RunAndGun

Me too. Accidents do happen, but to be trashing lav's on a regular basis just seems strange to me. A few years ago, we were shooting a sports feature on a college football player and the producer wanted to wire our subject up during the game. I had the producer sign-off and accept full responsibility to pay for the replacement of any damaged equipment. So when game day came, my audio guy, after getting a few tips from another one of our friends that did this for the NFL, wired up our player with a Sanken COS-11 and Lectro belt pack. After the game, neither the lav nor the belt pack had a scratch on them.

Lots of factors play into it, but mostly just how much (over) abuse they are being subject to. I have at least eight COS-11’s (all wired ta5f) and some of the oldest are probably 15 years old. One or two don’t sound nearly as good, now, but I’ve never had one actually completely break or be broken by someone.

I've shot with a friends (operating) and filled-in for their usual audio guy on a multi-cam, four hour interview today with a Gemini, Komodo and F55 and I never noticed it on the lav, boom or just my plain 'ole ears.

Fortunately, I've never had any issues, to my knowledge, with my CS-m1. But this is a little worrisome as v4.61, released in January 2020, is the most current firmware version and the 633 is now a "legacy product".

Just got home from my shoot today and the box was sitting on the back steps. It was in its storage bag, wrapped in a plastic bag. Looked brand new and untouched(demo). Manufacture date says 2014.

Some of them were labeled "Demo" (they were all ~$32) and the ones that were labeled with a normal "Used" letter grade were all(quickly scanning) around ~$29. For the ridiculously low price, I grabbed one of the ones labeled Demo(presuming it really meant it was just an in-store demo model). Febreeze it and forget it. Lol. Besides, they can't be any worse than my audio guys that have sweated their butts off in my ~15 year old VersaFlex harness for years.

Yes, it has to be an SRc if it has IR. Make sure you are on the same BLOCK, not just the frequency. This bit a friend a few weeks ago and had to walk him through it. He has an A1 wideband(blocks 470, 19, 20) like I do, and the frequencies overlap from, I believe 470 and 19, so you can actually be on the “correct” frequency, but wrong block and the receiver will not open up, because it’s not receiving the correct pilot tone tied to that block. And I’ve seen get guys get bit, as Constantin said, by not fully booting up the Tx’s. You have to hold the buttons down for three seconds to fully turn them ON(RF ON/Transmitting). Otherwise they are on, but not transmitting. I’ve never liked this “feature” and wish it could be turned off(maybe an option in a firmware update).

Looks like they’re demo’s/‘otherwise used’ items from Adorama, so there’s a real, legit company making and standing behind the sale. They have a pretty big used equipment side, so I’d feel confident in their description and that you’re getting a genuine item.

I have a relative who says he's never been able to wear a "digital" watch, because he "puts out too much electricity". And I think we've all been in situations where voodoo was just about the only "reasonable" explanation...

I remember in Die Hard 2 the camera guy on the plane pulled out his fixed freq. wireless receiver(don't remember what it may have been) and it just so happened to be able to tune in and listen to ATC.

They haven’t used rubber coated collars in many years. I currently have two K102CCR’s. The oldest being approximately 15 years old, which replaced the one I had stolen which was only ~three years old, and my newest one which is maybe ~five years old. Both of my current poles have dimpled metal collars, and it’s been so long ago that I can’t remember if my original boom had rubber coated/covered collars or not. You could always go the route I have gone with stick mics and use PlastiDip to coat them, for a nice rubbery/grippy feel. And if you don’t like it, it peels off easily after completely drying. You could probably actually use it on the entire main body of the pole, with no ill/lasting effects, if you wanted to give yourself extra grip in places. PlastiDip

A user on another forum I'm on, who lives in NYC, said he received his GO II system today from B&H, and has confirmed that they do simultaneously record and transmit.

When I added an SRc wideband system with SMDWB transmitters several years, I was told by my dealer, at the time, that all Lectro had to do was release new firmware to activate(unlock) simultaneous transmitting and recording. You'd still have the issue of no timecode, though. Of course, there are ways to deal with that, but TC just makes life easier. But I have a workaround for it all, right now. I had cables made that split my lav's to simultaneously feed my Lectro belt packs and my Tentacle Track E's.

One of the speculations that I’ve read is that because it transmits at 2.4GHz, it gets around Zax’s patent. And something I’ve never understood, how Zaxcom has been able to (in the US market) also force manufacturers of “mini” recorders to disable the audio outputs on their devices while recording. It shows two things: 1) Overreach by Zaxcom and 2) How bad the US patent system is to allow it. Which I think is even more baffling than ‘just the recording’ part of the patent(disabling audio output).

Markertek. I have a 100' coax(BNC)/dual XLR reel with panel mounted connectors on the reel and a 200' ethernet reel with panel mounted jack. They are well made, lightweight and reasonably priced. Those were actually pre-made, but they do custom, as well, if they don't already have what you need. A quick look on their site(not as user friendly/searchable as it used to be) I ran across a single and triple coax reel, but not a double. Not saying there isn't one or they won't make it, but just didn't see one in the quick glance I took.

I've seen some posts on other sites by people wondering if the fact that the Rode having non-removable memory or it working in the 2.4GHz spectrum or it only being activated via an app have somehow gotten it around the patent(I'm betting 'no', at least on the last two of those points). Or even that Rode has already struck a licensing agreement with Zax. Or that Rode(and their parent company) just has a lot more money and they can afford to duke it out in court for a while. And I believe I read that they will not ship with the ability to record. It will be part of a future firmware update. Which may allow for them to be sold "legally" in the US without violating the patent(if there is no prior agreement with Zaxcom) and get it into the hands of a lot of users, then they release the firmware update. Then the court battle ensues... Pure conspiracy theory speculation on my part.

You must have gotten one heck of a deal on the 888. 😉

My GF is a supervisor on her shift at the county paramedic service here. Although she elected to not receive the vaccine, yet(she wants to see long-term effects), those on her shift that have, received their second dose last week. She said that a LOT(most?) said they felt horrible, like the flu, afterwards. She also said that it was very telling to her, that they were giving the vaccinations to people as they were going into their days off(first & second doses). But I’ll also say that my Mom has had at least one of the two shots and didn’t complain about anything(late 70’s).

I have both the 3e and M1(actually two 3e's). The 3e is our go-to for regular boom use and sit-down interviews. The 3e has more "balls" than the M1. And even though the primary reason I bought the M1 was for an on-camera "nat-mic" for my F55, we have used it for voice work and one of my buddies rented mine to use as a plant in a vehicle for a commercial. The M1 is a nice mic and you can tell (hear) it's a Sanken, but the only real reason to buy one over a 3e, in my opinion, is if you need its super small size(in my case, I wanted/needed something small for on-cam use, but also still high quality).