Reasonably-priced wireless lav sets?

[Paul R Johnson]

Everyone always uses distance as some kind of arbiter? I can do 300 ft from a distant shotgun to my camera until a pigeon lands next to the pack, and I've struggled to get twenty feet across a stage on other occasions. If the occasional dropout isn't a problem, then cheap may be sufficient. Trouble is even expensive is not foolproof when signal strength at the low end is variable. The best ones have decent signal to noise, excellent diversity operation and a good front end design, but if your success or fail criteria is distance, then you are on a wing and a prayer with all kit.

[Jim Andrada]

Just reporting back that I've been able to feed my AT System 10 transmitter from the Tape Out of my SD 702 and pick up a clean track at the receiver.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Paul

Maybe if one is working half a mile down the road ..Honestly I can say that with my Azden 100ULT units I have never had any sort of dropout so they are stable ..but then again I'm always light of sight and I bought them for $499 as well (in fact one set was from the USA on eBay and was used at $150.00)

Jim? That's nice to know ..it that the same signal level as a line out?? My current units only take a lav mic!!

Chris

[Robert Benda]

The reason distance is so important is, naturally, the closer to each other they are, the better the signal.

That also applies to any interference. The closer IT is to the receiver, the more of a problem it will be.

So, because cheaper mics often have poorer components or build quality, they don't do a good job of locking on to the signal you want, necessarily. If you always work close to the mic (man on the street interviews, maybe), then a cheap mic should be an issue. If you work in a massive cathedral in the middle of downtown Washington D.C..... then you're going to have problems.

So, the cheaper the mic, the more distance matters.

Interference could be another mic on the same frequency (or very close), but is more likely a non-mic. For instance, the noise my old mics started to get once the new wi-fi standard was in place. Old mics in the U.S. were on the bandwidth where wifi is now.

Or, there is one lake resort, in the middle of no where, outdoors, my mics got all kinds of noise, even when I was 20 feet from the receiver. No idea what caused it. Hasn't happened anywhere else.

[Jim Andrada]

Hi Chris

I believe the Tape Out is at consumer line level (-10) as opposed to the regular Line level (+4)

I found a Switchcraft box that takes consumer stereo line out from a 3.5mm cable to Mono mic out (Balanced, I believe) XLR (Switchcraft 318 AudioStix 3.5mm Stereo to XLR Mono A/V DI with Volume Control)

I had Markertek (John Erceg is the custom cable guy - very helpful) make up an unbalanced XLR female to Hirose HR10-7P-4S 4 pin female cable about 18 inches long with Pin 1 (Gnd) and Pin 3 (Mic) connected. It was around $35.

Seems to work just fine, but I'll have the real story after recording a concert with it feeding three balcony cams this coming Saturday. I could probably have just used the included lav taped to the mic stand, but I don't know that a lav is quite the right mic for a symphony orchestra:<)

[Rick Reineke]

Attenuating +4dB balanced to -10dB unbalanced is a cheap and easy L-pad config., even w/ basic soldering skills and a few low cost resistors.. (Hopefully there are still some Radio Shack stores around in yer area) Boosting -10 to +4dB requires an amplifier (not cheap and/or easy).

[Jim Andrada]

The trick was finding out exactly what connector was on the transmitter - and when I found out it seemed that quantity 1 cost more than having the cable made up. Haven't done fine soldering in decades, and my eyesight is abysmal.

[Jay Massengill]

A similar box to the Switchcraft 318, is the DSAN LSP-1. The main differences being the cable is permanently attached on the LSP-1 and the volume control is large enough to use for live adjustments.

I could certainly see the benefits of both style boxes depending on your circumstances. Both have transformer isolation and ground lift switches.

Also you'll know if your signal coming out of the Tape Out is mono compatible... Because if it isn't, you won't have anything getting transmitted.

[Gary Nattrass]

The Sony ECM-AW4 bluetooth device looks interesting and may be a solution of a simple single semi pro camcorder solution.

The Instructions are here and basically it looks like a two way device with audio going in both directions to each unit. http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/4533246021.pdf

There is an ext mic input on the top of each unit that may have plug in power for a lav and a headphone output for recording or indeed using the presenter end as a simple IFB or talkback unit.

Ok bluetooth is not the best transmission system but for basic operations it may be good enough if used with care.

I was hesitant at first but for the price it may be worth looking into.

[Jim Andrada]

Well, I tried running the process end-to-end. Couldn't see any audio coming out of the MOTU box but then I remembered that it treats 1/2 TRS as Line and XLR as mic (pad in the TRS input????)

Anyhow, once I switches to XLR in everything seems fine and I was able to do a test record in one of the cameras and use the MOTU controls to set appropriate levels for the BMPCC. When I get home tomorrow night I'll hook up the other two cameras (BMCC and C100) and set set levels appropriately, then break it all down and pack it for transportation to the venue Sat AM.

[Brian P. Reynolds]

What abut the new Rodelink digital mics that have just come on the market?
Altho I haven't seen a confirmed price yet.

[Gary Nattrass]

Originally Posted by Brian P. Reynolds

What abut the new Rodelink digital mics that have just come on the market?
Altho I haven't seen a confirmed price yet.

They are here in the Uk and the price is here: Buy - Rode RodeLink Filmmaker Kit - Digital Wireless System for Filmmakers includes receiver, transmitter and lavalier microphone

As friend has one and says it is OK but I suppose the usual wifi issues may upset other surfers if it conflicts with their service.

With tax they work out around £100 cheaper than a sennheiser G3 so long term I would still go for that system.