Wireless digital video transmitters...
 

I was just wondering if wondering if compact digital wireless video transmitters exist for cameras like the VX series, the FX series, The Z1 or the V1...

And if they do exist, I'd like to know what they look like.

They look like trucks, the network satellite transmission ones! The rest of us are out of the loop.

Mike

sony makes a device like that but it cost probably 3 times the price of the FX1.

I swear I saw one last year in the Tiffen display that was from IDX at Cinegear. The cost was around $600 USD from what I heard. They had it broadcasting the feed from the Steadicams running on the Handsfree mod of the Segway.

If that were indeed the case, most of us here would have one. It was probably a device to transmit a standard TV signal, that could be recieved at another location just to monitor what was being recorded. Those devices do exist. They are, however, not capable of transmitting a full DV signal, uncompressed or compressed.

They will exist soon, but there may be trouble with band frequencies. But, how nice it would be to have one, and not worry about tapes, DVD's, P2 cards etc.!

Mike

Sign me up for a three of them when you start taking pre-orders...

Lol...

Compressed to MPEG-2. Thus, basically only for monitor output. Unless of course, you will be satified with MPEG-2 as your highest possible resolution.

Neat though! Oh, $18,825.00 U.S. List Price

Mike

HDV is MPEG-2, so that's not an issue for the FX, Z1, V1, etc. However that particular Sony product only has a video data rate capacity of 5-15 Mbps. 1080i (1440 x 1080, interlaced) has a data rate of approximately 25 Mbps, so you won't be able to fit HDV down that signal. As Mike said, it's really only good for previewing or for example, using for on-stage cameras for a live feed to a projector (where the audience won't notice/care about the difference in quality).

JVC has a system that supports wireless HD over around 2km. However you're talking serious money (around AUD$40,000).

Lightpointe also make a wireless video system - but again, serious money (around AUD$85,000).

If you're shooting on a FX, Z1, V1, etc. there's NO WAY you can afford one of this systems - this year anyway.

We've had some success using LIPD gear made for security cameras combined with high gain aerials. The image quality from the composite feed is pretty hohum and if something big crosses the transmission path you'll likely get a loss of sync as the receivers AGC can't respond fast enough. We've got usefull signal over very long paths, 100M no problem and that's with a brick wall in the way.
However for under AUD 1000 all up it does have its uses, live feeds from the dance floor, monitoring etc.
I fitted the transmitter into a small box with a cold shoe adaptor and it sits quite nicely atop a PD 170.

these guys have the solution, but there is no product yet made out of it.
they expect CES Las Vega january 2007 to show some product.
http://www.tzerotech.com/site/

This related tidbit appears in the current edition of BARRONS:

Buy professional tools and you only cry once, instead of every time it breaks.
 

I'm surprised some of the Steadicam guys haven't chimed in yet. The industry standard device for this application is the Canatrans UHF transmitter. It is an analog transmitter that sends video to a regular television. It is a super reliable professional tool, which helps explain the $4k price tag.

IDX makes a digital transmitter and receiver that works over the WiFi system. A complete IDX package is roughly half the price of the Canatrans, with better video quality. The downside to the IDX system is that the video is delayed a half second, due to the real time digital compression.

Another solution to professional systems are these "inexpensive" 1.2Ghz and 2.4Ghz wireless home video security systems. The biggest issue with these cheap "gigahertz" systems is that the reception is awful, particularly when the camera is moving. They lose radio sync often which shows up as a picture disturbance about every second or two while the camera is in motion. I have gone through several of these devices and I would say they aren't rugged enough for professional use. The low price is a false economy, because they must be replaced when they break. And, they will.

I just figured that everyone was talking about transmission for delivery (i.e. recording) rather than monitoring, although I personally didn't read that into the first post.

The only thing I would modify in Brian's post about monitoring systems is that the Modulus is still probably the industry standard in that there are more of them out there as they have been around for years, but the Canatrans is the popular newcomer that is fast catching up. As such I would expect that some Moduli will be coming on the used market and they would be great for smaller cameras as they are about 1/3 the size/weight of the Canatrans (a sad development in my mind considering it is "advanced" system).