Wandering Ear

I've never come across a situation where power levels were checked, so I don't see the licensing requirement as it relates to power as being a consideration. The power requirements seem mostly only regulated on the sales side. Even when working with frequency coordinators at big events or sports games they don't seem to care that I have a license. I plan on staying licensed, and just generally hope that UHF whitespace devices never substantially materialize.

Working with 2 Venices today. DIT mentioned the video files come in with 8 channels of audio recorded. I'm feeding two analog line level via the 5 pin XLR. I went through the menus with the 1st AC and couldn't find any option to choose what audio tracks to record or not. Anyone come across a way to choose which audio tracks to include?

I helped on a show not too long ago that made a custom carbon arc lamp in an all clear housing to create lightning effects covering a large area in the forest. Cool to see it done, but I can only imagine the trouble that would be as a primary lighting source.

Considering how often I have to explain that the blinking red light on a comtek means it's working not that the battery is dead, and there is no sound because we are still lighting, I can't imagine trying to get 15 + agency folks to understand / care about switching channels on their ifb. If you can convince production to get the village far enough from set to be out of earshot they can listen through vtr's speaker which is delayed with picture, then comteks can be live so anyone who is bouncing back and forth can have both options without complication. However this doesn't work when village is just in a blacked out tent 15' away.

I agree. Having echo from a delayed feed and being close to set is way worse than a little sync offset to the monitors. As a side note, what are you using to delay your IFB feed? I don't have a small delay box so last time I had to do it without a console I came up with a weird routing scheme sending audio through an ERX to the Comtek transmitter and using the built in delay of the ERX.

I only end up having to deal with the sync delay when VTR is doing live processing, like live keying or frame overlays, etc. The extra processing can delay the video over a second or two which is too much to get away with. For this situation I mostly run a comtek transmitter off the VTR cart and let their software match the delay rather than doing a clap test and trying to manually dial it in. For the folks who are close to set, they are also watching the delayed picture so the delayed sync still works. If the echo is annoying cause they are on set and usually end up taking their headphones off. The couple frames that is inherent in the picture flow these days I have never received a complaint about so I don't try to match it.

They've always been from Hong Kong when they contacted me. "Lucrative job" .. "Trial run" .. Glad to hear the FBI is paying attention, but unfortunately that also means more than a few people have been caught up in this scam.

This is true. But no matter how small something gets, there will always be an AC wanting it smaller to fit somewhere on the ever decreasing size of camera bodies.

If you want it to be easy there is always UPS / FedEx freight services. You're probably going to end up putting them on pallets and securing them no matter how you go.

That's a pretty huge (and wrong) assumption that only people under 25 can hear above 18khz.

Unfortunately it seems these days it always a "conversation"

I agree. Banked faders may take some getting used to in production, if they are silent, then they can easily be as or more efficient than other solutions. Motorized and banked faders are common in the rest of the audio industry and imo are a welcome step forward for location sound. Miniature rotary knobs are not a solution for me. Through flexibility being able to keep a couple faders static and bank through other options on the other faders is fantastic. It may not apply to everyone here, but I am in a middle market and the work I do from one day to the next can vary wildly. Flexibility, control, and efficiency are key for me. I look forward to seeing the Nova in person.

So far I find the URX100 to be great. It's a great solution for commercial boom ops who also double as utility. I have to be honest, I don't really understand the choices made around the walkie interface. Besides maybe a reality TV field producer, I'm not sure who it's directed at, and $900 is a lot of money for a unit that will be dropped in the mud, stepped on, etc, especially at the rates those shows offer. Personally I see a lot more use for the unit as a camera hop, where two balanced outputs, 1 with switchable TC, would be way more beneficial. I wonder if a HW update could make this a menu switchable option between balanced outs and walkie? I would mount this on camera a lot more if I didn't have to use the 3.5mm jack. I understand there is an RX200 for this option too, but that unit is a bit more single purpose, and this unit, in my mind, would fit a lot more of my work if I could use it for boom ops and on camera. I would also buy at least one or two more if this were the case. Don't get me wrong, my criticism is suggestive in nature, I think the URX is a great unit and am glad to have it in my kit so far.

A hanging rack of them near or behind the monitor has worked well for me. Maybe only have to chase down 1 or 2 sometimes, but usually no big deal. R.E. Sign up sheet, I don't have the capacity or desire to manage that, That happens to also be the justification I use to producers who want me to bring 15+ comteks but only want to pay for 7 "unless used". Since I'm unable to track what comteks are grabbed at village, any comtek I put a battery in and put out I consider used and charge for. Usually they just order the full amount cause they need them either way.

I have had DPA replace the microdot for me in the past. They were fast and easy to deal with.