Hello all,
I'll admit that I'm feeling a little out of my depth here on this forum, being a newbie amongst some big names & professional operators, but I guess we all have to start somewhere. I'm not working as an operator, it is purely a hobby of mine and to be honest, I've ended up on here because I once saw a guy on a show operating a steadicam and thought "wow, that looks like a really interesting piece of equipment" and I've set my mind on learning the 'art'. And if I'm going to learn something, I try and learn it from the best. So my first investment, was The Steadicam Operator's Handbook which I am learning a lot from and I'm sure that many people on here would suggest my second investment be attending a workshop, however my location (outback Western Australia) does not allow for that, at least without some costly flights tagged onto the cost of the course... So given I find that getting my hands onto something is the best way that I learn, I've purchased what I'm sure many operators on this forum would describe as a "cheap and nasty" rig, but it's a stabilisation system (not a true Steadicam) that does enough for my current needs.
Currently, I'm working with the 'ye ol faithful' Canon XL1s (a far cry from the world of RED or 3D HD technology, but i have to learn to crawl first) and i have some other accessories (matte box & rail system, Sennheiser wireless mic system). It's nothing fancy, but at the moment my only real project is putting together a 'church news' segment each week, so it does the trick. And down the line a bit, I might get to do a bit of imagemag work at a conference or at a community concert and the likes.
So that's my intro out of the way (hope it made sense), so now onto my question.
I'm sure everyone would agree with me that being tethered by a cable whilst doing live to screen/air work is rather annoying, so I have been doing some research and looking for a not too expensive, but good quality (no sync issues/long(ish) range) wireless video unit. Well it's no surprise that the Boxx Meridian system showed up fairly quickly, but that is way out of my price range and my requirements level at this stage. The IDX Cam-Wave system also popped up, and whilst it may be just within my budget, the 150' range may turn out to be a bit short for an outdoor concert that I may get to work on later this year. And at the moment is the Transvideo Titan system appears to be the best option (that I've found anyway).
So I'm interested to hear peoples thought on the Titan... Has anyone run into any problems with it? are there any little tricks that make life easier? And also, the info I've found says that "It can broadcast through walls without resynchronization of the video picture and has a 1000' line of sight." so I'm wondering what the range is when working through walls and the likes?
And of course, feel free to open my eyes to wireless systems that I haven't mentioned, that you think might work for me.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this and I'm looking forward to your feedback and learning as much as I can.
Cheers,
Ryan