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HD WIRELESS


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I just got done using the HP HD transmitter with its stand-alone receiver and high-gain antenna on a two day commercial. Overall, I was very impressed. The transmitter is roughly the same size as my Canatrans, but with two antenna – much smaller in size than the Camwave, Boxx, or Transvideo (I’ve only seen the Transvideo at Cinegear – never used it).

 

It seems like it is only one channel, but it worked great under a variety of conditions. We were all over downtown LA with zero issues line of sight. I don’t think I was farther than 75’ away at any point, but the signal didn’t break up once…not once. The only time we had an issue was when I was filming in a 3rd story brick loft, and the receiver and video village was down below on the sidewalk. In all fairness, I’m not sure any transmitter would have dealt with this scenario well. This issue was easily solved by bringing the antenna up to the 3rd floor and cabling out the window and down to video village.

 

It also performed flawlessly when we shot the next day at a ranch in Westlake Village. Again, I was never too far from the receiver, but there was absolutely no break-up of the image. The VTR guy said it was the best signal he’d ever seen.

 

I didn’t spend much time looking at the receiver and antenna (they seemed to be connected), but the antenna was quite large – like the Boxx flat panel antenna, which the VTR guy said came in a large shipping case. Personally, I’d much rather have the receiver fitted with a huge antenna if it means keeping the size and weight of the transmitter small, which this one was.

 

All in all, it seems like a great product. We were not doing big shots walking from room to room – it was almost all line of sight. It worked very well, and performed as it should with everything we were using it for. I’d be very interested in what other people’s results have been that have used this set-up in the field…especially executing shots that involve moving from room to room and transmitting through walls.

 

Brooks Robinson

 

PS Doc – we were using this transmitter on an Epic, filming at 29.97, 60, and 120fps. The two seemed to work well together.

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PS Doc – we were using this transmitter on an Epic, filming at 29.97, 60, and 120fps. The two seemed to work well together.

 

Thanks for the update Brooks. I tried to get Hamlet to come out and demo it on Spiderman two weeks ago but his units were on rental when we went outside. Last week we rented Noodles' HD transmitter which is absolutely rock solid with some ridiculously long range, miles line of sight I think, and maybe a little bigger than a Canatrans. He only rents it and it comes with a tech or two. Too expensive for most shows. Only trouble was the 1/2 second delay.

Sounds like Hamlet's transmitter is the way to go.

 

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I'm amazed there isn't more chatter regarding this unit. I picked one up couple of weeks ago and it's amazing. We actually aren't doing a ton of wireless or Steadi on this pic, so in field reports will follow. But from what I've done with it so far it corroborates Brooks' and Neal's excellent reviews. Incredibly reliable. Rock solid. No latency. Give the best system out there a serious run for it's money. I've worked quite a bit w/ all fashions of Camwave and Boxx systems and this so far is = if not better. But like I said, still assessing. But the very small package, 6pHRS pwr connector, and out of the box-turn it on-it works great, makes me warm and fuzzy.

 

The TX is right size (13.7oz / 390g), in between Canatrans and Modulus 3000 dimensions (3.15"(80mm) x 3.9"(100mm) x 1.5"(38mm), same HRS 6p (modulus) for pwr only, less than 1ms latency (i.e. none - < 1/40th of 1 frame)(41.6ms = 1 frame @24fps). Active loop through. No other connectors cluttering up the unit. Robust build and well engineered. Accepts all possible input HD signals, including the retarded Red Epic. I am still aghast at the atrocious signal out of that camera(2-3 frame latency).

 

RX is awesomely handy w/ the monitor, great for hands on DP/Dir w/ ants in their pants who can't help but shadow. Can mount monitor on stand at village and turn display off to use as a stand alone RX. Can use one of the 3 N-style antenna connectors to cable up to the Hi-Gain antenna assembly (additional purchase) for long range >200'++? or lots of obstructions.

 

Price / weight / design / performance are all bang on. Great work Hamlet! Great guy to deal with.

 

Regards to all,

Will

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So just curious Hamlet,

 

How much is it as just a HD-SDI Transmitter/receiver package and how much is the high gain receiver antenna option?

 

Seems like a great little unit you've put together there, currently a camwave owner, but always open to new products.

Edited by James Davis
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I used this unit for a couple of days on a commercial. The size was small and the reception seemed really good. Large antenna array was a bit of a PITA to deal with.The only complaint I heard and saw was a certain graininess to the picture. This was pointed out to me by the video assist operator and I had to agree.

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According to the review it seems as though the screen goes blank when signal gets weak/interrupted? That's one thing I like about the boxx vs the camwave -- it behaves similar to our old school uhf xmitters and slowly looses picture quality (pixels in the boxx's case) but still retaining a picture that can be viewed instead of completely going away to a blank screen everytime there's an interruption.

 

Love to see this up close and personal (cinegear?) as the sizes of the camwave and boxx have always been more than a bummer

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I have been using the HP Video Transmitter for the past 10 weeks on the feature I’m currently working on in North Carolina. When I landed in Wilmington from my previous feature, I only had one day to prep. I had three transmitters to choose from that my show is carrying full-time: a Boxx which I had used many times but was large in size, a Microlite which was small but I’d read on the Forum about latency issues, and the HP which I’d used twice on commercials. I went with the HP, mostly for its small size, knowing I could switch out to one of the other two systems if I ran into an issue with it.

 

The HP on our show came with a large four high-gain antenna array that contains the receiver. It is big, and takes up most of the Pelican 1650 case it comes in. Our loader deals with mounting it to a stand and positioning it, so it isn’t an issue for me. At the other end, the transmitter is roughly the same size and weight as my Canatrans sd transmitter. It has two antennas, and is small and light enough to mount on my vertical XCS “lollipop” transmitter bracket.

 

We have been using it at least every other day on our show with no issues so far. All of the steadicam work has so far been line-of-sight, so I can’t comment on its ability to work through walls. The manufacturer claims that line-of-sight transmission with the high-gain receiver array is between 400 and 450’. I haven’t had the opportunity to personally test this claim, but we haven’t had any issues with it yet over smaller runs.

 

The price listed on the website is for the transmitter coupled with a hand-held monitor with a receiver built in. The transmitter with the big high-gain receiver array is more expensive at $9000. While this seems expensive compared to a sd Modulus 3000 or Canatrans, it seems like a bargain compared to some other HD systems.

 

Doc wrote in a previous post that he noticed graininess in the transmitted image with this system. I haven’t noticed this on our show. Our DP has taken to lighting steadicam shots by using the transmitted image from the rig resting in the stand, so I don’t think he has had a problem with the image either.

 

Here is a link to the page on the HP website describing the system:

 

http://hpvideo.tv/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=60&category_id=12&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&vmcchk=1&Itemid=2

 

I don’t work for HP…I don’t even own this transmitter/receiver. I’m just writing my observations of how the system has worked day after day through the first half of my show.

 

I’ve been on the fence about a HD transmitter for a while. They seem as though they are too big and too expensive, and as soon as I commit to one, something far better will be released at half the size and cost. This one might be worth checking out, and if there is ever a transmitter shootout, this set-up should definitely be considered as one of the products to look at.

 

Brooks

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