RunAndGun

That was part of the reason Glen jumped-in on the project after the initial build/trial & error. When they originally built them, it wasn’t useable, because the signal level dropped so much, and when you gained it up enough to get a good level, it was very noisy. But Glen and the crew put their noses to the grind stone and figured something out. He said you can see a drop on a scope, but virtually nothing to the ear and was happy with the results(which I guess is saying something). And after listening myself, I was happy enough with the results to give the go ahead to build them “for real”. Two reason: 1) The version sold in the US has the headphone out disabled when recording starts(I have no idea how this somehow infringes on (presumably) a Zax patent and would love for someone to explain it, because it seems like complete bull plop). 2) I don’t consider the headphone out a great source to feed a wireless transmitter. Who knows what is happening to the signal between the lav and the headphone out. The wireless being recorded in the bag and/or in camera is still primary and needs to remain as high a quality as possible. I would only use the “local” recording as a back-up.

Three isn’t currently that important to me. I would actually put two in front of one. I currently have a workaround for one, if I need it. Remote Audio/Trew Audio built me some custom cables(Glen actually got in there when they were having a hard time getting them to work and figured it out) to split my lav’s to simultaneously feed my Lectro belt packs and Track E recorders. Not quite as elegant as a self-contained, all-in-one pack, but it’s not completely in-elegant, either. I’m sure hell would freeze over before Lectro would license “record & transmit” from Zax. I’ve also read that some of those patents are up within the next four to five years. And some of the newer fully digital Lectro belt pack and plug-on Tx’s already have 24-bit/48khz, TC jammable recording capabilities. I’m sure it’s just a simple firmware update to give those new Tx’s the ability to transmit and record simultaneously.

Well, I can attest to even the industrial strength Goo Gone and Goof Off being safe, at least on the plastic/acrylic face of a slate. Nothing is working to remove the leftovers of this label. The way that the label came apart, the adhesive is for all intents and purposes hermetically sealed to the acrylic, as impossible as that may seem(I've been using P-Touch labels for almost 25 years and I've never seen anything like this, at least with a label that was on something for such a short time period). It's not sticky on the surface. It's covered by an incredibly thin layer of film that pulled off of the label. I even tried the hairdryer and razor blade, and as I feared, I gouged the face of the slate, but was still unable to remove anything. I guess I'll reach out to Denecke tomorrow and see how much a replacement face is. I presume it's just held on by some type of adhesive or double-sided tape.

People like this aggravate the hell out of me. I say this as a cameraman and owner/operator with hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment: If your camera requires something other than full-sized 3-pin XLR or BNC connections for audio and TC, then it is YOUR responsibility to own or otherwise provide the necessary cables, if the camera needs to receive either one (or both) of those two things. Period. Full Stop.

Looks like you can upload pics, again.

Here, you can see that the label itself is gone. The best way to describe it is a super thin layer of film bonded to the adhesive and protecting the adhesive from being dissolved while also being so thin/such a low profile that it's impossible to scrape anything away(there is no "edge" like if a normal label was on there)(the picture actually makes it look thicker than it is). I'm working the next two days, so it may be Sunday before I get a chance to take a hairdryer and razor blade to it. I'll let y'all know what happens. *Edit* I guess the new security on the forum is preventing images from being uploaded directly from users computers. I keep getting an unknown server error(error code -200).

Didn’t read your links, but I remember when this happened at the US Embassy in Cuba(Havana). I believe it also happened at a US embassy in China.

Thanks for all the quick replies, guys. A razor blade is kind of my last resort, because of the obvious reason: possibly scratching, gouging or scuffing the acrylic surface and taking a ‘5 or 6’ problem to an ‘11’. I didn’t think about a hair dryer. People use heat guns/dryers all the time to help apply and remove decals. And as I was afraid, the adhesive is so well protected by the plastic, by the way that the label came apart, there is no way to really get to it to dissolve it, because the solvent can’t get to the adhesive. I tried soaking with pro grade Goo Gone and industrial strength Goof Off(in the metal can with the goggle & glove warning and designed to remove adhesive, asphalt, tar and dried paint). The “label” just laughed at them both. It’s so thin and so well sealed, it’s almost like a very light coat of clear matte paint(clear coat) was sprayed on the face in this spot. I’ll post a picture, later. The system doesn’t seem to like images coming from my iPad.

I've been using P-touch clear labels(black print) to label my slate(Denecke TS-C) and today after the shoot when I was taking them off, one of them de-laminated. Meaning the top film with the print separated from the adhesive film layer, which remained on the slate(I've never seen this happen on a P-touch label that was on something for such a short time period: maybe 18 hours). And the adhesive layer is now essentially laminated to the slate, because that portion of the label is so extremely thin there is essentially no way to scrape it off. It's almost like super clear Scotch Tape, but only a fraction of the thickness. I tried window cleaner, Pancro and some other "super duper cleaner", all to no avail. Then I tried applying another label and even gaffe tape on top, hoping it would adhere enough to the film to pull it off like you do when a normal label or price tag doesn't come off something completely. But that didn't do anything except make a mess and then scratch the leftover film where I tried cleaning it off again. I used to have some really good adhesive remover and thought about buying some more to try, but the problem is, you can't really get to the true adhesive, because it's basically covered(protected) in a super thin plastic film. So my question is, has anyone else had this happen and what did they do to get it off? Or did you just have to live with it or get the face of the slate replaced, if it bothered you that much or started to look really bad?

Both of my P2 VariCam's have kind of expensive stereo nat mics(Panasonic)(about $1500-$1600 each 10 years ago) and while I do run them in their stereo mode and know the importance of good nats and good on-camera mics, I've never had anyone say "Great stereo camera nats". What's more important than stereo nats(nats themselves are important), is intelligible voices in those times when that's the only mic around(those with news, sports, doc backgrounds know what I mean). I honestly wouldn't worry about a stereo camera mic. When the Sanken CS-M1 came out, I decided to get that as the nat mic for my F55, and I've been very pleased with it. Besides being almost comically small, which is great for on-camera use, it sounds darn good(doesn't have the balls of a 3e, but still sounds good). I did a shoot about a month ago, and primary sound was being recorded in the bag and I only had my CS-M1 running into the cam. A day after the shoot, I was copying the files to a drive and spot checking them. I stopped and listened to some of the stand-ups that talent did(we were in a very good environment- edge of the woods in the middle of a national park). I was probably at least half-way through before I remembered that the only audio going into my camera was the nat mic(not advocating shooting dialogue with a camera mounted mic, just speaking to how good the mic can sound). If they had had to use that audio instead of the "hero" audio, no one would have probably known.

Speaking of Jared... Subway used to be the title sponsor of a race, and I had to do a shoot with him at the racetrack that was to run either pre-race or somewhere in the broadcast. We had to climb over pit wall to get to the spot where we were shooting. He sat down on the wall and slid across it. Of course, he was already wired and wearing the pack... And 14 years later, the paint from pit wall is STILL ground into the transmitter.

I feel a little dumb, now. I just checked my E's and you are absolutely right. I guess between the OG Tentacles not being able to automatically change to a different incoming frame rate from an external jam vs. what they were already set to and using the app 99.9% of the time to set/jam them, I never realized that they did implement auto-detect in the Sync E's(and I've been using the E's almost since they came out). Now someone would really have to be hard pressed to not like them.

I understand your sentiment, because your destiny gets, at least partially, placed in someone else’s hands(so to speak), because you’re literally one firmware/software update away from it not working, but app control and interfacing with equipment has given us so much flexibility, versatility, convenience and control over so much of our equipment today, that it’s hard to imagine some things without it, now. I mean, what do you think the percentage are of audio ops/mixers that use 6 or 8 series SD mixers and their respective apps vs. those that don’t? Or shooters and gaffers controlling at least some of their lights with apps vs. those that don’t? And if your frame rate doesn’t change, then you actually don’t have to use the app to set TC on a Tentacle, either. They can be jammed to an external source, such as a mixer or camera, as long as the frame rate is the same that it is already set to*. *One of my very few complaints about the Tentacle system is that they do not auto-detect the incoming frame rate from an external source, even after it was “promised” in a “future” firmware update with the originals. But in the end, it’s a mild inconvenience, at worst, and more realistically, it’s a moot point, as the app is just so easy.

Never had to sync a Tentacle again, after the day had started and we have started rolling.

If one of the major driving factors for these are for cameras and camera slots, most camera slots only accept two channels. Some only one, depending on the camera and receiver, and you have to do a work-around to get two channels into the camera(why Lectro had to make the ‘5p’ variants of the SR’s). I love slot-in receivers and cameras with Uni-slots. Both of my (now old) P2 VariCam’s have slots and it just makes life SO much easier, on multiple levels. And no slots is one of the things that drives me crazy about “cine” cameras. I’m shooting tomorrow with my F55 and it’s like going back to 2010, because I have to rig the receiver to the side(I use BEC boxes and plates which attach to the side of the A/B plates with thumb screws) and then separate power and signal and you have to remember to turn it on and off. Maybe “first world problems”, but still, there are better, cleaner and more efficient ways to do it(apparently we’re trying to leave that way in the past, though).

I literally just put this together on Monday after inspiration from one of my friends. 2x iPower 4-position 9V chargers (charge 8 batts simultaneously)(iPower 9V-800mAh) 2x iPower 8-position AA chargers (charge 16 batts simultaneously)(iPowerMAX AA 1.5V 2600mWh) 2x Dolgin Engineering 2-position chargers for Sony BP-U style 14.4V batts for BDS (charge 4 batts simultaneously)(IDX 96Wh) 1x 10-position USB charger for Tentacles, etc. 1x 15-position(+ 3 USB) power strip

I know it's already been posted, but I'll also confirm that it works just fine with Lectro plug-on Tx's(UH400A).

I like the way you think, but most cameras do not record audio internally when over/under cranking. It’s cracked me up for years that my ~$1000 iPhone can shoot 240fps AND record matching audio simultaneously, but my dedicated, purpose-built $30K-$40K+ “cine” cameras can’t*. *I believe some RED’s can actually record audio while shooting slow-mo, but it’s a separate file and of course, it’s TC does not match up with the video files TC, with probably the exception of the first frame. But I don’t know enough about it to speak authoritatively on it.

Regardless of 29.97(30) being a normal frame rate, in this context, it is considered off speed. They are not shooting regular 29.97. They are shooting with the cameras set to a base/project frame rate of 23.98. 23.98 is the "real time" frame rate and they are then shooting 30(29.97) frames over top of that, which creates (slight) slow motion. The camera recorded files/footage plays back automatically in slow motion. It's not a post effect. This has nothing to do with a frame rate or drop/non-drop mismatch. It's a simple fact of how the cameras operate, regarding time code, when over or under cranking. It's simple. A camera MUST be running TC in Free Run to be able to be jammed to an external TC source. When over/under cranking/shooting off-speed(meaning shooting any frame rate above or below the base/project frame rate) the cameras TC will only operate in Record Run. That means that the time code is static UNTIL the camera starts recording. Then it runs/counts up from that last held static TC value. It does not matter if there is a TC/Sync box attached feeding it TC of any frame rate (DF or NDF), the camera cannot accept external TC in this mode. Therefore, they cannot be jammed via external TC and synced via the recorded TC, because the TC will never match(except out of shear dumb luck). Now, if you had some type of electronic trigger you could attach to all cameras to SIMULTANEOUSLY start them recording at the exact same moment, then you could manually set all cameras to the same TC before rolling and get the shot synced. But the easiest way for them to do it, would be to either 1) shoot the cameras at 29.97 real time(base/project frame rate), jam them with 29.97 TC(DF or NDF, as long as its the same for everything), sync them in post and slow it down in post or 2) If they still want to shoot slow-mo in-camera, use a slate and line them up visually with that in post.

AES and analog are switchable on both the receiver and transmitter. There is nothing that I saw in either manual that states that the inputs and output signals have to match. Which to me reads as you can run an AES signal into the Tx and analog out of the Rx, analog into the Tx and AES out of the Rx, AES into the Tx and out of the Rx or analog into the Tx and out of the Rx. Basically you can run analog or digital IN and analog or digital OUT, independently of each other.

I shoot a lot of sports and go into and out of over-cranking(slow-mo) and real-time on any given shoot many, many times. I have a TC box on the camera that keeps it jammed when shooting in real time(project/base frame rate) to be able to sync it with sound, radio calls, etc. if I’m shooting someone in real time. The moment I go into overcranking(slow-mo), TC in the camera stops running, because the camera cannot run TC in free-run mode while over/under-cranking. TC is then held at that moment I switched modes. When I start rolling, it will start running from that last static TC value, but at the accelerated frame rate I’m shooting. When I stop rolling, TC will stop(at whatever value corresponds to the duration of my roll at the given real frame rate). Then when I switch back into “real time”(the original base/project frame rate), the camera will re-jam and lock back onto the TC coming from the sync box(which will obviously differ from the value when I stopped rolling during the off-speed roll), because it can run in free-run TC mode, again. I agree that the TC/sync boxes should be left on the cameras, that’s just “best practice”, but it doesn’t matter if it supports cross-jamming of frame rates or not, it’s not going to solve the problem in this instance, because the cameras can not run TC in free run while in over/under-cranking mode, and thus cannot be synced/jammed. (it’s not a situation of one camera shooting 23.98 and another shooting 29.97, both cameras are shooting slow-mo[29.97 over 23.98]). Again, in my opinion, the simplest and most fool-proof solution for this situation is to just shoot real-time/base frame-rate of 29.97, which will allow you to easily jam and maintain sync across both cameras and then slow it down in post/drop the footage into a 23.98 timeline. Or, I suppose they could line them up visually with a traditional slate, too... 29.97 real-time, just seems the easiest way, though.

The problem is you’re shooting slow-mo, so the cameras will not continuously run TC. TC will only run when you are recording. So if you have a TC box on the camera and the camera is in its base/project frame rate(shooting real time), you will see the TC running and jammed to the TC box, but as soon as you switch the camera to off-speed shooting(any frame rate besides the base/project), TC in the camera will stop running at that moment(and not accept external jam)and will only run when recording. And thus the TC mismatch. It’s not a frame rate mismatch, per se, it’s just how the cameras work. You’ll never be able to jam them, because they do not run free run TC during off-speed shooting, which is required to “jam” everything together. The simplest solution is to shoot 29.97 base/project frame rate in-camera, jam the cameras(TC) at 29.97(either DF or NDF, just make sure every device is the same) and do the slow-down in post/drop into a 23.98 timeline.

Have you been window shopping on Amazon, yet? I just picked up a new flexible arm USB LED light for one of my bags, that has ON/OFF and three power levels. Obviously you are looking for something much bigger, but my point is, Amazon has an almost limitless selection, if you have the patience.

If the Zax patent is (finally)(eventually?) knocked out, are the Tx's capable of recording and transmitting simultaneously? When I bought a set of SMDWB's several years ago, my sales rep at one of the dedicated audio dealers said they would be capable with a firmware update(if the patent or key pieces were defeated). Although the usefulness of the SM(D)WB's may be kind of limited with no TC and the "weird" recording rez.

Bad mixers out-of-the-box are rare, but not unheard of. When I added a 633 several years ago, one of the channels on the main output bus(either L or R, can’t remember) was extremely low. Trouble shot every which way I could think of, including firmware and nothing worked. Only option left was to send it in to SD, but as it was brand new straight out of the box, I raised hell with my dealer that I was not going to wait and play the warranty game and they made SD send me a brand new one.