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Zaxcom issues


airport70

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Hi there

I'm having some, actually a great deal of problems with our wireless set up. I'm head of a team of four recordist covering up to 16 contributors in a reality TV dating show on Zaxcom radio mics. We brought 21 mics with us in case of any problems, this has turned out to be woefully inadequate. We are 2 weeks in to a 4 week shoot and in this time, five Txs have gone down with various ailments, this has left us in a scramble to get 5 mics flown out to us (we're shooting in Mexico) at great cost and trouble.

UPDATE: Help is on the way: Everything Audio, the dealer involved with our Zaxcom gear, is sending replacement units immediately and I'm confident that we will sort out the problems.

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Could you be a bit more specific as to what issues you are experiencing? What troubleshooting steps have you tried? Have you tried re-installing the firmware? Re-formatting the micro SD cards? Changing the micro SD cards?

 

It does seem excessive, but shit does happen. Being prepared is part of the game. If you haven't already, I'd contact Zaxcom support immediately via phone or email, they may be able to better assist you troubleshoot these issues.

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Hey- This is the exact same experience I have had with my Zax gear. The majority of my Zax gear has been either DOA, or has broken within the first year of use. I've had lengthy discussions with Glen regarding this issue, and he of course claims there is nothing wrong with their production quality and workflow. All that being said, when the stuff works, it works extremely well and is worth the growing pains IMO. Fortunately my system, which is all Zax, seems to be past the repair phase, although I have a cam link on the way, so who knows.

 

In addition, whenever anything has needed repair, they've bent over backwards to get it done, or replaced and shipped out quickly. Just happens too often.

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I would argue in the short term being prepared would be having five spare, five going down in two weeks is not shit happening its a catastrophe. You're correct though shit does happen, it just seems that it happen much more often with my Zaxcom gear than anything else. Fyi we have tried all those suggestions except for the one that doesn't power up at all, we don't know where to start with that one.

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Hey Jason,sorry you seem to be having problems like me. Problem is I really don't want to have a relationship with the service dept, that to me is like a cow having a relationship with a butcher. I haven't spoken to Raycom in the UK about reliability problems with my Lectros and I've had them for 12 years, yet in four years I've had so many conversations with Roger at Everything Audio, that I'm half expecting to be invited for Christmas dinner

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I feel you man. Having to deal with these issues from across the pond would have pushed me over the edge. Even though I'm on the opposite coast, I can at least overnight to get the equipment repaired quickly. All I can say is, your concern/complaint is valid and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Hey Jason,sorry you seem to be having problems like me. Problem is I really don't want to have a relationship with the service dept, that to me is like a cow having a relationship with a butcher. I haven't spoken to Raycom in the UK about reliability problems with my Lectros and I've had them for 12 years, yet in four years I've had so many conversations with Roger at Everything Audio, that I'm half expecting to be invited for Christmas dinner

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Look, everything breaks at some point.  I've had gear go out on me from Zax, Lectro, and Sound Devices, and they've all bent over backwards to resolve the problems for me; in Zaxcom's case, that once included sending out a replacement to me overnight free of charge the day before an flight abroad for a job.  

 

That said....

 

5 transmitters going down in 2 weeks seems like a really bad break...My guess is you have either have had HORRIBLE luck, you're doing something wrong, or most likely a combination of the two.  Since you say you've spent so much on your Zax kit, I'm assuming you have lots of experience with the system, and that you've worked your way through most of the usual pitfalls that go along with such a complicated (and often convoluted) menu system, but perhaps a fresh set of eyes and ears might help resolve the issues?  If not, there are lots of places that things can go wrong in the software settings, or the occasional hardware failure, of course.

 

As for a random shot in the dark attempt at helping you solve your problem, be sure that the transmitter antennas are intact on the two TX'es that have stopped passing a signal.  I've found that busted antennas affect Zax wireless far more significantly then Lectro for whatever reason.  For the two that aren't receiving timecode, perhaps reinstall the firmware and go through your settings again? 

 

Either way, I'm not trying to be unsympathetic, it sucks when your gear fails you in battle, for whatever reason.  FWIW, I own 8 TRXLA2 transmitters, a Camera Link, 3 QRX200s and 2 QRX235s, and in the past year or so, I've had the membrane switch break on one of the Transmitters, and a power issue on delivery of one of the QRX200s....the membrane switch was replaced free of charge after sending it to be checked out through Pro-Sound, and the QRX200 was swapped out in the aforementioned overnight shipment.

 

e.

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Hi Solid

I do have quite a bit of experience with them and have employed some of the most knowledgable Zaxcom officiandos around soon pretty certain it's not something we're doing, if it was why the wide range of problems. Perhaps they're just not very robust, I know we're using them in a hot country and for long periods of time, but I would honestly expect a piece of kit built for our industry to withstand that. You're correct though a fresh pair of eyes often finds the fault. Tbh I think the guys a the factory should also be doing that, as if you don't accept there's a problem how can you start to resolve it? I hold a 2.6 next to an SMDB and there's really no comparison.

Ps swapped antennas with ones from working tx, still no joy so that's definitely not the issue.

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Have you tried contacting Zaxcom directly?

This is the best advice. The original post does not lend itself to any of us offering some suggestions to solve the problems. Discussions on JWSOUND have been quite useful for many when someone is having a problem and they are unable to contact their dealer or manufacturer. In many cases, the problem has been operator error or lack of complete information about the use of a piece of gear, etc. airport70's post seems to be more about the frustration he or she is having with some highly irregular failures in the heat of battle. I discourage discussions here that try and go around normal traditional support either from the dealer who has sold or rented the gear or support directly from the manufacturer. Several people here have replied with some suggestions but I don't think your problems can be solved by this sort of group troubleshooting online here at JWSOUND.

 

When you say: "Any recommendations and suggestions on how reliability can be improved would be gratefully received" does not seem to address the problems you have been having. For most of us, there has not been any overall reliability issues so we haven't tried to find ways to improve reliability. You will need to sort out your specific difficulties (which do seem to be a really unusual stream of bad luck) and then you will probably be just fine on the next job. 

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Hi Jack

No I haven't, the distributor here is Everything Audio and I deal directly with them, they have been and are always brilliant, but it's the underlying problems that remain. I pretty certain all are settings are correct, this is the 12th series we have used these for and in four weeks we will be starting the 13th, so it's not new technology for us and seeing as they were all working at the beginning I'm pretty sure its not something we're doing that's making them so unreliable, unless there is an alarm setting hidden somewhere that's tells the unit to stop working at random times for random reasons. I suppose you could suggest, with good reason, that my original post was less of a question and more of a rant. But even after a good nights sleep I feel just as irate at the position I find myself in.

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SG- Unfortunately your guess that "iyou have either have had HORRIBLE luck, you're doing something wrong, or most likely a combination of the two." would be a misguided one. I ordered 4 TRX 2.5s last year and had 3 out of 4 failed. One of them with the exact same symptom as mentioned above. All 3 were repaired, or replaced. They were repaired because they malfunctioned due to to poor manufacturing. I then ordered an IFB200, that worked for a month, then it failed and was repaired. Same problems with my Nomad and 3 different Maxx units. Each time there has been a specific problem that was identified and then fixed. The point of the op post is that there are way too many problems. More than with other manufactures, who yes will have some issues, but not this many, and not so consistently. I've used Lectro and SD for years and had repairs here and there due to wear and tear, but nothing like Zaxcom. I just hope they work it out.

Look, everything breaks at some point.  I've had gear go out on me from Zax, Lectro, and Sound Devices, and they've all bent over backwards to resolve the problems for me; in Zaxcom's case, that once included sending out a replacement to me overnight free of charge the day before an flight abroad for a job.  

 

That said....

 

5 transmitters going down in 2 weeks seems like a really bad break...My guess is you have either have had HORRIBLE luck, you're doing something wrong, or most likely a combination of the two.  Since you say you've spent so much on your Zax kit, I'm assuming you have lots of experience with the system, and that you've worked your way through most of the usual pitfalls that go along with such a complicated (and often convoluted) menu system, but perhaps a fresh set of eyes and ears might help resolve the issues?  If not, there are lots of places that things can go wrong in the software settings, or the occasional hardware failure, of course.

 

As for a random shot in the dark attempt at helping you solve your problem, be sure that the transmitter antennas are intact on the two TX'es that have stopped passing a signal.  I've found that busted antennas affect Zax wireless far more significantly then Lectro for whatever reason.  For the two that aren't receiving timecode, perhaps reinstall the firmware and go through your settings again? 

 

Either way, I'm not trying to be unsympathetic, it sucks when your gear fails you in battle, for whatever reason.  FWIW, I own 8 TRXLA2 transmitters, a Camera Link, 3 QRX200s and 2 QRX235s, and in the past year or so, I've had the membrane switch break on one of the Transmitters, and a power issue on delivery of one of the QRX200s....the membrane switch was replaced free of charge after sending it to be checked out through Pro-Sound, and the QRX200 was swapped out in the aforementioned overnight shipment.

 

e.

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It looks as if the problems are being sorted out. I will say again that I think it is an excellent use of JWSOUND when someone posts a quick question, trying to solve a problem they are having right at the moment, because often there is a simple answer from one of our other members. Our discussions should not be a substitute for the support provided by the manufacturers and dealers. I do understand that it is often very frustrating and upsetting whenever we have trouble with our gear and I also understand the need sometimes to vent our frustrations here on JWSOUND. No harm, no foul, carry on.

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SG- Unfortunately your guess that "iyou have either have had HORRIBLE luck, you're doing something wrong, or most likely a combination of the two." would be a misguided one. I ordered 4 TRX 2.5s last year and had 3 out of 4 failed. One of them with the exact same symptom as mentioned above. All 3 were repaired, or replaced. They were repaired because they malfunctioned due to to poor manufacturing. I then ordered an IFB200, that worked for a month, then it failed and was repaired. Same problems with my Nomad and 3 different Maxx units. Each time there has been a specific problem that was identified and then fixed. The point of the op post is that there are way too many problems. More than with other manufactures, who yes will have some issues, but not this many, and not so consistently. I've used Lectro and SD for years and had repairs here and there due to wear and tear, but nothing like Zaxcom. I just hope they work it out.

 

I can't argue with what your experience has been, but these both run counter to what my experiences have been, owning +/- $50k worth of zax gear.  Again, not trying to be argumentative, but that does seem like a terrible run of luck to me, since most people's experiences with Zaxcom have been quite positive.  I can understand why you'd be upset though.

 

e.

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Not that I wish technical issues on anybody but if there is any issue keep on mind that Zaxcom is always available and they have a support email that is monitored essentially 24/7.

So a phone call during business hours or an email after hours will get your questions answered fairly quickly.

(973) 835-5000

or

support@zaxcom.com

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There must be something that triggered 5 to die. Something specific because generally they've been quite reliable

Even if that specific is an unknown specific. Seems more than unlikey that 5 would die without something triggering it. Or we'd of heard of many other similar situations with how many they sell and in use.

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With the 3 out of 4 TRX's that I had go down, all were separate issues. One of them being "fixed a bad solder connection". Another just started freaking out once the micro sd was inserted. By freaking out I mean the lcd display characters became jumbled and never recovered. Even after reboot, etc. This was right out of the box. My point being, it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be the same thing triggering the failure.

There must be something that triggered 5 to die. Something specific because generally they've been quite reliable
Even if that specific is an unknown specific. Seems more than unlikey that 5 would die without something triggering it. Or we'd of heard of many other similar situations with how many they sell and in use.

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I would like to think that I am one of the officianados Airport mentioned earlier in whilst I was scanning this thread, and I have to agree, I have had more than my fair share of DOA products from zaxcom. I have even had a brand new transmitter with 2 issues returned to me with 1 issue still not fixed, that would have been obvious had they listened to the unit.

In short, I have been less than impressed by zaxcoms QC. It may be that their products don't fare very well in the journey from New Jersey to Elstree, but I doubt it.

If it wasn't for Roger at everything audio, I would have abandoned my significant investment in zaxcom equipment many years ago. I have also been very frustrated at times - long ago I must add - in trying to get support from zaxcom. Being told "that's just the way it sounds" about a hissy TRX700 was very disheartening. (Fortunately, I waited for a replacement that sounded as it should have done in the first place)

I don't like criticising in places like this, And I am a big fan of what zaxcom do and their products. I can do things with their products that are impossible with any other equipment. And they are a comparatively small company doing amazing things. But I would love to see more care and attention being spent on testing units before they leave the factory.

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