Frederic Chamberland

Aaron just resumed perfectly my opinion about hd transmitting in 2012.

The Bolt works as advertised but it's not perfect. As Joshua stated, it's a fantastic device when Tx and Rx are in line of sight. It's actually amazing. Going around one or two walls will be a new venture. Started a shot in a wine cellar with the door closed and the receiver was 10 feet away from the door; lost signal. As soon as the door would be ajar, connection came back.... Then receiver upstairs on first floor , we were in the basement, lots of mosaics images and signal drops.

Then outside at minus 5 celcius for about 2 hours : thing never had a hiccup.

If you want a strong signal and not care about where to put the receiver before every shot, look elsewhere. If you don't mind moving the Rx to the best spot on every shot, read on:

It's a plug and play device. you power it on and forget about it. No buttons, no channels.

Also attached is a picture of the Anton Bauer Matrix plate with the Bolt fitting nicely. I wired the lemo power directly inside the AB power plate, No wires hanging around. Added a 750 pin to put on a c-stand . Simple and efficient.

So I'm keeping the Bolt, because it's HD-SDI. It works for 90% of what I need to do. I'll be more than happy to add this to my kit and not have to raise much the rental price since it's that cheap to own.

And compared to the Paralinx , I must admit I have pretty much the same results on both units.

So for anyone who's on a budget and can live with HDMI connectors , I'd go for the Paralinx , also note Paralinx customer service was 5 stars; always easy to reach and answered every questions in the next hours.

If you have the extra $$ and want HD-SDI built in ( and don't care about customer service being 3 out of 5 stars), go with the Bolt.

My 2 cents.

Same here , first day with the Bolt on my sled .

Inside a monster house in the basement . Couple of stairs . Stayed on all day with no issue but one little glitch ; i lost the signal 20' away just turning around a wall . Came back couple of seconds after the break .

Loosing the signal means more then 7 seconds for me to reconnect...

Very,very nice feature Jon mentionned and I have to agree: the Tx stays connected with it's internal battery while we change the sled batteries. Image comes up very fast when camera is powered back on. Big plus.

Going outside tomorrow for more testing : cold weather here in montreal , we'll see what it's made of....

No, I only have one of each. I tried linking both receivers (Bolt and Paralinx) to one sender (paralinx) and could not do it. After linking both one at a time to the same sender, one receiver would "override" the other one.

Thanks Dan for the clarification ,

Now , after another day of fumbling around both units , I was able to link the paralinx transmitter to the Bolt receiver . There is a very specific path to follow but it is feasable . The opposite could not be done (bolt transmitter to paralinx receiver) but I was one step away from it...

Anyway , while this is entertaining news , it just confirms both manufacturers use the same technology here . And it allows me to have a backup sender...

I don't think there is something very special here mixing manufacturers since the technology behind consumer WHDI devices allows you to link to different brands (like bluetooth).

Guess I was just lucky to have both units to play with .

Now let's try this Bolt on the steadicam for the next two days . I have been using the paralinx for 3 months now and know what it can and cannot do . Let's hope this thing gives me similar results .

Cheers.

There are some differences inside the menu : The paralinx gives you the ability to enable long dynamic frequency 2/3 for greater range but is not FCC approved so it's only there to use outside the US. This feature is not available in the BOLT menu. Instead, you have access to a system diagnosis where you can't change any parameters.

As for connecting an extra receiver, I have only one so I can't comment on the fact that I could do it or not. One thing is clear, I'm not suppose to have access to the BOLT setting menus since there is no IR receiver or remote included in the package. But , it was really just 1+1 to use the Paralinx accessories on the Bolt. And it worked.

Finally, the BOLT arrived and I tested the hell out of it against the Paralinx for the last 2 days at my place. Couple of surprises.

First, to add to the boring shipping drama (just for you Nick ...) ; Teradek sent the wrong power cable with my unit, I had purchased an ALEXA (2 pins) to sender cable but they sent a P-tap to sender cable.... They are shipping overnight the good cable this week end.

I set up both transmitters on the EPIC: Paralinx thru HDMI and BOLT thru HD-SDI. Then connected both receivers to a small hd monitor and went around the house switching from both inputs.

First observation: Both units performed almost exactly the same way in the same conditions: Picture was perfect when in line of sight , going one floor up, it was still ok until I began having some pixillation on both end of the screen and when I lost connection, both units would loose the signal in the same 5 feet distance, then both would reconnect almost at the same time. Just to make sure one unit was not messing with the other one, I also did the test one at a time (powering off the other one): same results. When on the second floor , I was about 30 feet away from the camera but signal was going thru 1 floor and 1 wall.

Also , I wonder how much different the chipset is inside : both units have the exact same menu and connecting to the receiver is almost identical time wise (a good 7-9 seconds).

I also tried a "little" hack : I took the IR receiver from the paralinx and plugged it in the BOLT and with the Paralinx remote, I was able to open a service menu that has pretty much the same features as the Paralinx .

I was able to rename the unit and it gave me the option to hook to another receiver... I then tried to link the Paralinx sender to the BOLT receiver and vice versa...with no success (this would have opened a pandora box for both manufacturers I guess)...

Build quality is improved with real aluminum casing for the sender while the receiver is ABS/plastic. LEMO connectors for power is fantastic. There is no real manual with the BOLT, just a postcard with description of connectors and lights...Guess it's that easy to use.

Also worth noticing, there is a fan in the BOLT receiver that is not noticeable 5 feet away but could probably be an issue shooting in very quiet locations (fan is only on the receiver so that helps a lot) .

That's it for now, I will have a real situation test monday and will report on wednesday my findings.

For now, if both units continue to behave the same way (which is what I can observe right now) , I'll adopt the BOLT since all I wanted from the beginning was some HD-SDI instead of HDMI and I'm ready to pay the extra +1k just for that. If you are ok with HDMI, save yourself a thousand bucks and go the PARALINX way. I still have some more testing to do so I'll stick to both units for now.

Good question . It came down to money invested and reliability.

The Artemis never failed me in 11 years, not once. I changed the springs 3 times over the life of the arm just to be safe (every 3/4 years). But cosmetically , it had better days, it's full of scuffs and the anodizing is fading out... which I could not care less but I would have never been able to get 4k for it... So I decided to keep it as a backup.

Going with the Titan would have meant trying to get 4k for the Artemis, and raise another 2k to get the Titan. While I spent 13200$ on the Atlas, It now gives me 2 arms instead of 1 and I saved a couple of dollars.

I also want to fly lighter setups from now on and I'm always trying to shave some weight when I can. A 35 to 45 lbs setup is an ideal weight for me, I mostly do tv series and the days are getting longer.

Curt Shaller at Sachtler always gave me stellar service and the same applies to GPI so it's not the service I'm worried about.

But I have to admit, I almost went the Titan road....almost....I bit my fingers on this one.

Cheers.

Ok,

Emery was kind enough to leave a Canatrans White Space transmitter in Montreal for a few days. He visited us last week and presented the product.

Yes , it's transmitting SD; yes , it's almost 7k. No , it's not transmitting HD in any way.

First thing I notice: It's big. Bigger than the "old" canatrans, smaller than a BOXX. It weights 770g (1.7lbs).

Then , you notice the screen: The only transmitter I know that has this feature and I have to say , it's very useful. If no signal is detected ,it will just give you color bars. It also comes with a nice little sun hood that attaches to the Canatrans with magnets, no strap or screws here.

It will be powered by almost any voltage (7/30v). You have 3 different antennas , they are color coded and the channel you select on the Canatrans will be displayed in the color the antenna should be..(very neat)

It will ingest a lot of different HD signals. (please refer to the canatrans website for the actual specs)

It also has a little V-mount shape holder at the back and you can use the Element Technica rod holder to complement your transmitter.

So does it work ? Of course it does.

If you have ever owned a Canatrans, you know what's in for you. It's a Canatrans that's been going to the gym 3 hours a day: It's big, it's built like a tank and you know it will do the job flawlessly and you won't have to worry about it. I have run over almost a block away and still had a clear image on the 7" Camos monitor. Where the Paralinx stopped after about 220', I could not walk away enough to loose the image from the canatrans.

I won't get into the "i need to show HD" or "why would I spend 7k on a SD transmitter..." :

This thing is clearly aimed at a particular crowd and I am not on that list, but still, I have owned a Canatrans for about 5 years and it never failed me so I was excited to try it out.

Big thank you to Emery and Lentequip for the demo, much appreciated !

My first PRO arm, bought the 2 blacks, 2 greys and chassis package (serial 013) .

•The boom range is fantastic

•operation is so smooth under load, it's difficult to translate in words. My smile on set was worth the money spent on this arm.

•beautifully crafted

•5 star service from GPI

From now on, every camera package that weights less than 45lbs will be flown with this arm. I will use my trusted Sachtler Artemis for anything bigger.

I have flown Sachtler Artemis for 11 years now and still very satisfied. I am keeping my Artemis arm for 45lbs + packages.

Very lucky to be able to have both in my kit.

After 10 years of operating , I got myself a new arm. And I'm happy I went with the Atlas.

Frederic

Hi Alan,

Make sure you have the latest firmware on the Epic (3.3.14) .

Now the camera outputs to both connectors simultaneously (Hd-SDI & HDMI ) . This is a feature we were all waiting for . It's there now and it's great for devices like the paralinx. You plug it into the HDMI and forget about it.

Tried the Paralinx on my Epic thru the HDMI and it's a perfect combo.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Montreal , quebec , canada

Hi,

Long story short, I'm not happy with Teradek right now, I can see some of you received their units already, I did not .

Teradek charged my credit card on Nov 27 th . Pre-order instructions were very clear: we will charge your credit card when we ship : As a result, I was expecting the unit the next day or so since I paid for priority shipping. In the meanwhile, I arranged with Emery at Lentequip to have his new Canatrans White Space for my job on wednesday (dec 5th) and I was going to test the 3 units in the same day along my Paralinx.

Well, this test will only be with the Canatrans and Paralinx that day since Teradek has been unable to send my unit yet.

Don't get me wrong, online and by email , customer service from Teradek was super fast to answer all my questions but the answer I got regarding my credit card charged and not shipping the unit was : "we wanted to speed up the shipping process" ; if speeding up the shipping process takes a week to achieve, I have my doubts about support in the future.

I 've heard the usual lines: "it's new, they have a lot of orders for that unit...."

The only thing I can state right now is the fact that I paid in full a week ago for an item that has not shipped yet when I was told otherwise when I pre-ordered.

Still waiting for a tracking number.... First time buying at Teradek. Hopefully things will get better, I'm just mad I won't test the 3 units together...

Email sent.

I just paid for one Bolt, will put it up against my paralinx ASAP and will come back to you on this.

Got the exact same one as William.

Hi Nelson,

It's not perfect but the price/performance cannot be beaten right now. It will deliver a zero latency HD image up to 300' in the smallest package .

My biggest concern is the HDMI connector, it's the weakest link on that device. The SHIELD is a must because without one; just the vibration of docking the sled sometimes was enough for the image to disappear ; moving the HDMI connector took care of that. Even if the thing was made of solid aluminum, the HDMI connector is still an abortion for a pro use.

Best bang for the buck if you are gentle with the sender. I am personnaly waiting for a HDSDI version of the Paralinx, if there is ever one , and teradek is also coming out with something similar called BOLT.... Let the game begins.

Frederic

Anyone buying a Paralinx should also get the SHIELD ; a machined part that "snaps" the sender and hdmi adapter together . Much stronger setup . A must IMHO.

Hi Peter,

I second Alec on this one: I'm working with 2 of the top guns AC's in Montreal on that show and both have the Cinetape on their camera's. "Let's shoot the rehearsal" is now common on TV series and 8 pages a day is not an abnormal day anymore.

I have worked 8 years has an AC and the Cinetape was just a new toy at the time. I did not feel the need to use one at the time as it was very expensive to rent and no one had access to a 24" HD monitor in the video village.

The "magic fingers" AC's are a rare breed today and those that evolve with the technology will stand out.

One thing I find is a big step forward in technology for AC's is the lens mapping : paired with the cinetape, it offers them another great tool to work with.

The Cinetape, Disto, lens mapping, on-board monitors are among the tools I would personally use if I was still an AC today and I too, miss filmmaking.

Cheers.

Frederic

Thanks to all for those in deph answers , both departments have been struggling with this issue for too long . I'll share those hints with my AC's and soumd guys . Will keep you updated.

Cheers

.

Hi all ,

The sound department has a problem with our cinetapes , they pretend the high frequencies beaming out of the horns are interfering with the wireless boom. We have to sometime lower the sensitivity and they seem happy about it .

I have no knowledge about frequencies and how both units can interfere each other but was wondering if someone else has had similar issues and if so , how they took care of it .

Thanks ,

Insane . Bravo

Thanks Chris and Eric . 7" upgrade it is .

I would also wait for the 6.5 ... But it seems not to be on the drawing board right now . Only reason I bought the 6.5 was to have the level "under" my image in the black bars but if for any reason , this won't be feasable with the gen 2 , i'll just jump on the 7" wagon .

My real question is : what will Eric do ?

Cheers

Frederic