samchurchill

Hi, I like the look of the TV stand they’re using on the BBC coverage of the snooker at the moment. See attachment for a blurry screenshot. Does anyone know where to get one, or do you think it’s been custom made? Thanks, Sam

Thanks everyone for your responses - no-one is saying “no”, so it’s probably worth me giving it a go. The AD903 is on the same comms circuit, but I have previously modified it to add a push-to-talk button which affects whether the comms chatter goes to the line output, so it needs to be local. I guess the other option would be to add a remote for this switch, but that would require far more surgery on the AD903!

Hi, I've got an "outpost" in the front row for our stage management team that needs a standard belt pack and a TecPro AD903 4-wire interface, both connected to our Clear-com party line system. As we have a fairly mobile setup, I'm looking into ways of doing this with a single CAT5 cable and some break-out boxes on each end. Something like this for the CA5 cores: 1-3: party line comms 4: spare 5-6: AD903 input 7-8: AD903 output Do any of you think this is a silly idea, and can come up with something better, or think having those signals running down a single CAT5 together might cause a lot of interference? Given that the CAT5 has twisted pairs, would it matter which cores I chose to use for each purpose? Am I right in thinking off-the-shelf CAT5 breakouts aren't appropriate for comms because of the power on the line? The alternative would be a loom (whether with proper multicore cable or just 3 lots of mic cable in some braided sleeving), but CAT5 just seemed like a good idea as it's plentiful. Thanks!

I’m really sorry, I’m not sure I can remember what I did in the end, but I suspect we might have just bought a Rode Wireless Go as I don’t think I “created” anything.

Thanks for the advice and info everyone. I think, at least temporarily, I’m going to go with just keeping the AVIO plugged into the rack’s analog inputs, which will go into the video switcher’s inputs. It’s not quite as tidy as keeping it all inside the rack, but will do the job. This might seem a bit mad, as using 3-pole switched jacks is the “correct” way to do it (given XLRs aren’t available). However, we don’t have XLR-to-Jack cables anywhere else in our setup, and I’ve been caught before with them going missing if they’re not used on a regular basis.

I went almost to the end of the rainbow and found https://www.neutrik.com/en/product/nc3fbv2-sw - shame there’s only one set of NC contacts! Unless anyone has any better ideas, I guess I’m looking at the above with a relay (frustrating as I was hoping to stay passive) or building the balanced combiner circuit.

Ah, thanks, sockets with break contacts would be a great low-tech solution. My Google powers seem to be deserting me - any idea where I’d find such a thing?

Great, thanks very much - looks like I need to make a balanced summing box. I guess this is what something like https://www.studiospares.com/Microphones/Splitter-Combiners/plc21-passive-line-combiner-by-lambden-audio-458220.htm is doing? I’ll be able to make two circuits in a single small box, which is great.

Hi, I'm building a rack that includes a video switcher with analog L+R audio inputs. Normally these will be fed via Dante from an AVIO adapter, but I want to add analog XLR inputs onto the back of the rack in case we're running a simpler setup where we don't have Dante. As there should never be a time when there's sound coming in through both Dante and the rack's analog inputs, I'm looking to combine them in the simplest way possible. Ideally I don't even want to need to switch anything or twist any knobs. If I just combine them with no electronics, would a line level signal on the rack's analog inputs have the potential to damage the AVIO adapter? If so, are there any small passive combiners that any of you can recommend? Or, if I choose to build something myself, would it just be a matter of adding a couple of diodes to stop the flow of any current back to the AVIO adapter? Thanks in advance!

Perfect, thank you!

Well, the good news is that I’ve tested the cable again and found that a short had appeared on pins 1+2 between when I built it and when I first tried to use it. Having fixed it, I’m now hopeful that it’ll work when I am next at the venue. This would actually be really handy, in case others start plugging it in - is it just a case of adding a diode on pin 2 of each of the XLRs connecting to the single-channel loops? thanks again

Thanks, that makes sense, and is indeed what I’m wanting to do. However, the strange thing is that the test I did was only connecting it to one single-channel loop (i.e. I left the 2nd xlr unplugged), so is that not still a mystery?

Thanks everyone. So, unless I’m missing something in your replies, it sounds like there’s no fundamental problem with the design of the breakout cable I’ve made, which is good news. I’ve asked the venue’s technician who lent me the fender bender to test that it see whether it crossed pins 2+3 over. I’m also going to retest all connections I’m my cable and replace the XLR male with female so the gender bender isn’t even needed. It also sounds from James’s reply as if I shouldn’t connect it to both powered channels - luckily this was just a nice side benefit - it’ll almost always only be needed on a single channel, so will tackle that when we come to it.

Hi, I've got a Clear-Com RS-602 that I want to connect to a two single-channel TecPro systems and program audio. (They're not actually TecPro, but they use that standard.) I've built a breakout cable as per the diagram at (where it's far better drawn than my version!) but am getting some strange results. When I plug in the 3-pin XLR for comms channel A into the TecPro system the other belt packs on the system lose power and the RS-602 doesn't seem to have any power. This is before I plug in either channel B or the program audio. Do I need to be making the cable in a different way? As far as I can find from info online, the pin-out is the same on Clear-Com and TecPro single-channel systems, it's just the voltage which is slightly different, but I was hoping to get away with that. The only other thing I can think of is that I had to use an off-the-shelf XLR gender bender at the last minute - could this have swapped pins 2 & 3? Unfortunately it's at a venue that we only have access do during our weekly events, so I'm keen to try to solve it before next Sunday! Any help or advice greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone, sounds like although nothing will be blown up, it could cause some odd effects. I think I’ll just make it easy to unpatch the PSU on one of the racks.

Happy new year! Is anyone able to tell me whether there’s a problem with there sometimes being two PSUs on a standard TecPro-compatible party line comms system? I’m putting together a couple of racks which will often be used independently, but occasionally be within the same production, and need to know whether them being connected together would be a problem (and, if so, how big a problem it’d be!). Thanks

Looking for an ASL PS19A comms belt pack, or another similar model from another manufacturer with a local aux input. Thanks

Oh, they look nice, but unfortunately probably out of our budget. I think I’d actually prefer a version that is mains powered as I’d like to get as close as possible to a room where you go in, switch on and start shooting (at least for a standard setup), so I think a fair amount of the cost is going into an area we won’t use.

Thanks both. Yes, those light panels look a similar height to our 1x1 panels. I'm feeling very smug as we've already gone down the unistrut route for the grid - an idea I got from YouTube and used when we fitted out the room the studio is currently in. The problem is that the room we're relocating to has an even lower ceiling. Thanks for the idea though, and especially for the link to the fixings - at the moment we're using ones we had made with a spigot on them. The Rosco fixtures look great - I'll look into those.

Hi, I’m looking to get some hair lights for a new TV studio being built in a room with a low ceiling. Ideally these shouldn’t be in shot when the talent is standing, so I’m looking at what’s out there with a very small drop that could do the job. Our existing 1x1 video lights will be too low, especially with the yoke, so I’ll use them as key and fill from the front. I’m thinking an LED batten might be the answer; something like https://www.prolights.it/product/LUMIPIX8H (don’t need full colour, adjustable cold-to-warm white would be fine). Is anyone able to offer any alternatives that I should also be looking at (especially at the less expensive end of the market!) or any other ideas of what form factor lights I should be researching? Thanks!

Were the PA speakers that you were 8m from at the front of the room, or a set further back to boost the sound for those sat further back? Ones further back are usually called “delays” because they should be intentionally delayed from the front set of speakers so that they’re time aligned. Even if they were the front set of speakers, sometimes even they are intentionally delayed to align with a loud acoustic instrument on stage e.g. drums. (Perhaps an obvious one, but hadn’t been mentioned above yet.)

I believe, from reading the BMD manual and a bit of Googling, that it's just two standard 4-wire interfaces, each with a line level input and line level output - is there any reason this wouldn't be compatible with the Tecpro? (Further details at https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=91276 if anyone is interested.) In any case, the Tecpro is still in used for the task I posted about a couple of years ago, so I can't free it up and definitely need an additional unit. Yes, that sounds as if it would work but I'm a bit tight on physical space in the rack for 2 additional comms packs as well as an interface project box. It would also add further cost, which I'm trying to reduce, as we don't have any spare comms packs.

Hi all, I was pointed in this direction a couple of years ago via and, although the requirement at the time was resolved through the purchase of a Tecpro AD903, I’ve now got a new requirement for a twin 4-wire adapter to use with a BMD Constellation HD (which presents its 2 intercom circuits on a single RJ45 socket). I’d love to be able to follow the previous advice to look at using Bluecom for this, but have a couple of questions… 1) I’ve tried to read through quite a bit of this thread (and the pinned one in this forum) but can’t find any working links to the latest resources including the schematic and parts list. 2) given the schematic, would someone be kind enough to point me in the right direction with which bits wouldn’t be needed for my application, and where I would need to connect my 4-wire cables? 3) if my cut down version is still very similar to the full version, I’ll need a couple of PCBs - does anyone have any spares for sale from a bigger batch? Thanks!

Thanks both, I managed to fix it this evening by following your suggestions. The fix was to change the cameras to 50fps AND change the switcher to 1080p (as opposed to 1080i, which it seemed to keep switching itself back to on each reboot).

Hi all, I've tried everything with this, and am properly stumped - I wonder if any of you can help me? I have some Blackmagic cameras (have tried 3 different ones - URSA Broadcast and PCC6k) connected via SDI cable to a Roland V800-HD switcher and am getting a picture that seems fine when everything in shot is static or moving slowly, but "shakes" from a certain vertical point to the bottom of the frame when something is moving at any sort of pace e.g a person moving their arm. The picture, including swift movement, seems fine above the vertical line when it starts to be "shakey". There are 3 short videos at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4f6rkovql1zlhkh/AACJnN6LUKWnmHh8PXyDYfGIa?dl=0 that show the issue - the 3rd one is probably the easiest to see. I have ensured that everything is set at 50Hz, with cameras at 25fps, and have also tried multiple inputs on the switcher and SDI cables. The URSA Broadcast goes direct via SDI, whereas the PCC6k use a Blackmagic HDMI-to-SDI micro convertor, but they all have the same issue. The "CAM X" input picture on the multiviewer doesn't have the issue (but I think those smaller images are likely to be sampled differently by the switcher); it's only when it goes to preview or program that the problem is evident. Has anyone got any ideas? Do we have a problem with the switcher? Thanks in advance!