Rode Wireless Go II

[Rick R]

Regarding the patent, Rode is likely a much bigger company with more cash to burn in court.

Bigger than Teac/Tascam? Zaxcom's initial patent infringement case defendant. Teac settled to not sell in the US and it was not even a recording Tx, it merly had a throughput to an external Tx.

[Run&Gun]

Regarding the patent, Rode is likely a much bigger company with more cash to burn in court. It could be fun. Maybe they are paying a licensing fee to Zaxcom. Maybe the fact that it is recorded internally and not on an SD card gets around the Zaxcom claims.

What magic does Rode have that they can get such distances out of a well-known technology with no external antenna (assuming you are operating with the internal mic) while no one else does it?

I suspect it is either lack of SD card or the fact that recording is not initiated by the receiver, but an app. This is even more thoughtfully designed than Zaxcom products. The fact that you can set it up to automatically record whenever transmitting and as soon as it is filled up, it starts recording over old files. That's genius and exactly what a backup recording should do. THat means I never need to download files unless I have dropout. It's basically a 7hr buffer of audio. It just goes to show you how much innovation Zaxcom has single-handedly killed in audio. No sympathy. Live by a technicality, die by a technicality.

I always forget about licensing, but Zaxcom(Glenn Sanders) is on the record as saying they are willing to.

I don't know about all of them, but Rode is probably bigger/has deeper pockets than Lectrosonics and Tentacle, so they could be willing to play for blood.

That would be interesting if non-removable media is the key... The Lectro Tx's and Tentacle's both use microSD. Although, Tentacle could definitely get away with "fixed media". The included 16GB micro SD card that comes pre-installed in the Track records over 30 hours at 24-bit/48kHz and over 23 hours at 32-bit float/48kHz. The Tentacle also allows for starting and stoping recording via their app. And as a matter of fact, I have the physical switch on the body disabled, except for power ON/OFF functionality.

Patents are a game of loopholes and technicalities. Coupled with an outdated patent system staffed with people that don't fully always understand the things that they are granting patents for.

And on a side note(need to update the original thread), the splitter cables that I had built for my lav's to simultaneously feed my Lectrosonics transmitters and Tentacle Track E's are now working(Thanks to Glen Trew jumping in and getting his hands dirty and the rest of the friendly staff at Trew Audio/Remote Audio in Nashville). So I now have the ability to have wireless audio going to the bag/camera AND a local timecode sync'd back-up in 24 or 32-bit float, in-case of RF interference.

[Jim Feeley]

Bigger than Teac/Tascam? Zaxcom's initial patent infringement case defendant. Teac settled to not sell in the US and it was not even a recording Tx, it merly had a throughput to an external Tx.

Good thoughts. So I did some quick googling (always risky) and find:

Rode's parent company Freedman has annual revenue around $73 million USD
https://www.dnb.com/business-directo...9df72f56e.html

Teac Japan appears to have annual revenue around $133 million USD
https://www.dnb.com/business-directo...eefe82883.html

But the Teac America subsidiary has annual revenue around $7 million USD
https://www.dnb.com/business-directo...bee6f8e84.html

And Zaxcom has annual revenue around $2 million USD
https://www.dnb.com/business-directo...d7338c675.html


So my harebrained thought is the patent and the product segment is REALLY important to Zaxcom, but not very important to either Teac US or Teac Japan. So for them, why fight something that may have a significant downside, but really doesn't have a significant upside? I mean, how many sales of their Tascam DR-10L recorder did they lose in the US because it wouldn't pass through audio?

But for Rode, wireless systems are arguably a more important market segment, especially in terms of future growth. And they seem to have a lot of money, esp. compared to Zaxcom. So maybe they feel it's worth fighting...or they think they can bully Zaxcom, or they could afford to quietly pay Zaxcom a license fee.

I guess we'll find out soon, huh?

[filmguy123]

Yeah, beyond wireless it being a *32-bit float* on-board recorder seems to make it equivalent to the new Tascam recorders, and a replacement for the Tascam recorders, but with wireless monitoring/recording to boot.

At $300 for that, I'm really wondering if there would really be any reason to choose the AVX product line up.

[jbregar]

Why in the name of all that's holy did they not switch over to a locking jack for the lav?

[Paul F]

Bigger than Teac/Tascam? Zaxcom's initial patent infringement case defendant. Teac settled to not sell in the US and it was not even a recording Tx, it merly had a throughput to an external Tx.

Good point. But I'm always up for a court battle. We have to keep the lawyers off the streets after all.

[Paul F]

Good thoughts. So I did some quick googling (always risky) and find:

Rode's parent company Freedman has annual revenue around $73 million USD
https://www.dnb.com/business-directo...9df72f56e.html

Teac Japan appears to have annual revenue around $133 million USD
https://www.dnb.com/business-directo...eefe82883.html

But the Teac America subsidiary has annual revenue around $7 million USD
https://www.dnb.com/business-directo...bee6f8e84.html

And Zaxcom has annual revenue around $2 million USD
https://www.dnb.com/business-directo...d7338c675.html

Geez, $2 mil. Most companies won't get up in the morning for that kind of money. I figured it was small, but not that small. But who knows how they came up with those estimates. Indeed then, any competitive edge is really important to them and Lectrosonics as we've seen the fights in court as recently as last year for a 10 year old patent.

With that kind of revenue, they could easily burn a two figure percentage of their revenue in a court battle.

[filmguy123]

I may have seen something that reported wrong. Looks like you can export in 32-bit float but not record in 32-bit float, doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?

Via the app, each transmitter provides an onboard audio recorder offering up to seven hours of uncompressed recording (24-bit / 48 kHz WAV) or 24 hours of compressed recording, perfect for worry-free backup recording or a fast and easy way to capture sound from your subjects. Export files in various formats such as MP3 or WAV (16-, 24-, or 32-bit float) with date and time stamp information as well as automatic markers anywhere the transmitter-receiver link was broken.

[Run&Gun]

D&B says Lectro annual revenue is over $25mil(!)(found another reference stating $30M). D&B also states Sound Devices annual sales as $3.52M(2nd reference saying $7.3M). And Tentacle is $1.14M.

Now, revenue and profits are two different things, but Lectro appears to actually be a pretty heavy hitter, especially compared to Zax and SD.

If anything, this shows JUST how niche these companies and devices really are. And just for good measure/reference, D&B pegs Apple at $274 Billion in annual sales.

[Run&Gun]

Geez, $2 mil. Most companies won't get up in the morning for that kind of money. I figured it was small, but not that small. But who knows how they came up with those estimates. Indeed then, any competitive edge is really important to them and Lectrosonics as we've seen the fights in court as recently as last year for a 10 year old patent.

With that kind of revenue, they could easily burn a two figure percentage of their revenue in a court battle.

Looking at Zaxcom and Tentacle, yeah... There are Mom & Pop retail stores(1-5 locations) crushing those sales figures(and that's just sales/revenue, NOT actual profit. Some of these companies are probably just above breaking even.). One of my friends that I shoot with, not that long ago, was invoicing seven figures a year.