going wireless from ex1r to hdtv for ceremony at DVinfo.net

Jim Stamos · January 20th, 2015, 07:26 PM

shooting a big wedding that will have an overflow. any good solutions to going wireless from my camera to an hdtv in another area that will show the ceremony to guests?
probably `150-200 ft

Michael Silverman · January 20th, 2015, 11:19 PM

If there's any way possible to use a 200 ft SDI cable instead of going wireless then that would save a lot of money and also give you a much more reliable signal since you would be hardwired in. If you will definitely be moving around during the ceremony and this isn't possible then Teradek seems to be one of the better choices that I've seen, but their products are quite expensive and may need a direct line of sight. I've seen consumer HD transmitters that are much cheaper (see link below) but I don't know that I would trust a consumer device when filming a wedding because it's even more likely to drop out.

HDTV Magazine - HDTV and Home Theater Podcast - Podcast #569: Wireless HDMI Options

I don't know exactly what the client is looking for, but if I were offering this type of service I would rent a camera like the Canon XA25 which has HD-SDI out, mount it on a heavy duty 10 ft light stand so it can see over all the guests, and then hire an assistant for a couple of hours to stand on a step stool, monitor the camera, and do some slow zooming when necessary. You can get an XA25 for $125 for 4 days from Lensrentals.com:

LensRentals.com - Rent a Canon XA25

The cable will be around $100:

Super High Quality Composite RCA Video Cable

And a heavy duty light stand is about $40:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/253069-REG/Impact_LS_96HAB_Air_Cushioned_Heavy_Duty_Light.html
If you can get a capable assistant for $75 for a couple hours then for under $350 the client would have a very reliable, solid connection using a decent camera which won't be obstructed by guests standing/walking in front. The shot may not be as interesting as if it were hooked up to your EX1R but if the client is primarily concerned with the guests having a clear view of the ceremony then it could be a good option.

Adrian Tan · January 21st, 2015, 12:17 AM

I was working with a crew on Friday who were doing live streaming to a projector in the reception room as well as to LiveStream for display on Facebook. I wish I'd checked out their gear more carefully. I assume they were also recording the mix for possible instant production of DVD at the end of the night!

Cameras were three or four Sony Ex1 and Ex3, and also a 3-D Panasonic camera (not being used in a 3D way though). Some were wireless, and some were hard-wired. Mostly on tripods on universal dollies, and sometimes shoulder-mounted. They all connected to a vision mixer, so there was a separate guy picking cameras to switch to.

Don't know what wireless unit they were using...

Anyway, here's two articles that might be of interest:

https://library.creativecow.net/kobl...ideo-Teradek/1

News Shooter | Paralinx Triton – a light weight wireless HDMI video transmission system for DSLRs and small video cameras

By the way, hard-wired looked like a distinct trip hazard to me. Pile of cable...

Michael Silverman · January 21st, 2015, 12:50 AM

The products in the links that Adrian posted look really cool and I'll need to read up on them further as they could be very useful in many situations. In doing some further research, it looks like most of the HD transmitters between $1-2K US have pretty phenomenal ranges from 300-500 ft. The only downside is that they all need to have a direct line of sight in order to work at this range. It appears that when you have to send the signal through a wall then the range dips to around 40-50 feet.

If the overflow crowd is in a totally separate room, you could mount one of the transmitters in the same room as the ceremony just above the door and then just run a shorter cable along the wall, through the door and then over to the HDTV in the other room. If you can run it along the top or bottom of the wall and use small amounts of gaff tape then no one will even notice. This would allow your transmitter to be in the same room as you and maintain the line of sight so that you could be more than 50 feet from it. I've heard that long HDMI cables are typically not as reliable as long SDI cables so if you can get a unit with SDI (or an HDMI to SDI converter) then that would allow you to use an SDI cable.

If one of the transmitters is out of budget for this project, the $350 hardwired solution I mentioned could still work and I definitely agree with Adrian that you would want to be very careful about where you run the cable. I would place the camera way in the back near the rear wall and use a camera with a nice 15x-20x zoom. Then you can just use gaff tape to mount the SDI cable to the floor, run it to the wall, and then once it's running along the wall you can use a smaller pieces of tape to just ensure it stays on. You could then run it out the door to the other room and have a nice solid connection.

I'm still learning about the HD transmitters as I think they're very cool, but I'm often much more comfortable using a wired connection than a wireless connection for live events whenever possible. If something were to go wrong with the wireless connection during the ceremony you wouldn't be able to troubleshoot or fix it since you'd be busy running a camera.

January 20th, 2015, 07:26 PM	#1
Jim Stamos Major Player Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 563	going wireless from ex1r to hdtv for ceremony shooting a big wedding that will have an overflow. any good solutions to going wireless from my camera to an hdtv in another area that will show the ceremony to guests? probably `150-200 ft

January 20th, 2015, 11:19 PM	#2
Michael Silverman Major Player Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Charlottesville Posts: 255	Re: going wireless from ex1r to hdtv for ceremony If there's any way possible to use a 200 ft SDI cable instead of going wireless then that would save a lot of money and also give you a much more reliable signal since you would be hardwired in. If you will definitely be moving around during the ceremony and this isn't possible then Teradek seems to be one of the better choices that I've seen, but their products are quite expensive and may need a direct line of sight. I've seen consumer HD transmitters that are much cheaper (see link below) but I don't know that I would trust a consumer device when filming a wedding because it's even more likely to drop out. HDTV Magazine - HDTV and Home Theater Podcast - Podcast #569: Wireless HDMI Options I don't know exactly what the client is looking for, but if I were offering this type of service I would rent a camera like the Canon XA25 which has HD-SDI out, mount it on a heavy duty 10 ft light stand so it can see over all the guests, and then hire an assistant for a couple of hours to stand on a step stool, monitor the camera, and do some slow zooming when necessary. You can get an XA25 for $125 for 4 days from Lensrentals.com: LensRentals.com - Rent a Canon XA25 The cable will be around $100: Super High Quality Composite RCA Video Cable And a heavy duty light stand is about $40: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/253069-REG/Impact_LS_96HAB_Air_Cushioned_Heavy_Duty_Light.html If you can get a capable assistant for $75 for a couple hours then for under $350 the client would have a very reliable, solid connection using a decent camera which won't be obstructed by guests standing/walking in front. The shot may not be as interesting as if it were hooked up to your EX1R but if the client is primarily concerned with the guests having a clear view of the ceremony then it could be a good option.

January 21st, 2015, 12:17 AM	#3
Adrian Tan Trustee Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 1,149	Re: going wireless from ex1r to hdtv for ceremony I was working with a crew on Friday who were doing live streaming to a projector in the reception room as well as to LiveStream for display on Facebook. I wish I'd checked out their gear more carefully. I assume they were also recording the mix for possible instant production of DVD at the end of the night! Cameras were three or four Sony Ex1 and Ex3, and also a 3-D Panasonic camera (not being used in a 3D way though). Some were wireless, and some were hard-wired. Mostly on tripods on universal dollies, and sometimes shoulder-mounted. They all connected to a vision mixer, so there was a separate guy picking cameras to switch to. Don't know what wireless unit they were using... Anyway, here's two articles that might be of interest: https://library.creativecow.net/kobl...ideo-Teradek/1 News Shooter \| Paralinx Triton – a light weight wireless HDMI video transmission system for DSLRs and small video cameras By the way, hard-wired looked like a distinct trip hazard to me. Pile of cable...

January 21st, 2015, 12:50 AM	#4
Michael Silverman Major Player Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Charlottesville Posts: 255	Re: going wireless from ex1r to hdtv for ceremony The products in the links that Adrian posted look really cool and I'll need to read up on them further as they could be very useful in many situations. In doing some further research, it looks like most of the HD transmitters between $1-2K US have pretty phenomenal ranges from 300-500 ft. The only downside is that they all need to have a direct line of sight in order to work at this range. It appears that when you have to send the signal through a wall then the range dips to around 40-50 feet. If the overflow crowd is in a totally separate room, you could mount one of the transmitters in the same room as the ceremony just above the door and then just run a shorter cable along the wall, through the door and then over to the HDTV in the other room. If you can run it along the top or bottom of the wall and use small amounts of gaff tape then no one will even notice. This would allow your transmitter to be in the same room as you and maintain the line of sight so that you could be more than 50 feet from it. I've heard that long HDMI cables are typically not as reliable as long SDI cables so if you can get a unit with SDI (or an HDMI to SDI converter) then that would allow you to use an SDI cable. If one of the transmitters is out of budget for this project, the $350 hardwired solution I mentioned could still work and I definitely agree with Adrian that you would want to be very careful about where you run the cable. I would place the camera way in the back near the rear wall and use a camera with a nice 15x-20x zoom. Then you can just use gaff tape to mount the SDI cable to the floor, run it to the wall, and then once it's running along the wall you can use a smaller pieces of tape to just ensure it stays on. You could then run it out the door to the other room and have a nice solid connection. I'm still learning about the HD transmitters as I think they're very cool, but I'm often much more comfortable using a wired connection than a wireless connection for live events whenever possible. If something were to go wrong with the wireless connection during the ceremony you wouldn't be able to troubleshoot or fix it since you'd be busy running a camera.