Hacking the Kodak Reels 8mm Film Digitizer (New Thread)

[jmccabe]

I'm using Davinci Resolve to post-process these clips, and it's a big learning process since I haven't done any video editing in 20 years.

When working with "Color Space Transform" nodes in Davinci Resolve, what are people using as the "Input color space" and "input gamma" on clips captured with this firmware?

 

[JohnCT]

Well, I think I reached the end of the road..

I removed the hacked-in micro reader thingy and installed a new SD socket onto the main board, then installed a new SD card. The unit powered up, and this time it went to the scan screen when I pushed the OK button and it didn't ask for the card like last time.. But, then it again asked for the card. With it running (I know), I fiddled with the SD card and found that the new socket is, I believe, defective. The card won't lock into the socket - the spring inside pushes the card back out. There is no flux inside the socket as I'm very experienced with that type of repair.

But while I fiddled with the SD card and tried to get it to lock, the Kodak shut off. I pushed the power button and no white power LED. I unplugged it for half an hour and still nothing. I disassembled and reseated all the ribbons (they are in good shape as are the ribbon sockets), but still nothing. I get 12V on the input board and 3.3VDC on the main board. I get 3.3 on the keyboard, but I don't see any SDA info on the keyboard. Under a microscope, I don't see any fuses. The board stays "cold" when power is applied.

There are four pins on the SC socket reading at ground potential, which seems like two or three too many. I'll check the pinout if I can find one on line and see if that's correct, and if not, see if removing the socket will clear the shorts to ground.

EDIT: the pic of the card socket with the red pins show which pins are reading short to ground. I haven't removed the socket yet, but will. But if this is the end, then thanks everyone for the advice!!

John

View attachment 30366View attachment 30367
View attachment 30380

SECOND EDIT: I found out that pin 4 is Vdd (power source), so it should not be grounded. When I get a chance, I'll remove the socket and see if the short goes away. If it does, I'll order a socket that doesn't use a spring loaded mechanism because internet searching suggests the new socket could have failed mechanically inside shorting pins. Hopefully it didn't trash the board.

Good news everyone - I removed the new SD socket I installed in place of the missing one (I bought the Kodak Reels cheap on the bay for parts) and the shorts on the board disappeared, and the Kodak sprang back to life. Display is back and it's calling for an SD card. So the brand new socket failed internally. I took the new failed socket apart and found two pins that were pushed back and then up into the grounded cover. The front lip of the pins are shrouded so I don't know how the two wayward pins could get snagged on the card unless it was assembled wrong and those two pins were above the shroud and snagged on the SD card. I will order another socket that is a push pull type and not a spring loaded push push like the last one that crapped out..

I'll update after the new socket arrives. Meanwhile, if anyone knows what socket I can buy for this, I'd appreciate it. It would probably save me a couple of hours of work. Thanks!!

EDIT: It turns out that I can't use the simpler push-pull socket because those have a different footprint on the board and do not interchange. The cheapest socket I found that will fit is a push push (with shipping) was ordering an Arduino module with that same socket on the Arduino board. I'll remove that one and put it in the Kodak. I'll report back next week.

John

 

[Boojakascha]

I have something new to report:

As a reminder: My unit, type D, custom melw firmware turned black and unresponsive. Just able to turn on/off but nothing else. Pretty sure it's not the firmware's fault.

Apparently the capacitor drain takes very long on my type D. More then a week. I left the unit unplugged 2.5 Weeks now and it then flashed melw's most recent FW 270 like a champ and worked again.

Until I power cycled it. Not it's back to black, and probably it would start again after another 2.5 weeks. Does anybody have an idea what could be wrong?

I have to assume, that I caused a hardware error while making the hardware mod. But when it runs, it runs. So it's hard to know what I messed up. I once already unplugged and re-plugged every ribbon connector I used to no effect.

But I think I will just try over doing that, until something better comes into my mind.

 

[JohnCT]

I have something new to report:

As a reminder: My unit, type D, custom melw firmware turned black and unresponsive. Just able to turn on/off but nothing else. Pretty sure it's not the firmware's fault.

Apparently the capacitor drain takes very long on my type D. More then a week. I left the unit unplugged 2.5 Weeks now and it then flashed melw's most recent FW 270 like a champ and worked again.

Until I power cycled it. Not it's back to black, and probably it would start again after another 2.5 weeks. Does anybody have an idea what could be wrong?

I have to assume, that I caused a hardware error while making the hardware mod. But when it runs, it runs. So it's hard to know what I messed up. I once already unplugged and re-plugged every ribbon connector I used to no effect.

But I think I will just try over doing that, until something better comes into my mind.

I haven't been following your problem, but did you at any point try a different firmware or reinstalling the original?

John

 

[Boojakascha]

I haven't been following your problem, but did you at any point try a different firmware or reinstalling the original?

John

The problem first appeared while running a melw Type D firmware and since then I reflashed to a more current melw firmware. I have not flashed back to a stock firmware in regards to this problem (I did before for other reasons sometimes).

I reformatted the SD card several times and the device behaves the same, independent of whether a SD card is inserted or not.

 

[melw]

The problem first appeared while running a melw Type D firmware and since then I reflashed to a more current melw firmware. I have not flashed back to a stock firmware in regards to this problem (I did before for other reasons sometimes).

I reformatted the SD card several times and the device behaves the same, independent of whether a SD card is inserted or not.

Hi @Boojakascha - that sounds really unfortunate!

Just to be sure I've got the details right: You modded the camera in the unit and soon after that the issue with black screen and unit not initializing started? First time back in August?

If the motor doesn't spin and the firmware file stays on the card that means the unit is not getting to the bootloader, nor getting as far as into the firmware initialization, which sounds more like a hardware issue than software.

Few ideas: Check the screws, drilling debris and the sensor cable, anything you might have touched during the hardware mod. Even a tiny chip of resin or dust in the wrong place could cause unwanted contact. Blowing out the connectors before reseating them might help.

If you're comfortable doing a more practical isolation test: with the unit unplugged, open it, disconnect the sensor cable, then power on with a firmware file on the SD card. If the bootloader now flashes (the file disappears from the card), the fault is in the sensor or spacer area. If it still ignores the card, look more at the main board and the power side. Be gentle with the flat-cable connectors, they're fragile.

 

[Boojakascha]

Just to be sure I've got the details right: You modded the camera in the unit and soon after that the issue with black screen and unit not initializing started? First time back in August?

Indeed, just after the hardware mod. The firmware ran fine =)

Thank you very much for the tips, I will work through them and disassemble and clean the whole unit thoroughly!

 

[JohnCT]

Apparently the capacitor drain takes very long on my type D. More then a week. I left the unit unplugged 2.5 Weeks now and it then flashed melw's most recent FW 270 like a champ and worked again.

Back in the early 2000s, a lot of flat TV main boards used a SOT23 - 3 pin reset IC that would activate whenever the main board received power on start. Sometimes the board had a "rst" tie point on the board near the reset IC. But that was years ago, and with integration of ICs being so ridiculous these days, it would surprise me if the reset function wasn't part of and buried deep inside another IC, maybe even the main processor.

But, if your problem can't be resolved and gets to the point where it renders the Reels not worth the trouble to play with, you can unplug the Kodak and look for residual voltage on the main board. When I was putzing around with my Reels that had a shorted SD card socket that rendered the Reels dead, I found 3.3V on the keyboard. You can try grounding the 3.3 with the machine unplugged and see if it achieves reset immediately after. There are other points on the board you can probe with your meter to see if any voltages are not bleeding off.

If manually bleeding works, you can use a "break before make" switch and use it to disconnect the 12V input before grounding. Use a DPDT that uses an ON-OFF-ON arrangement. Run the 12V that comes from the power supply through one set of "ON" contacts and the use the other set of "ON" contacts to ground the voltage that's causing the hang. You can ground through a resistor to limit discharge current. Label the contacts that switch the main 12V "ON" as "RUN" (or "ON") and the other "ON" set used to ground the voltage as "RESET". The middle off position guarantees the 12V gets disconnected before you ground the main board. Alternatively, instead of using a switch you can try adding a medium/high value resistor from the floating voltage source causing the hang to ground that will bleed it off in say 30 seconds or so after the Reels is powered down. That parasitic drag from the bleed resistor won't have any affect on the buck converters supplying that particular voltage, and the KODAK will come back to life after 30 seconds.

All that presupposes of course that your issue is caused by a reset issue that requires a complete bleed off of voltage to achieve reset.

John