Hooking up headphones to a field monitor

K

Kugar13

Well-known member
Hello,

I have a JVC JVC TM-H150CGU field monitor. It does not come with a means to hook up headphones. Is there a way to hook up headphones using the audio out connections? If not, is there any means to connect a set of headphones to the monitor?

Thx
 
There are plenty of battery-operated headphone amplifiers on the market that will let you monitor a line-level signal with your headphones. Many will even let you feed multiple pairs of `phones.
 
So I could hook the headphone amp to the monitor? We have up to 2 people listening from the camera. Then one on the boom. I'd like to have someone listening as they watch the monitor (usually far from the shot).
 
Probably the easiest way to handle this would be to get one headphone amp with multipe jacks and seperate volume controls, and have everyone plugged into the same amp. The amp would be fed by the camera's stereo line-out, and you would need a headphone extension for the boom-op.

The headphone amp would be seperate from your monitor, but would give you all the functionality of a built-in headphone amp.

ART (http://www.artproaudio.com/) makes a mains-powered headphone amps called the HeadAMP.

PSC has a rock-solid 4-output model that runs on a 9V battery: http://www.professionalsound.com/Catalog/hda.htm
 
SMuir said:
Probably the easiest way to handle this would be to get one headphone amp with multipe jacks and seperate volume controls, and have everyone plugged into the same amp. The amp would be fed by the camera's stereo line-out, and you would need a headphone extension for the boom-op.

The headphone amp would be seperate from your monitor, but would give you all the functionality of a built-in headphone amp.

ART (http://www.artproaudio.com/) makes a mains-powered headphone amps called the HeadAMP.

PSC has a rock-solid 4-output model that runs on a 9V battery: http://www.professionalsound.com/Catalog/hda.htm
Click to expand...
SMuir,

Thank you for your advice. I have an xlr and a s-video cable running out of the camera, as well as running 2 headphones from the back of the camera for the cameraman and grip/etc. I am hoping to find a means to run a headphone for the script supervisor at the field monitor, who is at times 25 or more feet away, without adding additional cables to the camera that slow the gearing up process for switching from tripod to dvrigpro to dolly to crane and the like. I realize this may be the only way, but I am hoping for an alternate solution. Is there no way to run the audio from the field monitor to an amp at the monitor end?

Thank you!
 
Is the XLR feeding a built-in speaker on the monitor? if so, you could simply put a XLR Y-cable in-line to split the feed between the monitor and a headphone amp amp velcroed to the side of the screen. Just leave the amp and splitter attached when you pack up the monitor, and you're not plugging in any more cables than you were before. That's about the simplest solution I can think of without getting into wireless solutions (which would simplify the setup and cabling situation for a rather steep price). Taping the S-Video and XLR cables together will also simplify the setup proccess.

Another way to speed things up is to get a boom cable with a built-in headphone return for the boom-op. The "Boom Buddy" http://www.remoteaudio.com/boom.htm is one such cable, although anyone handy with a solderring iron could throw one together quickly enough.
 
SMuir said:
Is the XLR feeding a built-in speaker on the monitor? if so, you could simply put a XLR Y-cable in-line to split the feed between the monitor and a headphone amp amp velcroed to the side of the screen. Just leave the amp and splitter attached when you pack up the monitor, and you're not plugging in any more cables than you were before. That's about the simplest solution I can think of without getting into wireless solutions (which would simplify the setup and cabling situation for a rather steep price). Taping the S-Video and XLR cables together will also simplify the setup proccess.

Another way to speed things up is to get a boom cable with a built-in headphone return for the boom-op. The "Boom Buddy" http://www.remoteaudio.com/boom.htm is one such cable, although anyone handy with a solderring iron could throw one together quickly enough.
Click to expand...
We are running a s-video cable (that has 2 separate audio cables on the same line) to the monitor. The monitor does not have XLR connections. Your questions has brought a possible solution to mind. Could I run the 2 audio cables (attached to the s-video cable) to an adapter that would allow us to attach headphones (MDR-7506) so my script supervisor could listen during the shoot? My boom operator is on a small personal 1 headphone amp, so he is listening. He is often 20 or so feet away from the monitor, so it would cause more trouble to run an additional cable from him to the monitor (pinning him from one cable to the camera and one cable to the monitor). I like to keep the monitor far away during stabilized shots. My boom operator follows me around, we work well that way.

Thank you for your interest and helpfulness!
 
I suppose that you could build a custom cable that would split the 2 audio lines from the S-Video cable, allowing you to plug them directly into a headphone amp. I haven't done much tinkerring with S-Video cables, so I'm not certain how plausable this would be. Another option would be to run a second audio line beside the S-Video cable, taking the output from the camera's line-out and going into the script supervisor's headphone amp.

I once worked with a steadicam operator who had a handy little battery-powered A/V line transmitter that attached to the camera. The script supervisor simply tuned a portable TV to the appropriate channel, and plugged her headphones into the set. The quality wasn't great, but it got the job done. I believe it came from a security/surveilance supply store.
 
Actually, this set up sounds like it is made for wireless. A Comtek or similiar system would give you everything you're looking for (1 Tx, 3 Rx). Then you don't need to worry about wires all over the place and multiple headphone amps. I went wireless for all monitoring except for the mixer (me) a while ago, and I'm not looking back. I'm going to be testing a new set of wireless from ListenTech which are less expensive than Comtek (again, it may be a case of you get what you pay for...but they have fixed a couple of serious Comtek problems found on the lower priced models, like built-in frequency tuning and mono to stereo headphone conversion).

Phil
 
Go with Phil's suggestion. Wireless the audio. Comtek is a the standard, with the rich boys using Lectro IFB, but I have read and seen many cheaper solutions.

If you are want to go really cheap (but fragile and prone to rf issues) just get a simple FM transmitter and get a bunch of walkmen type radio receivers. The sound will be crap but the only one who needs to hear what is truly being recorded is the mixer.

I would still recommend the Comteks, they are tough as nails and last forever. If you are in the business for the the long haul they are a good investment and you will save a million headaches over running cables to everyone.

Good luck
 
Wabbit,

There are two reasons I'm trying to move away from the Comteks - 9V batteries and the need to buy new crystals or a eprom programmer to tune to different frequencies. The ListenTech's are tunable and use AA batteries. I'm trying to move everything to AA batteries to keep things standard...and my Comteks are the final holdout (except for the old Sennheiser G1's, but those will be up on ebay soon.) Even my Tascam and SD run on AA.

Some of the folks on RAMPS have used the ListenTechs and liked them, and others didn't. As is usual in this community, as soon as you find someone that likes a piece of equipment, two others will tell you the horror stories they had with the same piece of equipment.

Oh well. I guess that's why I have so many different types of equipment...I usually just end up testing them myself. ;-) It's the putting them up on eBay when I'm done that seems to be the missing step. ;-)

Phil
 
I will be interested in hearing how those work out. I agree about the 9v but since I cant get almost 3 days of use out one 9v on a comtek I haven't been sweating that too much. Would be nice to be all or mostly AA. It is impressive the low voltage draw of our equipment these days.

If you put your comteks on ebay make sure to post the sale in here. I can never have enough of those darn things :happy: "Oh look the producers 8 year old daughter wants to hear what's going on, give her one too."

Cheers
 
SMuir said:
I suppose that you could build a custom cable that would split the 2 audio lines from the S-Video cable, allowing you to plug them directly into a headphone amp. I haven't done much tinkerring with S-Video cables, so I'm not certain how plausable this would be. Another option would be to run a second audio line beside the S-Video cable, taking the output from the camera's line-out and going into the script supervisor's headphone amp.

I once worked with a steadicam operator who had a handy little battery-powered A/V line transmitter that attached to the camera. The script supervisor simply tuned a portable TV to the appropriate channel, and plugged her headphones into the set. The quality wasn't great, but it got the job done. I believe it came from a security/surveilance supply store.
Click to expand...
Thankfully the s-video cable I am using has 2 audio lines at each end along with the s-vid connection. I am going to do some research on headphone amps to find something suitable. I don't know much about headphone amps.... any suggestions? I think I'll go with the great suggestion of using a headphone amp at the monitor, where multiple people can listen to the footage at the monitor.

Thank you!
 
ptalsky said:
Actually, this set up sounds like it is made for wireless. A Comtek or similiar system would give you everything you're looking for (1 Tx, 3 Rx). Then you don't need to worry about wires all over the place and multiple headphone amps. I went wireless for all monitoring except for the mixer (me) a while ago, and I'm not looking back. I'm going to be testing a new set of wireless from ListenTech which are less expensive than Comtek (again, it may be a case of you get what you pay for...but they have fixed a couple of serious Comtek problems found on the lower priced models, like built-in frequency tuning and mono to stereo headphone conversion).

Phil
Click to expand...
Comtek? I have started to hear this a lot recently. I have to admit I don't know anything on Comtek. I did a search on B&H and found items that will work with Comtek transmitters, but nothing on the actual Comtek units. I'll do some research. Thank you for the suggestion...
 
wabbit said:
I will be interested in hearing how those work out. I agree about the 9v but since I cant get almost 3 days of use out one 9v on a comtek I haven't been sweating that too much. Would be nice to be all or mostly AA. It is impressive the low voltage draw of our equipment these days.

If you put your comteks on ebay make sure to post the sale in here. I can never have enough of those darn things :happy: "Oh look the producers 8 year old daughter wants to hear what's going on, give her one too."

Cheers
Click to expand...
Wabbit I love your quote: Fast, Cheap, Good. Pick any two.
I have adopted it as part of my film lango. Even used it when a crew member was asking me about a piece of equipment we wanted to purchase.... =)
 
Kugar,

You can go to http://www.comtek.com and see the full line of stuff from them. But, they are pricey to purchase new. While I haven't tested them yet (the order went in today) I'm looking at http://www.listentech.com and their portable units. Less expensive than Comtek, and hopefully as reliable.

I think Trew has a Comtek package on special right now. You might check it out with them.

Phil
 
Solution

Solution

I believe I found a solution that will work for now, till I can afford the Comtek units.

I talked to a guy at a music/audio shop today. They have conversion adapters for XLR to RCA Audio cables that we can feed into the amp. I'll velcro the headphone amp to our field monitor and use the adapter to allow up to 4 people to listen to the audio from the monitor.

Thanks to everyone for your advice!
 
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