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Fuze Ti: Fuze Slate


George Tsai

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Hi everyone,
 
The website is live! Check out more information and photos over at http://fuzeti.com/
If you want more than 3 slates please send email sales@fuzeti.com:-)
 

Less than one frame drift over 24 hour period. Current testing between four prototypes shows less than one frame over 48 hours, but I will feel more confident in that result once I have more units to test:-)

 

To start things off...

 

Features:

- Timecode generator supports frame rates of - 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 29.97DF, 30, and 30DF
- Drift between devices is less than one frame (~35ms) every 24 hours
- Sync from other timecode devices (Runs on internal clock after jamming)
- Jam or run off of an external timecode generator
- Easy to set start time and user data
- Standard 5-pin Lemo timecode input/output
- 1/4" TRS timecode input/output
- Adjustable display brightness
- Runs on 4 AA batteries or run indefinitely off of an external power source 5-16V.
- Solid wood clapper sticks makes a clear and sharp snap.
- Solid and sturdy construction. The front panel is made of steel and powder coated with white dry-erase marker surface. The back side is black injection molded ABS plastic and houses the electronics.

- Dimensions - 7.4"W x 8.7"H x 1.6"D (Originally 8.7"W x 8.7"H x 1.7"D) Based on the feedback from various people testing the prototype, the overall height of the slate will be reduced by shortening the front panel and trimming down the clapper sticks. This is dependent on how much retooling will be required for this change to take effect. 

 

- 2.5lbs with 4 AA batteries
 

Kickstarter price for one unit will be $550USD, if all goes well the campaign begins early February. 

 

 

Currently located in San Diego, CA, if anyone is interested in checking it out:-) Email info@fuzeti.com

 

Check out the test video with Denecke slate and Ambient Lock-it box

 

https://vimeo.com/81294521

 

Direct Sunlight!

https://vimeo.com/86941625

 

Drop Test:-)

post-7330-0-66459500-1385725655_thumb.jp

post-7330-0-71225200-1388380417_thumb.jp

post-7330-0-92686300-1389438855_thumb.jp

post-7330-0-73732300-1392028362_thumb.jp

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Hi everyone,
 
Just wanted to give you all a sneak peek before Thanksgiving of a timecode slate I have designed and built.
 
 

 

Less than one frame drift over 24 hour period. Current testing between four prototypes shows less than one frame over 48 hours, but I will feel more confident in that result once I have more units to test:-)

 

Hopefully the website will up up and running this Friday evening, followed by the kickstarter campaign in a few short weeks. To start things off...

 

Features:

- Timecode generator supports frame rates of - 23.98, 24, 25, 29.976, 29.976DF, 30, and 30DF

- Drift between devices is less than one frame (~35ms) every 24 hours

- Sync from other timecode devices (Runs on internal clock after jamming)

- Jam or run off of an external timecode generator

- Easy to set start time and user data

- Standard 5-pin Lemo timecode input/output

- 1/8" TRS timecode input/output

- Adjustable display brightness

- Runs on 4 AA batteries or run indefinitely off of an external power source 5-16V.

- Solid wood clapper sticks makes a clear and sharp snap.

- Solid and sturdy construction. The front panel is made of steel and powder coated with white dry-erase marker surface. The back side is black injection molded ABS plastic and houses the electronics.

- Dimensions - 6.8"H x 8.7"W x 1.4"D

 

Kickstarter price for one unit will be $550USD.

 

Currently located in San Diego, CA, if anyone is interested in checking it out:-) Email info@fuzeti.com

 

Any chance you could add a BNC time code in/out?

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Great price!(compared to your competition!)

Will you ship to Europe?If yes I will get me one ( my ambient ACD 101 just died on me after 20 years of service......more than 100.000 of claps..) make sure it is setproof: it will be dropped many times,be in rain,snow,heat etc.Has to be the most rugged piece of electronic gear on a filmet!Rubber corners!!

 

David Carmiggelt 

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Thanks everyone for your response and comments:-)

+1 for the BNC (maybe make the i/o user selectable?)

 

When you clap, is it holding the TC for a few frames?

 

Good luck!

 

 

Franky

I've debated myself about the BNC for a while actually. I figured going from 1/8" TRS to BNC would be cheap and easy for everyone, but if BNC is a must it might still be possible to implement.

When the clapper is closed it will hold that TC for a few frames then display the user bits. after about a second the display will turn off to conserve power. Display automatically turns back on when the clapper is opened.

 

What features distinguish your product from Denecke or Ambient?

Functionally, I've made it much easier to setup the timecode time and user bits on the Fuze Slate. Tedious process to set time was one of my biggest niggle the few times I had a Denecke or Ambient in my hands, maybe their higher end slates are better but I haven't played with those. This slate also requires only 4 AA batteries, and if I remember right both Ambient and Denecke uses 6? Fuze slate also has an option for external power, I'm not sure if Ambient and Denecke has that option.

It would be great to get this slate into the hands of someone with intimate experience with Denecke and Ambient slates and get their opinion.

 

Interesting ! Could you maybe also post some pictures of the back  and sides?

They will be available when the web site goes live Friday:-) Please keep in mind the back side was printed out of 3d printing process and has a very rough and raw finish.

 

Great price!(compared to your competition!)

Will you ship to Europe?If yes I will get me one ( my ambient ACD 101 just died on me after 20 years of service......more than 100.000 of claps..) make sure it is setproof: it will be dropped many times,be in rain,snow,heat etc.Has to be the most rugged piece of electronic gear on a filmet!Rubber corners!!

 

David Carmiggelt 

Will ship to Europe, the kickstarter will be made available to international supporters (additional shipping cost). Stress tested so far baking in the card that went up to 150F mid day and a low of 90F, as well as tossed in the freezer (had to use external power for this test, as the AA died very quickly due to freezing temperature). Both test still kept timecode within 1 frame over 24 hours with one running at normal room temperature or 75F. No drop test as of yet, need to get some more uses out of the few prototypes before I try to break one:-)

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Mostly just backing up what others have already said, with a couple of additional thoughts:

 

-BNC TC I/O would be a blessing, that way people can avoid having more specialized and expensive cables on hand (as well as backups of those cables).

-Ruggedness is important as fewer ACs care/are qualified for their positions these days on top of the abuse slates receive from qualified ACs. Maybe some sort of rubber case for the corners and edges?

-A grip to slate one handed is an obvious one

-Price: Sorry but you cant compete with the already established brands unless you are less expensive, or offer something they don't that is truly amazing

-Backlight?

-A slot or some place for a Zaxcom ERX2TCD/Time Code Buddy (or a slot with optional available chassis for these devices) would be cool

-Ability to program anything other than selecting frame rate/display times with the slate its self is no selling point for me, since that is all automatic when you jam it from your master clock or recording device

-I would suggest getting to know your competitors products well, you seem unsure as to their specifications, functions, and features, which leads me to think that maybe you didn't think your own product through without doing market research. You have also leaded us to believe that you have limited experience with Smart Slates in general. This doesn't leave me with much confidence. I have enough trouble recommending other sound mixers that cant speak to me on a technical level about equipment as well as physics of recording and audio. A manufacturer who doesn't know off hand basic information about the competition, especially when were just talking about two small companies, and has little to no experience with this type of product, or at least doesn't do a quick look at the competitions web site before presenting their product to the people who would be their clients makes me feel uneasy. Just a thought.

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A manufacturer who doesn't know off hand basic information about the competition, especially when were just talking about two small companies, and has little to no experience with this type of product, or at least doesn't do a quick look at the competitions web site before presenting their product to the people who would be their clients makes me feel uneasy. Just a thought.

+1

Maybe you could tell us a bit more about yourself and why you are taking up this business?

Franky

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Mostly just backing up what others have already said, with a couple of additional thoughts:

 

-BNC TC I/O would be a blessing, that way people can avoid having more specialized and expensive cables on hand (as well as backups of those cables).

-Ruggedness is important as fewer ACs care/are qualified for their positions these days on top of the abuse slates receive from qualified ACs. Maybe some sort of rubber case for the corners and edges?

-A grip to slate one handed is an obvious one

-Price: Sorry but you cant compete with the already established brands unless you are less expensive, or offer something they don't that is truly amazing

-Backlight?

-A slot or some place for a Zaxcom ERX2TCD/Time Code Buddy (or a slot with optional available chassis for these devices) would be cool

-Ability to program anything other than selecting frame rate/display times with the slate its self is no selling point for me, since that is all automatic when you jam it from your master clock or recording device

-I would suggest getting to know your competitors products well, you seem unsure as to their specifications, functions, and features, which leads me to think that maybe you didn't think your own product through without doing market research. You have also leaded us to believe that you have limited experience with Smart Slates in general. This doesn't leave me with much confidence. I have enough trouble recommending other sound mixers that cant speak to me on a technical level about equipment as well as physics of recording and audio. A manufacturer who doesn't know off hand basic information about the competition, especially when were just talking about two small companies, and has little to no experience with this type of product, or at least doesn't do a quick look at the competitions web site before presenting their product to the people who would be their clients makes me feel uneasy. Just a thought.

Rubber corners are not in consideration for the initial kickstarter. Perhaps in the future it'll be an optional accessory, but for now the steel panel in itself should be able to stand up to some rough play on a normal day on set.

No backlight for the slate. The dry erase surface is a powder coat on steel.

There is some space on the back side I think will accommodate devices such as ERX2TCD with something like velcro.

I've played a little bit with Ambient and Denecke, however I stayed away from getting to know them in too much detail to minimize being influence by them and have features for some may consider copying from them. I often make and design my own devices I use on set, and from those uses on set I know what I need and what others like as well.

Price is listed at $550USD for kickstarter

+1

Maybe you could tell us a bit more about yourself and why you are taking up this business?

Franky

 

In short, I have BS in Electrical Engineering and Audio Engineering. I started with live sound at churches and recital halls when I was in middle school and moved onto production sound on film sets when I graduated college; at the same time I have gotten involved with camera as well. Reason I started this is I have always felt all the timecode devices currently available is unreasonably priced (as I do with many things in the film industry, but we'll get to that when this is out:-P). However I mainly I started this because I knew a timecode generator is something I can easily make and figure might as well take it all the way to something I can put on to the market. Designing this was fairly easy, hard part was getting everything ready for manufacturing that proved more difficult.

 

 

What will the battery life be like with 4 AA's?

I will get back to you on this with an exact number, but currently I've been able to get well over 12 hours with the display on. On occasion I have forgotten to turn the device off, so with the timecode running and the display on standby it has lasted at for 5 days.

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George, some of the hesitation some of us are expressing might stem from an episode on RAMPS (the usenet precursor to this and similar forums). Some guy, google suggests Ben Fisher, started making and selling TC slates for around $500. He took orders and money but I don't know if he ever shipped more than a couple slates, and I don't know how those worked. 

 

On quickly-found thread from RAMPS that's worth reading:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.arts.movies.production.sound/i-wFz1_yjD8

 

Things got pretty bad. So I think you may need to overcome the hurdle created by that. Perhaps get a few of your slates into the hands of people here on jwsoundgroup.net. A little reading will help you determine who here both uses TC slates with some regularity and who likes trying new equipment and providing good feedback to developers and manufacturers.

 

And check out how MozeGear is going about the launch of their tc box… they're convincing me to buy one:

 

 

Good luck. And I mean that sincerely. I'd love to see a reliable and affordable timecode slate enter the market.

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Congrats to you on trying to improve a ubitquitous and much used piece of gear.   You asked some questions about Denecke slates:  they can run on ext power (a feature I've never used through 4 slates and the entire period they have been available).  The Denecke TSC (anyhow) uses 6 AAs, in a quick-change sled (I very much recommend you do the same--much faster battery change to swap an already loaded spare sled).   The connectors you chose are fine with me, but you really should consider backlight if you can--just another time and effort saver on the set.  Re setting the TC, that is also something I've almost never done on the slate, so it's not ultra important to me (I set TC on the recorder and jam the slate from it).  Size and weight--I hope it isn't any bigger or heavier than the TSC and that it will "one-hand" easily.  I'm sure you've thought of this, but I hope you have some kind of support structure set up, since as you know we are a cranky bunch who want service in the form a knowledgeable human on the phone, not filling in a web form or sending an email.  That and quality construction will make you friends among soundies.  I really look forward to seeing pix of your slate--please announce here!

 

philp

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George, some of the hesitation some of us are expressing might stem from an episode on RAMPS (the usenet precursor to this and similar forums). Some guy, google suggests Ben Fisher, started making and selling TC slates for around $500. He took orders and money but I don't know if he ever shipped more than a couple slates, and I don't know how those worked. 

 

On quickly-found thread from RAMPS that's worth reading:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.arts.movies.production.sound/i-wFz1_yjD8

 

Things got pretty bad. So I think you may need to overcome the hurdle created by that. Perhaps get a few of your slates into the hands of people here on jwsoundgroup.net. A little reading will help you determine who here both uses TC slates with some regularity and who likes trying new equipment and providing good feedback to developers and manufacturers.

 

And check out how MozeGear is going about the launch of their tc box… they're convincing me to buy one:

 

 

Good luck. And I mean that sincerely. I'd love to see a reliable and affordable timecode slate enter the market.

Thanks Jim, I certainly understand and hope the next few weeks will ease the hesitations and doubts some may have. 

 

I second the bnc motion! Looks great though, very interested!

I will figure out if there is enough room for the BNC. If there is, I should have something up next week:-)

 

Congrats to you on trying to improve a ubitquitous and much used piece of gear.   You asked some questions about Denecke slates:  they can run on ext power (a feature I've never used through 4 slates and the entire period they have been available).  The Denecke TSC (anyhow) uses 6 AAs, in a quick-change sled (I very much recommend you do the same--much faster battery change to swap an already loaded spare sled).   The connectors you chose are fine with me, but you really should consider backlight if you can--just another time and effort saver on the set.  Re setting the TC, that is also something I've almost never done on the slate, so it's not ultra important to me (I set TC on the recorder and jam the slate from it).  Size and weight--I hope it isn't any bigger or heavier than the TSC and that it will "one-hand" easily.  I'm sure you've thought of this, but I hope you have some kind of support structure set up, since as you know we are a cranky bunch who want service in the form a knowledgeable human on the phone, not filling in a web form or sending an email.  That and quality construction will make you friends among soundies.  I really look forward to seeing pix of your slate--please announce here!

 

philp

 

Thanks Philip. Unfortunately I do not have a quick-change sled for this slate and backlight is not something I can implement in this design. The thought had crossed my mind but was taken out to save manufacturing costs. The weight of the slate with 4 AAs is about 2.5 lbs, at least 1lbs of that is the steel front panel. The moment the website is live late Friday night it will be posted here:-)

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While I wish enterprising entrepreneurs much success, several danger signs are obvious here.

We start with not prominently using a real name.

What support structure is in place? How do we get support when something goes wonky because an AC has dropped the slate for the fifth time and it dies?

A superficial bio with no specifics. The most extensive experience he alludes to was in middle school. Statements such as "moved into production sound on film sets" leads me to believe he may have worked on one once but somehow avoided contact with a time code slate so ubiquitous on film sets.

He offers, "I have always felt all the timecode devices currently available is unreasonably priced (as I do with many things in the film industry, but we'll get to that when this is out:-P"

Apart from the glaring grammatical error in the preceding statement, the fact that he considers the devices we use "unreasonably priced" screams of a rank beginner who doesn't comprehend our specific needs and the reliability and support so important to working professionals.

Statements such as: "I had a Denecke or Ambient in my hands, maybe their higher end slates are better but I haven't played with those."

I am unaware of either company making any "lower end" slates.

What we appear to have here is a beginner with dreams. While I applaud those dreams, he needs to understand that in the professional world there are professional expectations. For instance, on several occasions I've called a guru at one of the aforementioned established slate manufacturers and received valuable information that the O.P. would be lacking due to his inexperience with time code devices.

I wish good luck to "piman" but he obviously has a lot to learn about what our profession entails.

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" Does it have... "  +  " What will "

patience!

more images and more information have been promised...

sometimes you folks can be worse than a couple of 8 year olds...

 

" and who likes trying new equipment "

it would be a smaller group if you were looking for who does not like trying out new equipment.

The trick is finding good, qualified beta-testers, and not just folks looking for a Freebie or to be first!

 

" a feature I've never used through 4 slates and the entire period they have been available "

a great feature I've periodically used through a half dozen slates and the entire period they have been available...

" you really should consider... "

there goes the price point

" we are a cranky bunch who want... "

and while we certainly deserve these things, they figure into the price, too...

especially when customizing is involved.

" danger signs are obvious here. "

well, yes, of course, as there would be with any newcomer entering the market in this manner, even as it was for Zaxcom, once upon a time.

and, BTW, I see some danger in all the last minute redesigning being suggested for a product being developed...

and as always, pioneers are the risk takers.

and perhaps once again we remember <the rule>.

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