Wireless Viewing

[Erik Anderson]

Hello All,

 

Just curious as to what everybody is using to view pictures from the Steadicam wirelessly....I have a modulus and a small sony clamshell and what to upgrade but dont know whats availible out there...so if anybody could find the time to reply I would appreciate it.

[RobVanGelder]

2003 forum: search on "transmitter" gives you 71 messages

2004 forum: about the same.........

 

<_<

[Christopher T. Paul- SOC]

Hey Erik,

 

Having the Modulus is 1/3 of the battle. Lose the clamshell, (it's tuner bites), and get yourself a Pegasis or similar tuner. The last third of the battle is very important: have some antennas cut to channel. One for the transmitter, and one for your receiver. This should cost only $100 to $150, and makes all of the difference. The stock antenna that comes with the Modulus I have also found to be problematic. I have been using this combination for two years now with NO problems with reception. None. I even put my modulus in a Hydroflex deep water housing to do a shot down a water slide, and had no reception problems. Getting proper antennas cut to channel is tremendously important. Another thing to do to help your reception is keep the positioning of your transmitting antenna (pointing straight up or lying on it's side parallel to the ground) the same as the receiving antenna. This may sound minor but if you know how these things actually transmit and receive, you'll realize that it's quite important.

 

Good luck, and if you need vendors for the above, email me directly- I don't have it handy at the moment or I would have included it.

 

Chris

[Anthony Hardwick]

Hello All,

 

Just curious as to what everybody is using to view pictures from the Steadicam wirelessly....I have a modulus and a small sony clamshell and what to upgrade but dont know whats availible out there...so if anybody could find the time to reply I would appreciate it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I recently rigged a hand held system with two monitors mounted on a board for the show I'm working on at the moment. We have two cameras working on virtually every shot. The monitors are RCA's from Radio Shack, and we wired them to both be powered with a single Anton Bauer batt on the rear of the board. We use either Proformers or Trimpacks. Either way, the batteries power the monitors for a good period before needing to be swapped.

 

We've dubbed the system "The MI-Vid." MI = "Medical Investigation," the name of the show. It's working great, and the Directors and DP love it.

 

I'll try to take some pics tomorrow, and post them over the weekend if I can.

 

The image quality of the RCA's is quite good cinsidering their size and relative affordability.

[David Allen Grove]

Hi Anthony!

 

Nice work on that show. I've seen a few of the episodes and the show looks good.

 

Is this the Tv you are talking about? http://support.radioshack.com/support_video/doc73/73488.pdf

I've had my eye on this one for a little while but never got around to buying it.

[Marc Abernathy]

good to hear from you anthony.

 

dave/anthony, what channel is this show on? (network). id like to smoke it over myself...

[Steve Johnson]

chris can you explain have the antennae cut to channel?

regards steve j

[Thomas English]

dear Chris

 

when u tried your modulus in the hydroflex (soft? housing) .... did u take it down to any depth? (even is just a meter)

 

if so have far did u get?

 

thomas

[Ari Gertler]

TO WentWest,

 

How have you wired the battery to the monitors inorder not to send too much power to them? Are the monitors 12volt?

 

Ari Gertler

[Christopher T. Paul- SOC]

Hey,

 

Two folks asked me questions here, sorry for how long it took me to respond.

 

Having antennas "cut to channel" simply means that your antenna itself is a certain prescribed length. At the given length that my antennas are "cut to", my channel range is from channels 30 through 50. This keeps it out of the range of my remote focus unit. A different length antenna would give me a different range.

 

This is a simplfied explanation, and I'm sure more tech-savy folks could spin a much more detailed response- but this is the functional answer.

 

I have not had drop-outs from my modulus since getting these antennas.

 

The other question: re: the modulus in a hydroflex. Although it seems highly unlikely, the modulus was put on a Arri 435 in a deep-water hydroflex and put into 2 shooting conditions where it performed beautifully. The first scenario was in a hot tub, where it was submerged only three feet or so to do a reveal thru the waterline of people in the tub. The second and more demanding scenario was going down a waterslide, which was really long and winded around forever. The hydroflex was only in a few inches of water, but quite far from the receiver due to the nature of the shot. Again it performed beautifully. (This was all done on a cruise ship on a commercial).

 

Another important tip during more traditional operating is to keep your transmitting and your receiving antennas facing the same direction. (i.e. both of them either perpendicular to the ground or parallel to the ground- not one perpendicular and one parallel. Although this seems quite basic, I am constantly seeing AC's futzing around trying to get better reception, and yet don't have a clue as to how the antennas were designed to work. I was just as clueless until Greg Bubb at XCS clued me in).

 

Hope this clears things up.

 

Chris