Ki Pro Mini

Don Greening · April 30th, 2011, 05:08 PM

The other day I hooked up my KPM to an EX3 and the left audio channel on the KPM started showing an audio signal in the VU meter. I thought that was very strange because I had no external mics hooked up to either of the Ki Pro Mini's XLR inputs. Long story short, I couldn't get the KPM to work with either my EX1R or EX3 after that. I wasn't able to trouble shoot at the time because I was just starting to record in a studio.

Today I did a factory reset (more than once) and everything records fine from camera to KPM via SDI but the camera is unable to trigger the device. The KPM records just fine but I have to manually press the button. Any thoughts Mr. Thorn?

Here's a grab of the KPM's Config screen WITHOUT a camera attached.

- Don

Jon Thorn · April 30th, 2011, 07:56 PM

Don G. - The first thing I notice from your screengrab is an alarm state "Genlock Missing" and the unit is set to "Input" (which is not the default); the default state is "Freerun"; I'd reset this to "Freerun" and then restart the unit. What may have happened is the Ki Pro Mini tried to lock to input video, but the camera wasn't connected or was powered off (as you note) and the Ki Pro Mini sensed that there was a lack of video and threw up the alarm. In general, when using Ki Pro products with cameras, using "Freerun" for the genlock setting is advised as the Ki Pro Mini will autodetect incoming format and frame rate based on the incoming SDI or HDMI signal and it will lock to that signal. The genlock setting is designed for playback purposes. Missing signal will throw up the alarm (or mismatched signal format/frame rate) and I could see mismatched genlock causing something like the audio meters to give a bad EE state value like a spike of the VU meter(s). Incorrect genlock could also block the ability to record until the alarm was cleared if it was a mismatched format.

To record from the Sony PMW series cameras, they need to be outputting data within their SDI streams; if this was disabled on the camera(s) for some reason, then no RP188 timecode would reach the Ki Pro Mini and thus it would not be able to perform arm the recording via incrementing start/stop timecode values even if the appropriate menu selections were made on the Ki Pro Mini. The Ki Pro Mini also cannot perform arm recording if the camera is producing freerun timecode as opposed to record run timecode because the values don't start and stop. If the camera is outputting RP188 timecode, then you may also want to check the CONFIG menu settings on the Ki Pro Mini. These would include "TC In" and "Arm Recording." For SDI embedded timecode, "RP188" and the "TC/Rec Key" selections would respectively need to be made in the CONFIG menu parameters.

Hope this is helpful,
Jon Thorn
Product Manager
AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Don Greening · April 30th, 2011, 10:44 PM

Hi Mr. Thorn,

Well the day wasn't a total loss because I learned something. The RP188 protocol does not stream through SDI if the camera's TC is set to "TIME OF DAY". Jon, as soon as I read the part where you mention time code I remembered that I changed my 2 EX cameras' TC from regular to time of day at the request of the other shooter I was helping out. I never changed it back, so the other day in our studio the KPM didn't work because of this.

To be honest, I didn't know that TIME OF DAY mode was so different. Until now. Many thanks to you for responding so quickly AND on a weekend to boot. I've already toasted you with a Bacardi and Coke. Cheers.

Here is what the KPM's display looks like now:

April 30th, 2011, 05:08 PM	#1
Don Greening Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Port Coquitlam BC Canada Posts: 179	Ki Pro Mini - TC/REC Key not working The other day I hooked up my KPM to an EX3 and the left audio channel on the KPM started showing an audio signal in the VU meter. I thought that was very strange because I had no external mics hooked up to either of the Ki Pro Mini's XLR inputs. Long story short, I couldn't get the KPM to work with either my EX1R or EX3 after that. I wasn't able to trouble shoot at the time because I was just starting to record in a studio. Today I did a factory reset (more than once) and everything records fine from camera to KPM via SDI but the camera is unable to trigger the device. The KPM records just fine but I have to manually press the button. Any thoughts Mr. Thorn? Here's a grab of the KPM's Config screen WITHOUT a camera attached. - Don Attached Thumbnails

April 30th, 2011, 07:56 PM	#2
Jon Thorn AJA Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Grass Valley, CA Posts: 252	Re: Ki Pro Mini - TC/REC Key not working Don G. - The first thing I notice from your screengrab is an alarm state "Genlock Missing" and the unit is set to "Input" (which is not the default); the default state is "Freerun"; I'd reset this to "Freerun" and then restart the unit. What may have happened is the Ki Pro Mini tried to lock to input video, but the camera wasn't connected or was powered off (as you note) and the Ki Pro Mini sensed that there was a lack of video and threw up the alarm. In general, when using Ki Pro products with cameras, using "Freerun" for the genlock setting is advised as the Ki Pro Mini will autodetect incoming format and frame rate based on the incoming SDI or HDMI signal and it will lock to that signal. The genlock setting is designed for playback purposes. Missing signal will throw up the alarm (or mismatched signal format/frame rate) and I could see mismatched genlock causing something like the audio meters to give a bad EE state value like a spike of the VU meter(s). Incorrect genlock could also block the ability to record until the alarm was cleared if it was a mismatched format. To record from the Sony PMW series cameras, they need to be outputting data within their SDI streams; if this was disabled on the camera(s) for some reason, then no RP188 timecode would reach the Ki Pro Mini and thus it would not be able to perform arm the recording via incrementing start/stop timecode values even if the appropriate menu selections were made on the Ki Pro Mini. The Ki Pro Mini also cannot perform arm recording if the camera is producing freerun timecode as opposed to record run timecode because the values don't start and stop. If the camera is outputting RP188 timecode, then you may also want to check the CONFIG menu settings on the Ki Pro Mini. These would include "TC In" and "Arm Recording." For SDI embedded timecode, "RP188" and the "TC/Rec Key" selections would respectively need to be made in the CONFIG menu parameters. Hope this is helpful, Jon Thorn Product Manager AJA Video Systems, Inc.

April 30th, 2011, 10:44 PM	#3
Don Greening Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Port Coquitlam BC Canada Posts: 179	Re: Ki Pro Mini - TC/REC Key not working Hi Mr. Thorn, Well the day wasn't a total loss because I learned something. The RP188 protocol does not stream through SDI if the camera's TC is set to "TIME OF DAY". Jon, as soon as I read the part where you mention time code I remembered that I changed my 2 EX cameras' TC from regular to time of day at the request of the other shooter I was helping out. I never changed it back, so the other day in our studio the KPM didn't work because of this. To be honest, I didn't know that TIME OF DAY mode was so different. Until now. Many thanks to you for responding so quickly AND on a weekend to boot. I've already toasted you with a Bacardi and Coke. Cheers. Here is what the KPM's display looks like now: Attached Thumbnails