we have a mojo sdi that didn't work on arrival - and 8 months down the road - has malfunctioned again.  the question is: is this box built to last? 

discouragingly, the dealer told us we only had a month's warranty on it but we told them correctly that it was a year.  Still - two breakdowns in a year - what exactly is going on?  Is this a lemon?  I don't see how avid can justify a product that's falling behind and costs more than comparable SDI solutions on FCP.

don't start that FCP thing again please..

As far as the SDI goes, our first (before they shipped) was a DOA as well.. we now run one that is been running eversince. We have done quite a few and have very little problems. Goes for both SDI versions as well as analoge versions.

Menno

To echo Menno, I have had my Mojo running since 2003 with no issues ever.

I've read horror stories of people saying their Mojos died on them, but I've been running mine (pretty vigorously) for a little over a year, no problems.

I think his FCP comment was more than appropriate.  Avid cannot afford to roll their eyes at it.

GarrettEvans:

I think his FCP comment was more than appropriate.  Avid cannot afford to roll their eyes at it.

yeah yeah yeah noted but i am sick and tired of every thread being a FCP is better blah blah blah thread... there is enough of that now. Start either a new thread or keep to the subject.. valid or not. too much is too much. Hell now we are again hijacking the thread... end of story back to the durability of Mojo since THAT was the question.

Menno

fine...agreed.

My mojo has worked fine...but I have yet to upgrade to the SDI.  So, I withdrawl.

Agreed, Menno.

Mojo running under HEAVY load since summer of 2003 - no issues.
Mojo SDI running under very light workload since summer 2006 - no issues.

btw all our mojo's are on 24/7 except for those infrequent update moments.

Menno

there's no way to turn these things off anyways.  no this is not "another FCP thread" - we own 5 avids and 1 FCP with Kona, but it's sad to see stability and quality control going downhill from earlier versions generally.  adrenaline is not as stable as media composer meredian and as for xpress pro - we've been using it since the start and earlier versions were more stable. 

the amount of hours spent trying to troubleshoot a mojo - with frankly, no help or info from the dealer - is a bunch of crock.  pardon my language.  i doubt if paying for hardware assurance for a mojo makes much sense either.  I think dealers and avid needs to get their troubleshooting guide together.  the users on this forum are providing a lot more info and help that the avid accredited dealers and engineers should be able to address.  i'm veering off track, but slightly - point is - if there's an assurance plan - get it right.  having read of a few SDI mojos on this thread that didn't exactly work right out of the box - doesn't speak volumes about avid's quality control.  I don't read about busted blackmagic or kona cards...

TMVC:

I don't read about busted blackmagic or kona cards...

Trust me.. then you are not reading in the right places.. especially Blackmagic has a fine record of broken cards. It is THE reason all our customers went AJA anyway.. those are quite good.

Menno

I've installed and supported a LOT of Analogue Mojos and a handful of SDI Mojos. Of those I've only had 4 DOA and 4 that died a few months down the line and only one DOA Mojo SDI. But then I've installed hundreds of DSR11 and 45s and there have been some DOA or faulty.

Or Macs.

Or xw8200s.

Or... well, I could go on...

The point is, that it happens, it's not a reflection on Avid's build quality.

Most places don't even shut their Mojos down with no problems. My own Mojo has been running for near 2 years, sometimes out on the road or on hire. No problems.

I've not had as much good fortune with Decklink or Kona cards. When they work, they're awesome, when they don't, it's a nightmare. I have more faith in the Mojo, frankly.

The conventional visdom says that electronical things like computers and Mojos will fail during the first month they live. This because most problems is due to faulty hardware or bad ensambling. Therefore, it is a good idea to let the Mojo be on during the first cople of month and hope some overheating will crack the fautly hardware.

I've read several posts on this forum that said you should never plug your fire wire cable into your fire wire port on your Mojo while your Mojo is on. Apparently some have fried their fire wire ports by doing this. I also fried my fire wire port on my DV7W Ikegami camera by not turning the camera off before plugging in. I admit it is hard to remember to turn the power off when it seems like just yesterday we where plugging in bnc's, xlr's and rca's.   As for leaving my unit on or off, I have my Mojo powered of my battery backup constant voltage power supply. When I switch off the computer the Mojo goes off. Components do change in value and go bad after being left on for extended lengths of time.  BTW what does Mojo stand for or why did avid decide to call it Mojo. It's sometimes hard when talking to a customer and the name Mojo comes up, you get that puzzled look.