SMPTE + MQ70 problems

[Samwise]

Hello all, just posted this on the Chamsys forum too...

 

 

 

 

Seem to be having a bit of gyp with the old SMPTE input on my MQ-70.

 

I've generated a piece of timecode using this tool: <<http://elteesee.pehrhovey.net/>> using the following settings: 30fps, 48KHz, 16bit signed int, Start Time: 00.00.00.01 Have also tried some other encodings just in case but none of them worked.

 

 

 

 

I can hear that 'orrible noise through my mixer, which I then send an XLR out of into my MQ-70. (Tried two different XLRs in Left and Right (its a stereo SMPTE track and no luck)

 

In settings I set the following:

 

Timecode Frame Type: SMPTE30

 

Timecode Continue Frames: 50 (Tried other numbers)

 

Timecode Jump Detect Frames: 10 (Tried other numbers)

 

Timecode in Type: LTC (Tried all options)

 

Timecode Generation: None (Tried all options)

 

 

 

 

Currently running 1.6.6.0 but also tried rolling back to 1.6.1.7 with no avail.

 

Audio input works just fine. There is an item attached to the first USB port that is responding and counting away.

 

What am I doing wrong? The only thing that stands out to me is that I'm not sure if the XLR on the back of the MQ-70 is a balanced input, if so it might be getting half of a balanced signal which could be the problem, however it'd be nice to get that confirmed before I get the soldering iron out.

 

Thanks!

[jameschamsys]

Hi Sam,

 

Just responded to your post on the bugtracker, suspect your MQ70 is running the older firmware.

Drop me an e-mail on the bugtracker or PM here and I'll get the latest firmware file over to you so you can update it.

 

Thanks,

 

James

[henny]

Smtpe can be tricky , on a project last year I couldn't get the chamsys usb/time code interface to lock onto timecode played out on my laptop sound card, ( also couldn't get a fireone fireing system to lock on either) but when I played it out thew an external sound card or burnt the wav to a cd there was no problems. I tend to use the timecode generator in audacity.

[dbuckley]

This is going to sound silly, but you don't want your SMPTE audio channel to be too clean. It was designed to work reliably when recorded and played back on a mediocre analogue audio track, and if the audio edges are too sharp then some decoders can get confused.

[Samwise]

Thanks everyone for their suggestions!

 

Just for closure, I ended up posting this on the Chamsys Bug Tracker and James' firmware fix worked like a charm.

 

Thanks again :-)