- I have a love/hate relationship with wireless technology.
(suspenseful music)
- [Automated Female Voice] Bluetooth pairing.
Bluetooth pairing.
I love you, Dunna.
- [Creepy Demon Voice] I love you, Dunna.
- What the f--
(laid back techno music) (camera shutters)
I'm an audio engineer, so, in my studio,
just like every studio I've ever been in,
we appreciate the safety and comfort of a secure connection,
between a cable and the port that you're plugging it into.
(exhaling)
Yes!
And, while cables can stop working,
and connection issues can exist,
they're less likely and much more easily fixed
than when you're using a wireless connection.
Now, I'm not trying to scare anyone away from wireless,
I use wireless devices, and I love the freedom of them,
but I thought I should just get it out of the way
that I have a slight distrust for certain aspects
of the wireless world.
That being said,
today we're gonna be taking a quick look at
three wireless products that I've been using,
in my videos, lately.
Two of them are wireless microphone solutions,
and one is a wireless video solution.
And that is not including my
possessed Sony wireless headphones,
which are absolutely my favorite headphones of all-time,
but I didn't think really fit in this video.
Link's in the description.
Okay, first of all, let's talk audio.
Wireless audio makes me extremely nervous
about dropouts and interference.
Especially when I'm filming myself,
and I can't be monitoring,
to make sure that things are going all right.
Unless you want me to look like this, in my videos.
What is up, people?
Dunna, here.
And, today, I'm gonna have to stand
really close to the camera,
because my cable's only so long.
But, sometimes the best way to get the job done
is using a wireless transmitter and receiver combo,
instead of running a cable.
For example, sometimes you wanna be
far away from the camera, and still be audible.
Is it okay if you just stay over there?
Just feelin' a little sensitive, right now.
Thanks.
Or you might need to move around a lot,
and you might not necessarily have a boom operator
to follow you.
I asked you to stay over there.
Why are you following me? (feet shuffling)
So, for those times, I personally have two systems
that I use.
And there are a lot of options out there,
so I'm not necessarily saying these are the best,
but they're the ones that I currently have, and I like them.
The first of those options is the Deity Connect.
The Deity Connect is a killer value, for what you get.
In the box, you get a fantastic carrying case,
two transmitters that pair with a single receiver,
two lav mics, and all the accessory connection cables
and bits and pieces that you might need.
This system is perfect for things like interview settings,
where you might need multiple inputs.
For example, I did a video with Becki,
from Becki and Chris, where we used this system,
and it worked great.
This guy's got boom-y voices.
- Yeah, they just moved a lot closer to us.
What a bunch of (beep) (beep),
don't they know we're filming video over here?
- And they're always crouching.
- It's like a power move. - I think so, yeah.
Power stance.
- You have to crouch,
you get a good leg burn.
Wow, a butterfly, ooh, Jesus! - Hey, that's a butterfly!
(laughing)
- Okay, that was a little too close, for comfort.
- The Deity system has a lot of power and flexibility.
You can control the settings,
from the transmitters, themselves,
or directly from the receiver,
if you're just running the camera
and not hopping in front of it.
If you're only using one of the output channels,
to go to a camera, you can use the other output
to monitor audio, with headphones, which is super handy.
And you can change the way the outputs are configured,
depending on what kind of setup you're using.
Because I pretty much exclusively use this,
plugged into my camera,
they have a DSLR setting, that I use most of the time.
But, if you're gonna use it with another recording system,
it comes with everything that you need for that, too.
When using two microphones, they're separated into
the right and left channel,
so you can still mix them separately, in post,
by separating the stereo audio file,
that you get from your camera,
into two mono audio files, in your editor.
Both the transmitters and receivers have screens on them,
so that you can get through the menu,
to set things up nice and easy.
I have run into some areas of interference,
and a couple of dropouts, here and there,
but, overall, I've been very happy
with how the system has performed.
This kind of issue is basically inherent
in any wireless system, hence my apprehension mention
at the beginning.
The only reason that I choose not to
use this system sometimes, is because it's actually a bit
overkill for certain situations.
It's a dual receiver, so it's a bit bigger than some
other systems out there.
And, sometimes, you just don't need all that function,
and all that power.
For example, the other system that I use
is the Azden PRO-XR.
And the biggest difference between this system,
and the Deity system, is that this one has very few
bells and whistles.
It's small, it's simple, and it works,
making it perfect for some people who don't need or want
the flexibility, or control that the Deity has.
This is a single receiver and transmitter pack,
that comes with a lav mic, and all the cables you'll need.
To be honest, I like the sound of the Deity lav mic better,
so I typically use that one, plugged into this system,
but you can use any typical lav mic with either system.
This is a test of the Deity Connect.
And I have to remember that I don't have to yell,
even though the camera is far away from me.
This is a test of the Azden PRO-XR,
and
something funny to say,
(sucking lip in thought)
Nope, I got nothin'.
Again, I've been quite happy with
the connection that I get, with this,
its been pretty solid, for me, for the most part,
and, again, it's just small and simple.
The Azden system has a headphone out,
so, if your camera doesn't, you can still monitor
your audio, from the receiver.
So those are the two wireless audio systems
that I'm currently bouncing between,
depending on the situation.
'But, Dunna, what we you were you saying about
'wireless video monitoring?'
Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding me, Steve.
Recently, a company called Hollyland reached out to me,
to try their MARS 400S wireless video transmission system.
And it's actually remarkably similar
to the wireless audio systems.
You plug in your camera, HDMI, or SDI output
to the transmitter, and then you plug in the receiver
to your monitor, and voila,
you have a monitor that isn't connected to your camera.
Now, there were a couple of things
that I was pretty impressed and surprised with,
about this system.
First of all, the units themselves are very small,
and very straightforward.
They use Sony NPF-style batteries
and, the first time I used them,
I slapped some batteries on them, turned them on,
and they just worked.
No setup, or anything, they just paired together,
and away we went.
The other thing that really impressed me
was the speed of the transmission.
There's very little delay, compared to what I was expecting
from a system like this.
I figured that it would probably be useful for framing,
and then you probably wanna turn it off,
but it was actually quite useful for me,
while I was recording the shots,
where I needed to monitor a top-down view,
and move things in and out of the frame.
There was only really one issue that I had
with the Hollyland MARS 400S, and that is the noise.
Both the transmitter and receiver
seemed to have fans in them,
that kick in as soon as you turn them on,
and they're not super quiet.
The transmitter mounted on the camera wasn't an issue,
for me, because the camera was always a ways away,
but the receiver was pretty close to me,
which is where my microphone is pointing,
so I had to be pretty careful about that.
But nobody seemed to notice, and they didn't say anything,
so, I guess it's definitely workable.
Overall, I definitely suggest the MARS 400S
if you want something like this, for your setup.
As always, links for the products I talked about
will be down in the description,
as well as all my other gear.
And I wanna hear from you guys,
what do you guys think about wireless?
Are you as scared of it as I am?
And let me know what systems you're using,
for audio and wireless video transmission.
And, on your way down to the comments,
make sure to hit that 'like' and 'subscribe' button,
and hit the bell so you don't miss all the new videos
that I'm putting out.
Thank you so much, for watching,
and I'll see you
next time.
(laid back techno music)