JimMansen

A lot of credit goes to Milos for his directing. A great story from his attention to detail and to the importance of sound for him comes from a seminar I attended about the 1 1/2 years they took to do post on the audio for the movie Amadeus, which won the Academy award for sound that year. He recorded the music track with the London Symphony Orchestra before he started shooting. Then while the actors did their dialogue he played the music for that scene in earwigs for them. He said it allowed Mozart's music to become a character in the film and created a wonderful connection between Mozart and the modern day actors. A story that has always impressed me. He is a great talent, for sure. I too am jealous of your chance to meet and talk with him. Jim Mansen

And then there are who are completely helpful and unabashed. I had to wire a female magician (maybe 35 years old) at The Magic Castle who was going to levitate Flip Wilson. She had on a 1 piece long gown and I explained that I had to put the transmitter on under her gown on a velcro belt. Did she want to do it and I would place the mic afterward??? She said "Never mind all of that" and reached down, grabbed the hem of the gown and lifted it all the way up to her shoulders. She neglected to tell me that she was wearing nothing else but the gown and am sure she did it just to see my reaction. I managed to control my sputtering rather well, but had a difficult time deciding what to say. We put the belt on, taped the mic to her chest covered everything with the gown and I calmly put my headphones on to check the sound. It sounded great. She gave me wry smiles the rest of the day and I turned red faced each time. Such a business. Caution and politeness are always best because you never know...... Jim Mansen

Yes, Condoms do a good job of protecting transmitters in light moisture, for sure, but what options are there for really wet enviroments such as river rafting etc.? Jim Mansen

Interesting Aqua Pack option for protecting the transmitters. What are the other choices or favorites that other use in high moisture enviroments? Jim Mansen

So....don't you know cell phones should be off when you are rolling??? Any chance you can link us a copy of your efforts?? Thanks......Jim Mansen

Yes, more pictures would be appreciated...... Thanks Jim Mansen

Facinating, you guys. I did the Unsolved Mysteries interview of the lady in Taos ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum) and and was amazed at how much her life had be invaded by "The Hum" She tried to say that possibly the ELF communication of the US Navy with their submaries was at fault, but no serious connection was ever found. She had to leave town for a time. Couldn't sleep etc. Jim Mansen

Sometimes I use a BNC type antenna like this on my older Comteck transmitter in the bag. The factory one is just long enough to be a pain when I work over the shoulder/ I am aware that this is more than imprecise, but this seems to little effect on actual range for must uses.

May be me and the way my account is set up but You Tube refuses to show me the video. Saying "this video is private" By the way, I agree about the special nature of what we do for a living.

OK Scott, Maybe we will hear from an actual owner and subsequent tests should be very interesting. Going to try and contact the company and ask the Transformer question. Jim Mansen

Is ETS you refer to the same as instasnake? and are you suggesting that there are no transformers used in who's system? Sorry I may have missed out on something, but I take it your trust of the Instasnake is the same low level as Wolf's? Principally because of poor transformer design. Thanks Jim Mansen

Jeff, In the tests you did is there any reason to confirm Wolf's fears? Are there really any sources for systems from Jensen or ?? Swedish?? manufacturers? The expensive Axviom digital system sounded like the only "high quality" option. True? False? Will you contact Instasnakes to confirm their specs vs real use etc? Lots of questions, I know but I hate so see this bubble burst so quickly. Jim Mansen

Thought I saw a mention of a 48v option for one of the sends? Can't find it now. Is that how you would handle duplex option? Jim Mansen

Jeff, Delighted to have your input. Seems like you have found a reasonable answer to moving quality audio around the set on Cat 5. Thank you for helping me find this choice. Richard Lightstone mentions Cat 5E for the digital world. Have you chosen 5 or 5e for your use? I would appreciate an evaluation after you put your system to work. Do you already have the Instasnakes in hand? How do you anticipate putting them to use? Jim Mansen

Thanks, Darren, Richard, John and Phil and others who have finally put my desire to use a remote cat5e set up between the cart and the set in proper perspective. The digital answer is way too expensive for me to consider. I see now why so many have decided to use the more affordable systems for video assist feeds and not for regular audio distribution. It is always amazing how much knowledge and skill is available from this discussion group, and that it is so willingly shared. Thanks again Jim Mansen

To rig an on set cart or tray w/ pre-amps etc to use line level inputs for the inexpensive transformers seems a little over the top. I guess it is one way to keep the costs of the system under control. I agree that somone with a scope could tell us more. The consensus seems to be that the lower cost transformers just don't do the job for recordable quality audio?? Or can they? I wonder If I could get Axiom to make a 8 channel digital version, or if you could divide one in half. I'll take 8 tracks and you can have the other 8. Wouldn't that make us both happy? Seriously I want to keep searching for answers here. Made some real progress I think. Still have not found the ball park price of the Axiom digital system. Thanks........Jim Mansen

Thanks, Darren Are any of these suitable for the transmission of quality audio or are we talking adequate video assist levels? How have you been using yours? The quad audio box looks good if passes high quality audio. How to tell?? I suspect that at that price point the transformers may not be as good as we would need for mic level radio receivers/ sound cart link? Jim Mansen

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to answer. I understand it a lot better now. Do we know any renter, dealer that has these units and can we guess what the digital pair of Baluns might cost? Jim Mansen

No, not just for video. I'd like to use it for program audio. 4 radio mics, 1 comtec send, maybe 1 additional send. Affordable?

Thanks David. Had not seen that for some reason. Great article. Still don't know if those of us with smaller systems can afford something like that, or which Baluns etc. he uses.

OK, so I've always wanted to avoid the expense and trouble of a multiple channel snake from the cart to the set. I thought I read a couple of years ago that Mark Ulano had a system of audio inputs for his cart that allowed him to remote the wireless receivers and send a comtec feed over Cat 5. Now, in these posts it sound like the only use for a Balun and cat 5 is for low quality audio and inexpensive Cat 5 sends and returns to Video assist. Is there a system that would allow high quality audio from 4 radio mics (or more?) is it too expensive for regular use? I always dreamed of 4 radio mics and at least 1 return for the comtec channel and maybe 1 more for utility use. Pipe dream or possibility?

Looks like a cool option. Always disappointed when I see 3 instead of 4 channels.

Have used the PSC M-8 for a long time. The comm/boomman section is great. Have a 744T and the 8 in 4 out makes it work well for that combo. So.....Phil you are not quite alone.