chrismedr

there is one in your profile settings. much recommended and good for the mood - unfortunately you still get to see the replies

to me this sounds really really simple - if you know anyway that they won't budge a bit, then the question comes down to: do you want (or need) to keep working under these conditions or not? chris

i don't think anybody can give you good advice without knowing your typical work situation, the skills of the people involved, or the expectations you have in workflow and quality, and of course your budget. i suggest you should first find out what you need to have covered in the end (wireless options, monitoring, on camera sound vs post sync etc) and then talk to a dealer. that said a 644 sounds a bit overkill to me for a typical run and gun situation for 2 hours that needs to be handled by a non-pro (do you really want to lug that thing around and who is going to set up all those wireless kits?).

hiya, i was in the same situation - was a bit scared to buy cheap batteries for my 633 so i ordered some dedolight NP-F batteries as i figured they are a company which cares about quality... it turned out that they use cheap chinese batteries and resold them for 4 times the price that the exact same batteries cost on amazon. i understand that they have higher wages and need to do some testing but the markup seemed rather excessive to me. so after that i just bought the cheapos directly. i have been using several different brands since and made some run tests, found that they all held up pretty much as advertised. very happy with Troy and OTB on the cheap side, Axcom were ok too but i had some trouble with mounting them on one of my devices. i also use Swit and IDX which are more expensive, the Swit aren't the best bag for buck with capacity but have extra features (charge indicator and additional power out) and the IDX are only available in the bigger form and cost a bit extra, but have really high capacity. hope that gives some pointers chris

thanks for all the infos laurie. i'm not on facebook, but that nearly tempts me to join i was about to ask where i could get your gear in europe, but then found the dealers section on your website: http://www.mozegear.com/#!dealers/c19j7 i assume this list is still current or is there somebody in germany too? chris

yeah that's what i figured too. i thought that the reason developing tentacle sync was that nothing like it existed as i didn't know about the Mozegear. anyway, hope they make it to production anyway, both look like excellent units so it would be nice to have a choice. chris

yeah, looks all very nice. i hope they make it to production (looks like a long way to go at the moment :/ ) chris

wondering - what's the difference between the Q28 and the QL? the only thing i can make out from the photo above and their website is that the Q28 has a 5-pin lemo extra output.. also, seems to me that the tentacle sync unit is rather similar too (a bit more compact and software based) with similar pricing. or am i missing something? chris

i think the mic is a splendid idea - why not just use an Y-mini-jack cable if you need your own mono mix (which probably means a snake or wireless hop that make the whole thing more heavy/expensive/cumbersome anyway) chris

well, the campaign lists 210EUR for a single unit, 380 for two and 1650 for ten units.... i've never been involved with a kickstarted thing, so i'd be interested if i's common to lower the price eventually once the thing is in full production or if that might annoy the early backers. anyway, lovely product it seems to me - might buy one eventually. chris

just stumbled upon this very nice site with a batterie comparison while researching the charger larry mentioned: http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/CommonAAcomparator.php also nice chart for individual batteries and lot of weird chargers.

question about the lower gain backup track: is this done by using two different gain and ADC paths or after a single gain and ADC path? if the later, how does this prevent from clipping? chris

could be that they don't charge them fully before shipping? a lot of rechargeable batteries have better life expectations if you keep them stored partially charged, and since they don't know how long they will be in warehouses/shelves before use it might be better to charge them only 70%. pure guessing on my part, but seems more likely then that they have been charged fully and been in storage over 4 years. chris ps: on the old envelop you could find the manufacturing date through an imprint on the side. maybe that's still possible http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?364607-Overview-All-eneloop-batteries-2005-2014

i need an on camera mic sometimes for doc work where the sound person can't be always around. found the MKH416 excellent for it's sonic qualities, robustness, hot output - only downside is that it's on the heavy side. i agree that the MKH50 is an excellent choice too. chris

i find the cases for the MKH series rather bulky when traveling :/ anybody has found a smaller alternative? chris

yeah, it was actually meant as a bit of a joke - but once you factor in extra batteries it's nearly true i guess for classical recordings weight is a non issue anyway though. on a bit more useful note: i've done a comparison between a 702T, 302 and 633 with a MKH 8050 a while back - it wasn't very scientific or controlled but i couldn't hear a difference between the three. on the other hand i did a mic comparison which was quite surprising: MKH 50, MKH 8050, Schoeps MK41, Neumann 185 on a 633. the MKH 50 had the least noise, the MKH 8050 and Schoeps MK41 somewhat more, and the 185 was very noisy (so much more that i had it checked because i thought it was broken). somebody told me that the SD preamps get noisy at high gain, and since all these are excellent mics, this seem to confirm that- the old MKH 50 series has hotter output then the 8050 or the MK41, and the neumann needs quite a bit of more gain. repeated the test with a MKH416 and again got very clean results (and as a side note - matches very well to the MKH 50 - so much that at times it's hard to know which is which). made me appreciate the MKH50 and 416 again because this also helps them to work well on cheaper recorders like zooms etc. fwiw chris

and half the weight

i usually run 2200mAh, 4400mAh, 6600mAh and 7800mAh NP-H batteries, plus 8 Eneloops as backup. two 2200 last about 4 hours, so i usually pack that if i want to keep things light and know i have time to change batteries in between. the 4400 are a good compromise since they usually last through the whole day if i switch the recorder off in between. the 7800 are overkill, but good as a backup if i know i can't recharge batteries overnight. i used to buy only brand batteries at first, but had good experiences with cheaper ones recently (Troy, OTB) and my charger measured them as nominal capacity. the 7800mAh ones are IDX. chris

i just compared a H5 with a H6 and a SD 633... i find the bundled XY mic of the H5 very noisy, much more so then the one of the H6 - the difference is so big that i wonder if i got a defective unit, will try to compare it to a second unit. the XLR inputs are identical to my ears and very decent if combined with mics that have a high output. also the handling noise of the H5 is terrible, all that talk about decoupling (with capsules on suspension) seems to be just show.. the XY of the H6 is much better even though it does no fancy tricks. so for me: nice unit as a small XLR recorder but unusable otherwise. chris

something like those? https://www.gothamsound.com/product/xlr-ra-lo-profile-cable-15 looks nice, and at around 15USD a piece quite a bit more affordable

the only way i can see is go go through a full charge-discharge-charge cycle. a good charger will do that, for example i charge my white eneloops in a Voltcraft CM2016 and typically get 1950mAh discharge (on 300mA current) and 2150mAh charge (on autocharge, which averages about 500-1000mA in current). i have two or three old eneloops that have not been treated kindly and dropped to about 1500mAh discharge. i labeled them as bad and use them in house hold remote controls etc. the white eneloops are so good and convenient that i use them for pretty much everything. also got some black ones for the times i really need max runtime. both excellent batteries. chris

got curious and borrowed a MicPre-D, a 302 and a 702 and compared it to a 633... hooked up a MKH8050, pushed the gain up to 3 o'clock, matched them all with some white noise and played some faint music... i don't have the keenest ears and it probably wasn't the most scientific setup, but i couldnt really hear any difference in self noise. if anyone is interested in listening with better trained ears send me a PM and i see that i can upload the files. chris

i was under the impression that the MixPre was considered as having very good preamps (and limiters and low cut filters) - have you had different experiences?

the AES version would be of limited appeal to me because because i'd loose two mic input on the recorder for the 2 input on the extra unit. hmm, isn't it listed as 490EUR + VAT? personally i'd probably still prefer a MixPre to both other units, slightly heavier and more expensive, but much more flexible. chris

Hi Herbert, ignore mr grumpy that never adds anything worthwhile himself.. the MZX 8000 is just an XLR connector, so if you have another connector that works with your gear (like the rycote MZL connbox) or you solder one yourself you don't need it. hope that helps chris