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New low-cost onboard downconverter available soon!


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I really like the idea of using the same cable for inbound as well as outbound.

 

Do you mean the same connector rather than "same cable"...? otherwise I'm not sure I understand. You'd want to observe the normal scheme of things for the 12v side I would think, so that the cable would be a male HRS plug for the rig end and a female on the other? So it wouldn't be reversible...

 

The Lemo situation would be a little different, with male plugs on both end I would think, which would make it reversible (at least for PRO compatible owners--the Steadicam owners would have Lemo to 4 pin HRS).

 

Guess we should take a poll here and see how many are interested. I think it might be hard to drum up 25 peeps (who haven't already ordered their units). This based on how much interest the unit got from the emails I received, and how many people are spending money on anything at all these days!

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I think another wrinkle is how many different ways one might want to use this device; power from the rig for sure, but where in the signal path do you want to insert the HDSDI signal (I might do it after looping through the monitor, or just before) and where do you want to export the down-converted signal - which might be different depending on the day, monitor in use, etc.

 

I also suspect that a single cable carrying both the incoming HDSDI and an outgoing signal might get noisy; HDSDI is touchy to say the least.

 

Can't wait to try out some of the options with my unit....

 

Jerry (won't be one of any 25, sorry to say)

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Pleased to report mine arrived very speedily - thanks to Daniel at Cypher AMS (www.cypherams.com) in the UK. Next week I'm going to try and chop the DC connector off the PSU and solder it on to a spare hirose 4 cable - shouldn't be too hard. Not quite sure where I'll take power from, possibly just make a Y-lead up and take it off the hirose-4 connector on the top of the sled that's typically used for video transmitters. (on another topic: allegedly that hirose should contain composite video paralleled off the main input so you can feed a transmitter with video and power at the same time, but I've never got that to work)

 

My plan in terms of signal path is to come up with some bracketry to mount it just below the focus receiver at the top of the sled, where I can take the HD-SDI from the camera, convert it to composite and then feed that into the composite in at the top of my Archer, from which it gets fed through the existing cabling to all the various outlets. The Archer's so bloody difficult to get weight below the gimbal that I considered trying to mount it down there somewhere but it's a lot smaller and lighter than I was expecting, and whilst the Archer internal cabling is rated for HD-SDI, I'd have no easy way of getting a composite signal back to the top of the sled for whatever reason.

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I think another wrinkle is how many different ways one might want to use this device; power from the rig for sure, but where in the signal path do you want to insert the HDSDI signal (I might do it after looping through the monitor, or just before) and where do you want to export the down-converted signal - which might be different depending on the day, monitor in use, etc.

 

I also suspect that a single cable carrying both the incoming HDSDI and an outgoing signal might get noisy; HDSDI is touchy to say the least.

 

Can't wait to try out some of the options with my unit....

 

Jerry (won't be one of any 25, sorry to say)

 

I think the concept with the single cable would be simply to carry the composite video output of the box into the rig along with the power to the box, nothing to do with HD-SDI as indeed that is touchy stuff.

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1/60 = 1 field. As far as why Sony can't do this, I really don't know Jens--I'm just passing on the information that I was sent from the Redbyte rep. When I was testing the unit at the DIT tent, we had the direct HD signal on one monitor and the downconverted signal on the other and I couldn't detect a delay between the two to eye. I'm not sure that the difference between 1 field and 1 frame is that noticeable anyway in this type of application.

 

One feature that the Redbyte has that I just learned about is compatibility with the 3G signal path, not yet in practical use but I've been told it will allow for single cable 4:4:4 HD-SDI which currently requires two cables, so the unit has some future-proofing (at least for the next generation).

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I really like the idea of using the same cable for inbound as well as outbound.

 

Do you mean the same connector rather than "same cable"...? otherwise I'm not sure I understand. You'd want to observe the normal scheme of things for the 12v side I would think, so that the cable would be a male HRS plug for the rig end and a female on the other? So it wouldn't be reversible...

 

The Lemo situation would be a little different, with male plugs on both end I would think, which would make it reversible (at least for PRO compatible owners--the Steadicam owners would have Lemo to 4 pin HRS).

 

Guess we should take a poll here and see how many are interested. I think it might be hard to drum up 25 peeps (who haven't already ordered their units). This based on how much interest the unit got from the emails I received, and how many people are spending money on anything at all these days!

Same Cable Charles. Ultra2 to Modulus is Horse 4pin male (Rig side: Video/12v) to a 4pin Horse Female (modulus side). All I'm thinking is that this cable could also be used to go from Rig to RedByte as well as RedByte to Modulus. Cutting down on the need for a completely new cables + backup.

 

I think another wrinkle is how many different ways one might want to use this device; power from the rig for sure, but where in the signal path do you want to insert the HDSDI signal (I might do it after looping through the monitor, or just before) and where do you want to export the down-converted signal - which might be different depending on the day, monitor in use, etc.

 

I also suspect that a single cable carrying both the incoming HDSDI and an outgoing signal might get noisy; HDSDI is touchy to say the least.

 

Can't wait to try out some of the options with my unit....

 

Jerry (won't be one of any 25, sorry to say)

Not intended to input video with the cable I spoke of, only power, because of what you just stated and that the accessory connector on the ultra2 is NTSC and not an HDSDI output, but will supply power. Even on our ultraBright monitor is the same Hirose power supply available.

 

I think another wrinkle is how many different ways one might want to use this device; power from the rig for sure, but where in the signal path do you want to insert the HDSDI signal (I might do it after looping through the monitor, or just before) and where do you want to export the down-converted signal - which might be different depending on the day, monitor in use, etc.

 

I also suspect that a single cable carrying both the incoming HDSDI and an outgoing signal might get noisy; HDSDI is touchy to say the least.

 

Can't wait to try out some of the options with my unit....

 

Jerry (won't be one of any 25, sorry to say)

 

I think the concept with the single cable would be simply to carry the composite video output of the box into the rig along with the power to the box, nothing to do with HD-SDI as indeed that is touchy stuff.

Yes Charles, but I was thinking more along the path of Rig -> Converter -> Modulus being that I'm already HDSDI on my monitor, but the other could totally work also.

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Alfeo-

 

Not to rain on the parade, but at least one of the Hirose connectors on the Ultras/Clippers, etc. is power isolated and limited to one amp (I think it's the input one on the stage, but it would be good to check it out. Another issue is high vs. low mode... you might want to move the modulus around, but not the decimator.

 

Regardless, cables are cheap enough. The DC power plug with the twist lock is about $5.00, the 4 pin Hirose about $12.00.

 

Jerry

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I'd be happy with a 4-pin Hirose that splits to bare tinned ends, with a respectable length that can be cut down to the desired size...at which point the user chooses their own flavor of video/power connector to solder on. I don't own a Modulus so Alfeo's cable would differ from mine, but I do understand the desire to consolidate cabling..

 

If something like that came with the Decimator, it'd be one less step for us to personalize it to our equipment. But I also realize that not everybody has the ability or time to make their own cables.

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For those interested in making their own power cable with the stock connector (and soldering this type of connector end, by the way, is about as easy as it gets), here is a link to the part:

 

http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail...FGJFykbyKBbI%3d

 

Otherwise, you could always just chop up the AC power cable that is included with the unit if you were never going to use it that way.

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