taylormadeaudio Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Hi Jeff, I was just wondering if you could point me in the right direction regarding personal video monitor rigs for boom ops... I just ran into a recent contribution of yours on one of the other forums after a key word search on the subject. I figured if anyone would know... you or maybe Scott Farr... Thanks : ) -- Tom Taylor tom@taylormadeaudio.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Scott Farr seems to have withdrawn from this Group, I don't know why. I know a few others have posted here some info about little monitors for boom operators. I don't personally know of any boom ops who use a video monitor so I can't really give any advice about what is available and what works. I do like the monitors from Ikan and I know they do make a few very small models that might work. http://www.ikancorp.com/ - Jeff Wexler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Lightstone, CAS Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Tom, Interestingly enough, my Boom Operator, Jeff Erdmann put together a video assist system that he cobbled together off of e-bay. Basically it is a small TV monitor that sits on an arm fastened to his headset. He uses a game-boy (yes a game-boy) as a receiver and tunes in the widest camera. He took some photos of the rig and I'll try to get him to post them and explain the set up. We called it "i-Boom". It worked very well as he could see the frame line at all times especially with Steadicam shots. Regards, RL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ken Mantlo Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 I use a Casio handheld monitor (can only buy them on ebay now) and a harmonica holder that hangs around your neck. The harmonica holder folds out flat instead of bent up a la Bob Dylan and it "pinches" the monitor to hold it. A little tab of Velcro on the monitor and pinchers helps keep things from squirming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Erdmann Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Hi all, As Richard said, I had a crazy idea to hack together an "heads-up display." I looked around the internet, and found several wearable units ranging from $400 to $4000. I was able to find the "Eyetop" sunglasses on eBay for around $250. I removed the sunglasses from the video unit and permanently attached it to a new set of Sony MDR-7506 headphones (so much for the warranty!) Finding a video receiver turned out to be harder than I expected. I wanted something which was portable, and could retain preset channels so I could jump between cameras quickly. I had no luck finding anything which ran on DC until I stumbled onto the Game Boy Advance TV Tuner, made by a 3rd party in Japan. The unit bolts onto the back of a GBA, and uses the GBA as the "brains" to select channels, store them, and send them out to the monitor via an AV IN/OUT port (which annoyingly must be reset every time I power up the unit.) The tuner and video feed unit live in a small backpack which I sling over my shoulder. The Tuner is a battery hog, so I fabricated some external "block batteries" from some 6v cordless nail gun batts I found at Home Depot. Interestingly, the tuner is designed to work with 4.5v, but I took a chance that 6v was close enough, and sure enough I plugged it in and it works, and hasn't blown up yet after about 3 weeks of use. The picture is OK, certainly good enough to see the frameline. On very wide shots where the boom has a dark background, it does become difficult to see, even with tape on the end of the windscreen. But overall I am very happy with the performance and convenience. All told, I have spent around $600 for the entire system. Two things I would like to change on the system: 1. The tuner can be a little finicky, and is a little large. If anyone has ideas about a small, easily tunable NTSC receiver with video output, please let me know. 2. Because of the size of the GameBoy Tuner with the battery and video brains, I have to wear a small backpack, which is comfortable but can be a problem in tight situations. Again, this is a prototype, and in that sense, is very successful. I have taken my first steps into the Singularity! If you have any questions, post them here or email me at jeffsoundman@yahoo.com -Jeff Erdmann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Thanks for posting, Jeff. I think it is amazing that you can actually get a look at that monitor AND watch the scene in real life... I think you must have better visual acuity than I do (well, that's probably a given --- you are a first rate boom operator and I am not). On a different subject, and here I look to be the un-informed, how did you post the images in the body of your message? I know, it's my forum and I should know these things... please enlighten when you get the chance. Regards, Jeff Wexler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Erdmann Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Good question Jeff, I learned this from my eBay exploits, works there too. I have a Flickr account, and upload my photos there. Once the photo is uploaded, you can choose from several sizes under the "All Sizes" tab. Find the size you like and click on that. When that comes up, underneath are two options for linking, the first is a scary looking HTML mess, and the second is simply the page URL. Copy the URL, then return to your blog. The first icon right above the text box I am typing in right now is a little Picture Frame. Put your cursor where you want the picture to be, click the Picture Frame icon, which will bring up this: [im.g][/im.g] (without the periods, I put those in there so it wouldn't activate.) Now, PASTE the URL from Flickr between the IMGs like this: [im.g] [/im.g] You're done! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Erdmann Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Flickr is run by Yahoo, by the way, and it's free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 Hey Jeff E, interesting rig. Thats what I love about our country, someone is always thinking and tinkering to make better tools, cars, computers, you name it... Seems like a big plus for you and others doing the craft of booming, to figure out how you are going to do the shot on multi camera shoots. Thanks for the post. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Graff Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 Hi Everyone, I do love this forum. Always a good read and good folks. Jeff's innovation is amazing and supercool futuristic. This is a far less sophisticated approach than Jeff's, but it's worked great for me. I had tried the harmonica holder approach (with a little mod it's great for highlighted sides, but too close for a monitor) and also velcroing the monitor to my forearm which proved cumbersome. Ken Strain turned me on to this idea. Use PSC's flexi-arm (this one's extended a bit with loc-line from modularhose.com that I had left over from another project.) Next I went to Modern Studio Equipment and I had them make a few of these 4.5" square aluminum plates with a 3/8" 16 receiver welded on one side. I use them for a few different tasks. This one has a nice fat strip of 4" Velcro loops with hooks on the back of this old Radio Shack 4 AA monitor. Easy to adjust monitor orientation. Won't work for steadicam, I suppose, but for most shots it can be handy to clamp to boomstand as demonstrated below in my living room (that's Clover, btw) or to a stage wall or anywhere at a comfortable distance to get a sense of the shot, frameline, etc. Jeff W., i use photobucket to embed images as Jeff described above. Also free and easy to use. Copy the direct link and paste between the img's in brackets. Hope everyone is having a great holiday season and enjoying work, or the greater challenge sometimes, enjoying some time off. PG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylormadeaudio Posted December 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 Thanks Ken, Richard, Jeff(s)... and Paul... It looks like I have some options to consider -- I was thinking about something that my Boom Op could mount to his gear harness -- kinda like Ken and Paul describe -- on his chest (he puts an IFB and t/b tx in a SetWear chest harness (about $25) as well as batteries, TopStick, RM-11's, HushLavs, etc...) but then I showed him the one you're designing, Jeff -- he's not sure what it'll do to his peripheral vision, but it seems pretty non-intrusive to me -- and just looks damn cool : ) OK, so I've officially branded myself a geek now, right? In any case, thanks to all of you guys, and Jeff -- would you keep us updated on your design as you come up with new mods? Thanks again, ~tt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Palmer Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 This is a dual monitor set up on Devendra Cleary's boom pole. Usually gets some attention... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benn Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Are those little wireless monitors ? Some more info...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Thats a cool rig Devendra has come up with. The only possible down side I can see is reflection problems from the monitors, but very cool indeed. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylormadeaudio Posted April 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2009 That's pretty trick -- Like Crew mentioned, I'd be a little paranoid of creating reflections and/or distracting talent... however, seems like camera department has a growing number of monitors on set... what's one or two more, right? I too would like to know more about the signal path to those pole-mounted monitors. Is it wireless? So far, I like Jeff Erdmann's design the best -- like something right out of Terminator... though I wonder what the long-term effect on vision will be... ahh, who cares... I'm a sound guy : ) --tt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devendra Cleary Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 Hey guys, tt, The signal path is wireless. Anytime camera dept is utilizing modulus' a good signal is sustainable near camera. Crew and tt, The photo makes the monitors look much brighter than they are. Reflections are a non issue. I think my fleshy hand would be seen in reflection before the monitors. I don't always use two. I have two mainly for battery rotation, but it can be handy to have two going on some shots. Plus A camera isn't always the wide camera here on glee. $50 on amazon. Don't buy them all I may need to order more! Haha! Cheers -Devendra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartek Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 devendra, What brand are those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devendra Cleary Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 Bartec, they are made by a company called NJH. -D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundtrane Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 don't see anything on the net about NJH... -vin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devendra Cleary Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 Oops! NHJ is what I meant to write. Google NHJ 1.5 inch LCD TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel McIntosh Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 Shoptronics has a "Buy 10 or more for $25" special. Anyone want to go in on a batch? http://www.shoptronics.com/nhjpowrtewe1.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason porter Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 I am in for one! JP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Waelder Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 Shoptronics has a "Buy 10 or more for $25" special. Anyone want to go in on a batch? I'll commit to one. David Waelder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundtrane Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 Specs mention "earphones with integrated antenna" which means one will have to plug in an "antenna" into the earphone socket for it to work properly. I think Cleary's picture shows this very thing sticking out of the units. -vin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Graff Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 Shoptronics has a "Buy 10 or more for $25" special. Anyone want to go in on a batch? http://www.shoptronics.com/nhjpowrtewe1.html Sounds great, Daniel, but you're in NY, Jason's in Toronto and David and I are in LA. A logistical nightmare!! Okay. What the hell...I just bought ten of these. I remember when Devendra had them on Ugly Betty and I wasn't interested, but they were a lot more $$ then!! Having it right on the boom pole seems like a handy option. I'm not willing to re-ship (sorry guys), but if my LA-based jw.sound buddies are interested we can meet up and I'll sell them at cost. Shipping was a whopping $46.40, so about $30 apiece. Great gifts, a nice option to provide for your boom op, whatever. Send a message and we'll work out a time to meet. PG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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