Audio Options

jajack71

jajack71

Well-known member
I just purchased a new camera after I sold my old DV gear to my church. The camera I purchased is P2 HPX500. I want to get any suggestions for wireless ENG gear. At work we use AT 1201 series. I will shoot freelance news etc...would like a dual path situation and a back up wireless set just Inc case my on camera wireless gear goes bad.??
 
Lectro is the standard for ENG work, but it seems like that standard is slowly being loosened to some Sennheiser G3's with a Tram or Sanken lav mic.
 
I have seen both Lectro and Sennheiser's used for ENG, but Lectrosonics are better, in my opinion. You have the option of powering your Lectro receiver from the camera battery. You might also want to look at the Zaxcoms and the Shure UR5, which is a new ENG diversity system. The range on the Zaxcom's is pretty short, don't know about the new Shure, and the Lectros have excellent range.

I would go with the Lectros if I were you. The only reason I would pick Zaxcom would be for multi-cam and the wireless timecode, which I've only used on reality TV, not news.
 
Starman said:
I have seen both Lectro and Sennheiser's used for ENG, but Lectrosonics are better, in my opinion. You have the option of powering your Lectro receiver from the camera battery. You might also want to look at the Zaxcoms and the Shure UR5, which is a new ENG diversity system. The range on the Zaxcom's is pretty short, don't know about the new Shure, and the Lectros have excellent range.

I would go with the Lectros if I were you. The only reason I would pick Zaxcom would be for multi-cam and the wireless timecode, which I've only used on reality TV, not news.
Click to expand...

I would not discount the Zaxcoms entirely. for news there is a reason they are not commonly used and I think you hit on it. But they offer something that nobody else has for production and corporate video. That is a transmitter option with flash backup record. That is to say that while the camera receives one lav signal the belt pack records it as well just in case.

For my money buy the lectro if you can afford it (remember the fcc is talking about selling another frequency block.) If you can't Go with the Sennheiser G3 (do not buy the G2) also I have never had a range issue with any of the 6 g3 units I own.

Also the sennheisers do have an external power adapter but it needs to be bought separately (kind of a draw back in my opinion but I use them in the bag with np-1 power)
 
I have used the old ATW100 system before and it was decent for general stuff. AT mics usually sound like they have had some audio enhancement added before they get to line out connector...so I wouldn't try and mix it with anything else.
 
I'm not sure this is of any use. Since we use Sony gear. We have Sony drop in Rx and Sony wireless Tx. it has worked out great in the field. 4 channels of audio from the camera!
 
Lectros are really good but I prefer the Sennheiser G3 100's because of how quickly and easily you can control/change the frequency and modulation. Perfect for making on-the-fly adjustments for loud or quiet situations.
 
I've used the ATW100 series and the AT831b and the AT803 (I think) lavs...and a couple of their mid-level sticks...it's been a few years, but it would still sound the same...pre-sweetened...which may or may not be a good thing. It's usable performance, but not for high-end stuff. I'd go with a Sennheiser equivalent before I went with AT.
 
jajack71 said:
Does the G3 have one reciever that has dual capability or would I need two transmitter's etc...
Click to expand...

By duel capability do you mean one receiver that puts out 2 lines of audio or a diversity receiver which uses 2 antennas and switches between them to maintain a more reliable sound feed in high RF situations.

Assuming you mean the latter the G3 is a passive diversity receiver which means that there is a 2nd antenna though what is used for this is actually the shield of the antenna or is it the line out of the pac (forgive the wonky memory on this). In either case I have had extremely few instances of rf issues with these in the last 4 years with the exception of one time in a hospital.

As SVP mentioned the setup is easy and generally the key to where i have seen others have issues. In my case if I am doing freelance sound-man work I use the menu on the pack to scan the frequency range at the beginning of each day or after any major location change. This will take out the guess work as to what is there. Then there is the RF sync option new to the G3 series which lets you just set the desired frequency on the receiver end then you open the battery door and hold up the transmitter for a second or two. Also this can be used in reverse for multiple receivers if memory serves.
 
I just want to run a lav and or hand held without crossing up signals and getting the dread frequency hum when you have two units going to the same reciver.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top