RedMote - Please Red

[George Hupka]

I've never even bothered to use mine wirelessly - It wouldn't mate with my Epic from a couple of feet away, so that's pointless.

All I want is to attach it to the back of the camera so I can control it when the VF is in use... But with a non-functional "enter" button that is even moot.

[Martin Whittier]

The last two days I've been using the Redmote nearly completely wireless and have been let down several times throughout the shoot. On several occasions the the unit became non responsive and/or disconnected unexpectedly. I had to restart the unit to re-establish a connection, even docking on the camera sometimes wasn't enough. I love the IDEA of the Redmote, and when it works it is amazing, but I am a bit disappointed by the lack of reliability in the system.

[Jason Wingrove]

Just got my Epic back from Service having the Redmote transmit distance looked at. No time to chi the new distance just yet but the Redlink card or antenna under the panel has been changed just FYI

Left is before, Right is after. Standby fir testing

(see update below!.. worth sending it back)


jas

[ericyoung]

Interesting - Is there writing on the new one obscured by glare in the picture?

[Jason Wingrove]

theres no glare, thats an aluminium plate
j

[Robert Hart]

From a total amateur, SI2K heretic and non-nerd.

Anything that works with wireless radio-frequencies is something of a minor miracle in that it works at all. At the ultra high frequencies and low powers these things operate with, there is so much to go wrong. I do not know how the guts of the remote and the transmitter-receiver on the EPIC work. There are some aspects common to the discussion which lead me to some random and unscientific thoughts :-

Non-responsive touch-screens. Dry fingertips will prompt a touchscreen less reliably. Choose and practice with one fingertip for the touch screen and use a bit of sandpaper to rub the skin down a fraction. Workhardened fingertips are dry. Sustained prods versus scratches and taps work better. Separate the inputs a little more patiently to give the system time to have a bit of a think. It is after all handling 4K images, which is a workload.

Conflicting accounts of 5ft- 10ft and long operating distances achieved through walls etc.. RF propagation at ultrahigh frequencies is a bit of a lottery when there are metal structures, hardware, steel re-inforced concrete, moisture loaded leaves on trees and damp grass around. Even soggy humans stalking around will have an effect. Add other radio-frequency interference and any low powered radio system will become less effective.

The posted cameraphone demonstration of long distance operating looks to have been conducted in a timberframed dwelling house. Odds on that house has climate control and is fairly dry inside.

In comments, there is reference to a "default" setting and "scanning" and the "default" seeming to be the best. This hints to me that the system, like some wireless mikes, may have a facility to transmit and receive on more than one "channel". This would be desirable if more than one EPIC and REMOTE inhabited the room unless each camera and redmote pair forms its own discreet digital bond (encription?), uninfluenced by the presence of another.

A RF "scanning" function and ability to change frequencies if indeed it exists raises another possibility. At close proximity, is the transmitter/receiver on top of the EPIC and/or the REDMOTE somehow "preferring" to establish a link on another lower power "harmonic" or "spurious" radiofrequency signal getting out?

My imagining is that the "first" signal the system finds may be what it finetunes to. It may not be the most powerful and may not be the fundimental frequency. Therefore, with distance, it will fade quickly. Added accessories as well as shading RF reception, may also assist propogation of a lower powered harmonic signal.

I would be inclined to try if possible, unpowering the REDMOTE if possible before detaching a poorly functioning REDMOTE from the camera body, take it furthur than cutoff range from the camera, say about 15ft, power it up and then let it attempt to handshake with the camera in the scan mode. If there is a harmonic issue going on, then it should hunt a bit harder for the fundimental frequency and ignore the harmonic.

On radio-frequency propagation, it might be helpful for RED engineers to drag in an older school ex-military radio technican familiar with frequency-agile communications hardware, give him some essential diagnostic gadgets to play with and turn him loose. Digital technicians do not always equally good radio-frequency engineers make. There is a reason why FCC rules limit transmission powers of wifi systems radio-mikes and the like. Spurious emission is a significant one of them. Historically, videocamera systems have had less then stellar performance relating to radio-frequency interfence getting in.

There seems to be something going on with batteries and them not reaching a fully charged state. It may be that some batteries have not yet become "conditioned" through a few deeper cycles of use and may not be developing their full power. This may affect radiofrequency transmissions from the REDMOTE and their effective range. Battery conditioning may not have time to occur during the period the REMOTE is found to be flakey and given up on.


Finally. All of these factors may be additive in causing a problem, not single individual causes on their own.

And in conclusion, all my quite uninformed speculation above may be absolute BS due to too little actual knowledge of the RED products.

[Jason Wingrove]

OK after sending my Camera & red mote back to red for a look see and the change shown above my range (admittedly just one test but in the harsh radio environment of the NAB halls) I've gone from about 8 feet to around 80 feet.
The signal strength meter doesn't seem to make much sense or have any real bearing on the two communicating, it just works. I was kinda line of sight but there was some partitions and glass between here and there but again if your getting 8, 10, 12 ft etc then as red say lodge a ticket and get that camera back to HQ. Its worth it.

[Dennis Guskov]

My RedMote works fine when wireless and simply DOES NOT work when docked! Shows it's docked, charges the battery, tries to "connect" but never does :( but if taken off camera it connects and seems to hold the link pretty good. For a while I thought that firmware update would fix it, but once updated nothing changed, so here I am writing this up. What should I do? support ticket or what? Red guys, help!

[Trent Lillehaugen]

My RedMote works fine when wireless and simply DOES NOT work when docked! Shows it's docked, charges the battery, tries to "connect" but never does :( but if taken off camera it connects and seems to hold the link pretty good. For a while I thought that firmware update would fix it, but once updated nothing changed, so here I am writing this up. What should I do? support ticket or what? Red guys, help!

File a support ticket. If you can get your hands on another REDmote to test that would help determine if it is a problem with the REDmote or the camera.

[nacamera]

Hello all,
I just got the Red Backpack because I really like the idea of repurposing all my (still fine) Red bricks, and being able to attach them directly to the back of my Epic-X. It's really nice. Question, how do I/what do I need to make this work with the Redmote (also just arrived), can this be done? I'd love to have this rear mounted Red brick battery AND the option to have the Redmote attached to the camera body. The Module Adapter thing doesn't seem to be the answer. What am I missing?

Thanks,