Instruction Manual Rosendahl bonsaiDRIVE The Rosendahl bonsaiDRIVE is a professional portable video and audio multitrack recorder. www.bonsaidrive.
Contents Declaration of Conformity I. General: Rosendahl Studiotechnik GmbH Andechser Str. 5 D-86919 Utting a.A.
1. Unpacking the unit 2. Mechanics The unit is available in two powering versions: Mains with built in 90230 VAC switch mode power supply or with 12 volt external DC. Mains powered units are marked on the outside of the box with “90230 VAC”, DC powered units with “10-18 VDC”. The unit itself is either fitted with an IEC mains socket or a 4 pin XLR DC input wired in the standard method. In order to reduce noise the bonsaidrive does not have a fan.
3. Installing the hard drive If you have received your unit with the harddrive already built in you can pass over this section of the manual. When replacing the harddrive at any time please read this section in detail before proceeding. Set the address jumpers of the harddrive to MASTER or SINGLE. Harddrives set to SLAVE or CS (Cable Select) mode will not be detected! Remove the 4 black Philips screws (not the Allen screws!) on the top of the unit.
4. Connections (C1) (C2) (C3) (C4)(C5) (C6) (C7) (C8) (C9) (C21) (C22) (C10) (C11)(C12) (C13) (C14) (C15 - C17) (C1) Options Ports: for bonsaiSDI 270 Mbit SDI option and bonsaiLAN Ethernet option. (C2) Word Output: 1 x BNC socket, 48 KHz Wordclock out for synchronising peripheral audio units. (C3) Sync Input: 1 x BNC socket, Genlock in for connection of a PAL or NTSC black and burst video sync. Note: Accuracy of video sync signals must be within broadcast specs.
5. Connecting a monitor Professional monitors are expensive. For this reason people like to use consumer TVs with an AV input. Attention! Consumer TV equipment is generally safety class II, i.e. without earth connection. This is easily confirmed by looking at the 2 pole mains plug. Earth potential differences up to 100 volts can occur and ground currents will flow when such TV equipment, when switched on, is connected to your earthed studio environment.
6. Connecting the remote control panel The removable remote control panel communicates with the recorder over an RS422 9-pin Sub D connection and uses the same pinout as Sony© P2, also known as Sony 9-pin protocol. In this communication standard pin 5 is not used, but is used by bonsaiDRIVE for the 5 volt supply to the remote control panel. This pin 5 on output C21 (bonsaiREMOTE) of the recorder is protected by a PTC temperature element in the event of a short circuit.
7. Basic Functions With the REMOTE button the serial communication to the recorder can be switched over to an external Sony P2 controller connected to C24. When the REMOTE switch is on (LED lit), the recorder is connected to the external controller on C24 and all functions of the bonsaidrive remote panel are deactivated. When the REMOTE switch is off (LED unlit), the remote panel of the bonsaidrive is activated and the external controller on C24 is ignored.
With the menu function activated [MENU] the menu is inserted into the video picture.
8. Recording clips Before beginning a new recording, check the following menu settings: (1) "VIDEO INPUT" Turn on the menu by pressing the menu button [MENU]. Use the replay buttons [◄][►] to reach the menu position "VIDEO INPUT". You will find a numerically sorted list of the various menus and their description in the second “firmware” part of this manual. With the [+] button you can now select the video input. Go to menu 001 "SELECT CLIP" and select a clip number (1-255) with the [+][–] buttons.
If you simultaneously record audio using the optical input C12 then you must be certain that it is synchronised to the video source being recorded, to wordclock output C2 or to the optical audio output of the bonsaiDRIVE.
10 . Firmware Update The firmware version installed in your bonsaidrive is displayed every time the unit is switched on and has the format “BFXX.XX”. To update the firmware you need a computer with either a MIDI or serial (COM port or MAC-serial) interface, and the respective cables. Visit www.bonsaidrive.com and download the newest bonsaidrive firmware file (BFXXXX.DAT) together with a software upload module (Windows, MAC OSX) called bonsaiLOADER.
If a CRC error occurs, the software update process is stopped and indicated by the red [RECORD] LED, without the [◄] and [►] LEDs. After a successful firmware update the recorder starts and shows the new firmware version and the serial number. The previous menu settings are saved but should be verified, as the new firmware possibly contains new features and settings. After a prematurely terminated update process all menu settings are lost and return to the default values. The upload of firmware versions 00.
Overview of the menu list The following part describes the implications of firmware version BF 00.52 from 12th of December 2008. The order and selection possibilites of the menus described underneath can vary in older or newer firmware versions.
The menu appearing on screen can be activated by pressing the [MENU] key. The menus can be navigated by using the [►] and [◄] buttons and parameters changed by using the [+] and [–] buttons. In some menus the stop [■] key is used to validate an entry and the [◄] + [RECORD] buttons are used to confirm erase and format commands. Use [LOC 1] and [LOC 2] keys for menu navigation. MENU 001 SELECT CLIP Press the [+] and [–] keys to select the clips from 001 to 255.
MENU 010 DELETE END OF CLIP This function deletes the section of a recorded clip from the current transport position until the end of the clip. This command is useful when a recording became too long because it was not stopped in time. Switch the menu off and use the transport keys to locate the desired new end of the current clip. Select MENU 010 by pressing the [MENU] key. Hold down the [RECORD] key and then press the [◄] key to delete the marked end of the selected clip.
Example: You have copied a region from clip 001 and pasted to clip 002. Now you DELETE clip 001. The copied frames are still reserved by clip 002 and will not be overwritten by new recordings. MENU 017 MAXIMUM RECORDING TIME bonsaiDRIVE recordings are organised in several CLIPS. The maximum recording time can be set to SINGLE or MULTIPLE CLIPS with a duration of 240, 120, 60 or 30 minutes. When set to SINGLE CLIP 60 MINUTES for example the machine stops automatically a recording after 1 hour.
audio crossfade. The endpoint of the recording will become the new end of clip and all later material of the clip recorded previously will be deleted ("dirty out"). Advise: Make a copy of the complete clip using the COPY and PASTE functions before executing ASSEMBLE edits. Using record mode INSERT it is possible to overlay only selected audio tracks with smooth audio crossfades at the record IN and OUT points. The PREVIEW mode emulates the edit without writing to the harddisk.
MENU 022 ANALOG OUTPUT FORMAT MENU 025 8TRK CH1/2 CH3/4 MODE Use the [+] and [–] keys to select the analog output format. When CVBS & Y/C is selected the following signals are output: Composite (FBAS ) video signal on C17 and a Y/C (S-video) signal on C16 and C15. With COMPONENT selected an analog component signal on C17-C15 is output. Select GBR to output an analog RGB video signal (G on C17, B on C16 and R on C15).
MENU 028 2TRK INPUT SENSITIVITY The sensitivity of the analog 2 track inputs can be adjusted in 3 dB steps from -6 dBU up to +9 dBU as digital full scale level. MENU 029 2TRK OUTPUT LEVEL The full scale level of the analog 2 track outputs can be set in 3 dB steps from -6 dBU up to + 9 dBU. MENU 030 TIME CODE CHASE MODE The time code chase mode is a function that synchronises the bonsaidrive to an external time code. The machine chases (runs after) and locks to the external time code.
(4) TRIGGER Midi time code is often output from PC audio workstations. Depending on the system used there is often too much latency and jitter in the MTC making it unsuitable for a continuous synchronisation. To get round this problem, one can use a so called TRIGGER setting. In this mode the input time code is only used as a start mark that triggers the synchronisation.
MENU 060 INSERTER MENU 063 PEAKMETER COLOR RED To insert the time code and clip number into the picture the following positions are available: TC LEFT BOTTOM, TC CENTER BOTTOM, TC RIGHT BOTTOM, TC & CLIP BOTTOM and the respective on the TOP of the screen (TC LEFT TOP….). TC & CLIP shows the time code and the current clip number. OFF switches the inserter function off.
MENU 072 STILL & SLOMO PICTURE MENU 074 GPIO FUNCTION PAL and NTSC video standards consist of two sequential, interlaced half frames (called first and second fields). There are video sources where both fields are scanned simultaneously (called frame scan), and also systems that do individual scans for each field (field scan). The GPIO (General Purpose Input/ Output) Port C22 has the following pinning.
In this way it is easy to realise a media player for presentations and exhibitions, which can be activated by the public through the GPI buttons. Even after a power cut or switching the machine off and on settings are stored and the machine will resume its function. The colour subcarrier frequency of the composite video output is asynchronously controlled for errors larger than +/- 5 ppm. In this way errors of up to 150 ppm in the video source can be compensated.
The internal Xtal oscillator can be calibrated to the external reference signal in menu 22 CALIBRATE INTERNAL. Resolution is 0,02 ppm. If the machine is to be synchronised to house sync in play mode, set the PLAYBACK SYNC REFERENCE to SYNC INPUT and connect the house sync reference signal to input C3 (SYNC INPUT). When no reference signal is present the status LEDs blink on the remote panel.
MENU 085 COLOR BAR MENU 090 FORMAT DISK For test purposes you can activate the internal 75% color bar generator by pressing the [+] key. Press the [■] or [–] key to return to the menu. The color bar generator is only output on the analog video outputs. MENU 086 DYNAMIC VIDEO OFFSET Digital TFT video displays and projectors produce frame delays caused by the internal scaling / framing processes.
MENU 091 FIRMWARE In menu 091 you can see the actual firmware version installed. BF 00.52 is the firmware being described in this section. To make a firmware update, hold down the [RECORD] key and press the [◄] key. See details in chapter 10 "Firmware update" in the main part of this manual (I, page 22). Each time the bonsaidrive is powered up a checksum of all flash memory cells will be calculated. Thus flash memory errors will be detected and reported as bonsaidrive errors 030 and 031.