FS7: Odyssey 7Q SDI input after hours fix

L

LennyLevy

Veteran
I was having problems with the SDI Input connector on my Odyssey 7Q becoming intermittent and was contemplating having to send it to LA overnight and wait for who knows how long for a fix.
So at about 11 PM Friday night I email weekend customer support at Convergent .
12:47 PM I get a an email from Dan Keaton suggesting its probably just the petals on the inside pin getting splayed out . 2 Min later with a needle nose and its fixed.
Damn - That's what I call Customer Service.
 
LennyLevy said:
I was having problems with the SDI Input connector on my Odyssey 7Q becoming intermittent and was contemplating having to send it to LA overnight and wait for who knows how long for a fix.
So at about 11 PM Friday night I email weekend customer support at Convergent .
12:47 PM I get a an email from Dan Keaton suggesting its probably just the petals on the inside pin getting splayed out . 2 Min later with a needle nose and its fixed.
Damn - That's what I call Customer Service.
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Was the Problem with the cable, or the Odyssey Lenny?
 
It was on the Odyssey. I thought (hoped?) at first it was a cable issue , but it started to go intermittent with all my cables and I could get it on & off by wiggling the connector. I think I've seen this before but never realized the fix was so easy , just go into the connector with a needle nose and tighten that pin receptor. I hope its not something that will come back repeatedly and eventually need a replacement. I guess I'll ask Dan .
 
FYI, this comes from using cheap, not-to-spec SDI cables and adapters. The pin on the connector can be too fat, stretching out the socket on the Odyssey's connector. This can happen on and BNC connector. Don't buy cheap cables!
 
Mitch Gross said:
FYI, this comes from using cheap, not-to-spec SDI cables and adapters. The pin on the connector can be too fat, stretching out the socket on the Odyssey's connector. This can happen on and BNC connector. Don't buy cheap cables!
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That's a little presumptuous Mitch. Lenny's never struck me as the type of guy that will go cheap on the important stuff. FWIW, which is nothing, I had two expensive Odyssey cables fail in quick succession on a foreign shoot; had to borrow a cable from the sound recordist - he didn't let me forget either...
 
Hahaha . Not presumptuous at all Mitch - thanks for the tip. In fact Dan Keaton suggested I look through my cables for the same problem. I was very happy to learn both how to fix this and what the likely cause was. I'm surprised after 30 + years in this business I never ran across it before.

Liam , thanks for the vote of confidence but obviously you've never looked through my arsenal of Chinese lights, batteries and crappy HDMI cables! (I don't cheap out on the important stuff - like cables I use for recording though.) The truth is I haven't the slightest idea where half my SDI cables came from. So far I haven't seen any that looked to have fat pins but I haven't checked them all yet.

Mitch, should it be very obvious when I run into one of those out of spec cables?
 
I've had both issues arise with my 7Q+. The BNC connector had to be replaced at the factory during the warranty period, but I was lent another unit right after I shipped mine put for troubleshooting and repair. I also had a cable with splayed petals, as did a friend around that time. Convergent Design customer service was excellent, and Dan was indeed available at odd hours for first rate support.
 
LennyLevy said:
Hahaha . Not presumptuous at all Mitch - thanks for the tip. In fact Dan Keaton suggested I look through my cables for the same problem. I was very happy to learn both how to fix this and what the likely cause was. I'm surprised after 30 + years in this business I never ran across it before.

Liam , thanks for the vote of confidence but obviously you've never looked through my arsenal of Chinese lights, batteries and crappy HDMI cables! (I don't cheap out on the important stuff - like cables I use for recording though.) The truth is I haven't the slightest idea where half my SDI cables came from. So far I haven't seen any that looked to have fat pins but I haven't checked them all yet.

Mitch, should it be very obvious when I run into one of those out of spec cables?
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Yeah, I didn't mean it as an insult. Working people in the field end up swapping cables accidentally all the time. When I first started at AbelCine managing the back room of the Rental Dept., one of my first moves was to toss every piece-o-crap ancient BNC cable that wasn't up to snuff. I think at the time I was OK with 1.5G and then later went to 3G (this was more than a decade ago). The Canare and Belden cables are marked every few feet. And then with every rental I insisted that we toss all the junk cables that were returned to us inadvertently. A shoot goes out with 10 cables and comes back with five of ours and five from who knows where. If they were good then fine, but unknowns got tossed. The Abels were a little concerned at first but okayed it after I explained.

It is very hard to tell just from looking at the connectors. That's why I go with established major suppliers as their parts are known quantities that are more likely to be up to spec.
 
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