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Nordynord

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  • Location
    Oregon City, OR
  • About
    ENG/Documentary, Sports, Corporate, Commercial. Basically I do any sort of shoot, although at this point in life I avoid shoots longer than a week, as my family is my main gig.
  • Interested in Sound for Picture
    Yes

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  1. I had essentially the exact same issue; it's happened a few times, and for me it was always the left return channel, usually present but about 20 dB lower than the right. Customer support suggested re-installing the firmware, and that seemed to fix it the first time, however the issue came back and firmware didn't help. Then on one of the attempts I was feeding tone into the return as I put the SD card back in for a firmware update, and when I flipped the protective door shut the left channel magically came back to full level (from the physical jostling of the door shutting). This happened a couple times, clearly indicating that the problem was a physical short or something similar. I removed the top panel and checked for any loose connections or metal pieces making contact where they shouldn't, and while I didn't find a smoking gun per se, the unit has worked fine ever since. It might be worth opening the top and gently wiggling the connections to the return, as they are easily accessible and there's little chance of mucking anything up.
  2. Update: I’m now also experiencing the “Updating Firmware” snag, as well as a few other errors like TC/Wordclock being disabled and “Media Too Slow.” I haven’t plugged into external power for very long, but the machine currently does it each time with no SD card present and no AA battery tray connected, just external power. Definitely making me extremely nervous about using the unit in the field....
  3. What battery chemistry were the AAs you were using? I’ve had a MixPre 10T since December (primarily as a backup recorder), and loaded the tray with lithiums. I’ve only used it for about an hour off those batteries, but the unit is still showing full battery. I haven’t found an actual percentage readout, nor have I checked the voltage with a multimeter, but I sort of assumed alkaline batteries wouldn’t be up to snuff.
  4. I was told by the Sound Devices support staff that the timecode and PowerSafe batteries are deeper in the machines and require removing circuit boards. I'm relatively handy with simple solder jobs and whatnot, but it sounded daunting. I'm eager to hear if anyone has tried it!
  5. I had to send my 633 back to Sound Devices to have internal batteries replaced recently. I noticed that the PowerSafe feature was no longer counting down for 10 seconds when external power was lost, the unit did a full reboot each power cycle instead of QuickBoot, and I also lost timecode on each power cycle. My situation might have been a little odd in that there was a blown capacitor that was causing the front of the unit to get hot, but the batteries apparently do have a finite lifespan. I rented a 633 from a friend while mine was being serviced and noticed that one also wouldn't hold timecode after a power cycle, although it was able to do a safe shutdown. I understand that features like this require rechargeable internal batteries, but I was definitely caught off guard having to spend $350+ after only owning the machine since summer '15. Given the similar issue on my friend's 633, I wonder if there will be a lot more people with this problem in the next few years. I also now have a MixPre 10T, which also has an internal timecode battery that will presumably need replacing at some point. It would be wonderful if replacing these batteries was as simple as the TOD battery, but my understanding is that it's much more complicated. I try to remember now to hold down the menu button to reset the timecode clock if I know I won't be powering back up for 2 hours; hopefully that might extend the life of the new timecode battery.
  6. My Myanmar experience was truly wonderful; absolutely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We were all quite nervous about entry into the country, given the equipment that we had, but flying into Mandalay we had no issues at all, and were through Customs/Immigration as fast as I've ever experienced. We were documenting humanitarian work at a hospital that is run by Buddhists, and given the large influence that Buddhism plays there, I believe that the process may have been expedited because of that. No one ever questioned us about the equipment, even though we were traveling on tourist visas as opposed to business visas (this was recommended to us because we weren't selling goods). As for frequencies, I don't think that they have any sort of regulations, and I used Lectrosonics block 19 as well as a Sennheiser G3 in the A block, and the spectrum was clear all the time. Most of our shooting was in a remote area about 50km from Mandalay, but even in Monywa (a fairly large city) I had no interference. I didn't even see a television set in anyone's home until one of the last days there, and I suspect that television broadcast takes up very very little of the UHF spectrum. Finding somewhere silent to conduct interviews, on the other hand, is a whole other problem. Even in tiny villages hours away from paved roads, the constant hum of motorbikes is present. Video/Film production is not something that most of the people there have ever witnessed, and we somewhat had to give up on convincing people to be quiet for us (given the documentary nature of our project, this wasn't a deal-breaker). The people are extremely hospitable and welcoming, and naturally very interested in new things such as a documentary crew. I'm not sure which part of the country you'll be in, but the Mandalay region was altogether very welcoming, and we had no issues. Given the ongoing/renewed clashes in the border areas, the situation could be different beyond the middle of the country. I've read that journalists are forbidden to enter areas such as the northern Rakhine State, so I would expect the closer you are to those areas, the more scrutiny/hassles your crew may have to endure.
  7. Just another thought (I didn't see this mentioned in a very quick skim of this post): I've experienced clicking sounds using my SMQVs and fixed the problem with a quick scrubbing of the battery door screw. Lectro now includes a bit of silver paste to apply to the screw, but out in the field I haven't had that with me. As far as I can tell, corrosion and residue on the threads of the battery compartment screw can cause the clicking, and while the paste might give the best continuity for the circuit, clean metal on metal is certainly better than mystery muck. Just something to try...
  8. I'm going to be travelling to Myanmar in February for a documentary, and I was wondering if anyone on the board has any recent experience there or knowledge of regulations. Over the last 5 years a lot of the restrictions to journalists have been lifted, and I was specifically wondering if anyone has insight as to legal wireless frequencies there. I did a search of the board and the info was not up to date regarding the current situation there. Thanks!
  9. I have a question related to this thread for folks who have used multiple brands of hardwired lavalier adapters; have you noticed differences in the noise floor between different brands? I tried out the Remote Audio adapter on several lavs (COS-11, TR-50, B6), but the noise I heard was unacceptable. The adapters mention use with universally wired lavs, whereas my Sankens are wired servo, so I'm assuming this was the issue. However, the Remote Audio adapters were only half the price of an Ambient Eumel, and I wasn't sure if it was just lower quality circuitry. I didn't get any clear answer from the dealer, so I've returned them, but I wanted to research this a little more before buying a few Eumels. From what I've read here, the Eumel will work with either lav wiring, but can anyone verify whether it sounds clean either way?
  10. I can't comment on the MKH 30 specifically, but I have used an MKH 416 paired with a Schoeps MK 8. I would say the narrow pickup pattern of the shotgun limits the usefulness of the M/S scenario to situations where you don't have much sound coming from anywhere but primarily the front. I used it at a few football games for wild crowd noise, and ultimately a simple AT 825 XY mic sounded better. A match between the mid and side mics is ideal, but great results can definitely be had with different brands, and I think the choice of pickup patterns for the mid channel relevant to what you're capturing is probably more important.
  11. I'd like to quickly share the experience that I had when I upgraded my FR2 with the timecode option. I did send mine in to have it done, but still had an unforeseen problem. The timecode card ended up drawing more power than the built-in power supply could provide, and the whole unit went into a coma about a week after I got it back. My FR2 was purchased within a few months of release, so perhaps Fostex puts better power supplies in by default now, but I had to send mine back in to have the power circuitry repaired/upgraded. I'd suggest sending it in to have the work done, and maybe inquire if this issue was remedied. I wish that I had gotten it rewired with a better DC input jack while it was at the solder hospital, but it's worked fine with the cheapo factory original plug. Not to knock the FR2, but I feel compelled to share one other experience with it as a cautionary tale. The menu button/selector knob remembers where you were in the menu hierarchy, which is a mixed blessing. It's not a great thing when the last menu option you selected was "Format CF Card." All it takes is something bumping the knob 3 times to repeat the last function (in my case it was my new Nikon D90 bouncing around my neck - clearly I should pay more attention to my audio and less on snapping pics of cheerleaders). I love that my 744 requires holding down two buttons in order to do something destructive like formatting. All in all, my FR2 served me well, and it comforts me knowing I have it as a backup.
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