Sony EVI-D70 Control Issues

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inventor96
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Sony EVI-D70 Control Issues

#1

Post by inventor96 »

Some background info:
Our Stake Center recently had the whole audio system, and a lot of the video-related equipment upgraded. Part of the upgrade was a new EVI-D70 that is mounted in the back-right of our chapel. The camera has a Vaddio adapter on the back of it, which has 3 RJ-45 jacks: power/video, VISCA input, and VISCA output. The power/video is run via one CAT6 cable, and the VISCA input is run via another CAT6 cable. The VISCA output is unused. Both CAT6 cables end in the building's A/V closet, which is almost kitty-corner to where the camera is mounted.

The power/video cable attaches to an adapter similar to a PoE adapter, with the video part going into our EmTech AVDH-1 (for those unfamiliar with it, it's a basic audio/video 'mixer' in rack-mount form, used to select between camera input, satellite, and aux -- VGA or component -- input). The VISCA input cable goes directly into the back of the AVDH-1, and there is a USB-B jack on the front for connecting to a computer w/ software to control the camera movement.

Video and power are great. The camera stays on and can be successfully controlled via the Vaddio remote that comes with it. Video quality is good at the receiving end in the closet.

The issue and what we've tried so far:
The issue is with the camera control... As far as I know, the AVDH-1 is supposed to act as a serial-USB converter (at least that's what Win 7 recognizes it as), but I'm completely unable to get the camera to respond to anything from any piece of software. I've made sure that COM port settings are correct multiple times. These are the 'setups' I've tried to use so far: The only error that I can recall (no, I didn't take notes like I'm supposed to...) was from Sony's demo software when I tried it last night. I'll double-check the next time I'm there, but I believe it said something like "IF_Clear error." I haven't worked with serial communications much before, so I'm not absolutely positive what that means (and I haven't yet Googled it). But I was grateful for at least one error that might point me in the right direction. None of the other tries gave me an error, they appeared to keep working, but with no response from the camera. PuTTY didn't let me enter any commands -- I'm assuming because it was still trying to connect. (Now that I think about it, I may have received an error from PuTTY, too. I'll double-check that)

The other techs and I still have some ideas to try, but we thought it would be useful to make a post here at this point in our troubleshooting, just in case it help solve the issue faster. Because remote controlling of the camera over serial, USB, etc. isn't yet a church standard, the FM group is unable to really help us, so we're doing our best to figure this out.

Any ideas would be appreciated!
rolandc
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Re: Sony EVI-D70 Control Issues

#2

Post by rolandc »

Not an encouraging post but....

I had the same setup and the same results, I even tried the three wire only RTS and CTS plus ground to no avail.

The only thing I did not try was an external RS422 converter wired directly to the camera control Ethernet cable that plugs into the avdh1 (make a pigtale with keystone socket)

Commander page in your link has the how to on the external RS422

I would really like to know if any Stake center has this setup and has the control side working through the AVDH1 hub. If you do PLEASE chime in.
Roland
russellhltn
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Re: Sony EVI-D70 Control Issues

#3

Post by russellhltn »

First, you might want to follow the instructions found here which specifies specific drivers to be installed on the computer.

You can find the pinouts of the wiring here.

I'd also check that the camera is set right. Apparently there's some switches on the bottom. (See Location of Controls, item #15 here.) You need to select RS-232 and the right baud rate. (I'm guessing 9600)

Failing that, I think it's time to go back to whoever installed it (FM Group) and indicate the installation appears defective.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

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russellhltn
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Re: Sony EVI-D70 Control Issues

#4

Post by russellhltn »

Added note: For those who are trying to use the RS-422 (The AVDH1 is strictly RS-232), you might want to look at this post by someone who got it to work - and found an unexpected pinout.
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StevePoulsen
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Re: Sony EVI-D70 Control Issues

#5

Post by StevePoulsen »

My guess is that the wiring for the control is not hooked up correctly. It is quite common that installers mix up pins 2 and 3 (TX and Rx). Either way, as part of the install process they are supposed to verify that the USB control is functioning.

As a first step, I would determine how long ago the system was upgraded, and by whom.
If the FM hired a contractor to do the work, and it's been less than a year, the system is still under warranty, and should be supported by the contractor. The FM can then engage them to verify that the camera control works, or if they checked it when they installed it. they should be able to provide support on how to connect and make it work.

An additional thing you can try. on the back of the output where the camera control connects, create a short jumper which shots pins 2 and 3. then open putty, and send a command. you should see the command echoed back to you. if you do not, There is a problem with the USB to Serial interface device inside the AVDH-1.
inventor96
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Re: Sony EVI-D70 Control Issues

#6

Post by inventor96 »

@russellhltn
For some reason I didn't get the notification of your post, and so I ended up finding this page, which provides the documents you linked to, plus some other hopefully-useful info. Nonetheless, thank you for the links and the info regarding RS-422!

@StevePoulsen
Thank you for the mention of the common pin-out mis-config. Making my own adapters and checking cabling is the next thing I'd like to try, but I have yet to find a good time in my schedule to do so.

This system is just over a month old. I was at the building a couple of the days the contractors were working, and I attended the training on the new system, following the installation.

I have asked the FM Group about support from them and/or the contractors. Our FM rep let me know that they couldn't, because this setup with the camera is fairly new and I guess it's not officially supported by the church. I emailed the guy who did the training and the system verification to ask what he did to test the camera control, and he said that he couldn't remember. I would assume that he's done several other building/system verifications since he did ours, and so it would be difficult to remember the process/results of a specific building, especially since ours wasn't completely a standard installation.

This is a bit of an email I sent to our FM rep:
I found that EmTech provides this document on their site. Near the end of the document is the section "Certification Tasks," part of one of the the tasks is "to verify proper ... camera control function (if installed at site)." Since we haven't been having very much success in troubleshooting it ourselves, I was hoping that FM could help us with it, or request that proper group/contractor come check it out, since it was supposed to be certified after the Stake Center's upgrade.
A bit of the reply...
Certifying the camera function means that the remote provided works to move the camera.
Note: I hope I'm not putting our FM rep in a bad light. He has been great with helping us so far, especially since us Stake Techs in this Stake sometimes have some... extra/unique requests. So I'm doing my best not to bug him too much on this issue.

If you know of another document/resource that shows we really should ask the FM group regarding the troubleshooting, I can pass that on. Otherwise I'll give a report on the results of my eventual testing of the cables.

Thanks for the help guys!
StevePoulsen
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Re: Sony EVI-D70 Control Issues

#7

Post by StevePoulsen »

There seems to be some mis-communication.
The AVDH-1, and 2. include many possible options. The FM group usually works with the Stake in determine which features are most needed, considering the budget constraints of the project. Remote Cammera control is one of those options.
Regardless of the installed options, the Installer/Contractor should call CHQ to certify the installation. When calling, CHQ documents which features have been installed, and then works with the installer to test, and certify that each installed feature is functioning correctly. IF, camera control from the USB port was a feature the installer should have installed, they should have tested, and verified that it works. If however it was not, then they would be off the hook.
I would assume thought that because the cables are run and connect that the contractor was supposed to hook it up, and test it.

As far as support, I can understand that the FM group is not equipped to train or trouble shoot the problem, But the contractor is obligated under the terms of their contract to provide a 1 year service warranty for all of the parts and labor they provided. IE if they should have hooked it up, they should have tested it. If they can not show that they certified it, and can prove that it works, they should be required to return and do so.
I am not however suggesting that they make it work on your PC, rather that if they were supposed to install it, they need to show that it does in fact work on a PC with the correct software and configuration installed.

If you can get the name of the installer, you can probably contact them directly. Most of the install firs who work for the church do enough work for us that they are very mindful of the need to keep each FM happy.

If you want to try your hand at fixing it yourself, you can contact the Broadcast and Event Support team at 801-240-3454
inventor96
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Re: Sony EVI-D70 Control Issues

#8

Post by inventor96 »

I finally figure it out! The installers didn't correctly wire the CAT 6 cable from the AVDH-1 to the Vaddio adapter on the back of the camera!

I did some visual inspections to find the path of each wire in the cable that goes from the RJ-45 jack on the back of the AVDH-1, through the Vaddio adapter, and into the VISCA plug on the back of camera (this was done without disassembling anything, so there's no void warrantee). The pin-outs/paths that I found did not make any sense (eg. Transmit from the AVDH-1 was connected to a not-connected pin in the Vaddio adapter), so I did some more research and came up with what the pin-outs were really supposed to be.

You can see my documentation in this Google Sheet, including the pin-outs for my temporary adapter that I made and plugged in between the CAT 6 cable and the Vaddio adapter (Just to make sure, I called the Global Helpdesk as StevePoulsen recommended, and the tech said that I was in no way voiding our warrantee by trying my adapter, because I wasn't cutting wires and changing the equipment that the installers installed).

@rolandc
Hopefully this can fix your issue, too! Feel free to PM me if you have questions on what I did to fix our setup.
troviss
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Re: Sony EVI-D70 Control Issues

#9

Post by troviss »

I have bought two EVI cameras. One EVI-D100p and one EVI-D70p. I have it conected to my laptop with seriel cable and use 232 visca with the software installed on the laptop. All is near working fine with both, but the D70 can´t pan to right all the way. I only can pan 25% and then it stop and go back and turn around and start to blinking standby lamp.

Can I reset the camera somewhere? I try to reset in the software, but that doesn´t help.
roblad
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Re: Sony EVI-D70 Control Issues

#10

Post by roblad »

Our setup was to use three permanently mounted Sony PTZ cameras. The control wiring was done using shielded CAT-5 cables. The shield was used for the ground. The three cables came together at one point and plugged in to a box that has RJ45 connectors on it. The required series connections were done inside of this box. A forth CAT-5 cable went to the control PC via a RS-422 to USB Adapter. We used a game controller on the PC. This worked great but all of the connections and settings need to be correct. I have drawing and diagrams if someone wants them.
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