SDI through old steadycam

[Victor Candela]

Greetings

I am planning to buy a Fly Cam Prophet from a local seller who sells it at a good price. The things is, the steady's sled has a BNC connector, but as the steadycam is old, it's made for S-Video in mind. It also has a TFT monitor that accepts s-video, but I'm planning on using a monitor that I have that uses SDI.

My question is, as SDI uses the same BNC connector, can I use the steadycam integrated system to send in a SDI signal and take it out through the sled to my SDI monitor? Will I receive signal on the other end?

I am asking just to make sure if I will have to modify the cables or buy conversors.

Thank you

Victor

[Calum Tsang]

In theory, SDI and HDSDI should work over the same old analog 75 ohm cable, which is what most composite analog video used:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_digital_interface#Electrical_interface

The theory was decks/switching gear/cameras etc could change but the studio cabling wouldn't needed to be ripped out.

But I'd be concerned about what might be inside, like a distribution amp or different cable type, given some of the Steadicam unique needs.

[Lawrence Karman]

You could always just run a thin BNC directly out of the camera to the monitor and bypass the post connectors. Dropping it down from under the lens and it would not interfere with operating. Good Luck!

 

[Bob Beresh]

Replacing (or having someone else replace) the wiring to swap out for new BNC and new connectors might be a good idea. It's not that hard if you're up for a rewarding challenge.

One tip. Use crimp connectors and the correct crimping tools. The thin coax for HD-SDI in these applications is spec'd as "RG316". 

Have a long history of breaking things, but today I actually fixed something! Have fun.