do more in-depth testing maybe it will be sunny!
Amateur Auteur

AMD 7800X3d 8c 5 GHz - GSkill DDR5-6000 (EXPO) 32x2
Nvidia 1080 Ti 8GB - WD SN850x 2 TB
Resolve 18.5 - Ubuntu 22.04
Offline

provanguard

  • Posts: 16
  • Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:36 pm
  • Real Name: Marek Kotolowski

Re: Video Assist 12G 5'' - important issues

PostSat Apr 17, 2021 3:01 pm

I am also seeing an issue with black color being gray and lighter than near black. Is this on purpose?

I am on the latest firmware 3.4.1. I have VA connected to Decklink Mini Monitor 4K and use for HDR preview from Resolve Studio 17.1.1.

Way to reproduce:
Open waveform and set both display options (scope brightness and background opacity) to 100%, and without the video preview. The background is gray instead of black.

Another way to reproduce:
Use a transition effect in Resolve from black to normal image (e.g. Dip to Color dissolve).
Davinci Resolve Studio 18.6.6
Video Assist 12G 5'' HDR, Decklink Mini Monitor 4K
Nikon Z8, Røde Wireless Pro, Røde VideoMic NTG
Intel Core i5-13600K, 64 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16GB, Windows 10

Return to Cinematography

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: StrongOnline007 and 70 guests