Problem with Alexa and AJA downconverter

[Chris McKissick]

Hey there,

 

I just set dropped by a set after wrap that I'm going to be working on tomorrow and set up my Archer 1 with the Alexa at hand.

My first time with it. Everything balanced out nicely and I hooked up the AJA Box with a bnc from the monitor out of the Alexa to the HD SDI In port of the AJA box. Then from Composite out to the video in on the stage.

 

I got no signal. I was a bit weirded out and fiddled around with it for a while, swapping out the bncs.. trying different ports even though they didn't make any sense but still no signal.

 

I then went directly from the AJA Box Composite out into the Video In on my monitor and voila - I got a signal.

 

This is really odd since I have a DVCPro which sends the signal through the rig the way it's supposed to. I thought, OK.. so theres a bad contact somewhere. Crap.

 

I just got back home and plugged in the DVCPro and everything was back to normal. Signal goes through the Post down to the monitor - not a problem.

 

What's going on? I'm confused...

 

Thanks a bunch for any hints!

 

Cheers, Chris

[Chris McKissick]

Ok I figured it out..

 

I had the FF running off the 4 pin Lemo vid/12v port and it seems like it automatically sends the video signal out that port and not down to the monitor when it's plugged in.

 

I swapped the 4pin lemo cable for a ptap power cable for running the FF and that solved the problem. Signal went from the AJA box to the monitor with no problem.

 

I'm a bit confused though.. what do I use the 4pin lemo for then? I'm always going to need a video signal going into the video bnc connector on the stage.. but if using the lemo means losing the video to the monitor then whats the point?

 

Thanks!

 

Chris

Edited May 15, 2011 by Chris McKissick