Hi,

I'm preparing an AVID film composer for a film digit and synchro that is starting on monday. There are several things that I don't undesrtand. I'm not very experienced with Avid...

 The film composer 7.2 is running on a Power 9600 (probably) with MAC OS FU1-8.6.

My first problem concern the monitors. The first one is connecting to the mac with a RGB cable and on more BNC entry that make the monitor work (but I don't know what kind of signal is in). The second monitor doesn't work. This one is connected to the AVID PCI extend module. It is also connected with a RGB cable but there is not the fourth cable (that makes the other screen works). Anybody knows the logic ? I should probably send one more signal into the monitor but from where ?

The second problem concern the SCSI discs. Could someone explain to me how to format and strip disks with AVID Drive utility ?

The both first avid disks works but then the other one doesn't mount. I have respected the scsi rule of numbers that you select on the disk.

Thanks for the answer.

Forgive me my english. 

You don't have to stripe the disks if you're doing offline resolutions, I think. Also, SCSI disks this old may not be too reliable, but try and bring them onto the system one by one, shutting down and rebooting each time.

 Hi job,

Thanks to this "one per one" technique, most of my scsi disks are recognized now. 7 avid ultra 160 disks on the bus 02. Three disks from a blank brand on the bus 03. On the bus 02 i have two stripped disks and 5 unstripped. I have read on those pages that disks most be stripped. Ok ok but I can't strip them because in Avid utility disc, this fonction is in grey. I might have something to do on those disks before stripe. But I don't know what.

Why disc should be stripped in an online project whether not in an offline ?

Thanks.

I'am still getting crazy with my second monitor but also with the DSR 45 which is not recognized by avid.

o o o

Why disc should be stripped in an online project whether not in an offline ?

You stripe (not strip) disks to create a RAID 0, which will increase the speed of the disk. In offline, one tends to used lower resolutions (AVR3/4/6), which require far less bandwith than the higher resolutions (AVR 8,9, 70, 71, 75, 77). If you are capturing the lower resolutions, you won't need the bigger bandwith. It's not a bad thing to have striped, faster drives for offline,but the downside is that if one of the two drives of a stripe goes bad or dies on you, you lose the entire volume(s), whereas when you use them as indivual drives, one lost drive is only half the pain.

It's simply been too long for me to remember how to use ADU to stripe drives, sorry.

I do recall capturing footage from a DSR-45P on an MC 7.2 system, using the generic deck template. Are you sure your ADB-RS422 cable is OK? Have you chosen the right channel in the Deck Configuration settings?

As for the monitors, I do recall that on ABVB systems, one monitor would be fed RGBS and one would be RGsB (sync on green), so the fact that one is connected with four BNC's and one with three does appear OK to me.

 thanks for your nice answer job,

i'm getting errors on several disks, and disk warrior can't repair. The mac freeze. Then I have to restart in a savage way, then I have lost a disk... This whole thing becomes really annoying... Each time I option + cmd + esc something that has bugged, the mac freeze... 

Understood for the stripe. To which compression correpond AVR 3, AVR 4, AVR 6, etc... ?

Concerning the DSR-45P, 3 pins are missing in my ADB-RS422 remote (out of 9). Avid should overcome that. The other problem concern the connections. I have never dealed with sync or ref things. I don't feel confortable with the cable settings I have done. From the IN group of cables coming from the AVID, there is a cable called "CV IN" , what is it ? Moreover, what should I plug into the TC channels of the DSR45 ? In AVID here are the steps I have done , 1 / open deck configuration 2/ add chanel 3/ channel type : direct , port : port modem 4/ do you want to autoconfigure the channel now ? No i don't want (when i say yes avid doesn't configure anything). 5/Add Deck 6/ Deck type : Generic / Generic Edit-Deck-Pal 7/ cmd + 7  8/ no deck  9 / Desperate auto-configure... to nothing.

Concerning the right monitor. I still don't understand what happen... It appears to be a sync problem... Perhaps BNC are dead... mmmm 

Thanks from France...

 Just jumping in here, as I worked on MC 7.1 with OS 8.5 and 9, there is an Avid Disc Drive Utility program you can run to check the status of each of your SCSI drives. Regarding sync ref and video, the CV In is short for "Composite Video In" which is the single video output on the DSR45. You may also have component video in and out - these will be labelled "Y" "R-Y", "B-Y". Sync reference is the signal provided either by a black burst generator included with the Avid system (a small blue box from Sigma, if I remember right) or from a house master sync generator in larger facilities. The sync reference signal, also known and referred to as "gen lock" is connected to each component that has a "sync in" or "ref in" on it.

Regarding channel configuration for analog, the channel should be "COM 1" on direct port and choose the specific Sony template for your machine. Not in front of my Avid right now, but if your specific model is not there, use the next closest Sony model instead.

Regarding your right monitor, is that a PAL client monitor or are you referring to the composer monitor?

Concerning the monitor, I'm speaking about the composer monitor. Two BNC's and a VGA are free in the back of this non-working screen...Under those BNC'S is is written : V   H/HV   B   G/SYNC   R(V is for green (French)).

You're right for the sigma box, it is blue with six nice BNC's on his back. I have send a black signal to the Ref IN of the DSR45. I haven't seen "anything else" where I could plug a black signal. There is also a "video input" in the back of the Video Slave Driver. A signal should probably go in it, but which ? Avid must get a TC so..? What should I plug into the deck TC channel IN and OUT ?  

Concerning the deck configuration, "Com1" is not specified on this Avid version. THe 45p doesn't appear in the deck list so I'll choose the 60p that I have seen in the list. Concerning the "channel type", you can choose between direct and vlan/VLX. I don't know what is VLAN /VLX ? (:) Moreover, the DSR remote is plug to the MAC through the modem port ( those old icons are hard to translate but I think it's a telephone). So the port might be modem port.

Regarding the ADU, i can lauch it but as I have said earlier, I can't stripe disks. I can only raw them. And also unmount/mount them. A new problem has also appeared : if a scsi disc of the chain got errors, ADU bugs and I have to restart the mac.

I'm learning many things,

thanks :)

 Monitor - could you possibly attach a jpg of the back of the monitor, please?

Ref signals - one to the ref in on the DSR and make sure the termination switch is set to "75 Ohm" or "On", not "HI" or "THRU". If you have the PCI extender box, look for a ref in on that as well, and if present connect a line to it from the black burst box.

Since you're connecting the deck to the computer through RS 422, the system will see tape timecode from there as evident in the capture tool. You do not need to send an external timecode source to the deck, unless you have say a master house clock that generates time of day timecode that you might want to use to code incoming live sources recorded to tape. For digital cuts, you pre-prep the first 15 seconds of your tape with preset timecode 15 seconds before first timecode on your sequence. You then do the digital cut as an assemble edit with the option "sequence time" chosen on the digital cut tool.

For the channel type in your case choose "direct" - VLAN refers to video local area network, typical in a shared server environment where multiple platforms pull and record to a central media server, like Unity. If at first the deck interface doesn't work, try the other physical port on the computer.

 I will be able to attach a jpeg later... in one or two hours.. But this :  V    H/HV    B     G/SYNC     R   is the king of jpeg :) 

Sorry but where should i check the 75 ohm ? On the sigma box ?

No REF IN in the PCI extend.

I only have this physical port on the computer !

IIRC, the Ref is much more important for digital cuts than it is for capture. However, it is pretty common practice to feed ref to the deck.

The 75Ohm switch should be on your DSR45 if that is the final component in the Ref chain.

V- vertical sync (not french for Green, Vert, but rather Vertical)

B- Blue

H/HV- horizontal sync or 'S' signal

G/Sync - Green or Green+Sync on Green

R- Red

Generally, you can have a 5-cable connection (R/G/B/H/V), a 4-cable connection (R/G/B/S) or a 3-cable connection (R/Gs/B). So you either have separate H and V sync lines plus R/G/B, a combined Sync line plus R/G/B, or sync on green plus R and B.

You're probably better off choosing a Generic Deck template rather than a DSR-60, since I believe the latter has a different mechanism than the DSR45.

The connection should indeed be between modem port and RS422. You should choose Direct and the Modem port in the Deck Configuration.

To which compression correpond AVR 3, AVR 4, AVR 6, etc... ?

AVR resolutions are specific to the ABVB systems. AVR3 roughly equals 15:1s, it is a single field resoltion that yields about 30 mins/GB. AVR 4 and 6 (and 8 and 9) are better, but require more storage, and may not be available on all systems (they were optional resolutions on most models). I don't think anyone in their right mind would want to cut at AVR3 in this day and age. But it depends on the amount of storage that is available. To compare resolutions and storage requirements, check here and look at the AVR table.

As for the drives, if you move them to raw, can't you subsequently select them for striping?

SCSI drives can be very moody. If you find a setup that works, don't change it. Beware of any -36 Mac errors. They are telling you there's a bad (SCSI) drive or connection, and stuff is about to go really wrong.

One more thing about striping: for optimal results, it is best to stripe two (or more) disks that are attached to different busses. You gain speed from using both drives on two busses.

VLAN refers to video local area network

Wasn't that also a box used to be able to control iLink or other remote types? VLAN/VLX, something like that. Larry is right though, the RS422 controllable DSR45 should be connected Directly to the Modem (or Printer) port. TC is carried over RS422, no need to bring that in separately.

"Wasn't that also a box used to be able to control iLink or other remote types?"

The VLX/VLAN was manufactured by Video Media.  it provided dual functionality.  It could allow 2 decks to be connected to one computer.  Also, it would allow proper deck control of decks that didn't follow the "full" Sony Protocol.  One such deck was the Sony EVO-9850 (Hi-8).

BTW, if anyone needs one, I have 2 in the garage.

"Concerning the DSR-45P, 3 pins are missing in my ADB-RS422 remote (out of 9). Avid should overcome that."

Why?  Deck control only needs 6 pins ...

Avid Mac Direct Serial Deck Control Pinout

RS-422 uses 9-pin D-connectors with:

Pin 1 not used

Pin 2 Rx-

Pin 3 Tx+

Pin 4 Ground

Pin 5 not used

Pin 6 ground

Pin 7 Rx+

Pin 8 Tx-

Pin 9 not used

Pin-to-pin connections for a Mac serial connector (DIN8 Male):

RS-422 D-connector: Mac Serial (DIN8 Male) Connector:

Pin 1---------------->Shield & Pin 4

Pin 2------------------->Pin 5

Pin 3------------------->Pin 6

Pin 4

Pin 5

Pin 6

Pin 7------------------->Pin 

Pin 8------------------->Pin 3

Pin 9---------------->Shield & Pin 4

Shield--------------->Shield & Pin 4

Using the above pin connections, an RS-422 cable can be made to connect a Mac serial port to the RS-422 control input port on just about any Sony deck that has an RS-422 9-pin "D" socket. The pin connections above are for the connectors on each end of a cable used to connect the equipment. Both ends of the cable use male pin connectors. The "D" connector uses 9 male pins, of which #4, 5, and 6 are not used. The Macintosh serial port DIN8 connector has 8 male pins, of which #1, 2 and 7 are not used.

Thanks for all guys ! 
What is the sense of "IIRC" ?
I can't find this 750 ohm switch on the DSR45. Is there specifics settings for this device due to this old avid ? And more more stupids questions : should I put the input video on DV or component ? The good point is that my deck is now recognized, I will try a digit later. Most of the compressions are in grey, I can only choose between AVR2m, AVR3m an AVR2S. The better is AVR3M right ? "m" resolutions are not described on the moving picure website.

What can I do for the monitor ? When I send into it the signal of the other screen it works. So should I consider that the BNC connectors are dead ? Or the signal bad.. I could try to throw it through the window ?

When I send the drives to raw it doesn't change anything, can't stripe them, but nevermind, I won't strippe the disks. I don't need to win speed cause I won't use a high resolution.

I haven't see any -36 errors but I have many problems with some disks. On the bus 02 I have seven ultra 160 AVID disks. On the bus 03 I have three "blank" disks of 9, 18, 36 GO. Some disks are already stripped on the bus 02 so I have to move them to raw. On my bus 02 I got errors with an AVID disk. Disk Warrior can't repair it. I unplugged this disk from the chain and then another disk became problematic. So now when I start the mac with the bus 02 SCSI chain, a mac window opens while booting (just before desktop) and ask me to format disks... And it takes so many time that I think this tool doesn't work.

Any way to avoid ctrl + cmd + start ? It's so rough for the computer and the disks..

 I plugged a BNC between the sigma black generator and the VIDEO SLAVE DRIVE so now all the lights of the status part are green (system lock, video lock, sync present) 

Did you make sure that the scsi chain is terminated? The last drive in the chain must have a "scsi plug" so that it knows that it's the last one.

A bit like the 75ohm plug at the back of the deck. The DSR series doesn't need the plug because I don't thing it has a loop.