Tandberg PrecisionHD Camera issues

[Rick.Gaudreau]

Hello,

I have two Tandberg PrecisionHD x12 cameras acting weird and I can't seem to get either going properly.  I have tried a known good camera and everything seems to wrok fine connected to the same C40 Codec (running 6xxxx).  I have tried to do a CameraRescue on both and that didn't seem to do anything.  Here are the issues:

Camera 1 - Camera has green light for power on but the camera doesn't pan/tilt when first turned on and has no video on self-view on      Codec output.

Camera 2 - Camera has green light on power up and displays video on codec output but the Pan/Tilt is trying to do it's normal pre-routine pan-tilt setup before returning to preset 1 (home) but gets stuck every time at full up tilt position and 12 O'clock noon (pointing as far up as it goes, dead center) and all you hear is its gears slipping or trying to get out of that position.  I've tried to force the tilt back down and that sometimes work where normal operation can continue.  I've read about doing a camera position reset using the PT_Reset which also resynchronizes the motor positions but I'm not 100% sure how to do this.  I believe I would need to connect the RS-232 cable that goes to the codec directly into my computer (would have to use a USB to Serial adapter), configure the port and connect to the camera that way and send the command.

Is there anyone out there that could help me with either of these issues it would be appreciated.  The is presently no Cisco contract or support on these two cameras.

Thanking everyone in advance for reading this post and trying to help.

RG

[Patrick Sparkman]

To my knowledge there is no way to reset the PrecisionHD cameras, never heard of PT_Reset.

Try connecting the cameras to a known working codec, for example the one you took the good camera from to verify the C40 is working as expected, and see if the issue stays with the cameras.  Could try swapping out all the camera control and video cables to see if they are an issue, but it sounds as if the cameras have failed.

Last thing you could do is factory reset the codec, sometimes resolves unknown strange behavior.  Works for me once when I had an issue where a camera's gears would grind from the camera getting stuck turning in one direction, resetting the codec fixed it.  Could even try and upgrade the codec software to TC7 if you have access to it through another codec with a valid active support contract (after TC6.1 release keys are no longer needed to do software upgrades).

In the end, it sounds as if both cameras have failed, and need to be replaced.  I've had several fail, one day they're working and the next day they're not, it happens.  Suggest you try and get a support contract for the codec and cameras so you can contact TAC and they can help, or send you replacements.

[Rick.Gaudreau]

Thanks for the reply Patrick,

I didn't connect these two camera to another codec but I can do that.  What I did is I took a camera from another system and it worked fine with this C40 (almost the same thing).

I did do a factory reset on the C40 codec anyways, just in case that was the issue.   No change. 

Software version on C40 now is:  TC 6.2.1.69d401c

I do not have a valid support contract for any of our C20's or C40 which means I can't upgrade to the latest TC7, correct?  I'm not sure what you mean by "after TC6.1 release keys are no longer needed to do software upgrades".  If that is the case, how do I get the latest version to perform the upgrade?

Is there a way to properly do a shutdown on the C40 rather than select restart?  I want to do a complete shutdown without powering the C40 off using the on/off switch in the rear while it is on.

Thank you.

[Patrick Sparkman]

Starting with TC6.1, it's not required to obtain a release key when upgrading from one major software version to another (i.e.: TC6 to TC7), only an active support contract is needed to download the software. So if you have any C/EX/MX Series codecs with an active support contract you can download the TC software. If you don't have any support contracts at all, there are several security advisories that can get you the software for free, here is one for example that can get you to TC7.3.3 (cisco-sa-20150612-openssl), just contact TAC and provide them the advisory. 

You can shutdown the codec through the web interface under Maintenance > Restart.