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Backlit LCD's in Lectrosonics SM, HM, and WM products


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Starting July 1st Lectrosonics products (when the ship) will now have an exciting new product design.

Back Lit LCD's will be available on SM, HM, and WM (when they ship) transmitters. This is a feature that has been requested for some time.

Some new units have been shipping with the feature. I can think of one pleasantly surprised customer who discovered this last week.

HOWEVER,

"Due to the difference in part costs between the old and new displays, along with the cost of re-

designing the circuits and housings for these transmitters; there is a cost increase, effective

July 1, 2012, for these products: each will increase $75 unilateral, and $100 for list

price"

It will NOT BE POSSIBLE to upgrade pre-existing units to this feature.

Also, Starting July 1st certain SMV's, SMQV's and HM's (serial # dependent) that DO NOT HAVE BACKLIT LCD's will not be subject to unilateral pricing.

If you are in the market for Lectrosonics, CONTACT YOUR DEALER JULY 1st to see what they have in stock.

Sincerely,

Christina Z. Wittich

Sales Manger

Gotham Sound

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  • 2 weeks later...

Cool!

Let us know how it affects battery life.

Do you find it easier to see in the sunlight as well?

The display draws less than 2 mA from the battery and should affect battery life by less than 0.5%. That is to say, instead of 4 hours and 5 minutes of life on a Sma you will get 4 hours, 3 minutes and 48 seconds, a massive reduction of 1 minute and 12 seconds. YMMV.

The display is transflective which means that it looks like a backlit LCD in darkness and a front lit LCD in bright sunlight. There are no conditions from total darkness to the sun going nova where you can't easily read the display, at least for a few milliseconds.

You can set the display to shut off after different time periods or not come on at all. I strongly recommend leaving it on at all times just as an indicator that the unit is alive.

Best Regards,

Larry Fisher

Lectrosonics

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That's great Larry.

But, why didn't you have a backlight since day one? ;)

Hi Jason,

The previous LCD's that we looked at over the years were too thick to fit in the package. The old and new LCDs are transflective (don't disappear in sunlight) and have to be lit from the back. Side lighting doesn't work very well. Years ago, the backlit LCD samples that were custom made for us, at close to the right thickness, were very, very poorly lit due to compromises made in making them "thin". They also pulled big currents because they wasted a lot of light trying to even out the illumination. The new unit uses a very thin cloth made of leaky light pipes the size of a hair. The cloth is behind the LCD and the relatively big LEDs feeding the fiber light pipes are off to one side of the glass where they don't add to the thickness of the package. The woven optic fibers have little nicks along the fibers to allow light to leak out. The farther the fiber is from the side mounted LEDs, the more nicks there are in the fibers, adjusting the amount of light leaked to compensate for the distance from the LEDs. The microscopic nicks are put in with a laser. Cute stuff and not available 5 years ago.

We also could have made the original SM a little bigger and put in a conventional LCD but we just didn't want to.

Best,

Larry F

Lectro

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I understand that it is Monday, and early for you, but I was hoping for a funnier (less serious!) explanation :)

They look great, but how do they hold up to the potato canon?

Quiet!! Don't encourage the collection of clowns around here. I've just recently gotten the Ritalin to coffee ratio balanced out in the espresso machine.

Best,

Larry F

Lectro

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I understand that it is Monday, and early for you, but I was hoping for a funnier (less serious!) explanation :)

After being beaten on by Scott Farr about the backlight for seven, count them, seven long years, it is not easy to be funny. Shall we simply say, Scott is a very dedicated and consistent individual. <g>

Best,

Larry F

Lectro

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As always, I'm impressed by Larry's attitude in giving the truth -- when a lot of manufacturers would just say, "eh, we tried other approaches and this was the first time it worked to our satisfaction."

No way could I leave the light on 100% of the time. I dealt with a nervous pregnant mother a few weeks ago, and had to reassure her that the transmitter wasn't irradiating her fetus. If it lit up, I wouldn't have been able to get within 10 feet of her.

There are no conditions from total darkness to the sun going nova where you can't easily read the display, at least for a few milliseconds.

If the sun is going nova, I'm not sure if I'm going to be busy reading the front panel of an SMV. I'm going to be searching through my utility case for sunscreen with an SPF of 20,000.

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{snip}No way could I leave the light on 100% of the time. I dealt with a nervous pregnant mother a few weeks ago, and had to reassure her that the transmitter wasn't irradiating her fetus. If it lit up, I wouldn't have been able to get within 10 feet of her.

Early on, I proposed just leaving the light on all the time for simplicity but the rest of the crew wanted it as a menu item. I'll have to pass this story along. They really enjoy being right. I keep telling them smugness should be one of the Deadly Sins.

Best Regards,

Larry Fisher

Lectro

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The other thing I thought of was, "whoa, I wonder if the glow of the SMV would be visible under a thin blouse or something?" We have to be pretty inventive with where these things go sometimes. (I immediately had a vision of a half dozen actors walking around nonchalantly in a dark scene, and there's a visible illuminated box on each person's back.)

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Regarding the new AMJ antenna:

Pro--- 1. One standard antenna does right angle and straight duty.

2. The small screw is easily adjusted for stiffness.

3. The transmitter antenna can be angled away from the talent's body for increased range.

4. The receiver antenna can be angled away from metal camera bodies or angled for additional diversity spacing.

Con--- There is no way it can be as rugged as the previous, simple, straight wire antenna. We do, however, perform a pull test with weights on each jointed antenna.

The previous antenna (AMM xx) will be available for a while, depending on customers' responses, printable or not. The kit (AMMKIT) for making any block of the straight antenna will be available even if the AMM xx is discontinued.The AMJKIT is also available for making the jointed version on any block and might be a good thing to keep around as a universal spare.

Best,

Larry F

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The other thing I thought of was, "whoa, I wonder if the glow of the SMV would be visible under a thin blouse or something?" We have to be pretty inventive with where these things go sometimes. (I immediately had a vision of a half dozen actors walking around nonchalantly in a dark scene, and there's a visible illuminated box on each person's back.)

Good point. On my MM400, I flip the belt clip so the LEDs are against the body of the wearer.

Depending on the situation, If I want to hide the mic pack, I put the SMs inside the waistband, so the lit display would be against the body.Even more reality TV wants hidden mics and mic packs now whenever possible.

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I was shooting on the bridge of a large cruise ship @ night (complete darkness). The captain was wired with a UM and wearing white pants,as they do on cruise ships.

At least I was able to see if I had the gain set properly without having to pull the tx out of front pocket :/

A little bit of black tape solved the "glowing pants" issue.

The other thing I thought of was, "whoa, I wonder if the glow of the SMV would be visible under a thin blouse or something?" We have to be pretty inventive with where these things go sometimes. (I immediately had a vision of a half dozen actors walking around nonchalantly in a dark scene, and there's a visible illuminated box on each person's back.)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I was shooting on the bridge of a large cruise ship @ night (complete darkness). The captain was wired with a UM and wearing white pants,as they do on cruise ships. At least I was able to see if I had the gain set properly without having to pull the tx out of front pocket :/ A little bit of black tape solved the "glowing pants" issue.

In that situation I just have them flip it so the light is against their leg.

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Larry, are these new antenna an optional upgrade or come with the new Tx's? I have a pair of SMQV's I've gotten a few weeks ago (which are new back lit types), but have normal whip antenna.

Thanks

The jointed antenna was intended to be the standard, if customers preferred it. We still have the original straight antenna also. The current jointed antenna is not as robust as the straight wire antenna but we have some ideas on how to double the strength in the next run. If you do have one that fails, just ask service for a N/C replacement. They may want a description or JPG to see how it failed.

Best,

Larry F

Lectro

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  • 4 weeks later...

Has anyone started using these jointed antenna's yet? Any reports good or bad?

Also, as I was going through the Lectro accessories section of their website I came across my favorite description of a product (and didn't really want to start a new thread on it, but thought it deserved props):

http://www.lectrosonics.com/38-MCA-TA5PAD/View-details.html

"DESCRIPTION:

Mic cable adapter, XLRF to TA5F, -10dB attenuation. May work weirdly with servo bias transmitters."

So very scientific! :D

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