Stereo wireless link anyone?

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Hello all! :)

Here comes the season again... where I am in charge of recording the classical choirs of which my wife is member.
I have very good equipment, most of it broadcast quality or very advanced and I know the trade....

The pesky problem I have each year is that someone will want to VDO the event and always, politely, ask if I can give them a stereo feed for their camera.

I guess by now you know where I am getting!

Each VDOtech seems to have their own special cable, which of course I am supposed to supply, each camera have their own level standard etc...
The best ones are those who will claim that they have been doing it for 20 years and then complain that my signal is distorted, of course they know what is a +4dbm signal and that it does not go in a microphone input on the camera...:(

Sincerely, Luc
PS: I DID search the forum but did not find a discussion on what I am looking after.

Can you pad it down? without realising that their mic input is a 1/8" jack, usualy unbalanced I don't realy have the time to accomodate them!

Well to cut to the chase I am looking for a way to give the guy a small wireless box, battery powered and that they can connect and adjust to their liking. On my end I get a box with 2 analog +4dbm inputs or S/pdif and simply forget about it!

I have been researching this subject for quite a while now and can not find anything that is stereo, at least 100m of range, good quality and within budget (300-400$ CDN).
Then it dawn on me that a video transmiter can probably transmit an S/PDIF signal. The bandwidth of 6mhz is probably sufficient and NTSC technology is very known, old, and reliable.
There are very small s/pdif decoder with good audio quality.

Ideas?
Comments?

THanks, Luc
 
I've successfully transmitted an SPDIF signal connected to the Yellow Video RCA with 2.4 GHz transmitters / repeaters, but that was at home, and not 100m, but they are claimed to work at that distance in line of sight. The problem is they must be fixed or You get dropouts as antennas are very directional. Perhaps 5 GHz would work best because it's not so crowded by WIFI and Bluetooth signals.
For Stereo Have You tried an in-ear monitor system ?
(What the guys use on stage connected to the headphones)
There are also PA speaker transmitters with balanced ins & outs, try them.
As those things usually work with 12V, a small pocket battery would do it.
And there is broadcast $$$ gear designed for live recording that the TV companies use when the operator sits on a Motorbike and records the race.
Look at the $$$ Neutrik Xyrium products also.


Yes and I'm looking also for a similar solution for wedding venues...
 
Ah Maaco, these are good suggestions... I did look at the Neutrik Xirium system... Oh boy! Nice, big, battleproof and very expensive for my means and needs! But wow this looks like a very well engineered system!
Actually your suggestion of in ear monitoring system is very clever! The system is meant to be battery powered, stereo, it has I guess, it's own volume and the output impedance should be quite low...
Thanks a lot for the pointer, I will look into this, it seems to be simpler than going to a video transmiter, receiver with a spdif converter and a battery pack. All feasible I guess, but a bit of a PITA to use.
The in-ear monitoring system seems to be a realy good way of doing this!
Let me look into it!...
Sincerely, Luc
 

PRR

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Joined 2003
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> someone will want to VDO the event and always, politely, ask if I can give them a stereo feed for their camera.

"Sorry, no, I can't." was my usual answer.

It did help that I was PAID by the school to record their performances, not to "be helpful", especially since most of my recordings were later available for nominal copy fee.

And that being distracted by guest hook-ups could spoil the vital recording I was paid to produce.

There were a few years in the 1980s when "most" guest recorders would/could take a -10dBv RCA feed, and I rigged our main concert hall with a distribution amp which would feed in the booth and also a point in the aisle. As part of that I'd planned some mike-level pads for when that was the only way into a guest's camcorder or discman; I don't recall getting that far.
 
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Hmmm.... For events with press in attendance we put out a Press Box or two. It's a block with a large number of isolated outputs, XLR, RCA and mini - mic or line level. But it's always mono. The press are responsible for getting that signal to their gear - often over wireless. Stereo I don't think I've ever seen.
 
Thanks for the advice PRR... in fact it used to be my answer too, but things have evolved since then.
Firstly I downgraded myself from 'pro' status to amateur. The reason is that now at 65, I don't want the stress that comes when you are paid for the gig. I stress anyway but tha's another story :)
Also I mostly record classical ensemble and choirs, I do not provide FOH for these except maybe a pair of small powered speakers and a microphones for public adress...
My main rig is a RME Fireface UFX and two Octamic of the first generation.
That system gives me up to 20 mic input and 20 +4dbm outputs and I can route anything to any or everything, so after some research, guided by the answers here, it seems easy enough to, say, make a rough mix and send it on the spdif output, use a VDO transmiter at my end. At the other end I give the guy a receiver with a small spdif decoder that ouput the signal at -10dbv with a volume control. Then either RCA to 1/8 or 1/4 or XLR adapters.
Voilà!
But I have not looked at the idea of using in ear monitoring, this could be just the ticket also!

PS:It's good to hear from you PRR!
Sincerely, Luc
 
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I use to have a couple of infrared TX/RX pairs that did 4 channels at 48kHz, IIRC. Worked well, was omni-directional. Never saw the product on the market unfortunately. Suppose it's like the hearing assist systems for theaters.
 
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