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Arri SRII Highspeed Video Assist and Power


Tate McCurdy

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Hey everyone,

 

I recently purchased an Arri SRII S16 and have really enjoyed re-familiarizing myself and learning to be more comfortable with film. I have some questions though regarding the video assist and power.

 

Video Assist

In the grand scheme of things, I would love to be able to use modern monitoring systems with my SRII such as a Teradek and SmallHD monitors. The video assist is of course analog, and I would need to convert the CVBS signal to SDI and I am having trouble doing so. I've tried Blackmagic's analog to SDI converter, but I believe it can only take analog over SDI for input so that did not work. I then tried Aja's V2Digital converter and had the same issue. I've tried contacting Aja's customer service, but have yet to reach anyone. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can convert this signal? If not, looks like I'll just be going to traditional standard def on-board monitor.

 

Power

I have two 12v onboard Arri batteries that work great. But I was wondering what I could do to replace those with gold mount batteries? I know that I can get a goldmount plate with 4-pin xlr for power, but am concerned that if I place a charged 14v-16v goldmount on there, I'm going to fry the board on my camera. I would need some sort of 12v regulator, but am having trouble finding one so I'm thinking I could maybe build one? Thoughts? I know I could probably go with a battery belt, but I was hoping to keep everything compact.

 

Thank you!

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the black magic converter for analogue to SDI works fine on the SR3 IVS tap (either in component or in Y/C mode), but you need a monitor/capture device that can accept the SD-SDI signal.

 

I had to get a Pix240i to be my "offline" recorder/monitor because it could actually accept the standard def signal in SDI form (and nicely upscales, though only to the recorded file). Most such combo recorders can not take the standard def signal, be it in analogue or SDI form.

 

when Im not recording offline off the tap, I went back to an older totevision monitor I had. works great for what it is, and sucks less power than the pix. Its worth noting that the SR2 video handle can technically accept 1080p HD-SDI cameras

 

For power, you might want to talk to HawkWoods in the UK. they can do alot of custom power solutions for mostly reasonable prices. I have a dual v mount 24 thing from them I use on my SR when its in studio mode.

 

I've chatted with them in the past about doing a SR3 single v mount with 12-24v step up converter that would work on the on board battery port. they didnt think it would be a problem as long as the battery port docking parts were provided to them. Havent pulled the trigger on that myself yet, but you might want to reach out to them. Doing a gold or v mount 12v battery into the SR2 involves less electronic funny business than doing the 24v power conversion the sr3 will need.

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Hey Robin,

 

That makes complete sense that the converter is converting the signal from CVBS to SD-SDI, and the monitor I was testing it with does not accept SD-SDI. So if I find something similar to the Pix240i that can receive an SD-SDI signal, do you think the monitor would still output an SD-SDI signal? Or would I be able to go into something like a Teradek from the monitor?

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I can check, I thiiiiink it'll output HD with a slight delay but I havent actually tested it.

 

the other thing to do is to build a bracket, stack the analogue to SD SDI converter and an SD to HD SDI up converter on top of eachother, then send out to a wireless transmitter or whatever. its just annoying cause you'll wind up sucking more power to do it all, and you start to really want a cheeseplate bracket on the camera body...

 

fyi the lentiquip SR batteries have an additional power output on the side that doesnt go through the camera body's fuses incase you wanted to draw power that way. Emory is also pretty responsive to email and custom needs https://lentequip.com/products/sr3-sr2-on-board-batteries

 

my camera tech also had sent me this link to this company to flip over alternate tap cameras that should work with the classic video handle (like what you should have on your sr2) - http://www.sentechamerica.com/En/Cameras/CameraLink?Tab=1. the cameras seem to run 300-1000+, but for you may make more senes to change to an SDI HD camera and skip all the adapter funny business (which a dual stack adapter is prolly gonna run 500-700 after all the custom power futzing and all).

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  • 4 years later...

Hey guys I am in the same boat right now!!

I have an Aaton XTR Prod and I am trying to convert the signal with a Black Magic Analog to SDI convertor so that I can use all my other monitors and wireless video systems. I've been banging my head against the wall for the past few days not understanding why this was not working. I was sending a Composite signal (from the Aaton) to my Analog to SDI convertor to an Atomos monitor (Shogun Flame & Ninja V) and it wasn't working. Thankfully I came across this thread and understood that the SDI Signal was SD and then slowly read and understood that most modern monitors nowadays don't support SD SDI, WHYYY????

I also checked my Teradek 4k specs and it only accepts 576i over HDMI and of course that is also not helpful because my output from my convertor is a bnc connector :((((

Have you guys found any workarounds? I really dont want another box on my camera upscaling the SD SDI to HD SDI!

 

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