Accsoon CineEye - Anyone Using?

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Paul F

Veteran
I'm thinking about buying the CineEye, but people are complaining that app doesn't work with all Samsung products (Exynos processor is the issue). The app comments in Google Play say this was fixed in the November release. Is anyone using a Samsung with the Exynos processor and the Accsoon app? I'm wondering if it is really fixed. Also, does it now have a waveform monitor?
Does the zebras have an IRE reading now?
 
I've been using the Cineeye for a few months but I am an Apple user and use it for clients with an iPad IV. Works great! Can't comment how it will work with Android, I've read lots of users reports that say it sucks with Android. If it were me, I'd use it with a tablet with an external battery anyway, you can pick up used iPads pretty cheaply.
No idea about waveform and if the Zebras have IRE calibration now, not sure if I am on the latest firmware, I'll have to check. Not having audio can be a concern over a regular wireless system. I wish it had audio but for the price, I can't complain, the image is pretty good.
 
Thanks Drift. In the mean time, I found out about Zhiyun ' Video Image Transmission Transmitter' (you gotta love their naming convention), and also learned that the Hollyland 400S also has phone/tablet capability. Now I have options for a phone/tablet monitor. Reviews on these products are nothing more than someone repeating what is said on the Amazon feature list. No one provides any in-depth reports. The user manuals are even worse. So there's no way to know what you want to know about these things until you buy them or some helpful person out there fills in the blanks. I'm thinking about buying all three and returning two.

CineEye - Well supported, good firmware updates. Since my last post I've learned that they added calibration marks to waveform, IRE % to zebras, a scale for false colors. I think they also added making the pixel peep window movable, added fixes for android support. What's not to like with all the updates.

Then there's Zhiyun Video Image Transmission Transmitter - Better build, stuffed with Zhiyun gimbal capability, but no clear information about false color, waveform, pixel peep, zebras. It's all there, but I want zebra IRE to be settable. I want pixel peep to be movable about the screen. Other questions remain unanswered.

Hollyland 400S - With this one having phone/tablet capability, it should have the option to be sold without the receiver. Big plus for some is it has HDMI and SDI. The latency comparisons online show the receiver to have ever so small of an advantage over the phone latency. It's not worth it unless you want to send a signal to a proper production monitor. Again, information about the feature functionality is missing.
 
I think a lot of your choices boil down to how you will use it. For me, I have had two use cases.

1. I am shooting BTS footage on big sets, often in small rooms or places where I, as the BTS cameraman can go but there is literally no room for my producer. With the Cineeye, I leave her outside the room we are shooting in and she can see what I am getting. Also, sit down interviews,
I can easily place the iPad with a hood and external bettery at her eye level with a cheap photo stand. She can see my composition, the lighting and the BG at glance while I don't have to cart around a 17" production monitor.

2. I am shooting a multicamera live event at a large hotel. Three cameras, all of us are fairly close together but other two camera ops need to see my shot so they do something different, I am on the longest lens, then are flanking the sides with wider compositions. Did one for Kaiser like
this a couple of months ago, the Cineeye was super handy for this.

In both use cases, no measurement tools are needed, waveform is superfluous, etc. Clients and other camera ops don't need to see measurement tools, they just need a clean picture feed. I am buying a pair of the Eartec UL2 wireless duplex walkies to I can wear one and put the other
on my producer and they can talk into my ear about my shots and coverage in real time. Shooting BTS is a strange animal, sometimes, they just let me go and I shoot everything all day and get great stuff but on other shoots, the producers want to get very specific and they often can't
be standing next to me, especially when it's me and a sound mixer and we are shooting car chases, explosions, fight sequences, so the Cineeye and Duplex intercom is a Godsend.

YMMV but to me, I don't judge picture and signal measurements on a tablet or phone, I use the camera EVF or touchscreen and the camera's waveform and zebras.

Never heard of the Zhiyun product, I'll have to check that out. Since my clients usually won't pay a line item for this (yet), I provide the Cineeye and iPad as standard kit. I looked into getting a Teradek but it was getting into thousands of dollars plus the need to buy a real video monitor.
For my work, didn't seem worth it at all when the Cineeye is so cheap and so relatively good. I'm impressed with how well it works for me and it cost me almost zero and I had a spare iPad laying around I used to use for our drone but I bought the Crystal Sky monitor so the iPad was
collecting dust.
 
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Thanks for bringing me back to reality. All I wanted it for was having a way for everyone to monitor similar to your #1. CineEye is just right for what I want. As I am production mixer on some projects, I also wanted a way to get picture to me and the boom operator wirelessly. CineEye is perfect for this. Having a phone attached to the boom, he can get his own frame lines without pestering the AC or operator.

Case 2 - When we do multi-cam live event, like you, we're always looking at each other to see who is covering what. I don't know that I'd want to have monitors to look at to figure that out. We usually have 5 cameras. So it wouldn't be practical to look at all of that. But maybe just 2 or 3 of the more flexible shot cameras, since usually one sticks with the wide shot. I guess for tripod setups it might be ok. Handheld, forget it. But I'd have to try it. What I'd rather do is have a director looking at all of our shots and have that person co-coordinating our shots. Of course, that's an extra body. It depends on the event.

But since they have the focus, false color, etc, I get carried away and want it all and I want it to work correctly. I get obsessed about this stuff.
 
Paul F said:
Thanks for bringing me back to reality. All I wanted it for was having a way for everyone to monitor similar to your #1. CineEye is just right for what I want. As I am production mixer on some projects, I also wanted a way to get picture to me and the boom operator wirelessly. CineEye is perfect for this. Having a phone attached to the boom, he can get his own frame lines without pestering the AC or operator.

Case 2 - When we do multi-cam live event, like you, we're always looking at each other to see who is covering what. I don't know that I'd want to have monitors to look at to figure that out. We usually have 5 cameras. So it wouldn't be practical to look at all of that. But maybe just 2 or 3 of the more flexible shot cameras, since usually one sticks with the wide shot. I guess for tripod setups it might be ok. Handheld, forget it. But I'd have to try it. What I'd rather do is have a director looking at all of our shots and have that person co-coordinating our shots. Of course, that's an extra body. It depends on the event.

But since they have the focus, false color, etc, I get carried away and want it all and I want it to work correctly. I get obsessed about this stuff.
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I get it. I was thinking the same with a boom op when I am mixing but I spoke with Alex Haralson and he said having the screen on the boom pole wouldn't be good for a boom op, he proposed something more like Bob Dylan's Harmonica rig where the monitor can be viewed by just glancing down?
I think you'll be impressed for the $200.00 it costs, I have been. It's not perfect but it works and costs a fraction of a Teradek.
 
I have one of these too. It's unbelievably good for the money. And such a breath of fresh air after battling with the Nyrius Aries for the past couple of years. I recently had a shoot where I had three crew members streaming to their phones (a mixture of iPhones and Androids). The gaffer loved it for setting up.
 
I saw another video of the Hollyland 400S showing the latency of the iphone vs the 400S receiver and a monitor. In this one, the iphone was faster by a smidge. Not that it matters, but I'm impressed by the performance. I'm trying to get a price from Hollyland for just the transmitter. I like the build of the 400S and the Zhiyun better than the CineEye. The Zhiyun is also cheaper than the CineEye, but it doesn't have SDI. It's a close call between the three if them if the 400S transmitter is priced right. There's lots of nice options out there.
 
Aghhh! Another choice! I'll go mad trying to decide. :) But seriously, thanks for the information. I hadn't seen that unit.
 
Paul F said:
Aghhh! Another choice! I'll go mad trying to decide. :) But seriously, thanks for the information. I hadn't seen that unit.
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Sure, I feel your pain :grin: ... report back on what you decide... depending upon upcoming work load, I may take the leap to one of these soon as well - so will give an update if I do.
 
markfpv said:
Sure, I feel your pain :grin: ... report back on what you decide... depending upon upcoming work load, I may take the leap to one of these soon as well - so will give an update if I do.
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That's why I took a $200.00 chance on the Cineeye, not a very big risk really. And it's been amazingly handy for several things. Sometimes the Digital Revolution still coughs up a nice bonus for working pros without spending thousands of dollars.
 
Just received my Accsoon CineEye. Can't test tonight, my camera's at the office. Feels sturdy and it's very compact. One thing gives me concern; it sounds like something is loose inside the unit. When I lift or lower the tx I can hear and feel something shifting inside. Anyone else experience this?
 
If I shake mine, I can hear something moving around a little inside. Doesn't sound like anything is completely loose and unattached though.
 
DDort said:
Just received my Accsoon CineEye. Can't test tonight, my camera's at the office. Feels sturdy and it's very compact. One thing gives me concern; it sounds like something is loose inside the unit. When I lift or lower the tx I can hear and feel something shifting inside. Anyone else experience this?
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Send it back for an exchange. Mine doesn't do that. Might just be a piece of solder from a board snapped off but why chance it?
 
My guess is that the battery is wobbling around. They often use sticky tape or similar to hold down the battery and if they don't get it right, it will get loose.
 
Anyone have any experience with either the Cine Gears Ghost-Eye 600MP or the Hollyland COSMO 600?

I'm interested in as close to zero latency as possible and these 2 seem to be affordable options.

Best!

Dave
 
Finally got a chance to test the Accsoon and must say I'm impressed. There is some latency but for the price it's a great value. Very cool being able to stream to your phone and tablet at the same time.

Regarding the loose bits inside, it does sound more like a shift of the internals rather than something floating around unattached.
 
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