Premium Members Tom Wills Posted February 3, 2012 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 I've used a Decimator 1 for over two years. I've never had a problem running it off a single battery sled (typically using a 14.4 volt Hytron 140). I plan on picking up a Decimator 2 shortly. Excuse the thread highjack, but does anybody know if the Decimator 2 can send a signal from the HDMI out and the composite out simultaneously? The product info' seems to infer this capability. Sure can. I've used it to do that many times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members William Demeritt Posted February 3, 2012 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 When I had a Decimator 2, I would have the issue: - Decimator 2 is on, wired to CVBS out and HD-SDI in, camera is off/not present. - Decimator 2 shows green amber "power" LED. - Powered off D-tap cable at bottom of my PRO sled (typically powered off the Monitor battery, just to stay organized) - Connect camera HD-SDI (or power on camera, happens both ways sometimes). - Decimator 2 shows green amber "power" LED AND RED LED lights up, seems to think it's outputting CVBS. - No image on monitor although everything is selected correctly. - Power off/on monitor, no new image appears. - Solution: pull power plug from Decimator 2, power back on. CVBS image comes to monitor almost instantly (on power up). I've also had this issue when powering the Decimator 2 off the CAM PWR at the top of my sled. Sold my Decimator 2 a few months ago, currently have an MD-DUCC on backorder from Markertek. I don't know if it will have the same problems. My Decimator 2 never "died" on me, but a few cohorts have had the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Tommy Stork Posted February 4, 2012 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Tommy, I don't work for the company but I sell the products and I can tell you that there are plenty of people who are happy with them. That said, I've heard this complaint before (I never experienced it myself). I think there's something rig-related going on and it would be nice to get to the bottom of it. Guys, if you have experienced that issue, please chime in and indicate what rig you are using and what output you are powering from (i.e. on PRO or XCS rigs, the 4-pin power/video lemo or the 3 pin hermaphrodite power connector...on Tiffen rigs, the Hirose etc) Thanks, Charles, I'm sure there are people who are happy with them, but I'm not one of them... at the moment. I run the decimator off of the P-tap. The p-tap cables all checked out fine. I've never powered it off of the sled. I do still see the green power light and the red HD signal light indicating that the decimator is seeing the HD signal, but nothing comes through. I verified this by connecting the BNC cable, (which was tested independently to work) to an SD/HD auto switching monitor and it did not pick up any signal being delivered by the decimator. I then disconnected the BNC from the Decimator and ran straight from the camera SDI out into the monitor and an image was displayed. I also went to PRO and had my sled checked for anything out of the ordinary especially the monitor and everything checked out fine. SD signal passed through the sled with no problems to give me a crystal clear image in the monitor. I then passed an HD signal through the Decimator and out to the sled and got no image in the monitor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Charles Papert Posted February 4, 2012 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 OK, this is all good information, thanks Tommy. I'll pass this on as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Osvaldo Silvera SOC Posted February 9, 2012 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 If anyone has a Decimator 1 for sale, let me know, I havent received the broken Decimator back yet so need to have a backup plan for next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rusty Geller Posted February 10, 2012 Members Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Check the BNCs on the decimator itself, they can come loose. It happened to me, my focus puller tightened the nuts that hold the BNC's in place and it worked perfectly after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Osvaldo Silvera SOC Posted February 11, 2012 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 Thanks Rusty, Yes at one point I did notice one of the BNC's got loose, tightened it up, that was months ago. I was expecting to get it back by now, but Tecads is waiting for parts in order to fix the unit. I did however ask to have my power cables shipped back cause I'll look for another Decimator or any other converter so I can have something as a back up. In a few months I hope to have an HD monitor so I'll only keep a single decimator or converter as a back up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Andrew Ansnick Posted February 11, 2012 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 Thanks Rusty, Yes at one point I did notice one of the BNC's got loose, tightened it up, that was months ago. I was expecting to get it back by now, but Tecads is waiting for parts in order to fix the unit. I did however ask to have my power cables shipped back cause I'll look for another Decimator or any other converter so I can have something as a back up. In a few months I hope to have an HD monitor so I'll only keep a single decimator or converter as a back up. Make sure you have a viable backup plan in order Ozzie. I learned to not rely on Tecads' estimates after waiting 4 months for my Decimator 2 to be returned to me! I ended up buying a second backup unit which I had to use to be able to work while mine was being serviced. I don't really understand why their service takes so long. Four months to receive brand new boards, which had to be shipped from the manufacturer, before completing my repair rather then just swapping one from a brand new unit which they had in ample supply just sitting on the shelf, waiting to be sold, in order to get one of their customers back up and running. Personally, I have heard more then a dozen stories of operators having issues with these downconverters and am really beginning to question their quality as well as the support available to their customers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Osvaldo Silvera SOC Posted February 11, 2012 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 What other down converters are there in the same price range? Anyone? Black magic? AJA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Osvaldo Silvera SOC Posted February 23, 2012 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Still nothing. No one has a Decimator 1 for sale out there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Osvaldo Silvera SOC Posted March 17, 2012 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 Still waiting for the repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Txema Zuriarrain Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Hi everyone. My Decimator 2 got broken down the first day of use. In my case it was during a battery swap, too. I was powering it through a P Tap from the on board battery of an Epic. As I was confident having powered it through just one battery to avoid any issues with voltaje spikes, I had been unplugging the P Tap sometimes and others not, along all the day, and everything went right the several times I did it. When it got broken down I had not unplugged the P Tap, so I guess I should have done it always. The issue is that the green power light was on, but the red video out light was off, and no signal on my Steadicam's monitor. I changed all cables but still the same. I took it today to the distributor and he told me that it might be out of warranty for having powered it up from a battery instead of powering it from the provided AC adaptor, as it is supposed to be done. It was useless to say to him that I can't go plugged to the AC with the Steadicam. So, I am waiting now to the reply of the technicians from Symbiosis in UK, where it has been or will be sent. I will try to get a voltage regulator to avoid any more problems while I try to save to get a HD monitor. I hope all of you who had issues got your units repaired already. Tx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members christian gibson Posted May 20, 2012 Premium Members Report Share Posted May 20, 2012 Tommy, I don't work for the company but I sell the products and I can tell you that there are plenty of people who are happy with them. That said, I've heard this complaint before (I never experienced it myself). I think there's something rig-related going on and it would be nice to get to the bottom of it. Guys, if you have experienced that issue, please chime in and indicate what rig you are using and what output you are powering from (i.e. on PRO or XCS rigs, the 4-pin power/video lemo or the 3 pin hermaphrodite power connector...on Tiffen rigs, the Hirose etc) have been having exactly the same problem as Tommy since day one with my decimator. im powering from PRO three pin hermaphrodite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Stefano Ben Posted June 11, 2012 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Hi Guys! I have the decimator v2. It was powered from the Pro Sled by the normal 12v (14-15v). Alexa HD-SDI Input! What does it mean when the RED led light flickering and make a "BIP" sound??? Have you ever had this kind of issue? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JobScholtze Posted June 11, 2012 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 I have 2 decimator ones. I have them for over a year and betz made the modification for it. Now he also did my 2 mk-v sled and have transvideo monitors on it, i never use the decimators. its nice to keep one in my kit for you dont know what. Not sure what to do with the other one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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