IDX camwave CW-5HD

[Alfeo Dixon SOC]

I didn't get a real look at the monitor, but three days out on location in a modern home which was a solid build, no issues. Adults wanted to rewind the first take to make sure they didn't have a digital hit on the tape in the F900. What they saw was transmission interference and of course no one is use to seeing that looking at HD...

 

I even had a chance to chat one on one with Tony Iwamoto, VP of Marketing with IDX. Very nice guy and IDX has been very cordial, I gave a few notes and got instant feed back on the ideas/solutions. One issue I had was that I powered of the sled, which meant I had a 4pin XLR splitter cable feeding the camera and the CW-5HD. Because the 4pin XLR is on the right side of the camera body, it was a bump hazard and I had to play a bit further away from my left shoulder. We brainstormed on different solutions. The one I had was not sending power to the camera using the 4Pin, but rather only using the V-Mount on the back of the unit.

 

The only other issue was inputs, being on the older F900, the only output is RGB Component and the CW-5HD only has HD-SDI inputs, so I still had to use an AJA box to get from Component to Composite. What other cameras are only RGB and not HD-SDI?

 

We where shooting 23.98fps and also 59.94fps without a hitch up to about 50-60 feet indoors around and down a hallway.

Did notice at prep, that it didn't like my iPhone at one point (data transmitting - possibly WiFi or Edge) in between the Tx and Rx only a few feet away.

 

 

Very impressed and bravo IDX!

[Zack Shannon]

Hello Gentleman,

 

It is great to hear that people are having success with the CW5HD unit. Questions, new ideas, dislikes, and likes are always welcome :)

[Steve Fracol SOC]

We used 2 IDX HD units on Sons of Anarchy TV show as a test for a week or so. On that show we pretty much put them through a lot. We were shooting with the Genesis. Hand-held to Steadicam back to hand-held back to Steadi again and then on the dolly. We moved fast. They held up well on the physical and grueling part of what we do with all the mode changes. Our assistants were able to Vlock them onto the backpack/toaster systems most of the time. They seem to draw little pwr and don't really seem to be in the way (even though they are rather large). I was impressed with all of that part.

 

OH- and as a note to anyone using an Ultra2, if you add the IDX transmitter to the battery system on the sled, only sandwich it with the REAR battery unless your in parallel 12v mode! If you use the post side battery mount and hit the 24v switch it would not be a good thing. Personally I would rather fly it on the camera anyway. I did not like my sled that much longer on the bottom.

 

As for the picture quality....they performed extremely well on pretty much all of our indoor sets, on stage and at practical locations....as long as we were indoors. Our DIT seemed very impressed with the look and quality however....Outdoors they did not work so well. On all of our outdoor sets we had to go back to hardwire. We did not attempt to record the image as a wireless feed (although that would be so cool), we used it more as a time saver just for our DP/DIT station for viewing purposes.

 

I know IDX is committed to making the system work well and they are very, very close. So I am sure it will end up being a system we will all want to work with soon as far as the HD work goes. Stay tuned so to speak. To work with an HD transmitter system at that quality at that price is quite amazing. Worth having if just for the indoor work alone. Anytime we can be cable free it is SOOOOO worth it!!!

 

That said I still have my trusted and proven CanaTrans for film and or down converted HD!

 

My .02

 

Steve

[Jon Beattie]

I worked on a music video 2 weeks ago and we used the IDX system. I was flying a RED. Had the Red drive with the et shock mount on the dumb side of the camera. then the idx transmitter was sandwiched between the red battery and vmount plate.

 

Though the IDX transmitter is a bit bulky (tall and wide. Its not to thick). Its also supper light weight. I made a joke to my assitant that it felt like and empty shell.

 

The DIT and DP used a handheld monitor with receiver. They system worked great we shot all over Harlem and Brooklyn for 2 days. Never had a problem with the system once. It was nice not having them follow me around trying to tweak and play with the onboard red monitor.

 

In the future I will make a jumper cable for it with a vmount plate or use a 4 pin xlr to power the unit so I can just mount it on the camera and get rig of the onboard battery powering everything off the sled and saving a few pounds.

[Steve Fracol SOC]

I was flying a RED. Had the Red drive with the et shock mount on the dumb side of the camera. then the idx transmitter was sandwiched between the red battery and vmount plate.

 

 

Do you have any photos? I have not shot with RED yet other than messing with it at NAB a few years ago.

 

Steve

[Iain Baird]

I seem to recall that Charles was unsuccessful in his attempts to use the CAMWAVE unit with 24p. I haven't heard an update to the contrary, is the CAMWAVE now friendly to all HD formats it might encounter?

 

IAIN BAIRD

[Steve Fracol SOC]

I seem to recall that Charles was unsuccessful in his attempts to use the CAMWAVE unit with 24p. I haven't heard an update to the contrary, is the CAMWAVE now friendly to all HD formats it might encounter?

 

IAIN BAIRD

 

I could be wrong but I believe that currently they make them in different formats (hopefully one model will soon cover all formats?). One for Sony/Genesis 1080-60i, another model for 720p. Can any IDX guys chime in here and set us/me straight? Dan from Tiffen??? You probably can tell us for sure? I know we had to specify what camera we were using to get the system that would work for us.

 

Steve

[Charles Papert]

Hi Iain, Steve and the rest of the chaps.

 

The current model of the Camwave should be able to handle all 1080 and 720 formats as listed on the product spec. Where it fell down initially was the 24psf mode that Sony uses (F900, Genesis etc). They went back to the drawing board and made the fixes. There was no difference in designation of models, they just put out an updated model and will do firmware upgrades on earlier units.

 

I discovered this just last week when I had one rented for a spot I was shooting; the rental house picked one up for us, tested it and sent it to our job. At the prep the AC (our pal Tom Gleason) and I found that it didn't work with the F900 24p mode (but did show some signs of life at 60i, although with a rolling image). A quick call to IDX confirmed that this was one of the non-updated models, and they got us a loaner while doing the upgrade so we were covered on the shoot--the alarming thing was that the unit had just been sold to the rental house the day before, meaning that there are still older ones in inventory floating around. I bring this up both to point out that IDX is on the ball as far as admitting that the issue exists and taking care of it (thank you Tony, Zach and all) but also as a cautionary tale to those renting or purchasing the unit--make sure to test it with a camera that outputs 24psf, or at the very least call IDX with the serial number to see if it has been upgraded.

 

As far as the shoot, we were planning to broadcast the image from the single camera on the job which was living on a 360 degree track circling 8 actors sitting in the round. I knew it would be a nightmare to wrangle cable so I put the xmitter on the job. However, at the last minute we added a second camera that would roam on sticks grabbing extra angles, so I determined that the best way to oversee things would be to mount two 9" HD LCD's next to each other on the dolly, with the B camera transmitting to one and the A camera hardwired to the other. This way I could monitor both cameras at once (while operating one of them--a tad confusing!) and the director just walked behind us doing the same. It actually worked out perfectly--I totally forgot that one of the images was transmitted (it was flawless throughout) and it kept the director in the room rather than sequestered in video village.

 

A few weeks prior I shot a pilot on the RED and had a loaner Camwave (thanks again Tony) because we were on a convoluted set and I thought cabling would slow us down considerably. Once again it delivered a flawless image. Erwin operated for me on that (conventional, Steadicam and handheld) and I think benefitted greatly from not having cables. I kept forgetting that we were even using a transmitter; I would pull myself away from the engineering monitor to head onto set and it would consistently throw me to see a self-contained HD camera without tether.

 

Having spent the last few years mournfully wearing the "leash" on various HD shows, I thought it terribly ironic that my first few times out with the Camwave came via DP jobs but I'm desperately looking forward to using one on my next HD operating gig. Actually I am doing a pilot in December but we are using the F35 with fiber back (and it's like all handheld and Steadicam), so I guess I won't be living the dream on that one either. Sigh...

 

Have also been in touch with the Boxx folks and am eagerly awaiting their unit too. I'm sure we'll be planning a head-to-head demo of both units to see which is the champ, both indoors and out.

 

Clean HD transmission--be warned, once you go there you'll have a hard time going back!

[Zack Shannon]

Charles,

 

Thank you for being the informer regarding the compatible formats for the CW5HD (Cam-Wave HD). Im very happy to hear that your shoots went well!

 

There are still a few units out there that need to be upgraded for 23.98psf transmission. This is a free upgrade so if anyone has units that need 23.98psf, feel free to contact me and i will be more than happy to upgrade your unit.

 

The units that are currently shipping directly from our facility all have 23.98 psf capability.

Edited November 21, 2008 by Zack Shannon

[Jon Beattie]

I was flying a RED. Had the Red drive with the et shock mount on the dumb side of the camera. then the idx transmitter was sandwiched between the red battery and vmount plate.

 

 

Do you have any photos? I have not shot with RED yet other than messing with it at NAB a few years ago.

 

Steve

 

 

I've done so many jobs over the last few months with the RED and we were pretty run and gun. I didn't think to take a photo of the setup. I really should have. Being it the first time that I used the transmitter and the ET shockmount for the red drive.

 

Ironically I did another RED job this weekend in high winds at the beach. I had the set photog grab me a few shots of the "antlers" I pieced together from pirated grip gear I need to post.

[Charles Papert]

Thanks for the clarification Zach (23.98psf vs 24p), this sort of thing is indeed critical. I'll again stress that if anyone getting a Camwave to use with a camera in that format should make sure ahead of time that it has been upgraded--you wouldn't want to find out the day of the shoot.