bigmaho

Here's a great (and brief) description of Obamacare (the term btw, I believe is a compliment, as in Obamacares) and how it will affect most Americans. As most will be able to see, the government is not providing free healthcare (except for somewhat expanding Medicare for those slightly above the poverty line). http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/us/health-care-act-questions-and-answers.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Guys, Two points. This is not a government takeover of health care. Your care will still be in the hands of private health insurance companies. What this plan does is set minimal rules for these insurance companies. They can no longer drop you if you get sick or refuse to insure you if you already are. In order to keep costs as low as possible it needs to increase the pool, so everyone needs to get insurance. If you can't afford it, you or your business will be subsidized. If you can afford it but don't want it (does the term freeloader come to mind?) you will have to pay a penalty (the famous tax). This tax is pretty minimal and there are no penalties for not paying it. There will be government organized 'pools' for individuals and small businesses. The government will then market these pools of xx million people to the private insurance companies and award the pool to the lowest bidder. This is in no WAY SHAPE OR FORM a government takeover of healthcare. If you already have health coverage you can continue as is. The only change is that the overall cost will go down (or at least not increase as quickly as in the past). The only death panel is in your hand. Take the remote and turn off Fox TV. Permanently. Billy Sarokin

I believe the filter is intended for when you have multiple blocks in a bag rig (ie, receiving body mics on block 25 and transmitting to a camera on block 26). The filter offers a way to remote the transmitter antenna and get it away from the receiver antennas and it cuts down the already low spurious rf that can desensitie the nearby receivers. Best, Billy

I did blow out a DC Injector a few years ago. I assumed it was because it was a 9v unit. But I've had no problem since feeding it 13.8v from my power supply. So, yes, use yours.

Hi Guys, We're doing a big court scene starting on Wednesday. I have 7 EV 664A Mics, but I need 2 more by Wed. Two I bought are lost in shipping. So if anyone has some and can fed ex them tonight or tomorrow (on my dime of course), please drop me an email at williamsarokin@gmail.com. Thanks! Billy here's what tehy look like... http://www.ebay.com/...9#ht_2116wt_753 that was supposed to be "on my dime of course"

"On a hunch, I changed the filename of the new firmware (TRX-730b.bin) to remove the extra letter (TRX-730.bin). It was now exactly the same filename-wise as the previous firmware installed. The TRX took this new firmware without a hitch, and on re-boot, displayed the firmware 7.30B in the boot-up screen. I did this at my own risk, but knew that if it didn't work, the units would have to go back anyway. I posted about this on the Zaxcom Forum, as at least 1 other person was getting the same error as me, but seem isolated to just us two (another glitch? - how unlucky can I be...)" Also, not all software works with all hardware revs. Versions of the software made for the LTH can cause damage to TRX900's and visa versa. If you have a version that is not installing make sure it is not intentionally not installing. check the software rev notes Howy includes with each software zip file

Can't speak for the dealer, but I do know that everything that leaves Zaxcom is thoroughly tested. I've been in the plant many times and have seen the process. The TRX900's use mini sd cards which are becoming harder to get. I've had many problems with using micro sd cards in mini adapters. Some of the adapters (or no name mini sd cards) do not fit in the slot very well. Some no name cards have jammed on me so it's not inconceivable that a card you inserted might have broken a contact on the sd card slot. I assume you have contacted Zaxcom. Perhaps they could send a part to their Aussie distributor so it could be repaired in country. Billy

Hmmm, I use my ifb with a 1 watt amp and my 2.4 gig ifb antenna is inches away from my UHF radio mic receiving antennas. I've never EVER had an instance where my ifb had any effect on my radio mics. So I am curious what could be causing your problem. And I wonder if the ifb issue has any relation to the inability to write new firmware. The first thing that comes to mind is that the LT and the QRX use completely different means of writing firmware. The LT is just a matter of installing a micro sd card with the new software and hitting a key combination while the QRX receives the firmware from a transmitter. If something is wrong with both I would suspect a bad sd card or a flaw in the writing process. I am also curious that they've had 3 trips to Zaxcom and are still not working. Obviously they wouldn't ship them back if they weren't working perfectly. If you get a chance describe your rig and the interconnections between the ifb and the wireless receivers (btw, what block are they on?) Best, Billy

btw, regarding NP-1 batteries. I own both IDX and budget NP1's purchased on ebay. Many of the knock off NP-1's will not output enough to fire up some of my gear so I can only use them with gear that has an initial low amperage draw. They will power all the gear if another battery or AC supply starts it up, but they have faulty internal limiters that do not allow for brief high current start up spikes. Billy

why?

Peter, if you're in the Village you will never need catering

Thanks Scott, I'd buy that too, in a heartbeat! I love the photo. When was the last time production hired a professional photographer to light and shoot the sound guy? One of my favorite details in your shot is the half silvered bulb. All this ancient history reminded me of this little accessory that actually displayed the track layout on the recording tape. I only saw one once, but it was a little glass disk filled with very fine iron powder in an emulsion and when a recorded tape was placed on the back of it the powder would show the actual tracks. Who else remembers that? And Peter Kurland, how come everytime you are in New York I am somewhere else? Pity Have a great shoot!

I have a hitch lock that deters the opportunists and I keep the rig hooked up to the jeep. I also park outside my room. So far so good. Usually thieves are looking for household goods. Once had a Hertz rental truck with all the camera and lighting gear stolen on a commercial shoot in Cleveland when I was a PA. They drove the truck 3 blocks, broke in and saw the Moviola dolly and left it. All they took was a person tool kit near the back of the truck.

Locked and loaded, heading to New Mexico in the morning.

lol, I once did a 3 week freebie shoot for a friend, Campbell Scott. I showed up with my trailer to load onto their truck and everyone just sort of looked at me. Not only did I end up working out of my trailer but I ended up helping out a couple of other departments :-)

Thanks for the info Glenn. The remote could come in handy if I'm on a shoot where I'm relying on battery power a lot. Usually I just need the batteries during set up, or when I'm moving the cart and for the occasional shot where there is no power handy. Jumping the leads ion the 4 pins is a good idea, I was just thinking of the Speakons because there are many Pelican battery cases already with Speakons. Instead of changing all my battery cases I just installed a Speakon on the side of my cart. If you put together a case version of your battery having both connectors on board would mean people could use it easily for whatever power supply they have. Thanks again for a nice new piece of gear. All the best, Billy

Good question. It was shipped to me in a box marked 'Hazardous Materials'.

@ Matthias, most of my gear stays on, but if I need to conserve power I shut down my computer, monitors and extra receivers when not needed. Most of the power supplies I've used, the NRG Power Station, Power Star/Power Max and now the LiFe seem to stay within .1v when powered off the mains no matter how many amps my cart is drawing. As for stray noises, most of my cart is line level so it's dead quiet. Only 2 inputs are mic level (from my Audio Ltd receivers). If I boost all my gains to max I can hear a little noise on one of them that I think comes from the home brew rf amp I use to feed the antenna output from my Zaxcom receiver racks to 2 Audio Ltds and one spectrum analyzer. The original source seems to be the Comtek Base Station transmitter.

Just a quick note to expand on a thread currently on the Buy /Sell Board, I just switched my cart power supply to the Remote Audio Meon LiFe and I'm VERY happy. It's a small, one rack space ps with 10 XLR outputs and 2 USB ports AND an internal 20 amp battery. As a test yesterday it ran my full cart for 3 hours before I shut it down for the night. I also had it run on mains all day and it never heated up. I had two previous supplies, the Power Max Ultra and then the Power Star. The Power Star only weighed 5 lbs and used an external battery. I'm amazed that the LiFe only adds 6 lbs but includes such a powerful internal battery. Of course you can also supplement it with an external battery. Nice piece of gear. All the best for the New Year, Billy Sarokin

That's an amazing story Eric! Guess you knew Izzy Young at the Folklore Center up the street. I was a late comer to all that. Keep dropping photos and stories on us. All the best for the New Year, Billy

Who were you recording? You didn't happen to do 'Kind of Blue' by any chance. My favorite recording ever! I heard it was also a 3 mic setup. (I wonder how they mixed it to mono? or did they just use the center mic?)

btw, nice picture Eric. What else is in your archives?

This got my curiosity up. Looks like they made both a 2 and 3 track 1/4" machine http://www.sonicraft.../a2dx_tech.html