Tag Archives: wireless

Everything Else, Technology

New Accsoon Cineview 2 Wireless Video System

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image_processing20240409-8-d3j65e-600x436 New Accsoon Cineview 2 Wireless Video System
New CineView 2 SDI wireless video link system.

 

I’ve been working with Accsoon for a couple of years now and their products always represent great value and do what they are supposed to do very well. One thing in particular that I find immensely useful is the ability to use their wireless video transmitters as an access point that you can connect a camera to to extend it’s internal wifi range. This is particularly beneficial with Sony’s Cinema Line cameras as it can greatly extend the range and reliability of the remote camera control via Sony’s control and transfer app. See: https://youtu.be/iSC9i0Frz-Y

Accsoon have just announced a new addition to their line up with the new CineView 2 SDI (it does also have HDMI). I expect this will provide even better range and stability when used as an access point, plus of course it can transmit a very high quality, low latency HD video feed

The key points are below:
 
– A massive 1500ft/450m range with impressive stability and latency
 
– Equipped with HD-SDI and HDMI inputs/outputs for versatile connectivity. Has 4K 60P loop through on the TX unit.
 
– Features next-generation 1080P wireless video transmission
 
– Backwards compatible with previous CineView models
 
FX3, FX30, FX6, PXW-FX9

Sony ECM-W3 MI Shoe wireless microphone kit.

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Screenshot-2023-11-20-at-12.40.02-600x469 Sony ECM-W3 MI Shoe wireless microphone kit.I guess I must have missed this while I was on holiday but Sony have now announced a small wireless microphone kit that competes with the small digital wireless microphone kits from DJI and Hollyland etc. While not intended to replace the longer range professional wireless microphones such as the UW-P series these microphones offer a very compact system at a much lower price. Being digital they offer very high sound quality.

Many of us, myself included often use a Sony camera to shoot video blogs or simple productions where we all we need is a basic radio mic system and this is where look to be ideal. The receiver connects directly to the MI Shoe of any Sony camera with an MI Shoe, so there are no wires or cables to get in the way or to get lost. Then the small clip on transmitter with its built in microphone is worn by the subject. 

Screenshot-2023-11-20-at-12.39.37-600x469 Sony ECM-W3 MI Shoe wireless microphone kit.
Sony ECM-W3S single channel wireless mic kit.

 

The single channel system costs £320 GBP ($350 USD) and the dual channel with 2 transmitters around £420 GBP ($475 USD).

The transmitter and receiver come in a small charging case and a windscreen is included for the transmitters. If you don’t have an MI shoe equipped camera there is a 3.5mm audio cable to connect between the receiver and the camera, computer or other recording device.

Shooting Tips

Microphone Latency – Don’t mix and match!

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This tripped me up recently and I really should know better.

Don’t mix wireless and cabled microphones with differing amounts of latency because if you do you may have a nasty and difficult to remove echo or phase issues in your audio. 

Digital + Analog don’t mix well.

In my particular case I was using a couple of Sony UWP-D wireless microphones to mic up two out of 3 members of a discussion panel. For the 3rd member I had planned to use another UWP-D but that microphone became unavailable at the last minute, so instead I used a lower cost digital microphone that works on the 2.5Ghz band. There is absolutely nothing fundamentally wrong with this lower cost microphone but the digital processing and transmission adds a very slight delay to the audio.

The Sony UWP-D’s are extremely low latency (delay) microphones and the audio arrives at the camera almost instantly. However most of the lower cost digital microphones have a very slight delay. That delay may be 1 frame or less, but there is still a delay. So the audio from the digital microphone arrives at the camera slightly late. If this is the only microphone you are using this isn’t an issue. But if you mix a very low latency microphone with one with a very slight delay, if both mics pick up any of the same sounds in the background there will be an echo or possibly a phase issue.

As the delay is almost never exactly 1 frame  this can be difficult to resolve in most normal video post production suites where you can only shift things in 1 frame increments.

Phase Issues:

Phase issues occur when the audio from one source arrives very slightly out of sync with the other so that the one source cancels certain frequencies of the other out when the two are mixed together. This can make the audio sound thin or have a reduced frequency response.

So… don’t mix different types of digital wireless microphones and don’t mix lower cost digital microphones with more expensive low latency microphones. And when you are checking and monitoring your audio listen to a full mix of all your audio channels. If you monitor the channels separately the echo or any phasing issues might not be heard.

Everything Else, Review

Hollyland Lark 150 Dual Channel wireless Mic System

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In this video – live streamed on June 24th 2021 I take a look at the new Hollyland Lark 150 dual channel wireless microphone system.

The Lark 150 is a compact digital wireless microphone system that is available as a single channel or dual channel kit. If you buy the single channel kit you can add an extra transmitter pack later if you wish and pairing the units is really simple.

Each kit is supplied in a storage box that acts as a drop-in charger. To pair the transmitters to the receiver simply place them all in the storage box together and they are paired automatically, it’s as simple as that.

The transmitter units have a built in microphone and come with a clip on fluffy wind gag. But in addition a plug in lavalier microphone of pretty good quality is also included in the kit, one for each transmitter pack. There is also a mute button on each transmitter unit.

The receiver outputs a mono output or stereo output via a 3.5mm TRS socket depending on you personal preferences (connecting cables for cameras or phones are included in the kit). There is also a handy “safety mode” that outputs at full level on channel 1 and at a reduced level on channel 2. This is great for filming in environments where the audio levels can suddenly change as the lower level recording helps avoid clipping or distortion if the levels suddenly increase. There are two large control knobs on the receiver that control the levels of the two channels and allow you to switch between the different operating modes. The LCD screen clearly shows how the microphone is configured along with the audio levels. There is an additional headphone output on the receiver for headphone monitoring in case your camera doesn’t have a headphone jack.

Battery life is excellent, I got around 8 hours of use from a single charge. To charge the transmitter and receiver units just put them in the carry case and the battery built into the case will charge them back up again. The case has a USB socket to charge it.

The sound quality is very good for a low cost system. As it is entirely digital there is virtually no hiss or noise. The only downside is that the range is more limited than most much more expensive professional radio mics. This system uses the licence free 2.4Ghz band so there are no licensing issues in most countries and the digital transmissions are very secure, so you don’t need to worry about people illicitly  listening in. 

While you can get up to 100m/300ft range from them in perfect conditions. I found that I reliably and consistently get a range of about 100ft (30m). Operate them in this distance range and they are generally rock solid. However if the presenters body or some other substantial objects gets between the transmitter and receiver there is a small decrease in range, perhaps dropping to a reliable  50ft (15m). This is still plenty for most applications.

I really like these microphones. They won’t replace my much more expensive Sony UWP-D professional microphones, but they are great when you need something compact, ultra light and really simple to use. They are perfect for a lot of blogging applications as well as for interviews etc. At a cost of around £210/$275 for the dual channel kit these are excellent value for the money.

Review, Technology

Accsoon CineEye 2S

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accsoon_cineeye2s_cineeye_2_5g_wireless_1611053137_1617027 Accsoon CineEye 2SWireless video transmitters are nothing new and there are lots of different units on the market. But the Accsoon CineEye 2S stands out from the crowd for a number of reasons.

First is the price, at only £220/$300 USD it’s very affordable for a SDI/HDMI wireless transmitter. But one thing to understand is that it is just a transmitter, there is no reciever. Instead you use a phone or tablet to receive the signal and act as your monitor. You can connect up to 4 devices at the same time and the latency is very low.  Given that you can buy a reasonably decent Android tablet or used iPad for £100/$140 these days, it still makes an affordable and neat solution without the need to worry about cables, batteries or cages at the receive end. And most people have an iPhone or Android phone anyway. The Accsoon app includes waveform and histogram display, LUT’s, peaking and all the usual functions you would find on most pro monitors. So it saves tying up an expensive monitor just for a directors preview. You can also record on the tablet/phone giving the ability for the director or anyone else linked to it to independently play back takes as he/she wishes while you use the camera for other things.

1611053189_IMG_1474630 Accsoon CineEye 2S

Next is the fact that it doesn’t have any fans. So there is no additional noise to worry about when using it. It’s completely silent. Some other units can get quite noisy.

And the best bit: If you are using an iPhone or iPad with a mobile data connection the app can stream your feed to YouTube, Facebook or any similar RMTP service. With Covid still preventing travel for many this is a great solution for an extremely portable streaming solution for remote production previews etc. The quality of the stream is great (subject to your data connection) and you don’t need any additional dongles or adapters, it just works! 

Watch the video, which was streamed live to YouTube with the CineEye 2S  for more information. At 09.12 I comment that it uses 5G – What I mean is that it has 5Ghz WiFi as well as 2.5Ghz Wifi for the connection between the CineEye and the phone or tablet. 5Ghz WiFi is preferred where possible for better quality connections and better range. https://accsoonusa.com/cineeye/

 

Everything Else, Technology

Accsoon Cineeye 2S Wireless Video Link with Streaming Function

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So there are now quite a lot of these devices appearing on the market. I have a Hollyland Mars 400 kit and it works really well. But this one caught my eye because it includes the ability to stream to platforms such as YouTube using RTMP.
In these days of remote production being able to stream the cameras output to a remote client or producer could prove very useful.

I haven’t seen one in person and I don’t know the company, so no idea if it’s actually any good. But certainly on paper it’s really interesting. 

Here’s the info from the press release. 

 

4ea1d055e1c53d66df52fadef6c585cb Accsoon Cineeye 2S Wireless Video Link with Streaming Function
large-5670a05a205877021e33f12e53136126 Accsoon Cineeye 2S Wireless Video Link with Streaming Function
large-bc2872a444bb846886da7a79105e751b Accsoon Cineeye 2S Wireless Video Link with Streaming Function
large-674a2318d09a629ce7735414fd29f239 Accsoon Cineeye 2S Wireless Video Link with Streaming Function
large-b79eeb88e786297bf5c9c62100b8634a Accsoon Cineeye 2S Wireless Video Link with Streaming Function
large-66691526b2488b48538670f1cdf55130 Accsoon Cineeye 2S Wireless Video Link with Streaming Function
large-135545da2f66ca2d3efed39c58997487 Accsoon Cineeye 2S Wireless Video Link with Streaming Function
large-88ec9a63243d7f6cf966b225b890d987 Accsoon Cineeye 2S Wireless Video Link with Streaming Function
cameras, Technology

News from NAB – What on earth is XDCAM AIR?

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Well I didn’t know what “XDCAM Air” was so I had to ask. In a nutshell XDCAM Air is the name Sony are giving to the wireless and network functions of there more recent and forthcoming camcorders and it’s a cloud service especially for XDCAM.

So XDCAM Air covers things like proxy streaming from a camcorder, ftp uploading and the Sony QoS (quality of service) system that allows you to get great streaming image quality over less than ideal network conditions. Plus remote control of a camera or cameras over a wireless network.

But not only is XDCAM Air about existing capabilities, it is also about future possibilities with the introduction of remote NLE editing of content stored on a camera connected via the internet to the NLE. Other future possibilities are things like firmware updates and some engineering tasks over the Internet. As an example if your camera is playing up and engineer could be given remote access to the camera to look at any error codes or error logs stored in the camera. While the engineer might not be able to fix a hardware issue remotely it may mean that firmware bugs can be identified sooner or patches applied remotely. Perhaps one day I will be able to upload picture profiles or scene files directly to camera son the other side of the world.