Buffer Overflow Problem.

Adam Welz · March 23rd, 2010, 02:14 PM

Hi All

I've only had the problem when recording in tandem to an SD card and the FMU128. To an SD card alone, no problem. Also, when using the FMU128 with a Sony MemoryStick Pro HG Duo HX, although I've not used that very often so it may just be chance that it's not crashed with the MemoryStick.

My earlier theory that it might be triggered by an encounter a corruption in the FMU or memory card during a write operation has still not been addressed.

Marshall, when your cam 1 crashed, did it go into a complete freeze (not even responding to power off switch) or not? And did it manage to recover the clip that was interrupted by the crash on restart?

Cheers

Adam

Marshall Levy · March 23rd, 2010, 02:19 PM

@ADAM:

>>>The camera completely froze (crashed) whereby the only thing I could do to get the camera to do anything was to remove the battery. No buttons worked, nor did the power button switch. I did notice that the power to the FMU128 was immediately turned off and remained off until the camera restored the data (or whatever it does) to that specific unit; only then would the camera turn back on (by itself) and start working again. This is why it seriously seems to be related to this unit in parallel with the SDHC recordation as well. The clip was recovered.

Adam Welz · March 23rd, 2010, 02:26 PM

more notes:

I've experienced the buffer overflow and deep crash under the following circumstances:

1) With an unmodified NX5U shooting 1080/30p FX and with a WorldCam updated NX5U shooting 1080/25p FX.

2) Definitely in manual focus mode, can't remember if it ever happened in AF mode.

3) With and without a second (non-Sony) mic attached in addition to the kit mic. Kit mic I generally have on auto level, second mic (TinyMike with 48v to 3.5v converter plug, 48v phantom power ON) usually on manual level.

4) With SteadyShot ON and GPS ON.

5) With front rec light OFF.

4) PCM audio ON.

5) Zebras ON at 100.

6) Peaking ON (focus aid)

7) Both while shooting via flip out LCD only and rear viewfinder only.

8) On cards that have previously been in camera during unplanned clip interruption/shutdown.

Cheers

Adam

Ron Evans · March 23rd, 2010, 02:46 PM

Had cards only been in the camera for clip delete and format or had clips been deleted on the PC?
Ron Evans

Brian Grant · March 24th, 2010, 07:36 AM

I was taping an event a couple of days ago and had the following take place:

After approximately 35 minutes recording was stopped and the camera was turned off. About 7 minutes later camera was turned on and the record button pushed. An error message immediately appeared indicating that data was being recovered. I tried turning the camera off and on - no response. Since it was imperative that I begin taping I removed and reattached the battery. (Battery had plenty of power - about 180 minutes left). I was finally able to get to a screen that allowed me to abort the recovery of data, but I had to make several selections on the touch screen acknowledging that the data would be lost forever. Up until this point there was no indication whether it was SD memory or the FMU that was causing the data recovery message. Finally (about two minutes) got to the main camera screen and it indicated that media in slot A was corrupt/unuseable, but the FMU looked good so I began recording to it alone. I did not try to select media in slot B and record to it - was just grateful FMU appeared to be working.

Taping complete I turned off camera, still getting an indication that media in slot A was corrupt/unuseable. A few seconds later when I turned the camera back on everything was fine - including media in slot A. The first 35 minute taping was intact on A, but obviously the second part was not there. FMU recorded everything, but I did miss about 45 seconds while trying to eliminate the lockup. Video has been transferred to my edit system and I have not done anything to the cards yet - I may examine them attached directly to a computer later.

Something to note is that even after I was able to get rid of the error messages, the camera did not "relay" to the media in slot B - it just kept giving me an indication that media in slot A was corrupt. Not sure whether it is meant to relay or not under these circumstances (probably not), but at least it did allow me to record to the FMU.

I'm not sure whether or not there is actually a corrupt sector on the card - it appears fine now. Cards are Panasonic Class 10 16 GB which have only been used in this camera and were formatted by the camera when first installed. They have not been subjected to inadvertant power loss. Twice in the previous week (including immediately prior to this taping) I had recorded for several hours until the SD cards were full in order to ensure there were no corrupt sectors on either card, then deleted (not reformatted) all video on the cards/FMU. I assume if there was a corrupt sector I would not have been able to record until the cards were both full.

I have another taping in a couple of days and don't want to go through this again. Thinking of removing either SDHC or FMU and recording to one type of media, or maybe recording 1080/60 to the FMU and 480/60 to the SD. Maybe I'll just go and buy a couple of Memory Sticks. Open to suggestions.

Panasonic SDHC Class 10 16GB
1080/60i to both SD and FMU
GPS - On
NP-F770 battery
Manual mode
Auto focus - On
Whitebalance - Preset A
Manual Iris
Shutter - 60
Gain - 6db
Audio Channel 1 - Shotgun with 48v
Audio Channel 2 - Wireless
Viewfinder - Off / LCD - On
Tripod Mounted

Brian

Ron Evans · March 24th, 2010, 07:58 AM

Did you switch on and immediately push record button so the red light on the media might have been on while you pushed record. It takes a few seconds for the camera to examine the media and give a green light to attached media.
Ron Evans

Brian Grant · March 24th, 2010, 08:27 AM

I'm certain that I didn't press record button too quickly on powerup - I was trying to be pretty slow and deliberate with my actions because of the reported problems. To be honest I am not sure if I even pressed the record button - the error may have come immediately on power application (that was my initial recollection of the event - and is what I wrote down when I first had a chance). All I know is that once the data recovery message appeared I had fingers flying trying to clear the error and start recording again.

When I turned the power off (after the first 35 minutes) I waited a good 15 - 20 seconds after all activity ended.

Brian

March 23rd, 2010, 02:14 PM	#46
Adam Welz Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: New York, USA Posts: 111	Hi All I've only had the problem when recording in tandem to an SD card and the FMU128. To an SD card alone, no problem. Also, when using the FMU128 with a Sony MemoryStick Pro HG Duo HX, although I've not used that very often so it may just be chance that it's not crashed with the MemoryStick. My earlier theory that it might be triggered by an encounter a corruption in the FMU or memory card during a write operation has still not been addressed. Marshall, when your cam 1 crashed, did it go into a complete freeze (not even responding to power off switch) or not? And did it manage to recover the clip that was interrupted by the crash on restart? Cheers Adam

March 23rd, 2010, 02:19 PM	#47
Marshall Levy Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Maryland Posts: 304	@ADAM: >>>The camera completely froze (crashed) whereby the only thing I could do to get the camera to do anything was to remove the battery. No buttons worked, nor did the power button switch. I did notice that the power to the FMU128 was immediately turned off and remained off until the camera restored the data (or whatever it does) to that specific unit; only then would the camera turn back on (by itself) and start working again. This is why it seriously seems to be related to this unit in parallel with the SDHC recordation as well. The clip was recovered.

March 23rd, 2010, 02:26 PM	#48
Adam Welz Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: New York, USA Posts: 111	more notes: I've experienced the buffer overflow and deep crash under the following circumstances: 1) With an unmodified NX5U shooting 1080/30p FX and with a WorldCam updated NX5U shooting 1080/25p FX. 2) Definitely in manual focus mode, can't remember if it ever happened in AF mode. 3) With and without a second (non-Sony) mic attached in addition to the kit mic. Kit mic I generally have on auto level, second mic (TinyMike with 48v to 3.5v converter plug, 48v phantom power ON) usually on manual level. 4) With SteadyShot ON and GPS ON. 5) With front rec light OFF. 4) PCM audio ON. 5) Zebras ON at 100. 6) Peaking ON (focus aid) 7) Both while shooting via flip out LCD only and rear viewfinder only. 8) On cards that have previously been in camera during unplanned clip interruption/shutdown. Cheers Adam

March 23rd, 2010, 02:46 PM	#49
Ron Evans Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,220	Had cards only been in the camera for clip delete and format or had clips been deleted on the PC? Ron Evans

March 24th, 2010, 07:36 AM	#50
Brian Grant New Boot Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 8	I was taping an event a couple of days ago and had the following take place: After approximately 35 minutes recording was stopped and the camera was turned off. About 7 minutes later camera was turned on and the record button pushed. An error message immediately appeared indicating that data was being recovered. I tried turning the camera off and on - no response. Since it was imperative that I begin taping I removed and reattached the battery. (Battery had plenty of power - about 180 minutes left). I was finally able to get to a screen that allowed me to abort the recovery of data, but I had to make several selections on the touch screen acknowledging that the data would be lost forever. Up until this point there was no indication whether it was SD memory or the FMU that was causing the data recovery message. Finally (about two minutes) got to the main camera screen and it indicated that media in slot A was corrupt/unuseable, but the FMU looked good so I began recording to it alone. I did not try to select media in slot B and record to it - was just grateful FMU appeared to be working. Taping complete I turned off camera, still getting an indication that media in slot A was corrupt/unuseable. A few seconds later when I turned the camera back on everything was fine - including media in slot A. The first 35 minute taping was intact on A, but obviously the second part was not there. FMU recorded everything, but I did miss about 45 seconds while trying to eliminate the lockup. Video has been transferred to my edit system and I have not done anything to the cards yet - I may examine them attached directly to a computer later. Something to note is that even after I was able to get rid of the error messages, the camera did not "relay" to the media in slot B - it just kept giving me an indication that media in slot A was corrupt. Not sure whether it is meant to relay or not under these circumstances (probably not), but at least it did allow me to record to the FMU. I'm not sure whether or not there is actually a corrupt sector on the card - it appears fine now. Cards are Panasonic Class 10 16 GB which have only been used in this camera and were formatted by the camera when first installed. They have not been subjected to inadvertant power loss. Twice in the previous week (including immediately prior to this taping) I had recorded for several hours until the SD cards were full in order to ensure there were no corrupt sectors on either card, then deleted (not reformatted) all video on the cards/FMU. I assume if there was a corrupt sector I would not have been able to record until the cards were both full. I have another taping in a couple of days and don't want to go through this again. Thinking of removing either SDHC or FMU and recording to one type of media, or maybe recording 1080/60 to the FMU and 480/60 to the SD. Maybe I'll just go and buy a couple of Memory Sticks. Open to suggestions. Panasonic SDHC Class 10 16GB 1080/60i to both SD and FMU GPS - On NP-F770 battery Manual mode Auto focus - On Whitebalance - Preset A Manual Iris Shutter - 60 Gain - 6db Audio Channel 1 - Shotgun with 48v Audio Channel 2 - Wireless Viewfinder - Off / LCD - On Tripod Mounted Brian

March 24th, 2010, 07:58 AM	#51
Ron Evans Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,220	Did you switch on and immediately push record button so the red light on the media might have been on while you pushed record. It takes a few seconds for the camera to examine the media and give a green light to attached media. Ron Evans

March 24th, 2010, 08:27 AM	#52
Brian Grant New Boot Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 8	I'm certain that I didn't press record button too quickly on powerup - I was trying to be pretty slow and deliberate with my actions because of the reported problems. To be honest I am not sure if I even pressed the record button - the error may have come immediately on power application (that was my initial recollection of the event - and is what I wrote down when I first had a chance). All I know is that once the data recovery message appeared I had fingers flying trying to clear the error and start recording again. When I turned the power off (after the first 35 minutes) I waited a good 15 - 20 seconds after all activity ended. Brian