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Wexler transmitter?


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Did a shoot this past weekend (not Steadicam) and production rented these very small transmitter/receiver units from Wexler. We were outdoors far from a lot of interference, so not a true test, but they worked remarkably well. I was up on a hill 100 yds. or so away and the signal was rock solid. Didn't get a chance to test delay.

 

Looked carefully at the system for some clue of what they are, but no real information on them. Would call Wexler to find out but I'm slammed for the next couple of weeks.

 

Anyone know what I'm talking about and what these things are?

 

Dan

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Did a shoot this past weekend (not Steadicam) and production rented these very small transmitter/receiver units from Wexler.

Anyone know what I'm talking about and what these things are?

 

Hey Dan, MTV had a few Wexler transmitters on a show I worked on a few days last winter doing Steadicam and aerials here in Las Vegas. The transmitters they had were useless on the small stage we were on, anywhere on the Strip or in the casinos; not even reliable with the receiver display 15 feet away. I don't know what brand or RF format, they just had Wexler stickers on them. They were about Modulus size, brushed shiny aluminum extruded case with heat fins. The DP was stuck with them for three months and hated them. The RF-Links transmitter I used at the time did so much better they rented it from me for the rest of their shoot. I'm not saying the RF-Links is better, just that whatever they had from Wexler did not work well at all.

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The transmitters were as you described..."about Modulus size, brushed shiny aluminum extruded case with heat fins" and had single digit number to identify what "channel" they were on. 1, 2, 3, etc. The guy that came with them claimed they were wifi but I don't know if he knew what he was talking about or not.

 

Dan

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Hey guys I know what you talking about. I dont know who makes them but these are pretty close. I just got one and tested it in my house, it was pretty solid but it was in my house with nothing around.

 

http://www.asianwolf.com/item.jhtml?UCIDs=...mp;PRID=1521467

 

you can also check out hollywood paintball on sunset blvd if you want to see them in person.

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http://www.asianwolf.com/item.jhtml?UCIDs=...mp;PRID=1521467

 

you can also check out hollywood paintball on sunset blvd if you want to see them in person.

 

If it was one of these guys then it sure as hell isn't wifi. They are 1.2ghz and can be had in a 1500mw transmit version on ebay for under $100. I have one of the smaller less powerful versions and I have to say for the price it works surprisingly well. It is analogue and the receiver isn't diversity so the image flashes some when your moving past objects in between you and the receiver(but when do we ever do that?). They are also probably rather susceptible to interference.

 

~Jess

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  • 4 months later...
Guest Jeremy Hawkins
Did a shoot this past weekend (not Steadicam) and production rented these very small transmitter/receiver units from Wexler. We were outdoors far from a lot of interference, so not a true test, but they worked remarkably well. I was up on a hill 100 yds. or so away and the signal was rock solid. Didn't get a chance to test delay.

 

Looked carefully at the system for some clue of what they are, but no real information on them. Would call Wexler to find out but I'm slammed for the next couple of weeks.

 

Anyone know what I'm talking about and what these things are?

 

Dan

 

 

DAN!!!

 

I am assuming that the units you are talking about are metallic gray, about the size of a pack of cigarettes, have the blue Wexler logo on top, and have adjustments on the back of the unit that let you change the output and channel? If so, then....

 

Congratulations! You finally got to test out one of my units! We OEM'd a specific unit for Wexler that was the same as the 1450's you can get at VER, but had specific connectors, channel presets, and power settings! I am glad you liked them!

 

By the way, there IS no delay in the units, they are as real time as the speed of light allows for at 100 yards.

 

You saw the 1450 tx units that we sell directly, and they will work just as well, they are just a slightly different configuration and the power output is not adjustable.

 

The new 1550 units that you saw on the website have the same things as the Wexler, but have more channels, are digital adjust, and are fine-tunable. We are waiting for FCC on them, but we should have FCC part 15, 74, and 90 on them in "a couple of days" according to the manufacturer.

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Guest Jeremy Hawkins

 

Hey Dan, MTV had a few Wexler transmitters on a show I worked on a few days last winter doing Steadicam and aerials here in Las Vegas. The transmitters they had were useless on the small stage we were on, anywhere on the Strip or in the casinos; not even reliable with the receiver display 15 feet away. I don't know what brand or RF format, they just had Wexler stickers on them. They were about Modulus size, brushed shiny aluminum extruded case with heat fins. The DP was stuck with them for three months and hated them. The RF-Links transmitter I used at the time did so much better they rented it from me for the rest of their shoot. I'm not saying the RF-Links is better, just that whatever they had from Wexler did not work well at all.

 

Taking the good with the bad here, those were likely also our transmitters. I am surprised that they worked so poorly, even though it was in Las Vegas where there is great potential for interference, and indoors where there is great potential for reflected signal.

 

I do know about a problem that we had with the initial units wherein the signal was really dark that had to do with the specs that they requested in the OEM. This problem was fixed as soon as it was discovered and no units should have gone out with that still had that problem. I also had a call to my tech support people about one of our 1450 units that caused the receiver to pick up a very faint signal, even at close range. That turned out to be a selection on the camera setting regarding component/composite video output. Could either of these have been the problem?

 

I have personally tested these units on the floor of NAB with no problems and no interference (I was doing this at the Nebtek booth for a couple of hours), so I can only assume that there was some problem like I have described above.

 

Jeremy Hawkins

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