Ultrabrite 2 HD/SD SDI problems

[Stephen Wymer]

Hey guys,

 

I've been experiencing a problem with the HD/SD SDI inputs on my Ultrabrite 2 monitor since about midday on a shoot I was on recently. It had been working fine all morning, then we took lunch, went back to my rig and I could not get HD video. The rig wasn't in the sun, monitor was covered for dust protection, and it was within my line of sight during lunch and I witnessed no bumping of the rig. Since then I have tried multiple configurations to try and single out where the problem is originating from.

 

My initial setup was HD SDI out from a RED EPIC to a Decimator 1 - Passthrough to sled - out sled to monitor. Composite output on decimator to SD wireless video, etc. I've tried a simplified setup (straight from camera to monitor with multiple different cables) to rule out any issues with the Decimator/cables and still no picture. I'm definitely going into either HD/SD SDI 1 or 2, and both are being recognized by the monitor during scanning, the scanner just passes those inputs by and continues scanning. I've even restored the monitor to it's factory settings just in case I had accidentally changed a setting I shouldn't have.

 

My first thought was that something had jogged loose just inside the connector, but chances are that would have only impacted one of the inputs as opposed to both.

 

I'm still able to down convert the video through the decimator and hook up the SD video to Composite 1 and get a signal, so the monitor is definitely working.

 

I have a gig requiring wireless video in a couple of weeks so I'm hoping one of you guys with a little more experience can point me towards a setting in the monitor that I am overlooking, or a quick fix before I try sending it in for repair. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Stephen

[Victor Lazaro]

So, you are trying to connect in HD, but the image doesn't show and in SD on the same plugs, it shows the image ok?

 

Do you have another HD SDI source handy to make sure it's not that.

Is the SDI out of the red shows up on other SDI monitors? Did anyone modified the camera settings?

Red is known for not being awesome in therms of SDI out and picky on the compatible monitors.

Otherwise, I afraid it's a bigger issue...

[Stephen Wymer]

Correct, except for the plugs. I'm running the HD through the HD SDI input as opposed to running the the SD through the Composite input.

 

We were successful in connecting the down converted SD SDI video from the RED to my monitor via Composite so It shouldn't have been the camera settings. I have a Canon 60D at home that I've run some tests on as well. The two configurations I have tried so far are as follows.

 

1 - Canon 60D - HDMI out - Blackmagic HDMI to SDI converter - HD SDI out to monitor through HD SDI input = no video connection.

2 - Canon 60D - HDMI out - Blackmagic HDMI to SDI converter - HD SDI out to Decimator 1 - SD SDI out to monitor through Composite Input = Video connection successful.

 

Aside from that, I don't have regular access to any cameras with a native HD SDI output.

 

I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'm probably sending it in somewhere, just keeping my fingers crossed that the problem is me and not the monitor. :)

 

PS - We also tried just running a cable straight from the RED to the monitor, in order to bypass all of the converters and keep things as simple as possible, but also to no avail.