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Digital UHF wireless from Deity announced: Theos


Jim Feeley

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An announcement. No ship date or price available yet (anyone, correct me if I'm wrong, or fill in other details). I have only a hazy idea/guess where these slot into the market.

 

More info here:

https://deitymic.com/products/theos-digital-wireless/

 

Top-level features copied from that page:

Dual Channel Reciever

Wideband Digital UHF spectrum; 550-960 MHz*

Built-in 32-bit float recorder in the transmitter

Recordings are saved to a Micro SD card; up to 128Gb

Can wirelessly sync timecode from the Deity TC-1 timecode generator

Both the transmitter and receiver can be remotely controlled via the Sidus Audio™ app

Upto 14hrs of battery life with lithium batteries

Full-color LCD screen

CNC-milled aluminum chassis

SMA antenna ports

 

 

 

Theos.png

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  • Jim Feeley changed the title to Digital UHF wireless from Deity announced: Theos

It will be very interesting to see where these slot into the market. It packs a lot of very handy features that the lower end of the market is yet to feature.

 

onboard 32bit recording if of course a very handy one, and having it sync'd to timecode if you use their boxes makes it even easier to use if you need to go to the onboard files due to interference etc...

 

Wideband UHF would be a godsend for a lot of people in the current crowded RF environment.

 

The big up in the air question is going to be price. With that feature set, surely it has to cost more that the radio mics Deity have tried to compete against previously, such as the Sennheiser G3 / G4s etc..., but I don't think they can compete with the pros, purely on reputation at this point. I'm going to guess they will be somewhere inbetween.

 

It would have been nice to see a top mounted screen / interface, however I've seen some people talking of a potential slot based receiver. I don't know if that's a wishlist, or if there are official sources of that, but a receiver with more pro connections and features would be even better.

 

I guess we will learn more as time goes by.

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From Deity "One of the standout features of the Deity Theos Digital Wireless Microphone System is its use of a wideband UHF spectrum rather than the crowded 2.4Ghz band. Frequencies span between 550-960 MHz.*"

 

If they price it right and every influencer and vlogger moves from cheesy 2.4G to UHF, oh boy, UHF will ........... Well, move over crowded 2.4G, here comes crowded UHF.

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33 minutes ago, Paul F said:

From Deity "One of the standout features of the Deity Theos Digital Wireless Microphone System is its use of a wideband UHF spectrum rather than the crowded 2.4Ghz band. Frequencies span between 550-960 MHz.*"

 

If they price it right and every influencer and vlogger moves from cheesy 2.4G to UHF, oh boy, UHF will ........... Well, move over crowded 2.4G, here comes crowded UHF.

 

With the feature set, I can't imagine it's going to be cheaper than the likes of the Sennheiser G4s etc, so I don't think it's going to draw too much attention from that crowd that aren't already using UHF gear.

 

The influencer crowd seem to be all about the tiny little mics like the Rode & DJI units, that are all 2.4ghz, so I think we're safe from that for now, but who knows.

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On 4/17/2023 at 12:31 PM, MattRuth said:

It will be very interesting to see where these slot into the market. It packs a lot of very handy features that the lower end of the market is yet to feature.

 

Even has features lacking in many pro grade wireless in use. 

 

I'm guessing though the Deity UHF will fit in the middle ground (or higher, let's see how the reviews are) between prosumer wireless such as Sennheiser G4 / Sony UWP-D21 and the professional wireless (the usual suspects of: Lectrosonics, Zaxcom, Sony DWX, Shure Axient Digital, Sound Devices Wireless, Wisycom, etc). 

 

As historically there has been a huge gap between those two categories, at least in terms of price!

 

 

On 4/17/2023 at 12:31 PM, MattRuth said:

Wideband UHF would be a godsend for a lot of people in the current crowded RF environment.

Great for anybody who travels a lot too! As when you go overseas you'll automatically get unlocked legal frequencies overseas (that were illegal back at home). 

 

On 4/17/2023 at 12:31 PM, MattRuth said:

The big up in the air question is going to be price. With that feature set, surely it has to cost more that the radio mics Deity have tried to compete against previously, such as the Sennheiser G3 / G4s etc..., but I don't think they can compete with the pros, purely on reputation at this point. I'm going to guess they will be somewhere inbetween.

Sennheiser G4 is $700 for one channel. 

This Deity UHF is dual channel, I wouldn't be surprised at all of Deity ends up costs less per channel than a G4 does. 

 

On 4/17/2023 at 12:31 PM, MattRuth said:

It would have been nice to see a top mounted screen / interface, however I've seen some people talking of a potential slot based receiver. I don't know if that's a wishlist, or if there are official sources of that, but a receiver with more pro connections and features would be even better.

Yeah, I've heard that mentioned too, I'd probably rank it is a "possible" but not a "probably" rumor? 

But yeah, if the Deity UHF wireless turns out to be good then I'd love to see a Deity UHF Superslot receiver with AES. 

That could be my second receiver in the Sound Devices SL2 with a Lectro DSR4. (as sadly my Lectro SRb receivers won't output AES in the SL2 to match with a DSR4)

 

But my biggest wish right now, is that the currently announced Deity UHF will get pro line level output (+4dBu), so that it can be used as a camera hop with all the many productions which require a line level feed into their camera (as there isn't a mic level option on the camera, as this is a quite common scenario). 

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As someone who hasn't particularly been a fan of the performance of the Diety S-Mic or their 2.4GHz wireless, I am a little weary of the performance.

 

That said it seems like Diety's going up the chain in regards to Timecode, so hopefully this is quite an improvement over their previous stuff.

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4 minutes ago, Derek H said:

Does it transmit and record simultaneously?

For Americans: that is "TBD", and not being discussed further by Deity at this present time. 

My personal hope, is that no matter what happens with the American market, it will at least be possible for non-Americans??

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Just linking to the Gotham sound Livestream with Deity, where Andrew provides some answers and clarification.

 

It sounds like the slot receiver is not currently on the agenda, but is a possibility if there is enough demand. 

 

Price will be inline with their other products, taking into account the features. It's kinda cryptic, but I'm guessing this isn't going to be a super budget mic set. With all their timecode offerings,  I feel like they are attempting to climb out of the budget market.

 

And his response to having the screen on the front was use the app if your receiver is burried in your bag. The decision was to put a larger screen on the side instead of a smaller one on top.

 

One thing that a lot of people might find interesting is he mentions another model of transmitter coming out later that will be able to supply phantom - for wireless boom and the likes.

 

All in all, an interesting development in the upper side of the prosumer market, with some very solid features.

 

 

5 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

For Americans: that is "TBD", and not being discussed further by Deity at this present time. 

My personal hope, is that no matter what happens with the American market, it will at least be possible for non-Americans??

An interesting thought - they are linking the available frequencies to the GPS on your phone.

Maybe they could do similar with the transmit. If you're in the states, disable the live record feature. If you aren't, Disable it. I'm not sure how that flies with the Zaxcom patents, but it might be a way around it.

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There aren't many SMALL (smaller than slot-in) dual channel receivers on the market, so Deity made the right approach imho. There is a gap between those:

Rode Wireless Go II, Sony URX, Wisycom MPR-52, Lectro DCHT. They all have their issues (for example being consumer, analogue, expensive, ...).

Success now depends on the preamps and RF shielding. Let's see ...

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1 hour ago, Mungo said:

There aren't many SMALL (smaller than slot-in) dual channel receivers on the market, so Deity made the right approach imho. There is a gap between those:

 

Exactly, and is why the Deity UHF receiver could be a popular choice as a camera hop if they simply have pro line level (+4dBu) output from it so we can feed ARRI cameras. 

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In the US you’re looking at 550-608 MHz plus the guard band/duplex gap.   According to the rep Andrew in the Gotham NAB video there are no current plans to make 941 MHz in the US available.  So you’re looking about 68 MHz ( approx 2 Lectro single blocks 22/23  range ) Anything below 550 Mhz is not avail because of the RF chip they chose due its availability in manufacturing and getting to market
 

 

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I just bought the sony urx-p03d dual channel receiver for about 1000 euros. I guess the whole set will be available for less. But I will wait, because the Wi-Fi audio system from deity was so unreliable I had to return it, so I hope there will be very thorough reliability tests for reception in dual channel mode AND internal recording anytime soon. Will it support real true diversity in dual channel mode? (sony has only antenna diversity in dual channel mode) and will there be frequency management with channel groups when you want to use four or six?

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This kind of ticks most of the same boxes as my beloved Wisycom MTP60 which took me many years to afford, probably at a fraction of the price. And sounds like deity might just beat wireless TC jam by a hair (as wisy demoes tentacle integration at this moment).

 

Not really a fan of 3.5mm locking (especially the microdot adapters). If the reception is alright and they do a light phantom transmitter with good preamps, I might be intruiged to get one as cam hop/retire my lectro boom.

 

Verdict is yet to be out. Preamps and range from previous wireless packs have not been high end. How will it compare in tough environments vs Wisy/Lectro etc.

 

Maybe im expecting too much and a more fair comparison would be the new digital sennheiser evolution.

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2 hours ago, Sound said:

But I will wait, because the Wi-Fi audio system from deity was so unreliable I had to return it, so I hope there will be very thorough reliability tests for reception in dual channel mode

 

That unreliability would be largely due to using the 2.4GHz frequencies, which has some pros, but a lot of cons too. 

 

2 hours ago, Sound said:

Will it support real true diversity in dual channel mode? (sony has only antenna diversity in dual channel mode)

 

To be fair, Lectrosonics SR receivers don't have true diversity either. 

Dunno about the Deity wireless though?

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3 hours ago, IronFilm said:

 

That unreliability would be largely due to using the 2.4GHz frequencies, which has some pros, but a lot of cons too. 

 

 

To be fair, Lectrosonics SR receivers don't have true diversity either. 

Dunno about the Deity wireless though?

Not sure, even rode wireless go seems more reliable to me in terms of recording AND transmitting.

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On 4/19/2023 at 2:36 AM, Mattias Larsen said:

Verdict is yet to be out. Preamps and range from previous wireless packs have not been high end. How will it compare in tough environments vs Wisy/Lectro etc.

Based on initial specs, it sounds pretty good... The recording has -130EIN noise, so the preamps should be decent (assuming they also sound good). Apparently, there are 3 preamps ganged to deal with a full-range signal for 32-bit float. We'll see what the range looks like, but this also is has a fairly high-power mode of 100mw, which is a lot for digital.

 

The signal suffers a little as it hits the DAC on the receiver, which pushes it back into the top of analog dynamic range territory.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/22/2023 at 5:04 PM, stef said:

The signal suffers a little as it hits the DAC on the receiver, which pushes it back into the top of analog dynamic range territory.

Too bad there isn't an AES or at least pro line level output.  Then again, I think Andrew at Deity admitted this is geared more towards an audience that will most likely go straight into a camera or lower end recorder and that they'll contemplate a slot receiver down the road if the market demands it.

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10 hours ago, codyman said:

Too bad there isn't an AES or at least pro line level output.  Then again, I think Andrew at Deity admitted this is geared more towards an audience that will most likely go straight into a camera or lower end recorder and that they'll contemplate a slot receiver down the road if the market demands it.

Correct. This first kit of UHF in the THEOS ecosystem is meant to be more of a mainstream wireless kit aimed at the broader video production market. That's not to say it doesn't include some features that appeal to beginner sound mixers who aren't into an ecosystem yet or a mixer who wants to put together a compact ENG bag kit. 

We have bought some AES and DANTE dev kit stuff that will allow our engineers to study and learn those higher-end pro features that yall would love to see on a slot / pro-RX unit. 

 

On 4/17/2023 at 7:04 PM, Derek H said:

Does it transmit and record simultaneously?

All sold THEOS bodypack transmitters will transmit OR record when inside the USA.  Outside of the USA, all THEOS bodypack transmitters will be able to transmit and record. 

 

On 4/19/2023 at 1:36 AM, Mattias Larsen said:

Preamps and range from previous wireless packs have not been high end.

The preamps in THEOS (and the PR-2) have been completely retooled and don't share anything with the previous wireless mics we produced.
 

In terms of range, we were doing range tests for folks at NAB who requested them. Paul Katzman requested one, and I showed him the range using a sharkfin. I walked toward the Aputure booth. When I asked him where the audio dropped out he said "it never really dropped out, but it did get robotic sounding for a few seconds when I passed right next to Libec. We did another walking test for a tech engineer from Raycom UK. For that one, we did it on whips and got to the other side of the Riedel Communications booth. Both tests were conducted during the show, and we used a frequency that the D2RX suggested after running a scan of 550-608MHz.  See attached map.

range test.jpg

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4 hours ago, Andrew From Deity said:

We have bought some AES and DANTE dev kit stuff that will allow our engineers to study and learn those higher-end pro features that yall would love to see on a slot / pro-RX unit. 

AES will have far broader appeal than Dante. 

(but pro line level output would be even more important than either of those)

 

4 hours ago, Andrew From Deity said:
On 4/18/2023 at 2:04 PM, Derek H said:

Does it transmit and record simultaneously?

Outside of the USA, all THEOS bodypack transmitters will be able to transmit and record. 

Nice!!

 

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  • 3 months later...
On 5/13/2023 at 6:31 AM, Andrew From Deity said:

Correct. This first kit of UHF in the THEOS ecosystem is meant to be more of a mainstream wireless kit aimed at the broader video production market. That's not to say it doesn't include some features that appeal to beginner sound mixers who aren't into an ecosystem yet or a mixer who wants to put together a compact ENG bag kit. 

We have bought some AES and DANTE dev kit stuff that will allow our engineers to study and learn those higher-end pro features that yall would love to see on a slot / pro-RX unit. 

 

All sold THEOS bodypack transmitters will transmit OR record when inside the USA.  Outside of the USA, all THEOS bodypack transmitters will be able to transmit and record. 

 

The preamps in THEOS (and the PR-2) have been completely retooled and don't share anything with the previous wireless mics we produced.
 

In terms of range, we were doing range tests for folks at NAB who requested them. Paul Katzman requested one, and I showed him the range using a sharkfin. I walked toward the Aputure booth. When I asked him where the audio dropped out he said "it never really dropped out, but it did get robotic sounding for a few seconds when I passed right next to Libec. We did another walking test for a tech engineer from Raycom UK. For that one, we did it on whips and got to the other side of the Riedel Communications booth. Both tests were conducted during the show, and we used a frequency that the D2RX suggested after running a scan of 550-608MHz.  See attached map.

range test.jpg

Hi Andrew,

 

What type of diversity is used in Theos receiver? Couldn't find any info on it online.

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