skinda0

Good shout, I had a play and it's just spitting completely different long chains of commands out of the serial port. I'll stick to writing some code to do it all 🙂 thanks for the help!

Finally yes! And I have just tried sending HZT, HZS, HZW For Tele, Stop, and Wide zoom controls and I can zoom by command 🙂

Now may be the time to do some arduino stuff to actually use buttons to control the zoom and focus over 232

 

I'm still confused as to why any piece of software I use will not control the camera though

14 minutes ago, alistermorton said:

The software Tim linked to has a debug window.

 

Forgot to mention, I have downloaded that software, I thought Tim was talking about the software I was using to control the camera 🙂

17 minutes ago, timsabre said:

Not sure what you mean {NAK}2 where is that showing up? Does that mean nothing is coming back?

 

So when I send the commands in the ComTestSerial software you linked to, I get the green sent message [STX] QID [ETX], and a {NAK}2 response in yellow.

If I use Putty as the terminal, I just get 2 as a response.

Either command results in a response of '2'

 

EDIT

Figured it out! I was being an idiot and sending text rather than HEX 🤪

No debug window I'm afraid with that software, it would be useful if there was!

So sending either of those commands, I just get a {NAK}2 response.

I can confirm that sending those commands on COM 8 and reading back on COM 9 I get the sent message back.

I have by the looks of it some custom made cables with YC video and 232 broken out. I can however confirm that the YC video output works perfectly and the pinout of the 232 port matches the pinout of the 50 pin D-SUB on the camera port. These were used by a company previously and were upgraded so taken out of service. I have no information to say they were faulty, and it would be odd that the same fault would be consistent across the three cameras.

I have the PB504 SDI card fitted to these cameras and they have the zoom/focus connector for the lens. I still have no control over the camera. Even Iris which plugs directly into the camera. 

I found this piece of software PTZ controller: https://www.ptzcontroller.com/

This lists Panasonic AW series cameras as a supported camera in their list, but connected up, I have nothing.

I have tried 3 different USB - 232 converters in case it was that but no luck so far. It is just odd that I have everything I need to get it to work, but I just can't get it to respond!

I have just found this document:

https://www.spectratech.gr/Web/Panasonic/pdf/AW-CA24T24G.pdf

This details the pinouts of a lot of different connector cables for the AW series of cameras. Looks like I am able to check the pinouts I have with these drawings and hope they are incorrect as I can't currently talk to them. If they match my current pinouts I must be doing something wrong!

On 5/11/2024 at 12:28 PM, sunray said:

Hi Dan.

Have you checked the 232 with a volt meter?

When 'Idle' pins 2 or 3 should be at -ve9V (in reality -3V to -15V seems to be typical) and the other device should do the same to the other of the pins.

When commissioning AV systems using RS232 I got into the habit of removing the D-type covers and checking both were -ve before attempting any control, I even got as far as making up a box with male and female with red and green LEDs on each of the pins. Our factory couldnt be bothered to check the polarity when they built the racks and I'd estimate were 50% inorrect.

Setting up an 8n1 dumb terminal emulator on a pc is also a useful tool to see if any data is being transmitted.

I haven't yet, I'll give that a try just to check polarity. I did a 2/3 swap anyway but got nothing.

I have always found that 232 is bound to be setup incorrectly, at work I always say we should put DPDT switches in series with 232 comms so we can do a 2/3 swap on board rather than having to make up countless adapters!

On 5/11/2024 at 2:05 PM, alistermorton said:

Bit of a lobg shot, but it's not waiting on a hardware handshake is it? I recall back in the day having to make sure the CTS RTS DSR & DTR were correctly wired for some equipment. Others just used soft xon/xoff handshake. 

The wiring I had only has pins 2, 3 & 5 connected. I can only assume it was working with whatever kit they had them on before. 

 

I am currently using the setup listed in the doc linked by Tim earlier, but as 232. Of course this may be completely incorrect as these are for 422, but the datasheet for the camera specifies 232 and only has wiring for 232!

On 5/11/2024 at 5:55 PM, timsabre said:

I doubt you'll get anything out of the camera other than responses to your commands, once it's accepted them. 

I was coming to this conclusion. I need to confirm that my 232 port is actually functioning as expected as it is a USB to 232 converter I have had in a drawer for a few years.

 

Does anyone know of a pinout for the 50 pin D-SUB connector? From the datasheets I can see there are a lot of other video outputs I would like to experiment with, Component Y/C, Composite, RGB, and of course some control pins!

 

Thanks for the help all, hopefully I can get something out of them!

Thanks Tim,

Weird thing is, the camera datasheet specifies 232, that protocol document specifies 422! The cables I have that wire up to the 50 pin d type, have 2 BNCs for YC video. They work fine. There is also a 9 way d-type that is wired for 232, pins 2,3&5. But I can't get anything out of it! Tried 2/3 swaps as well. Baud rate is setup correctly. Found a bit of software that supports serial PTZ with Panasonic AW cameras, but it's not freeware and I've had no luck yet getting them to do anything. I thought I may get something out of it on boot, but putty gives me a blank screen too! 

Hi all,

I have started a bit of an interest in video recently and purchased some old Panasonic AW-E860 cameras and fujinon lenses for next to nothing. Now, the cameras have an iris control and are fitted with an SDI card that has zoom and focus control and 2 SDI outputs. On power up the zoom and focus move as well as iris. The iris behaves as I expect and adjusts to light levels. However I am a bit stumped as to how I can control the zoom and focus on the camera without the controller.

I have some breakout cables of the 50 pin d type and they break out a CV output and a RS232 port.

Does anyone know of any software that Panasonic has that I can use to control the camera over 232? Can I build a manual demand that I can use with the lens?

Or do I need to find a controller for these cameras?

 

Any help would be much appreciated! I am going from an old composite video CCTV camera system to these much higher quality cameras and want to get the most functionality out of them that I can.

40 minutes ago, Martin Lepley said:

Like the idea of trantec. In my solution, I would like a selection of CH70 and CH38 though, so for simple productions we will use the 4 free channels, and in productions where we have more characters singing (not at the same time) they can have extended in to CH38.

 

Just a thought, if you were using the CH38 kit for larger shows, you would have the licence for the whole year or 2 no?

Would it then just be worth running all 38 kit, then if you need to expand at late notice you always have licenced channels to cover it? as @sleah said, I would feel more comfortable having more channels than required, just to ease the possibility of mixed mics.

I have had the same experience with some of the Sennheiser Freeport mics and the iPad rest on the Allen & Heath QU desks. A bit of IPA and it removes the sticky 'soft touch' layer and takes it back to the base plastic. This was a while ago now and I have seen no degradation to the plastic.

Yes I realised that apologies. If someone wants to take the lot I certainly will! 🙂 

Hi All,

I have some kit for sale that has been hanging around on some shelves.

Crown XLS 602 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185391243681

Audiohead AH1800 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185391243770

AMX Netlinx NI-3100 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185391243515

AMX NXT-CV10 Touch Screen - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185391243592

Citronic CX34 crossover 3 band stereo - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185391244511

Open to any offers on items. I can also post most of them, although the amps may be a bit heavy.

PM for details, thanks!

Isopropanol Alcohol can remove the layer on the outside, but will take it back to shiny plastic. Had to do the same with some car interior parts that had gone sticky.

It's not got a DMX polarity switch has it? The wireless adapters may be clever enough to flip it at the other end.

Although reading through the rest of the trouble shooting it sounds like this may not be the cause.

Could it be these cans are a bit finicky about line termination and the wireless drivers are terminating sufficiently?

Although I may have completely the wrong end of the stick

I had a similar issue selecting an adaptor for truss, I eventually settled on two of these My link in conjunction with my pair of Doughty wind up stands.

I liked the look of these over the Doughty adapters as the centre of mass was kept over the top of the stand rather than off to one side, albeit by 100mm or so.

 

The Doughty stuff is built very well, and as Sleah says, if it wasn't safe they wouldn't sell it!

I placed an order Friday morning, as soon as I placed it I went to check on my orders as the site seemed a little slow processing the order.

The webpage then went to the 'we have a problem' page and said it was down for maintenance.

 

Seems like it is back to normal now, but CPC and Farnell seem to have always had issues with their web hosting.

I am looking to do something similar at a small theatre that is having their equipment upgraded.

As it is all volunteer run, I was hoping to keep a more user replaceable lamp in the footlights.

 

Mikelectricstuff sells a trailing edge dimmer suitable for LED lamps on his White Wing Logic website that can be used to dim 8 or 16 channels of mains LED lamps. Might be another possible solution to your problem? My link

They only do a max of 115W of LED per channel but for my purposes 1 channel would cover all of them!

 

I was thinking of ELV as well but finding an off the shelf solution seems to be more difficult. Interested to see your ideas!

PCBShopper may be a good website to look at. Compares most of the inexpensive PCB suppliers. My link

 

Other than that, I mainly use JLC for very small batches of PCBs. They usually come out cheapest, but I haven't ordered any for a little while.

Although maybe not the best thing for the job, I have used the 4 colour starquad cable before. The smaller 4.8mm size stuff may be ok for your needs. I used it with DT109s and one of the inserts just about fit the cable in the headset connector.

The zip file does not come in the correct file structure which is why it says "USB NOT READY"

if you format the structure as follows it should work.

 

If it is a 12/24 the folder it is going to start looking for is STR20024

 

\STR20024\DMXBASE\

 

Just to resurrect this thread as it helped me out!

 

I had a similar problem with the Showtec Jewel series desks.

 

The files that can be downloaded from strand can be used on this desk, but the folder structure needs to be changed so the showtec recognises it.

 

For the Showtec Jewel 512 1248 folder structure is:

\STEX1248\DMXBASE\

etc.

 

For the Showtec Jewel 512 2496 folder structure is:

\STEX2496\DMXBASE\

etc.

 

Just in case anyone else runs into this problem, thought I'd document it.

Just got a reply back from the UK sales people at Highlite. Basically said the only info we have available is on the website, which is nothing really!

 

Mine didn't come with a VGA card but I asked, and they don't have any. Probably won't need it but I'll keep an eye out for one as it may come in useful.

From past experience with HighLight/ShowTec kit - don't worry about newer firmware, the update cycle for ShowTec used to be very long for their smaller desks like this.

 

There probably never was a manual for the 512-2496 either as it's just likely that the size of the desk was doubled from 12 to 24 channels & from 48 fixtures to 96 (or something like that). The software looks a bit like the Strand 200 plus & stands a decent chance that the two share a software core (this happens a lot with Chinese imports) & perhaps some internal hardware if you catch my drift?

 

Did you eMail HighLite in the UK or Holland? I usually had better results when I dealt with Holland but even back then - software/manuals support was always patchy because they were simply dealing with materiel sent them from the chinese factory - so I wouldn't expect much.

 

If it's working - it will go forever but it's very unlikely the software will evolve.

 

Hi Ian,

 

Thanks for the information. Downloaded a copy of the Strand 200 Plus manual and yes, a lot of those buttons and programming methods look very familiar! It has much better documentation than the showtec so I am hoping I can just use that manual instead

 

I used the contact form on their website so not sure who it goes to, but never got a reply! Looks like I have what I need for the moment though, cheers!

Hi Folks,

 

I was recently given a Showtec Jewel 512-2496 lighting desk. I have had a look online and found a manual for the smaller variant, the 512-1248, but I have not been able to find any info on the larger one.

I am assuming most of the stuff in the manual will be identical but does anyone have any documentation or firmware files they can share?

 

It seems Highlite have no info on it, apart from that it is discontinued!

I have sent them an email but not heard back from them yet.

 

Thanks!

Meanwhile, back on topic, how did others get on this year?

 

The illumination event at our local church that I mentioned previously seemed to go down very well. Had quite a few people out on their evening stroll come and have a look and take a few photographs.

Everyone was very compliant with social distancing in the churchyard but there were only a few family bubbles there at any one time. Even got a story on the local news website! Sounds like I may have the job for next year.