Using 2.4Ghz wireless cameras and videosenders!!!

[BrainStove]

Hey people, anyone of you are using this gear in the shows? I think it is pretty useful to cover big spaces without worry about wires, etc. and good video quality transmission (up to 4 cameras-channels, 300-700 feet away), but of course don?t look about toys like X10 (mentioned in some threads here sometime ago), check the more serious tools like these:
http://www.cloverusa.com/
http://www.cloverusa.com/equipment/c1404Q.asp
http://www.cctvimports.com/index.htm
http://www.remingtonsecurity.com/
http://www.nutex.com.tw/index.html
http://www.terk.com/
http://www.1-888-electro.com/sursyst.html
I think these tools would be very useful to enhance the impact of your real time visual show, anyway I?m happy using my 4 cameras kit. :nod:

[MoRpH]

Hmmm I thought I saw a thread on eyecandy ages ago talking about how 99.9% of wireless video stuff was useless in our field due to the high interferance of the party environment (PA, etc).

[BrainStove]

You are right Morph about the P.A. & environment interference, but as you said was ages ago you had that info, probably regarding the 900Mhz wireless technologie.
The technologie improves everyday as you know, so check the links in my previous post. :nod:

[MoRpH]

Yeah cool brain..... maybe so but I have to admit I'm personally not to inclined to trust most things wireless, especially in such a variable environment as a party, where anything can go wrong and most times does. Guess I'm old fashioned I like to see a nice phat cable hooking things up :D

[vjpixylight]

We at Space dub will be using wireless transcievers sending S-video signals to the VJ's(via a Formac transcoder/reciever) for mixing live feed into their VJ sets, (at the Psychic chakra gathering this summer...)
We won't be using the those small wireless spy-cams though, instead opting to send video feed from regular mini DV cams...
...and we havn't ever had any problems in the past with electrical interferrence:rolleyes:

[vjrei]

The wirecameras works, you can get one to try. I would get a B&W fiorst because they offer better resolution than color cameras. Remember you are working in a very "visually noisy" enviroment and is better to have the best resolution of the video image and play with it with colored video.

I'm usually placed in a straight line from the wireless camera, they work fine, but do not abuse from their number.

[Thlayli]

I've always thought that would be a fun setup to have running. Live video sources from anywhere on the floor. I doubt there would be interference problems with a pro-quality transmitter.

[PiedPiper]

I have been working towards this goal for some time now,

i dream of mapping a in-crowd shot and footage of the dj onto an animated 3d surface and projecting it all in real time!!

sadly our only sender reciever pack is 9v, and i am having a little trouble building a battery for it.

but previous test have indicated a range of about 30meters.
i have also been thinking about an antenna which should give me almost 100+ meters:)

again none of this has been tested in a party environment:)

[vjpixylight]

hey piedpiper,
we just use one of those rectangular 9 volt batteries that power the transmiter unit...works nicely, but we are looking to find a smaller battery so to get a small camera on a helium filled blimp for ariel footage of the party...

[BrainStove]

You?ll have to agree that in almost every Rave-Club party, the light environment conditions on the dancing mainfloor are total darkness around... so is in these lighting conditions where the tiny SpyCams with properly infrared leds comes to the rescue, (you don?t have to use the 4 more expensive NightShot DV camcorders to do the work)
To me is clear these SpyCams-Videosenders kits are useful not only for their wireless nature, if not for their ability to capture video in such darkness conditions also. :)

[PiedPiper]

hey thanks for the tip about the 9v battery!
initially i didn't think it would have enough power but after testing yesterday, it works perfectly.
i'm getting over half an hour per 9v. battery.
(the small ones of course)

with a transmitting distance approx 30m - tho this was through 2-3 brick walls:)

cant wait to try it out at a gig now
i'm also looking at getting a antenna for the recieving end, i figure this should double or triple the distance i can transmit.
YAY.

[Fingez]

So can anyone tell me a brand of transmitter that actually works, I tried the x10 as an experiment which of course failed miserably.
A lot of the others look too similar for me to even think about trying.

I am looking into this http://www.microtekelectronics.com/Minilink915.html
About $600 but seems more stable.
I need to wander through 3 different clubs joined together about 200ft total.

[vjpixylight]

Hey PP.
Use can also use a VCR as a receiver unit, (by-passing the 'formac') by setting the VCR to pick up cable chan. -57 (in CO. anyhow)... if it doesn't pick up on that chan. from your wireless tranceiver(camera), then run the station 'find' menu on the VCR with your camera transmiting out the wireless feed, until you pick up the signal.....:cool:

[murph]

pixy - what kind of blimp were you planning on using for the wireless camera? We tried one a few months ago at our plush residency, and the blimp worked ok, but the air currents in the club made it impossible to control. Ours was from plantraco.com. Also the camera didn't work at all. We were gonna return it, but didn't get around to it for too long.

[vjpixylight]

I would imagine it might be pretty hard to do blimps indoors....
the company we bought that blimp from is in Canada, but I can't remember the name off hand...They make flying sausers and high end stuff...

[Meierhans]

This weekend i had a small performance at our students place.
I bought a 7 ah lead (pb) ol`skool accumulator (~25 ?).
Its not the lightest (i carried it with my backpack), but it gave power to my 2.1 ghz sender for the hole night.

I really started to love this oldschool tech, no memory effect & you can`t load it to much. Just plug it to a 13,5 V power source and leave it, until you need it the next time...

Later on a friend of mine took the cam and walked around the hole place.
I had some bad picture sometimes, but this seemed to come from the sender falling around in my backpack.

If I get a IR input for my PC, I can even use the back channel to switch between several sources, so can change presets while filming.

Cool thing

:yep:

[JoshM]

i think one of the biggest advantages of having a wireless transmitter is that it makes it MUCH easier to get an audio signal from the pa. Your audio signal doesnt have to be top notch quality if you're just using it for sync. Just leave the transmitter by the sound pa and send the signal to your box. It could also be handy if you have your projector is a weird place or it has to be far away from your rig. this would be under more desperate situations as video quality is of essence.

I just bought 2 of them. Ill post an update once i use them at a gig.

[PiedPiper]

well i finially got to test our wireless video camera in a club at an actual perty!!!

we are using a standard dv camera with a Svideo output to a wireless video sender that we power by a small battery. this setup allows one of us to walk around and stream the video LIVE:)

last night we used it in a small to large size club. 1,000 ppl capacity. 2 floors. it work great when we tested it, but that was only early on in the night. at first i did seem to be getting some other signal at the reciever (i *think* it was a signal from another camera - image looked like the bar but was very blurry)

but changed to a different channel on the wireless and it worked a treat:)

camera was very usable up to about 30Mtrs. with the PA and all the lights going etc.



YAY.. now only to get a SVD working with a video input.
whats going on with svd - i wanna buy it!

[ToddGraft]

I'm interested in investing too.
Any more Faqs and sites to go to, an check em out?

[elbows]

Excellent tips, cheers :)

Can anyone recommend a tried & tested transmitter, preferably from a UK supplier?

[petewarden]

Thanks *****, I'll be trying some of those.

Another one I like, if you've got cams to spare, is putting a few in a rough arc around the DJ, and switch between them.

Pete

[Meierhans]

A mate of mine tryed the same stunt on the female loos and is still accused of being a pervert.
:p :p :p :p :p LOL

Cool ideas. Could you explain the flying cam more exact??

[Meierhans]

:scared:

Puuh, my english is so bad, and you use so many words i don`t know.....


Could you post some pics of how its done ?

;)

[Meierhans]

I red on some Amateur TV pages about tweaking these transmitters to 10 times more output. The howto was.. ehm.. very thin.

http://www.ipass.net/~teara/atv4.html

Anybody knows exactly how to do this?

[PiedPiper]

there are definetly ways up getting a better signal...
weather you have a largher arial at the base station,
imagine a 3ft. 180 deg. antenna at a outside festival
which can give you like 8Db increase in signal or something??

(ps. not sure if Db is the correct measure)

also you can simply get stronger transmitters.
but it might not be legal.
i think legal output in australia is like 1 milli-watt or , but it is possible to buy 10 milli-watt transmitters.
but they will chew a lot more battery too:)

but eh, it's not like theres anything else going on to worry about:)

[Meierhans]

This could also be be a way to make your content public: Take a 10 W amplifier + portable VRC and walk around the city, switching the transmitter from 1-4.
So many peolpe bought these sets :p :p :D

k, serious:

Nobody in here got experience wtih tweaking them to higher output??

[sortedmedia]

Im sure its been tried n tested by a few but seeing as i havent seen it up yet....

i got some cheapie wireless video senders for home (dont have a dvd player, so i rip em to pc, and like playing games on my tv downstairs!)
But recently tried em out on a few clubnights i was vj'ing at with impossible cable runs in em, (ok not impossible just a pain in the arse and i hate wrapping sticky cable at the end of a night) just basicaly from a mixer - 2 projectors, and they worked great, no interference whatsoever, and the benefit of a remote control extender on both projectors :D from the box i was workin in! happy days, and the cost me a grand total of 89euro for the first receiver n sender and an extra 55 euro for the second receiver.
ok so they were on special in Maplin (usually 150 euro i think for the sender/receiver) the max distance iv tried em at was about 20m, dead handy for clubs though.

anyways, thats my two cents for this evening... night all

[krokodril]

I red on some Amateur TV pages about tweaking these transmitters to 10 times more output. The howto was.. ehm.. very thin.

yes

The problem with normal 2,4 ghz is that 11mbs is enough for divx, but no way dvd.... fun is manufascturers decided that we the lot the people will start spending insane as soon as this is accomplished, so
yopu don't rig anything, 2,4 ghz is wifi, there are 22mbs solutions for firewire, but they only work between to of the same cards, and ofcourse they're not really 22 mbs.

the new standard of wifi will be around 45 mbs, so we just sit and wait.



tran cam tricks you may not have tried yet.

oh i really start to love you *****:heart: :heart: :smurf:

may i add a little trick: put a cam with(thingy against flares kinda lensecap).....whatever, well put it in a flower or roboscan, the one on the most 'colourfull' secluded spot on the dancefloor.
now it can just move with the lights, but if it's pointed downwards, or straight into the dancefloor, this is going to be the place for the xtatic dancing showtypes and candyflippers.

this is a true, never failes shot, the colourly lights moving all over this dancing body, who if he/she notices it looks up with a face you'll want a closeup from

IT'S THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE THE PARTY