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davedv

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Posts posted by davedv

  1. You can read the details of Zaxcom's legal complaint against the Lectrosonics PDR here:
    https://litigationtools.maxval-ip.com/UnifiedPatentViewDocument/home/index?caseid=124644

     

    As part of the complaint, they cite some instructional videos that demonstrate specifically how to use the headphone output jack of the recorder to feed a wireless transmitter. Additionally, Lectrosonics sells all 3 of the parts necessary to do this (audio recorder, wireless audio transmitter, and cable for connecting the two devices), although each of those 3 products also have various other uses as well.

     

    It's important to note that that particular legal case remains unresolved at this point. So whether such products actually constitute a patent infringement (in other words whether that argument stands up to legal scrutiny) remains unclear. And there are also a few other patent violations claimed in that case besides just that one issue.

    In the case of the Tentacle Track E specifically, I don't think there has been any legal action taken against the product yet. I believe Tentacle Sync just voluntarily opted to disable the headphone output jack during recording in light of the ongoing court cases against other manufacturers rather than risk being involved in a possible lawsuit themselves.

  2. I've had pretty good results with the HiTech 9V rechargeable batteries. The original versions were lithium-ion with a 600 mAh rated capacity and had a black and red design on the battery casing (https://www.gnbatteries.com/hitech-rli-9600-9v-li-ion-rechargeable-battery-600mah/). The latest version are lithium polymer with a 720 mAh capacity and have a green and silver design:
    https://www.batterymart.com/p-r-li9720-9volt-lithium-polymer-battery.html

     

    As with other lithium-based rechargeable batteries, they start out around 8.4V or so when fully charged with a nominal voltage of 7.4V and dropping down into the 6V range when they start running out of juice. The HiTech batteries seem to deliver pretty close to their rated capacity from the tests I have done. With a Lectrosonics UM400a transmitter, this usually means runtimes in the 6 to 8 hour range. With Lectrosonics R1a receivers, typically about 12 hours or so.

     

    I also tried the EBL batteries a while back, but found that the HiTech batteries lasted longer. At the time I was comparing the original 600 mAh HiTech batteries against the 600 mAh EBL, so in theory the runtime should have been about the same (so perhaps HiTech is a bit more conservative with their capacity ratings). The EBL batteries are often less expensive though, especially if you buy some of the bulk packs with multiple batteries, so they are not necessarily a bad value if you are ok with a bit less runtime.

  3. Atomos or Blackmagic are pretty much the only monitor-recorders out there at this point after Sound Devices (Video Devices) and Convergent Design (which sold the Odyssey 7Q) both exited that market segment in the past few years. The Odyssey 7Q was unique in that it had an OLED screen and didn't have a fan (which is unusual for a 4K-cabable recorder), although the on-screen interface was a bit clunky. In terms of audio features, the Sound Devices PIX monitor-recorders were by far the best (as you might expect given the company background), and were solidly built, although they were a bit on the heavy side. But these models have all been discontinued at this point.

     

    Among the currently available options from Atomos and Blackmagic, there are still a variety of differences between their different models, but it really depends on what your needs are. One decision is whether you want a larger 7-inch monitor (Atomos Shogun 7 or Blackmagic Video Assist 7") or 5-inch monitor (Atomos Ninja V or Blackmagic Video Assist 5"). The larger screens are obviously easier to see, but that also makes for a heavier unit. And there are also I/O differences driven in part by limited space available for ports on the smaller monitors. For example, the Ninja V has no SDI inputs, only HDMI (although they do sell an SDI add-on unit that fits into the battery slot). The Video Assist 5" does have built-in SDI, but on less robust mini DIN connectors, and it lacks any external audio inputs (the Ninja V at least has a 3.5mm audio input). In contrast the 7-inch models have full size BNC connectors for SDI as well as XLR inputs for balanced audio (albeit via a breakout cable in the Shogun 7 case and mini XLRs on the Video Assist 7").

    There are also screen differences between the different options which could matter if you are shooting outside and need something that's daylight viewable or if you are monitoring HDR video. The Shogun 7 is the brightest at up to 3000 nits, followed closely by the Video Assist HDR models at 2500 nits, then the Ninja V at 1000 nits, then the Video Assist 3G models at 300 nits. The 2500 nits+ models are generally daylight viewable screens, the 1000 nits of the Ninja V is borderline and you might often need a hood, below that works best indoors or with a lot of shade. The 300 nit models aren't really HDR capable either.

    In terms of build quality, the Blackmagic units are perhaps a bit more solid as they have metal frames, whereas the Atomos monitors tend to use more plastic. But this also means that the Blackmagic monitors tend to be heavier than an Atomos monitor of the same size, so it's a bit of a tradeoff.

     

    Another key difference is in terms of recording media. The Atomos recorders use SSDs for recording whereas the Blackmagic Video Assist line uses SD cards. SD cards are a lot smaller in physical size which allows the Video Assist 7" to have dual card slots for continuous relay recording. But you actually need pretty fast SD cards to record video (4K video in particular) which often means faster UHS-II cards (V60 or V90) that are quite a bit more expensive and also more limited in capacity. It's hard to find V90 cards larger than 256GB for example, and these can fill up fairly quickly with video especially at higher resolution or higher quality settings. So I think generally the 2.5-inch SATA-based SSDs used by the Atomos recorders tend to be more cost effective in terms of cost per GB. I should point out that the Video Assist recorders do have an option to connect an external USB-C drive for recording, which in principle somewhat equalizes the media costs. However, the location of the USB-C port and having a drive dangling from the monitor makes for pretty awkward field usage, so I'm not sure I'd recommend this unless you are going to get creative in terms of rigging to make things more secure.

    And then I haven't even gotten into recording formats, if you want to record RAW video for example, then there are competing RAW formats between the Atomos and Blackmagic recorders as well as different cameras that they are compatible with. But if you just want to record regular video, you may not need to worry about this.

     

    Anyway, the key point is that there is no single best option out there, what makes the most sense really depends on what your workflow and intended usage are.

  4. Lectrosonics actually sells a cable with a right angle DC barrel connector for their receivers and battery eliminators, it is part number 21472. The other end of the cable has unterminated leads so you could attach a Hirose or other connector if needed: https://www.lectrosonics.com/accessory-links/product/p21472.html

     

    Note that it is not actually the length of the barrel connector contact (the metal portion) that matters so much. I believe the Lectrosonics cable has about a 9.5 mm (0.375 in.) deep barrel contact, which is pretty typical for shorter length barrel connectors. You can also find connectors with 12mm to 14mm (0.475 to 0.55 in.) length contacts, but that's not critical. What matters more is that the plastic insulation and strain relief is at least 5mm long before the right angle bend. I believe on the Lectrosonics cable it's about 9mm (0.35 in.) of plastic before the right angle bend. So the total length from the tip of the connector to the bend is about 18mm (.725 in). Additionally, the diameter of the insulation also needs to be 12mm (0.5 in.) or less to fit through the opening in the bottom of the receiver.

     

    In terms of pre-made Hirose to right angle DC barrel cables, you might take a look at the Remote Audio CALEPWRBS:

    https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/287296-REG/Remote_Audio_CALEPWRBS_Betacam_to_Lectrosonic_185.html
    https://www.trewaudio.com/product/remote-audio-calepwrbs/

     

    Or I believe Gotham Sound sells one as well:
    https://www.gothamsound.com/product/hirose4-21-long-right-angle-dc-power-cable

  5. 3 hours ago, yophoto91 said:

    My vague understanding of AES is that sometimes you can input or output 2 channels via a single XLR. Is this correct? 

     

    Yes, that's correct AES (or technically AES3) carries two audio channels over a single XLR cable. So this would apply to both AES inputs or AES outputs.

  6. 30 minutes ago, daniel said:

    . SMA  antenna port?

     

     

    According to the manual, the SMA connector: "Connects to included external antenna for Bluetooth LE."

    It's kind of interesting to have an antenna for Bluetooth, which is kind of designed for short range applications to begin with, but this may improve the usable range. Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) is the low power version of Bluetooth.

  7. The 6-series mixer/recorders also include AES digital I/O, AES42 digital microphone input support, more outputs, dual headphone jacks, separate trim and fader knobs, and configurable output delays (on the digital mixers).

     

    And while there isn't a single comparison chart that includes both the MixPre-10T and the 6-series units, you could open the comparison pages for the MIxPre and 6-series and put them side by side, to get a sense of the differences:

    https://www.sounddevices.com/products/recorders/mixpre-10t/feature-comparison

    https://www.sounddevices.com/products/mixers-with-integrated-recorders/688/feature-comparison

  8. On 4/20/2017 at 8:39 PM, Jim Feeley said:

    Dave,

    Do you know if all DIN 1.0/2.3 connectors are flimsy, or just the ones on BMD products? Not a challenge on my part, just trying to figure this out. Markertek and Digikey suggest there are several makers of these connectors, and several BMD products have had problems with various connectors, e.g. their Decklink boards, in addition to their little video recorders. So maybe BMD is using a non optimal brand?Have you seen failures on non-BMD products, too?   Thanks!

     

    It's certainly possible that some of the DIN 1.0/2.3 connectors are better than others, but it's kind of difficult to determine which brand of connector is being used in a particular product (the female DIN jacks in particular all look fairly similar cosmetically). So I couldn't really say which brand is best.

    I actually think the bigger issue than the brand of the connector is how the connector is secured to the device frame or housing. Some of the Blackmagic products just have the DIN connectors soldered to the internal PCB, with no retaining nut that secures the connector to the device frame/housing. Blackmagic often does the same thing with their BNC connectors (which isn't great either), but with the smaller DIN connectors it's way to easy to separate them from the PCB if that's the only connection point.

    The UltraSync One seems to have the DIN connectors secured to the housing with nuts, which looks a little more robust. AJA does this with their products as well, and it's definitely better (only destroyed one connector attached this way, as opposed to several of the BMD ones).

    But the bigger issue is a basic physics problem. The DIN 1.0/2.3 connectors are small, thin, and stick out from the device. That gives a fair bit of leverage for something to bend or damage the connector. Especially if there is something like a cable hanging off the end that someone could accidentally yank or trip over.

    The plugs on the cable end have a push-pull locking mechanism, similar to a LEMO or Hirose connector. This works ok, although it's still not as secure as the BNC twist lock. I've broken the male DIN 1.0/2.3 connectors on the cable end as well, but at least those are cheaper to replace.

  9. I'm not a huge fan of those DIN 1.0/2.3 connectors for a slightly different reason: they are kind of flimsy. These connectors are sometimes used for SDI video signals in on products where space is a concern or where a high density of connectors is needed (for UHD quad link SDI video, this allows for cramming 4 of those connectors in a very small space). Some of the Blackmagic Design products use them.

    Let's just say I've broken a few of these DIN connectors, and overall I've found them to be far less robust than full-sized BNC.

    The connectors do look fairly well secured to the unit in the UltraSync One mockups, but I'd still prefer something different, like full-sized BNC or LEMO. Even 3.5mm, while it is not a locking connector, at least the jack is recessed so there is less chance of damage. There's actually a Mini-BNC connector size as well, which looks like a full-sized, but is about 40% smaller:
    http://www.amphenolrf.com/connectors/mini-bnc.html

    Even these Mini-BNC connectors more robust than the DIN connectors, although they are a bit larger and share the problem that they are kind of non-standard.

  10. The SyncBac Pro unit definitely looks interesting and it seems like they just started production of the units in early September. Just in time for the announcement of the new GoPro Hero 5! Just one small problem ... the GoPro 5 seems to lack the multi-pin expansion connector on the back like the earlier GoPro models have. Which means there's nothing for the SyncBac unit to plug in to.

    It looks like audio input via USB may still be an option for the GoPro 5, although they switched to a USB Type-C port (rather than the mini-USB port included on GoPro 4 and earlier). Which means that the original GoPro 3.5mm to micro USB adapter and the IndiPro XLR to USB adapter that started this thread, would not be directly compatible with the new GoPro Hero 5 models.

    It looks like GoPro will have an updated 3.5mm to USB Type-C adapter as an accessory for $50 though:
    http://shop.gopro.com/accessories-2/pro-3.5mm-mic-adapter/AAMIC-001.html

  11. For instance this stat: "15 trillion trillion—The number of possible routes a driver with just 25 packages to deliver can choose from". I guess they get this number when the delivery is from Van Nuys, CA to Oxnard, CA and they suggest one of the routes could be going around the world and taking every side road.

     

    Actually, I believe this number only takes into account delivery order and doesn't even consider the various streets one could take. So, say you have 3 packages to deliver to the following 3 locations:

     

    1) Van Nuys, 2) Oxnard, and 3) Burbank

     

    You could go

    a ) Burbank, Oxnard, Van Nuys, or

    b ) Oxnard, Burbank, Van Nuys, or

    c ) Oxnard, Van Nuys, Burbank, or

    d ) ... you get the idea

     

    With 3 pacakges there are 6 possible routes. Now obviously some of these make way more sense than others, like © would probably be a much better bet than (a). But the problem is that the more delivery locations you add, the number of combinations grows exponentially, so it quickly gets out of control.

     

    So with 25 delivery locations you end up with 15 trillion trillion combinations of delivery order. And it becomes impossible to compute the best route, even if all you care about is minimizing the total distance traveled and the only thing you can vary is the delivery order.

     

    If you start taking into account different streets you can take between each location, traffic, road closures, time of day, etc. then things get even more complicated. And if you want to optimize for several different variables: delivery time, distance traveled, number of drivers, highway vs. surface street miles your head starts to hurt (and your computer starts to overheat).

     

    This is why UPS uses imperfect heuristics and human input rather than trying to calculate the best route directly.

     

    One of the biggest unsolved problems in theoretical computing is whether or not the traveling salesman problem (and other similar problems) can be solved efficiently. Basically is there a way to solve the problem with polynomial growth as the number of locations increases rather than the exponential explosion described in the article. Many people believe the answer is no, but no one has been able to prove it yet.

     

    But what makes this interesting is that here is a case where the theory actually has significant real-world implications. If there were an efficient way to compute an answer to the traveling salesman problem, it would save UPS a bundle of money and a bundle of time. Which for consumers would likely mean lower prices and faster delivery times.

     

    Anyway, something to think about the next time a package is delayed or the UPS guy doesn't show up until well into the evening ...

  12. My concern would be that from a business standpoint Apple is a very different company than they were back in 2000 when they introduced the G4 Cube.

     

    In 2000 Apple was basically a niche computer company (with about 4% of the PC market) selling mostly desktops and some laptops:

    http://gigapple.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/lapvsdesk_percentage.png?w=554&h=379

     

    Now, Apple is much larger and much closer to being a mass market consumer electronics company. Most of their revenue these days comes from iPhones and iPads. Here's a graph of their revenue breakdown for the past 6 years: http://www.wingsofreason.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Apple-Revenues-Slopegraph2.png

     

    Desktops now only make up 3.7% of Apple's revenue, and I'm guessing most of that is from iMac and Mac Mini sales (actually that 3.7% was as of about a year ago, so it may be even lower now).

     

    The question is, how long will Apple stay committed to a small volume product like the Mac Pro that barely moves the revenue needle?

  13. Apple has been gradually moving away from internal expandability for sometime now.

     

    Used to be that you could replace or upgrade the memory in Mac laptops, now it's all soldered to the motherboard. You used to be able to get an internal (and replaceable) optical drive, now your only choice is an external one. Their laptops used to have a built in Ethernet port, now your only choice is a Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter. Here's an interesting article on this trend:

    http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06/opinion-apple-retina-displa

     

    The new Mac Pro just seems like another step on the same path.

     

    I think this trend may have actually started with the original iPod which shipped with an internal battery that was not user replaceable and you had to send it into Apple and pay $99 to have the battery replaced. Some later iPod models had the battery soldered to the logic board or glued into the case, making it even more difficult to replace.

     

    The performance of pretty much all lithium batteries degrades over time, so Apple basically took a component that they knew would have to be replaced at some point during the life of the product and made it non-user serviceable. They did this banking on the fact that most people would either upgrade before the battery had to be replaced, or would be ok sending in the device and paying a battery replacement fee if they wanted to keep using it.

     

    Of course none of this seemed to end up hurting iPod sales any. Instead, it is one of the most successful consumer products ever.

     

    And history suggests that Apple learned from this experience.

  14. Serial number of the one I got was 00111502 on the box and 111504 on the XLR end. Funny that the serial numbers don't even match. Also the blue paint job on the Sennheiser logo on the case is pretty shoddy, looks like it was hand painted on there. With all the trouble that clearly went into these counterfeits, you'd think they could at least get a decent paint job on the case.

     

    Other differences are that the contacts on the XLR connector appear to be gold plated, whereas they are silver on the genuine 416s I have. And the little set screw near the base that you loosen to take the mic apart is gold on the fake version, but black on the originals.

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