Anyone get this little gem? I got it 3 times in the past month. Twice tonight. I didnt start getting it until I started using the FMU 128 I have 2 theory's 1. the camera requires more bandwidth when doing a dual record or 2. These are new cards rated at 40 mps but they may not be keeping up. The good news is it hasnt hurt me yet as im recording I get a buffer overrun error then a screen that says revocering video all I lose is the the clip I was currently shooting which as of yet hasnt been important. I think I may back off my quality from 1080p to 1080i the lower data rate should give it some headroom.

Hi Randy - I also use the FMU128 and dual record to Transcend class 10 SD cards - I've never had this issue in over 50 wedding shoots or so (average 120GB/shoot at 1080p). If you are shooting non-repeatable events, an error that includes 'recovering video' would scare the pants off me. Sounds like it might be a fault?

I wonder if theres a speed test for SD cards?

I really do like the Transcend cards too! Never had an issue but I had 4 Sandisk Class 10's (2 were 45mbps and 2 were 90 mbps) and they also started to play up. I now use them on my two Nikon D90's and they seem to be fine but I wouldn't use those again on my Sony cameras!

What brand cards are you using Randy??

I use sandisk ultra plus 40 mps but after some research someone else had a similar issue and it turned out the be the fmu-128, kinda makes sense.

That's a little scary! A SSD drive should be 100% reliable ..I assume you will send it back to the supplier. Gosh an SSD should never experience a buffer overflow as it writes data at lightning speed.

As Pete says he has done 50 weddings on his FMU so that must be a faulty unit I guess??

Chris

Its hard to return if im not sure its the issue, I think I need to call Sony first.

Hi Randy

Keep us informed about the issue please?? You might want to try just one thing?? Find an older say, Class 4 card and put the camera into 180 50P mode so it's running at the highest bitrate and see if you get the buffer error. It's hard to know if the card or FMU is causing the error but if the error doesn't say "Buffer Overflow in FMU" but only "Buffer Overflow" it still could be that the card cannot keep up with the data the camera is sending it so the buffer fills up .... I would certainly first put a "slow card" into the camera and see if the error is more frequent ...a class 4 with the FMU and the camera in PS mode should in theory overflow the write buffer and bring out the error and in theory the FMU should be way, way faster to write than a class 10 card would be.

Chris

Chris,
If it is the FMU I dont think its a case of "spec" as it is with "failure" it may just have a issue.

Hi Randy

In dual mode the camera feeds the FMU and the card via two hardware buffers .. sorta like a storage tank for each so the card/FMU can write the data while more data is coming in and the buffers store it so the writing device is not overwhelmed with data. Hence the name "buffer"

I would very much doubt whether the FMU couldn't keep up with the data stream, even at 28 mbps BUT a card that's slower than rated could easily choke and I have had first hand experience with the Sandisk Ultimate 16GB cards giving me weird issues but Transcend doesn't. That's why I use the Sandisk in my Nikons only now.

I bet if you put a Class 4 card in the camera you would get an overflow but an SSD like the FMU writes data way too fast to be bogged down.

Chris

Well im not so sure about that, one test I ran when I first got it was I totally filled a card on a job and I wanted to see what it would do. When the card filled the recording stopped until I removed the card then the FMU continued.

Happend again tonight twice after an hour or so of shooting. The second time the camera locked up til I did a cold restart. I am almost sure its the FMU after the second failure (they both happend right after each other) I pulled the FMU and the rest of the night went fine.

Hi Randy

If it occurs only with the FMU installed and never with just a card only I think you have discovered a faulty FMU ... I would send it back for replacement now. Peter has never had an issue so it seems you have a faulty unit ..it's under warranty so tell them about the error and get them to replace it. At that price you deserve a brand new one.

That is a scary scenario and you certain would expect the card to maybe fail and certainly not the FMU!!

Chris

ok I got my new FMU today I am going to try it tomorrow but I was thinking. How can I tell which firmware version I have? I thought I had the latest but the camera says 1.0 and could that have something to do with it?

Cool ... I don't think the firmware will make any difference ..send a PM to Peter Rush and see if he has updated his firmware and if it affects the FMU ?? I doubt it though!!

Let us know how it works and if your problem goes away??

Randy, You check you firmware version in menu / others / version display

The upgrade to version 2 should not affect the operation of the FMU, it should work with both versions.

However, of the very few things V2 upgraded, use of the FMU was one of them. With V2 it gives you the option of separating your two record buttons so one records to SD and the other records to the FMU.

Steve

I am still version one. I shot a job today it was just a "basic" short day but no issues:)

Good news Randy!

For interest did you decide to shoot on Profile PP2 or not??? I just wondered what it looked like?

Chris

I gave up on that for now so I turned off the profile mode.

Thanks Randy

My last wedding was with no profile and I really struggled with the black level ..it's way too low and when you lift it enough to bring back some detail the iamge loses tons of contrast so I'm back to my modified PP3 profile ... At least that lifts the shadow detail and by upping the saturation a tiny bit the colours pop nicely without the misty look!

Chris

Problem NOT SOLVED I did a wedding tonight and had it happen 5 times! It almost made me miss something important. It happened in the beginning of the day so I said screw it and pulled the card and ran just with the FMU and crossed my fingers. Well it did it like 4 time after that SO it must either be my camera or the firmware, I will update the firmware and try again.

Hi Randy

It still could be the FMU of course. The camera writes to the card with no issues but a buffer overflow normally indicates that the drive cannot write the data fast enough not the camera .. the camera streams data to a buffer memory in the camera and that's acts like a "storage tank" to allow the drive to pull the data and write it and if it's a little slow the buffer chip keeps the data until the drive is ready for more.

The fact that the buffer doesn't overflow when you write to a card would seem that the buffer and card are keeping up UNLESS the FMU electronics have their own buffer and that chip is faulty??? The FMU is a solid state drive right? If so it's write speed should be way faster than a card anyway so maybe the FMU is just not writing fast enough .... once your season is over if you do send in the camera, make sure you send in the FMU as well so they can check it correctly.

Chris

Any updates on this problem? I have had overflow problems on both SD and FMU, both times recording simultaneously. Luckily the other keeps recording when one fails.

The first time was about 4 hours into shooting and the SDHD (32GB) card failed.

Last night after about 6 hours of shooting the FMU was the problem. I took it off and the camera worked fine for the rest of the shoot. I put it back on this morning without reformatting it and it recorded fine.

Anyone having issues after long day? Perhaps camera is overheating?

I'm running a "Media Empty" on all my cards and drive now so hopefully that repairs any possible sector damage.