 |
| Astera App running on an iPad with an Astera Box and an AX5 par |
I recently had a near disaster for me as a gaffer using the Astera App with an Astera Box (ART7).
I was working on a commercial using Titan tubes and AX5 pars the last week of June. My Astera Box disconnected from the app during the shoot for no apparent reason. It had been working normally. I could never get connected again including using my backup Astera Box.
.jpg) |
| Titan tubes on the truss and AX5s behind the band |
I won't go through all the things I frantically tried to get the Astera Box to reconnect. I did all the tricks I know and then some. No luck. I would not call myself an Astera expert but I am proficient having worked with these lights since the AX1s were introduced.
The Titan tubes were inaccessible on truss (while we were shooting) but fortunately they were doing the correct effects when I lost control of them. The AX5s I was able to switch over my Exalux Control One.
If that sounds confusing, most of the lights were being controlled wirelessly with an Exalux Control One. I was controlling the Astera lights separately using the app. I prefer the app because it give me more control over effects, colors, and especially saving options.
My Astera Boxes no longer had the normal operating flashing light every 2 seconds. They had a different pattern of flashes. I'm assuming it was an error code. Unfortunately, Astera is some what opaque with information about these transmitters. Nowhere can I find any information about what the codes might be.
After the shoot, I tried my 3rd Astera box. I turned on my Astera box first. It was flashing correctly every 2 seconds. Then I turned the app on and tried to connect. Now my Astera box started the same error code! Somehow the software had affected the box.
I now had 3 "bricked" Astera boxes that I had to send in to be serviced.
My Astera repair said the software had changed the serial numbers of the boxes! They had software to reset the boxes.
There must be more the software did to the boxes than just change serial numbers. The boxes were not operating normally with the 2 second flash instead flashing an error code.
When I got the boxes back, they all connect to the app correctly with no issues.
Curiously, my iPad was showing the incorrect serial number for one box. Fortunately, the pairing pin number still worked.
 |
| The serial numbers don't match but the pairing pin works! |
I have an old backup Android tablet. Even more curious, the same Astera box that showed up with the incorrect serial number on the iPad had the correct serial number with the Android tablet. Everything worked normally with the Android tablet, too.
I am so disappointed with Astera. I can think of so many situations where this happening, especially on a movie, would have been a disaster.
It should never be possible for the Astera App and the Astera Boxes to be working normally, disconnect on their own, and brick the Astera Boxes.
I'm guessing part of the problem may have been my Astera Boxes were not fully up-to-date with software (but I think they were). My other guess is maybe my iPad had updated the Astera App triggering the failure. I don't recall 100% but I think I may have connected my iPad to the Internet that morning. That may be what started the problem.
Whatever happened should have never happened. Whatever happened should not be a possibility.
Takeaways from this:
- Keep
your software/firmware up-to-date. I know my Astera lights all had
their firmware up-to-date when this happened.
- Do
not have your tablet connected to the Internet while shooting so there
is no chance of any kind of software update causing problems.
- If the serial number doesn't match the Astera box that is on, try putting in the pairing pin anyway (for the box that is on) and see if it works.
- Hope Astera gets their software fixed!
PS: My Astera rep told me this was not a common failure but they were seeing it. I'm a little skeptical. I'm wondering if this software failure was more wide spread.
I saw with the software updates, there was some software glitch going on with the app and the boxes just prior to what happened to me. I'm guessing that a rushed, updated "patch" for the issue caused the problem I had.
Though I'm concerned now about using the Astera App on set now, it has been reliable for me for years. I've never had any issues until this.