FSBELLA Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Brisker, SD for sure knows about the problems that are occuring. the 1st post I told you my buddies locked up, his has not been looked as of yet (1 week). last month there was a "little bug" with the faulty ext. dvd ram filter (xl1394) this month the locking up. they are aware and working on a software fix. I will call them tomorrow (have to check on a rental unit in repair) now just today, had a customer explain the same thing Eric B had happen. this customer was powring the 744t witht a bds setup, no int. batt or ac power connected. and he had a flashing light appear and would not go away. he said he was recording fine but the light that typically indicated the battery is charging would not turn off. (has that happened to anyone else?) Burge, send me your 744t and I will send it to SD right away and I will give you one from rental. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Please call me Darren, my military days are LONG behind me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Because I only use the internal drive, I have been fortunate enough to have not encountered this latest bug. For those of you that have, has SD acknowledged this as a bug and are they actively working on it, or are they considering it to be a large collection of isolated non-repeatable incidents? Or is it hard to tell what they think as they are playing their cards close to their chest? Maybe it would be helpful to them to read this thread, as I just had a look at their 744 forum and there definitely seems to be a lot more references to the current "2.09 ext. media bug" here than there. In fact, I couldn't really find too much at all about it on their site. Most of the 2.09 stuff seems to have been moved to their "fixed/archived" thread. THUS MY COMMENT THAT IT WOULD BE MORE USEFUL TO BE POSTING ALL THIS ON THE SD USERS SUPPORT FORUM, as that's what it is for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 studiomprd wrote: "THUS MY COMMENT THAT IT WOULD BE MORE USEFUL TO BE POSTING ALL THIS ON THE SD USERS SUPPORT FORUM, as that's what it is for!" Well, according to Frank's post above, they are already aware of the problem anyway. Being able to discuss it here on neutral ground without any moderation from the manufacturer has it's benefits as well. For example, Frank has now kindly offered to help Eric. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeff Colon Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Hi Mike, I cringed when seeing your post in all caps... I don't think anyone here is interested in bashing SD publicly ... only in having "reliability." Regards, Jeff C. "I used to be stressed on the job... when I packed parachutes" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Burge Posted March 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 studiomprd wrote: "THUS MY COMMENT THAT IT WOULD BE MORE USEFUL TO BE POSTING ALL THIS ON THE SD USERS SUPPORT FORUM, as that's what it is for!" Well, according to Frank's post above, they are already aware of the problem anyway. Being able to discuss it here on neutral ground without any moderation from the manufacturer has it's benefits as well. For example, Frank has now kindly offered to help Eric. Thanks for the offer, Frank, but all is good...for now anyway. I think I'll be fine as long as I don't try to mirror to D-RAM until this v2.09 bug is fixed. I've not had any "recording" lock-ups prior to these 3 isolated events although admittedly I've only done limited mirroring since my v2 hardware upgrade and v2.09 firmware install. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've lost count of the number of times my 744T has failed to eject from my OSX desktop resulting in "improper shutdown" messages prompting media file repair, etc., but never before have I seen this most recent strange behavior. The yellow "charging light" was very strange indeed, but reinstalling the v2.09 firmware solved the problem...or so it seems. Another issue, which I have not posted until now, but did discuss directly with SD, is that the right side of my LCD back-light has been funky ever since my v2 hardware upgrade. It will be fine one moment and then dim out for no apparent reason. Sometimes pressing the "light" button fixes it, sometimes not. As I think Glen Trew says, "...sometimes the problem is intermittent...". The left side light remains stable. It hasn't seemed to affect any other systems (but how would I know for sure?) and I plan to send my 744T back to SD at some point, but am waiting for a convenient time. I should wrap the show I'm currently on early next week so maybe that would be a good time. FWIW, I also have several Lectro 411s with funky LCD screens, which Larry F. knows about, but same thing, only intermittent problems and supposedly no effect on other systems. Maybe the time is near for my entire kit to take a little vacation. Argh! As for communication with the SD mother-ship, they are well aware of my 1st lockup, but not the subsequent 2, nor the charging light thing. I spoke with Nicholas in tech support the day after it first happened and he was very helpful, acknowledging that this was already a known bug in v2.09 and offering suggestions as to how to avoid problems until it's fixed, i.e., revert to earlier firmware (v2.03 or below) or don't mirror. I was gambling when I tried to continue forward with the same workflow that had gotten me into trouble...and sure enough, I got caught with my pants down. Inquiring minds want to know I guess. I'm over trying to mirror for the time being, but I like too many of the other v2.09 features to move backward as long as I can record confidently to the INT HDD only and dump files later, which so far has been the case. I also know that Jon T at SD read though our lengthy discussion posted here on Jeff's forum a few months back which concerned 01V96/MOTU system configuration issues and 7 series digital AES sync, WC, LTC, etc. that Darren B, Take V, myself, and a number of others contributed to. We could have posted either of these threads to the SD forum alone or in addition to here, and/or RAMPS, but personally, I have a hard enough time regularly monitoring just this forum and RAMPS, much less all of the various manufacturers' sites. I did mirror to RAMPS the OP concerning my 1st 744T lockup, but did not continue the discussion anywhere else but here. There was simply more thoughtful response here warranting further discussion and my experience has been that this is the usual case on Jeff's forum, thoughtful dialog mostly void of politics that are otherwise pervasive elsewhere. Not to say that the manufacturers' and other sites aren't valuable resources, which they are, but more that "our" world of production sound is a subset of a greater recording spectrum and many of the issues facing us specifically as production sound folks are moot or nonessential for others. I also like the idea of funneling greater amounts of empirical data and anecdotal information into fewer places for archival purposes as it allows for easier research and retrieval later. my .02 EB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Eric Wrote: "As for communication with SD... ...I spoke with Nicholas in tech support the day after it first happened and he was very helpful, acknowledging that this was already a known bug in v2.09 and offering suggestions as to how to avoid problems until it's fixed, i.e., revert to earlier firmware (v2.03 or below) or don't mirror." This is the area where I strongly believe some of the manufacturers could improve. If they are aware that there is a problem, they really should be either issuing a bulletin or e-mailing the owners so that everyone can be made aware of it, before they are unlucky enough to find out the hard way! This especially holds true in cases like this where they have identified the problem and have a solution, albeit temporary, that could prevent anyone from encountering this bug in the 1st place. This would help protect the users from encountering what can be a very stressful situation with fairly serious ramifications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Burge Posted March 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 This is the area where I strongly believe some of the manufacturers could improve. If they are aware that there is a problem, they really should be either issuing a bulletin or e-mailing the owners so that everyone can be made aware of it, before they are unlucky enough to find out the hard way. This especially holds true in cases like this where they have identified the problem and have a solution, albeit temporary, that could prevent anyone from encountering it. Hard to argue against that, Darren. In my own case, it was at least comforting to learn directly from SD that my hardware wasn't in full meltdown, but it wasn't so cool prior to that, while on set, trying to pull a rabbit out of my hat to get things back up and operational under pressure. I loathe to hear, "waiting for sound", anytime, but when it comes at a time that is completely unexpected, when my boom op and I are the only ones who know the naked truth of how bad the situation may actually be, "disconcerting" is a gross understatement. I would never have been mirroring had I known the risk in doing so. As I stated earlier, it was my own stupidity or my faith in the low probability of repeatable random occurrences that prompted me to continue on until the 2nd and then 3rd failure happened. I agree with a couple earlier posts that point to the complexity of interactive firmware code and inevitable possibilities of bugs being introduced along the evolution path. OTOH, if something as significant as NO recording being even remotely possible on a dedicated recorder, I think a huge message should be posted, maybe something like, WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD! Granted, most of us aren't saving small children through our daily production efforts, but no audio during a critical scene could amount to career suicide. Of course there is always the option for a fully separate backup system, but that is another discussion. EB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPSharman Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Another issue, which I have not posted until now, but did discuss directly with SD, is that the right side of my LCD back-light has been funky ever since my v2 hardware upgrade. It will be fine one moment and then dim out for no apparent reason. Sometimes pressing the "light" button fixes it, sometimes not. As I think Glen Trew says, "...sometimes the problem is intermittent...". The left side light remains stable. It hasn't seemed to affect any other systems (but how would I know for sure?) and I plan to send my 744T back to SD at some point, but am waiting for a convenient time. EB, I had this problem in the original firmware version of my 744T. It happened about one month after buyng the machine. Pressing the "light" button only has an effect because you are touching the part of the housing where there is a poor connection on the right side light. They replaced my LCD with no fuss when I sent it in for the firmware upgrade. It had no eefect on the performance of the machine. It worked flawlessly (until the firmware upg we have all been talking about!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSBELLA Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 hey guys, talked to SD tech today. my buddies 744t was shipped today with a software fix. (2 weeks from time shipped- back and forth) the tech said it was a software glitch. you are all right, 1st -sd totally knows there is a bug in the current software (in the next 2 weeks there should be a patch or new software to fix the ext.dvd ram & cf recording etc. and the lights, they know about the lights (it does not effect the recording, but is making mixers uneasy, we can understand how that can happen just read eric's post's 2nd-manufactorers should let the dealers or vendors know that there are problems occurring with the current software. we can all realize what panic mode that might set off, for most of the endusers typically up grade once a new version is available. and not to mention the possible future sales of there respected products. ( not pointing fingers at SD, everyone here knows what type of company and products they have, personally the sd line is the most requested and rented items we have) don't know how many mixers are using the dvd ram ots, but sd is fixing the problem that was occuring when having the dvd ram upright in a bag. maybe in the future with any new products or software upgrades, if there is any problems or glitches at all, let your local dealer and the manufactorer know asap. so it can be fixed without further problems. good luck, fs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpiegari Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 I have been running 2.09 since it 's release and have had no issues with it on my 744t. I particularly like the extra custom routing setups and the additional levels in folder hierarchy. I had NOT done the hardware upgrade until last week. I DID experience the constant charge light phenomenon. I wondered if it was an indication that the internal cell was going south. That is what prompted the recorders return to the homeland. The light is fixed (still don't know what the issue was) and and the unit is 2.0 ready. I am almost always over the shoulder and never really intend to write simultaneously to a third destination. I do like the idea of being able to copy to an external source without my laptop but I have not tried yet. All in all, I'm quite pleased with performance of the machine and the support from SD. I've had only two machine lockups in almost two years of using the unit. My PD-4 certainly couldn't compete with that track record. And I don't miss a hurried tape change in a light winter drizzle with a Nagra IS. Glen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael P Clark Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 Just to chime in here, I also experienced the same issues. Had the system lockup when formatting the dvd-ram, twice. then fine. Also experienced the "charging LED" with only BDS connected. But here's a new one, after wrapping Tuesday, I was getting an overload indication on CH2, with no cables connected. Stayed that way, through numerous shutdowns and menu changes. Didn't go off until today after I connected a microphone to the input. After a couple more power on cycles, it's still gone. Has anyone experienced the "freeze" while recording to INHD and CF? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 Yes, as mentioned previously, that is what happened to mine. Completely froze while recording to the internal H.D. only. Required removal of the battery and ext. power source to re-start. Please note that I believe I was using 2.03 at the time, not 2.09. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPSharman Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 Yes - Me too - Never froze before 2.0, but after it has frozen a few times when changing scene numbers in #6 menu and renaming files on the CF and HD. I have not updated to 2.09, nor do I use and external drive of any kind. Sinec being aware of why it locks up, I have not locked it up since. I just don't try to make it think too fast while going through menus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Burge Posted March 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 [ Yes - Me too... I find it interesting that once a topic [such as this] is started, how many others are motivated to jump in with related anecdotal info, all of which is valuable to us as a collective. Personally, I am impressed to see such expanded interaction amongst us here, and I'm sure Jeff is too. I recall not too long ago Darren B posted a comparison relating number of members to contributions. This is a great forum. Why it [generally] commands more thoughtfulness and willing contribution from a growing community of participants [as compared to other forums] is something of a mystery to us all, but I suspect it may have to do with these discussions being more like polite conversation in Jeff's own home rather than happy hour frenzy in an international transit lounge, even though there are many members now on-board from across the globe. This idea has been pointed out before and it is of great benefit for us to be civil. As of this post, I think it totals 41 replies and 608 views of this discussion alone, if the stats are correct. The same OP on RAMPS prompted a total of 2 replies before scrolling into the archives. Wow, very cool. I started this thread so I might as well offer one more comment regarding the occasional veer toward political commentary. This was never meant to be a rant on my part, but simply a public announcement of my recent personal observations regarding the 744T (maybe concerning other/all 7 Series products?). The folks at SD surly know (I would think) that I remain in full support of their continued efforts to evolve the art-state of our industry's tools. Such a challenge does not meet success without navigating some unfamiliar waters...and is fostered through regular and objective feedback from us as end-users. I consider myself lucky to have received one of the very 1st 744Ts to ship out (within the first couple dozen at least) and I have enjoyed it's impressive utility from the start and more so with each firmware update since way back with v1.07 if I recall. Although I have run into a few bugs [admittedly annoying at times], I have never questioned my faith in the general design concepts nor philosophy that drive this line of rugged field-worthy products. I do my best to stay in regular contact with SD and have always received top notch service, even when I beta tested the environmental envelope to the point of catastrophic failure, but that is another story... I do find it odd however that we are not [all] experiencing the same issues, taking into consideration the various or same hardware/firmware versions in operation. I read back through the various posts on this topic and while some have experienced the same identical problems as I, there are a number of other posts that reference completely different symptoms with supposedly the same hardware/firmware setups. Maybe some of this involves specific combinations of menu selections as well, or individual component specs (tolerances), etc. With the ever-expanding menu selectable options, these boxes become very personalized tools. EB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSBELLA Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 What is the reported problem with using the DVDRAM upright in a audio bag? I have been using mine this way since the DVDRAM drive 1st sold and with the ecpection of a Kernal Exception that happened on Wed 2/27/07 (posted on SD's website) I haven't had any problems. FOP, never heard of that happening either until nicholas from SD told us the other day. talk to you later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Mayer Posted March 6, 2007 Report Share Posted March 6, 2007 Software Revision 2.10 is now available at the Sound Devices website. http://www.sounddevices.com/download/ It should resolve many of the problems users have been experiencing with 2.09. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpiegari Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 How are folks doing with 2.10? Have the lcokups gone away? Glen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSBELLA Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 Glen, other fellow members, its a little to early yet, but SD is pretty confident that this is the fix. my buddies I posted about earlier, just picked his up from me today. he is going to "put it back into his setup" and give me the updates. thanks and good luck to all. fs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Burge Posted March 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 My first op to try v2.10 yesterday. Real-time simultaneous recording to all media at 24/48, renaming files, fast scrolling through menus, etc. etc. All rock solid... Thanks SD for jumping on this. EB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted March 14, 2007 Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 702T w/ ext TC (from video), recording to CF and the SD XL-DVDRAM w/ 5x media on 2.10 today. LONG rolls, like 50 min sometimes. Entered scene names etc. All good. Philip Perkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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