Issues with my 7Q. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks Mitch and I'm glad you don't hate me :) I was at Abel Cine today and the sales guy considers you a Tech God, and you can effectively communicate technical jargon in a way that's easy to understand. Many support people can't do that.

I can definitely see Convergent Design's tech support is a cut above, but from my experience often times people on the web forums know a LOT MORE than the average tech support. For example, I called Sony Tech support about the 3.01 firmware upgrade and the guy had no idea what I was talking about. NONE! He was very nice and tried really hard but after 30 minutes on the phone, I just drove straight to the LA Sony Service center and they sorted me immediately.

So for many of us, the forum is the best source of tech info. But yes, Andy at CD has been great and very helpful; but being able to pick your brain is equally as helpful.
 
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Thanks. Just to note, that poor Sony tech support guy has to provide info on thousands of products. Even in the Sony Professional arena there is still cameras, monitors, audio, lenses, projectors, on and on. Convergent Design is a lean, mean, monitor/recorder makin' machine. All of our people are right in the heart of it and we communicate regularly.
 
Hey Guys,


Just wanted to give you an update. After some back and forth, the issues I was having was firmware related. Convergent is aware of the issues and they will be fixed in the next firmware update. But to keep those early adapters who might run into the same issues as I did (so you won't go crazy like I did), here's a few things to avoid

1) Avoid Camera Trigger. This is pretty fickle at this point and will crash the 7Q at some point. Use the 7Q screen button to record.

2) While you can switch between 24fps, 60fps and 120fps (as long as it's under 240fps), a "Miss-matched SSD" error will come on that won't go away until the unit is shut down. This is also a firmware issue. The current workaround (as confirmed by Dan Keating) is to DISCONNECT the BNC cable, change the frame rate on the FS700, then Re-connect the cable. Then you will not get the error message. It's a bit tedious, but it's what we have to do until the firmware upgrade comes. Apparently, if you change frame rights right now with the BNC cable attached, it confuses the 7Q and then the error message comes up.

Those two things were my main issues and if you don't know them, it can drive you super crazy. If you follow that, the 7Q is pretty solid. I have full confidence that Convergent will get the 7Q really awesome in the near future. These are the bugs early adapters just have to deal with.
 
NEBTEK HD said:
"Here's the exact one I am using, a Canare RG59. Does this meet the specs?

http://www.filmtools.com/canbncrg3cab.html"

That cable is rated to 2G but not to 3G.
Click to expand...

That's what I used at first, but now I'm just using a Convergent Design BNC cable to be safe. Even with the Convergent cable, you still get the same errors so it's not just a cable issue. It's a firmware issue that will be fixed soon. But like I said, if you know what to avoid, the 7Q runs for a long time with no errors.

I will say that CD customer service really went the extra yard. Far above and beyond any company. I was one of the first wave of people to get the recorder and so the errors I was getting was news to convergent as well. We all learned something.
 
Gene, I've read in your posts that you favour a lightweight rig and shoot a lot of hand held. I'm curious how you're finding using the FS with the 7Q in this mode. Is it working out?
 
sunnyjimfilms said:
Gene, I've read in your posts that you favour a lightweight rig and shoot a lot of hand held. I'm curious how you're finding using the FS with the 7Q in this mode. Is it working out?
Click to expand...

The 7Q works great with my super minimal handheld rig. The ironic thing is that everyone always complains about the FS700 EVF being on top. But with my rig since the 7Q hangs off the left side, having the LCD on top is much better. If the LCD was on the traditional left side, it would be in front of the 7Q which would be bad.

I did a little write up in the URL below, only now I swap out the Small HD DP6 with the 7Q (which is a far, far superior monitor). I mainly just use the super minimal rig. I use Westside AV's L-Series battery plate which I mount on the right side of the 7Q. This keeps everything more balanced since the battery weight is more toward the center of the camera.

http://www.builtbyugene.com/blog/blog1_rigs.html
 
gene_can_sing said:
Hey Guys,


Just wanted to give you an update. After some back and forth, the issues I was having was firmware related. Convergent is aware of the issues and they will be fixed in the next firmware update. But to keep those early adapters who might run into the same issues as I did (so you won't go crazy like I did), here's a few things to avoid

1) Avoid Camera Trigger. This is pretty fickle at this point and will crash the 7Q at some point. Use the 7Q screen button to record.

2) While you can switch between 24fps, 60fps and 120fps (as long as it's under 240fps), a "Miss-matched SSD" error will come on that won't go away until the unit is shut down. This is also a firmware issue. The current workaround (as confirmed by Dan Keating) is to DISCONNECT the BNC cable, change the frame rate on the FS700, then Re-connect the cable. Then you will not get the error message. It's a bit tedious, but it's what we have to do until the firmware upgrade comes. Apparently, if you change frame rights right now with the BNC cable attached, it confuses the 7Q and then the error message comes up.
Click to expand...

Just wanted to clarify this a bit

1) The Mismatched SSD error only comes up if you are using two cards in the 7Q. For now, until the firmware upgrade, when mixing 24, 60 and 120fps, I just use 1 card and the dreaded Mismatched SSD error does NOT come up (Obviously because there is only 1 card). If you want to use 2 cards and switch frame rates, you should do the thing where you un-plug and re-plug the cable when switching frame rates, otherwise the Mismatched SSD will come up and won't go away until the unit is re-started.

2) To be more specific with the camera trigger issue. The crashes mostly occurred when I was using Camera Trigger Record in conjunction with switching frame rates using S&Q button. To be on the safe side, I just use the 7Q LCD screen button to record. When using the LCD record button, the S&Q works well.

The 7Q has been running great since I figured that out. So for me, if I'm mixing frame rates right now, I just use 1 card and I used the LCD Record button. I have been told that these issues will be resolved very soon.
 
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