Zaxcom in a bag?

[alenK]

Hello,

 I have been trying to imagine how someone would use Zaxcom gear as the front end for a bag kit. I get confused when I start reading about the receivers and all the extended features.

 Lets say you start with two lav mics and two TRXLA3 transmitters and want to get your signal into a Sound Devices 6 series mix-corder.

 What is the ideal receiver in the Zaxcom line for this "front end" of a system?

 Thank you.

 

[Jack Norflus]

You can use a QRX235 with IFB. That will give you a 2 channel receiver with transmitter control in the bag - the down side is the 235 in block specific so you loose the the benefit of wide band.

The other option is to add a camera link transmitter or a ifb200. That gives you a seperate zaxnet transmitter to control the wireless plus you have the ability to feed erx receivers (producer monitoring and scratch track with tc to a camera) and you add a back up two channels recorder with tc to the bag. If you go with the camera link you add a 2 channel uhf transmitter to feed cameras (if you need to add this in the future).

[VASI]

36 minutes ago, alenK said:

Hello,

 I have been trying to imagine how someone would use Zaxcom gear as the front end for a bag kit. I get confused when I start reading about the receivers and all the extended features.

 Lets say you start with two lav mics and two TRXLA3 transmitters and want to get your signal into a Sound Devices 6 series mix-corder.

 What is the ideal receiver in the Zaxcom line for this "front end" of a system?

 Thank you.

 

Do you have a Sound Devices 688 and SL-6 (SuperSlot)?

[alenK]

54 minutes ago, Jack Norflus said:

You can use a QRX235 with IFB. That will give you a 2 channel receiver with transmitter control in the bag - the down side is the 235 in block specific so you loose the the benefit of wide band.

The other option is to add a camera link transmitter or a ifb200. That gives you a seperate zaxnet transmitter to control the wireless plus you have the ability to feed erx receivers (producer monitoring and scratch track with tc to a camera) and you add a back up two channels recorder with tc to the bag. If you go with the camera link you add a 2 channel uhf transmitter to feed cameras (if you need to add this in the future).

With all respect, and I mean that sincerely, this is exactly the type of info I find confusing.

I am asking about getting two transmitter signals into two analog inputs of an audio mixer and the information available seems to describe everything but.

I don't understand the benefit of having IFB on a receiver such as te QRX235 if it is before the mixer inputs in the signal flow.

I also do not understand how a camera link transceiver relates to a need to get the mic signal into the mixer.

As I mentioned, I am interested in the gear and I am missing the obvious; what receiver serves as a good match for the front end of a system? Maybe the QRX235 is the best choice? It seems like it does so many other things beside output of two channel of analog audio.

Is it the case where the RX200 is the answer to my original question, but the extra features of the QRX235 are too hard to ignore at this stage in the technology's evolution?

 

39 minutes ago, VAS said:

Do you have a Sound Devices 688 and SL-6 (SuperSlot)?

No. I own a 633 and often operate a 664. I admire the 688 but probably will never work a call where it is required.

[Jason Todd]

The QRX200 will get 2 transmitters into your 688 via analog in. Jack is just pointing out that if you want some of the benefits of Zaxnet, you might consider a 235 w/ QIFB. In addition to simply receiving two Zaxcom transmitters, you could remotely change the frequency and gain of the transmitter from the QRX235 and send Timecode wirelessly to your recording transmitters. In addition, it would let you send audio and Timecode to ERX's to use as a Timecode box and mono scratch audio to camera or as IFB's. The downside is that the 235 is block specific where as the QRX200 is wideband.

[Jack Norflus]

The qrx200 or qrx235 will both output 2 line level analog (or AES digital signals) into any mixer.

The purpose of the IFB (regardless if it comes from the 235, ifb200 or camera link) gives you the ability to remote control the transmitters - including changing the input gain, changing the frequency frequency, and starting and stoping the internal recorder. The IFB will also send time code to the transmitters so that the audio files are synced.

[alenK]

Thank you both for elaborating.

I had just edited my question about the "QRX200" to say "RX200", but I can see how your answer applies.

If the QRX235 is used, do you grab your time code from the Sound Devices 6 series TC output?

Is the scratch audio straight off a mic rather than a rough mix from the mixer's output?

Thanks very much for explaining what you have.

I have worked for a couple decades as a field mixer for network news and prime time news packages shows. The work flow has evolved quite a bit while I have been doing the same old stuff (interveiws and run and gun) day after day. I feel it is time to catch up to what people are doing these days. 

[Jack Norflus]

The RX200 can only receive signal from 1 transmitter - the QRX200 can receive signal from 2 transmitters.

The qrx235 has a tc input. You would connect the tc out of your SD and I put it into the 235 - you just need an adaptor cable.

[alenK]

Thank you Jack.

What you mention is an example of how I am getting confused; A "2 Channel ENG Receiver" is only good for 1 transmitter and a "4 Channel ENG Receiver" is for two transmitters. I feel like I need a translation manual. :-) Your explanation is very helpful.

Thank you very much.

 

[Jason Todd]

Zaxcom can send 2 channels of audio on a single RF frequency. So, for example, the Camera Link is one transmitter but it can send two channels of audio to an RX200 which is a 2 channel receiver.

 

A QRX200 can receive audio from 2 mono or 2 stereo transmitters. If using mono transmitters, that's 2 channels of audio; if using stereo transmitters, that's 4 channels of audio. Think of it in terms of frequency. The QRX200 can receive two different frequencies. The number of channels is determined by whether you're using mono or stereo transmitters.

I know it's a little confusing, but does that help at all? 

Also, the QRX235 has an audio input on a mini jack, so you can feed it whatever you want from a 688 and send that to ERX's. Just cable from an output of the 688 to the input of the 235.

[alenK]

Thank you Jason,

 I think it is time for me to download some manuals and read about these features in detail. Your explanations have been very helpful in getting me started.

Thank you.

[Jason Todd]

Cool. The manuals are deep, but fairly clear.

[fieldmixer]

Alenk, it appears you may be in the perfect situation, if you are in the market to purchase that is, to grab some older zaxcom model transmitters and receivers. They can be found at very attractive price points. *very*. Too very for most of us here that work with the zaxcom eco system...You could pick up 2 rx200 and two older model transmitters for a small fraction of the new cost of a pair of trxla3's and qrx receiver. If you are in the market for purchase, someone on this group will help you find this i have no doubt. And will surely be well maintained and fully functional units that would well serve for many years.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[daniel]

Thanks for asking the question and to all those those who replied. I think I now have better idea of how a Zaxcom system goes together. My comprehension skills are not so bad so in a way I'm relieved it was not only me who struggled to make coherent sense of the information on the website. As the system is so featured and sophisticated I wonder if the use of diagrams would also help potential customers understanding of the Zaxcom eco system a little more.

[MartinTheMixer]

3 hours ago, daniel said:

Thanks for asking the question and to all those those who replied. I think I now have better idea of how a Zaxcom system goes together. My comprehension skills are not so bad so in a way I'm relieved it was not only me who struggled to make coherent sense of the information on the website. As the system is so featured and sophisticated I wonder if the use of diagrams would also help potential customers understanding of the Zaxcom eco system a little more.

Daniel, Your "relieved it was not only me who struggled to make coherent sense"? If you had figured out Zaxcom in an hour, I would be worried about you being an alien (The close encounters kind, not the other kind). I have mentioned on Jwsound how complex it is learning Zaxcom and have been chided by some for saying that, but it does so much more than the other systems. More stuff it does=more learning. Real simple. There is nothing "wrong" with the Zaxcom system, it is just more complex, by far. If you are lazy or won't or can't read, buy something easy to learn. Less features=less learning. 

Sincerely, Martin 

[daniel]

15 hours ago, MartinTheMixer said:

Daniel, Your "relieved it was not only me who struggled to make coherent sense"? If you had figured out Zaxcom in an hour, I would be worried about you being an alien (The close encounters kind, not the other kind). I have mentioned on Jwsound how complex it is learning Zaxcom and have been chided by some for saying that, but it does so much more than the other systems. More stuff it does=more learning. Real simple. There is nothing "wrong" with the Zaxcom system, it is just more complex, by far. If you are lazy or won't or can't read, buy something easy to learn. Less features=less learning. 

Sincerely, Martin 

Martin, I appreciate you are very happy Zaxcom customer and most of your reply I read as justifiable enthusiasm for the kit you own. However, the last 2 sentences are a bit of a non sequitur and perhaps a little dismissive of other people's work practice, experiences and opinions. Feel free to continue but I'm just saying. 

Sincerely, Dan.

[MartinTheMixer]

1 hour ago, daniel said:

Martin, I appreciate you are very happy Zaxcom customer and most of your reply I read as justifiable enthusiasm for the kit you own. However, the last 2 sentences are a bit of a non sequitur and perhaps a little dismissive of other people's work practice, experiences and opinions. Feel free to continue but I'm just saying. 

Sincerely, Dan.

Daniel, It's not a matter of my level of happiness. I would consider the sentence that I wrote, "less features=less learning" to be a fact. It takes less learning to be a photographer, than it does to be a brain surgeon. The other sentence you mentioned "if you are lazy or won't or can't read, buy something easy to learn." If someone tells you that are all Zaxcom and they didn't read the manual, run. They are not being truthful. I have had sales people tell me that customers return Zaxcom because they couldn't "figure it out". That's on the customer, not Zaxcom. If you drop out of brain surgery school because you can't figure it out, it's probably not the schools fault. There are simply two types of people in this world, the type that can read a lot and the type that can't. There used to be an hour's meter indicating how much usage a Nomad had on it when you turned it on. I bought my first Nomad used and it had 5 hours on it. Somebody had given up on learning their mixer after 5 hours of use. Maybe they didn't know how to read, I don't know. I do know that I got a bargain on that unit. There are people that don't know how to read and that is sad. There are people that don't take the time to read because they're too busy going out getting drunk at a bar. There are some people that can't learn outside of a structured classroom setting. Regardless of your work practices you are going to have to do a lot of reading with Zaxcom. These statements by me are not dismissive of anything. Other than  to reference it here, you won't see me use the term "RTFM". There are times when you can read that Manual and it's just not going to sink in. Then I think it is appropriate to get on a website such as this and ask a simple question. Sometimes things just don't click in your head, that's human nature. If you simply want to read a lot less, buy something other than Zaxcom. The other thing that you buy will have less features and subsequently will have less reading, this is just a fact. 

Sincerely, Martin 

 

[daniel]

"less features=less learning", not necessarily. How those features are organised and marketed have something to do with this and sometimes less is more. For me 'good' documentation of complex equipment usually includes diagrams and not just loads of text however special being able to read and write makes me feel ;- )