Premium Members Martin Stacey Posted February 3, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 3, 2011 I bought my first piece of equipment from Howard 4 years ago and he bent over backwards to help me at the time. We have had our disagreements as well but they were due to a misunderstanding that was eventually resolved. I now own 2 MK-V sleds and am looking at building a third. I have an AR as well as a "Steadicam" brand rig and a Pro sled. I've tried all of the "big" rigs but keep coming back to MK-V. The versatility and rigidty of Howard's sleds has yet to let me down. Buying local is nice but for my situation (living in New Zealand) that is clearly not an option but I've always been able to get service when I needed it. Howard has been a polarising influence on this forum in the past (Some love him. others don't) but you're best to speak to him yourself and form your own opinion as you will get very differing ones here. Best of luck with whatever you decide but the best bet is to turn up to something like NAB, try them all and decide for yourself. Cheers, Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Brandon Sumner Posted February 7, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 Michael- There are many opinions shared on this forum and MK-V has not been left out of the mix. My personal experience with Howard has been a good one. Once he opened up the office in Connecticut (which is his where he now lives) I went to see him. He has an open door policy with operators and is very easy to deal with and extremely helpful. He built my running sled which is a Genesis. The rig has been in service for almost a year and has been a great asset to my operating. Anytime I have a question or a service issue Howard is always willing to help. There are a few operators on the forum who truly dislike MK-V but if they would all take a trip to CT and have a cup of coffee with Howard I think there opinions would change (with or w/o a hot woman in tow.) MK-V builds and services their products with the up most respect to the operators that use them! Brandon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Thomas English Posted February 7, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 I've got an MK-V sled and am very happy with it. I can upgrade it to an AR when I need to. I purchased a 1.5 inch sled with 3a topstage and weird arsed base many years ago and slowly upgraded it to an all singing all dancing sled I have now. In all my upgrades I never had a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jeff Muhlstock SOC Posted February 7, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 I would like to know if any of my fellow MK-V owners have had issues with HD signal in the V3 electronics? My HD-SDI signal blacks out when ever a walkie talkie is keyed anywhere near my rig. I assume its a simple shielding issue that upsets the HD signal momentarily to my monitor. This is a real problem as an AD is usually cueing over the radio at the start of a take. Anyone else see this problem that owns a 4 stage, 2" post and the V3 boxes? Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Scott Jason Gill Posted February 8, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 I would like to know if any of my fellow MK-V owners have had issues with HD signal in the V3 electronics? My HD-SDI signal blacks out when ever a walkie talkie is keyed anywhere near my rig. I assume its a simple shielding issue that upsets the HD signal momentarily to my monitor. This is a real problem as an AD is usually cueing over the radio at the start of a take. Anyone else see this problem that owns a 4 stage, 2" post and the V3 boxes? Jeff I have V2 electronics but I seem to remember there being a problem with the post cable shielding. If so, it's a super simple change out. You'd have to ask Howard I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Thomas English Posted February 8, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 What monitor you using Jeff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jeff Muhlstock SOC Posted February 8, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 What monitor you using Jeff? Im currently using the sony PVM 740, but my problem exists with every HD monitor on the market, and I have spoken with Howard and replaced the center cable and boxes, Same problem. I have obviously, tested other monitors, cables, etc. Perhaps its simply too long of a cable at that thickness to maintain HDSDI... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Tomas Riuka Posted February 8, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 how is that possible... we do connect hd sdi monitor on 100 ft cables no problem!i should be getting my V3+ HD Nexus this or next week, hopefully this is not an issue, will post here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Scott Jason Gill Posted February 8, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 how is that possible... we do connect hd sdi monitor on 100 ft cables no problem!i should be getting my V3+ HD Nexus this or next week, hopefully this is not an issue, will post here... Not an issue on my V2, but I don't have the super post. I guess it could be in the electronics too. Let us know how it goes for you Tomas. I've been thinking of upgrading to the super-post myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jens Piotrowski SOC Posted February 8, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 shielding is most likely the issue. PRO-GPI spent a lot of time and money making sure this is taken care of. They actually had to change cable-loom makers mid-way to get their quality standards reached.... does that happen with every camera model? the RED is known to have a very bad HD-SDI signal quality. also, i was told that the carbon-fibre impedance can cause issues.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Benjamin Treplin Posted February 8, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 also, i was told that the carbon-fibre impedance can cause issues.... Hahaha, this is a great on! Where did get this information? Serious? What's next? "Hey, you are wearing the wrong shoes! Your grounding is bad, please attach this wire to your sled and drag it along." This sounds too absurd to my ears. It is for sure a shielding issue. Just a tiny leak in a plug, socket or even the cable can cause this. The style of the BNC-socket can cause signal breakups. Regular BNC sockets with solder contacts are not shielded or not sufficient, for example. Hope you'll find the bug. Best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Tomas Riuka Posted February 8, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Ok, will keep posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jens Piotrowski SOC Posted February 9, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 also, i was told that the carbon-fibre impedance can cause issues.... Hahaha, this is a great on! Where did get this information? Serious? this information is from GPI, but widely known, carbon-fibre is highly conductive....i'm not saying it can't be done correctly, see XCS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Eric Fletcher S.O.C. Posted February 9, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 also, i was told that the carbon-fibre impedance can cause issues.... Hahaha, this is a great on! Where did get this information? Serious? this information is from GPI, but widely known, carbon-fibre is highly conductive....i'm not saying it can't be done correctly, see XCS Carbon is conductive, resin is not. Post resistance has NOTHING to do with the signal, or signal shielding, that is all cable and terminations (connectors) Just sayin.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jess Haas SOC Posted February 9, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Aluminum is conductive as well so that alone doesn't say much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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