Wireless Video Camera Systems

[Tom_Robbo26]

I am filming a sporting event with 3 Sony Z1's and I would like to connect them to a vision mixer wirlessly.

 

Can anyone recommend equipment that can achieve this that isn't rediculously expensive or consumer based rubbish.

I have searched and searched and had no luck.

 

Thanks in advance

[dunk_1984]

See this thread for a recent related discussion - http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=32000

 

If you're only filming why are you worrying about vision mixing live? Or are you streaming it somewhere also?

 

Are you hiring the Z1's? Talk to the hire company, they will either have the kit or know what you need.

 

Oh and wireless will be expensive, good ol' copper less so.

[Tom_Robbo26]

The Z1's are mine, and the reason I want to vision mix it live is to cut costs in post production.

Its MMA fighting and I end up with over 9 hours of footage which takes ages to digitise and then edit...and I can't use wired connections as the camera operators have to be in and out of the cage and up and down ladders etc.

[dosxuk]

that isn't rediculously expensive or consumer based rubbish.

 

I wish you all the luck in the world. There are only two markets for wireless kit - the consumer market (who don't really care if there's a bit of rippling in the picture) and the professional market (who do, a lot).

 

The only possible option I can think of (and it's not cheap, and not easy to use), is to try professional grade analogue links (Try Broadcast RF), but they do take some knowledge to set up and keep working, and if your cameras are moving around a lot, you will need people to pan the recievers.

[smalljoshua]

If you are inside and out of a cage you don't have much hope of being able to get the signal out anyway.

 

Josh

[jason5d]

use digi microwaves but the cost is a lot

you may as well go wired and hire in more cam ops

and cameras. it will a lot less money

[David Lee]

I used to work on cage rage. Camera ops in and out of cage and up and down ladders. We used cables, you just need a cable basher to watch the cables. Simple.

[sleepytom]

The Z1's are mine, and the reason I want to vision mix it live is to cut costs in post production.

Unless you spend a lot on wireless for a properly robust broadcast quality system then you'll loose way too much quality from wireless.

I'm presuming this is for a low budget DVD, in which case you might just about get away with composite cabled into the vision mixer. If it is for broadcast then forget it, you need better cameras with SDI out into a digital mixer either wireless if your really rich or down coax if your just rich.

 

If your primary need is to reduce the production times then the best low budget option is to use DTE hard drives or SD card recorders on the Z1s, this will cut your digitizing times to zero and give your editor full quality HDV files to edit. I've done plenty of events where we've used DTE systems to enable us to edit onsite and produce web based video content which is up on the website before the live audiance has got home.

 

Live vision mixing really doesn't make sense unless your working with bigger budgets and better kit than the Z1 level.

[Nick S]

I wish you all the luck in the world. There are only two markets for wireless kit - the consumer market (who don't really care if there's a bit of rippling in the picture) and the professional market (who do, a lot).

 

There's also the surveillance market, which probably sits between consumer and professional, both in terms of price and quality. I've used various wireless transmitters sourced from security vendors for live work, but I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole for post-production.

[paulears]

Every time we do this query, we generate the same response - there is NOTHING as reliable as cable. Wireless is a possibility - but if the cameras are going to move, then with anything other than mega expensive broadcast kit, you'll need people to aim the receive aerials. Omni to omni aerial systems are dreadful when signal strength is minimal and there are often issues with reflections.

 

Proper microwave kit with directional aerial systems are a must, but each one is more than all of your cameras cost.

 

I'd second the suggestion for cables and cable bashers.

[Johnparrack]

Go for the gigawave system..it works in HD/SD...but is expensive at around £500 to hire (can't remember if thats the daily or weekly!..) Its reliable, doesn't need a great deal of knowledge and is simple to set up. I've used one through a brick wall recently and it worked fine. Not sure whether you'll be able to dock it to a z1 though..but I'm sure theres an adaptor or belt that could be used with it. You should be able to hire from most Broadcast hire companies (I use Prestigne)..

[sleah]

I've just bought one of these for work:

 

Video sender from CPC

 

Not tried it yet.... will update when I've had a go. My first use is to provide a live video link from one end of a church to an anti-room, being used as an overflow where they can hear the service, but not properly see it.

Distance is around 30 or 40m I'd guess. I've got a couple of those domestic types, but they are hit and miss at the best of times ;)

It doesn't matter if I get the odd drop-out for this so the system looks perfect for my application :** laughs out loud **:

Not sure if it would be up to the job that the OP wants though. :)

[Johnparrack]

These kind of senders maybe ok for what you are doing, but I wouldn't rely on one for a Tx Record/Mixed record..alright you can fall back on the iso's when/if something drops out, but in this day and age I wouldn't rely on a composite source especially if I was going to produce a dvd from it.

 

One main problem with these type of senders/recievers (other than the lack of component/sdi outputs) is that they operate at the same frequency as Wireless Internet Routers at 2.4ghz...therefore cause interference with each other(usually picture/sound interference).

[paulears]

........ and as I said, they exhibit terrible visual artefacts when the transmitter end moves. I've tried these type of devices and agree with John, they are not really suitable for this kind of thing. The video bandwidth is also not that wide, you get solid looking pictures but not that much fine detail.

[sleepytom]

agreed

 

a couple of years ago I tested a vast selection of lower cost video senders, from cheapo ebay 1.2ghz and 2.4ghz upto reasonably expensive UHF systems. None of them provided an acceptable quality of signal - UHF was generally the best but would go snowy with fast movement of the transmitter (which was being used on a steadicam) the microwave systems were worse as the picture would break up and lose sync making it impossible to even see the framing let alone use as a record feed. We went with the UHF modulus system as its style of breakup was light snow which enabled the director to see the monitor (fine for steadicam video assist) but we concluded that none of the systems we tried were good enough for live feeds into vision mixers.

 

the only wireless products that I've used that have offered the quality required for recording feeds are from http://www.gigawave.co.uk/ - they are serious kit which costs serious money to hire in. If your shooting on the Z1 then you probably cannot afford them as they run to around £500 / day hire per camera. One of the key advantages of these professional systems is they support telemetry signals from the camera's CCU allowing your engineer to rack the wireless cameras alongside the cabled camera.

 

http://www.broadcastrf.com have lots of info and prices for professional wireless systems.