Evertz Microsystems Ltd. 3465 Mainway Drive, Burlington, Ontario, Canada, L7M 1A9 Tech Support: Phone 905-335-3700 Fax 905-335-3573 Internet: eng@evertz.com Technical Bulletin Issue Date: January 30, 1996 Product: 5500 KeyKode Decoder Subject: Frequently Asked Questions Author: Alan Lambshead Here are answers to a few of the most frequently asked technical questions relating to the 5500 KeyKode decoder and KeyKode reading heads. References to the 5500 Instruction manual are to revision 1.0 Mar. 1994. 1. The Keykode reader is not reading any KeyKode The 5500 KeyKode LED should blink each time a barcode is read. The 5500 COMM LED should blink each time a barcode is sent to the 4025. 1 Check the mechanical alignment of the head with the film path * Make sure that the film is fully engaged in the rollers and that the head is able to follow any sideways motion of the film. See the section 2.3 of the KeyKode reader manual for further information on reader head installation. 2 Correct negative/print setting. * Check that the Negative / Print menu setting is set correctly for the type of film you are using. 3 Make sure the correct sensor is selected * Check that the correct sensor is selected for the film type you are using (35 mm or 16 mm). (Section 2.5 of the 5500 manual). It is best to insert a small white piece of paper or a business card into the film path area of the head. Then you will be able to see the proper reflection of the Led when you select the various sensors. If the head has been plugged in to the 5500 decoder when power is applied, it is possible for the wrong LED and sensor to be active. (In spite of what the front panel indicates.) * To correct this hold down the SHIFT key and press the MODE key to cycle through the various sensor combinations. The 35 mm sensor is closest to the base plate of the head. The 16 mm sensor is slightly higher, and the 35 REV sensor is at the top of the head, farthest from the base plate. Make sure that each LED illuminates correctly when you cycle through the various modes. The three LED and sensors are available only on the model KK-16/35 head. Other models of the heads will have only the 16 or 35 mm sensors. 4 Check that the intensity setting is set correctly. * See the tutorial on LED intensity control in the 5500 manual. The best results are usually obtained by connecting bi-phase from the telecine to the 5500, turning TACH HUNT ON, and setting the 5500 for AUTO INTENSITY. When the telecine is put into play, the hunt routines will automatically search the whole range of intensity control to find the appropriate number. Page 1 of 5 FAQ.DOC: Frequently Asked Questions Revised January 30, 1996 5 Visually Check The Legibility Of The Barcode * Check that the barcode has good contrast and that it is printed all the way to the edge of the film. This is particularly a problem with print stock. 6 Check whether there is an accumulation of dirt in the head. * You can do this by using the Density display if you are using KK style heads. (See the KK / EV head compatibility item later in this document for a description of the various of heads.) To access the density display, press the SHIFT+DISPLAY keys several times until you get a display that looks like : DENSITY = 160 / 150. The number on the right shows the lower LED intensity limit which was established at the time of installation. The number on the left shows the current intensity setting required to receive data from the sensor. If you remove the film from the head these numbers should be similar to each other. If you put a piece of paper in where the film normally goes, the left number should go to 999. When you remove the paper it should go back to the original value. If the number on the left is a lot greater than the number on the right (when there is nothing in the head) that indicates that there is dirt blocking the sensor and you are not getting the best reading possible. Carefully remove the dirt by blowing compressed air into the sensor openings. You should do this for both 16 and 35 mm. The right hand number should be in the range of 150 to 200. 2. The Keykode Reader has difficulty reading on some films but works well on others. 1 Visually Check The Legibility Of The Barcode * Check that the barcode has good contrast and that it is printed all the way to the edge of the film. This is particularly a problem with print stock. 2 Black & White Film stock * Black and White film typically needs to have a higher intensity setting than colour film. Manually increase the intensity if you are in the manual intensity mode. 3 Bar Code Asymmetry * Press the DISPLAY key until the display shows something similar to BARCOD ASYM +20%, which stands for bar-code asymmetry. This display gives an indication the symmetry of the bar and space elements in the barcode. * For Print film stock, when the display shows a positive number there may be too much light - lower the intensity setting. When it shows a negative number it indicates there may not be enough light - raise the intensity setting. * For Negative film stock, when the display shows a negative number there may be too much light - lower the intensity setting. When it shows a positive number it indicates there may not be enough light - raise the intensity setting. 4 Extended Auto * For most film stocks the EXTENDED AUTO menu settings improves the operation of the automatic intensity control. However, in some cases, it may degrade the performance. Try turning EXTENDED AUTO OFF in the Extended menus. Page 2 of 5 FAQ.DOC: Frequently Asked Questions Revised January 30, 1996 5 EV Style Heads * If you are using the older EV-35 or EV-16 style heads, the performance of the LEDs may degrade over time. Most users notice a significant improvement in performance after the head is realigned at the factory. Contact the factory for further information. 3. The KeyKode reader only reads in one direction. 1 KK / EV Head Compatibility * There are two fundamentally different types of readers heads that can be used with the 5500. The older heads are known as `EV' heads. They are Evertz models EV-35, EV 35F, EV-16 and EV-16 F as well as the RIM 16 and 35 mm heads. The newer heads are known as `KK' heads. They are Evertz models KK-35, KK-16 and the combination head KK-16/35. The model numbers of the Evertz heads are clearly shown on the serial number labels of the heads. * When using KK heads set the 5500 for KK HEAD COMPATIBLE. * When using EV heads set the 5500 for EV HEAD COMPATIBLE. * If you do not have the correct head type selected, the 5500 may not read in both directions or the AUTO INTENSITY routines may go in the wrong direction.. 2 Check the mechanical alignment of the head with the film path * Make sure that the film is fully engaged in the rollers and that the head is able to follow any sideways motion of the film. See the section 2.3 of the KeyKode reader manual for further information on reader head installation. 3 FLASH EPROM based firmware. * Press the SHIFT+DISPLAY keys to see the software versions. * The 5500 has two pieces of firmware. The first is the boot PROM code and is indicated by a prefix of the letters `P:'. The 5500 will read keykode in only one direction when operating on the boot PROM. * The second firmware, which is the next item on the shift-display list, is the main flash-based code. This will be indicated by a prefix of the letters `F:'. * If the 5500 is running on the boot prom, the letter `P' will be capitalized in the display. If the 5500 is running on the main flash memory, the letter `F' will be capitalized in the display. 4. The KeyKode reader is reading and sending data to the 4025 but the 4025 KKODE IN LED does not come on. 1 Check the hardware connections * Check that you have connected the Keykode reader to the AUX I/O port on the 4025. 2 Check that the 5500 baud rate setting is 9600. 3 Check the document Frequently Asked questions about the 4025 Film Footage Encoder for further information. Page 3 of 5 FAQ.DOC: Frequently Asked Questions Revised January 30, 1996 5. The Keykode reader does not read all the barcodes on my film. 1 Splices * If there is a significant change in the film density at a splice, it is possible for the 5500 to stop reading until the Auto Intensity algorithm can find an intensity that works for the new film density. For best results make sure you have Bi-phase connected from your telecine and that you have TACH HUNT ON and AUTO INTENSITY ON. 2 Print * On Print film stock there is human readable edge print information that obliterates some of the barcodes. It is normal that the 5500 will not read every barcode on Print. * If the barcodes have not been printed all the way to the edge of the film then the 5500 may not be able to recover all of the barcodes. 6. The KeyKode reader used to perform very well but it doesn't read as well now. 1 Check whether there is an accumulation of dirt in the head. * See item 6 in question 1 above 2 Check the Limit Setting * The 5500 measures the performance of each LED and sensor and sets a lower intensity limit accordingly. This occurs once after a factory reset and appears as an AIR READY N< >Y prompt. If the right arrow key is pressed the 5500 will evaluate and remember each lower limit. This will normally have been done at the factory and this prompt should not be seen by the user. Make sure there is no film in the head when you perform the AIR READY test. * It is possible although rare for the limit to be set to a unusually high value. When this happens, the Intensity adjustment routines will not be able to control the intensity correctly and the unit may stop reading. The only solution is to perform a factory reset and relearn the limits. See the document B_RESET.DOC, an Engineering note on how to perform the factory reset. This document should be found in the front of your 5500 manual. 7. Do I have to connect the Bi-Phase Tach Input? * The 5500 will read without the bi-phase connected. However, in the AUTO INTENSITY mode, when the Keykode is no longer recognizable the 5500 may use one of two `hunt' routines to search for the correct intensity setting. * When TACH HUNT is On, the 5500 uses the bi-phase to determine when a reasonable amount of film has gone by without reading a barcode (typically 2 barcodes worth). After that time the 5500 will search the entire intensity range within approximately 6 to 8 feet of film and will continue to do so until a barcode is read. * This provides the most robust method of tracking large density variations on the film. Page 4 of 5 FAQ.DOC: Frequently Asked Questions Revised January 30, 1996 8. What are the settings for the menu items. You should use the following recommended settings for the 5500. * Negative Set according to whether you are using negative or print stock * KK auto intens 5500 will use Auto intensity * edge hunt off * tach hunt on 5500 will search for barcodes when it receives biphase without reading * biph 10 PPF this is the best biphase rate for use with the 4025 - should also be connected to 4025. Make sure your telecine biphase matches this rate. * kk head compat'l this must be set for use with the KK-16/35 head. Check the serial number plate on your keykode head to see if it is an KK model head or the original EV model head. * Other settings are optional. Page 5 of 5