Any audio playback solutions for the Odyssey 7Q on set?

Kyron

Kyron

Well-known member
I was wondering if anyone has come up with any solutions for listening to audio when playing back recorded clips on the 7Q on set?
Headphones work okay, but not feasible for multiple people/clients needing to hear the play back as well.

I could just play them the avchd clips as the fs700 does have a built in speaker, but the fs700 screen is so tiny. Which leads me to question no. 2:

Is there a way to play back the internal avchd clips on the 7Q through SDI?
I only get a black screen when I try and no video feed. (A HDMI cable only sends coloured pixel garbage out as well)

Plus the raw clips look so much better on the 7Q in playback, and the playback menu on the 7Q is far less clunky compared to the fs700, but yeah....no speaker in the 7Q to hear anything.

What are you guys doing in this scenario or am I completely missing something?
 
How about overkill, a teradek clip out from the hdmi (can be powered from the 7q) and then a bolt/cube retransmitting everyone can receive the audio and video playback on their iPhones/iPads.... Or a reference monitor with speakers attached to the bolt/cube or all of the above.

or, lowball, a Bluetooth tiny transmitter, battery powered, then a beats pill hanging from your belt :)
 
lol, good suggestions, except for the part where I kinda gave all my money to Convergent Design already so an affordable solution is the only solution :)
I'm currently looking into trying to find the smallest, portable, attachable, self powered speaker I can find.

Another quirk of the 7Q is that no audio comes out of the 7Q unless it's plugged into the fs700 and the fs700 is powered on.
That's slightly annoying. From reading your other post in the 7Q status thread it seems video won't even play out of the 7Q outputs unless the whole camera is attached and powered up.

Essentially there can be no outputs unless inputs are present and active.

It would be kind of nice to detach from the camera rig and go and review takes etc.
Is this by design or another quirk of an infant firmware?
 
I was wondering the same thing. I actually did my first real, client job with the 7Q this past Tuesday shooting 2K RAW, a kid's music video for Disney Jr. I was kind of stressed because on playback, the audio did not come out and we needed reference sound. Fortunately, in post, all the audio files were there and synced fine, but yeah, would be nice to hear audio on set just for peace of mind.

Hey Mitch, would something like this work? Seems small enough to not be in the way. It has a 3.5mm jack.

http://www.amazon.com/Aiptek-Fidelity-Portable-Speaker-Players/dp/B000QDTJDK/ref=pd_cp_e_1
 
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There are a number of small powered speakers to use with an Iphone, etc. Obviously some are better than others. There are also boxes that allow you to plug in (say) 4 headphones and control the audio individually.
 
I always just use headphones...

You always have them and you can hear if there is a problem, cheap speakers don't reveal problems. Sony 7506 are my standards, I have about a dozen of them, vey useful and pretty accurate and very reasonable prized.

I always wear them when shooting, sometimes just over 1 ear.
 
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I monitor with headphones as well, but you can't expect clients to take turns watching back takes. I'd love a little plug in speaker solution that just sits beneath the 7q with a small footprint. Preferably one that has the 3.5mm plug built in to the body of the speaker so it doubles as a mounting solution as well.
 
Not trying to be controversial here but I often let producers or clients listen to headphones, same reason I use them, you really hear what the recording is like. In really important shoots, where the audio has to be perfect I use a sound engineer with separate recorder and send a signal from his mixer to my cam wirelessly so you get a rough mix but still high quality. His multi track is then used in the suite for final mix. We even end up looping (ADR is easy these days) a lot if the location was noisy and we need good audio.

If you want powered speaker/s there are lots of them available some really good, some really cheap. It should be easy to attach a speaker to your rig. Even if just with gaffer tape or velcro to the back or side of the Odyssey. I can also see a more permanent solution, I have a 3D printer I use for prototyping, I can see using one of the side ¼-20 side holes to mount a clip that holds a speaker.

If anyone is interested to pursue a more permanent neet solution, contact me, I can print one up. Contact me if you have any thoughts.
 
Any of the little powered speakers available for use with an iPhone or similar will work fine. Get a powered one, they're all rechargeable over USB. I've seen nice enough travel ones for under $20. Don't leave it permanently mounted to your odyssey7Q - that's asking for trouble and if you leave it plugged in while shooting there will be a lovely echo throughout set - none to professional. The little travel ones often have a lanyard so if you put a 1/4"x20 bolt into the right side socket on the Odyssey it makes for a convenient hanger point.
 
Mitch Gross said:
Any of the little powered speakers available for use with an iPhone or similar will work fine. Get a powered one, they're all rechargeable over USB. I've seen nice enough travel ones for under $20. Don't leave it permanently mounted to your odyssey7Q - that's asking for trouble and if you leave it plugged in while shooting there will be a lovely echo throughout set - none to professional. The little travel ones often have a lanyard so if you put a 1/4"x20 bolt into the right side socket on the Odyssey it makes for a convenient hanger point.
Click to expand...

I was only thinking of the little speaker as a temporary plug-in so the director can hear the sound on playback in a pinch.

With that said and I'm sure you know the drill Mitch, on bigger shoots with client monitoring (non-remote, but hardwired), we run a very long BNC cable from the 7Q to the client monitor where they usually sit and watch the feed. Will audio from the 7Q playback on the client monitor? Does BNC carry audio?
 
Hey Mitch, any ideas on why the hdmi and audio ouputs are disabled unless the fs700 is on and plugged into the 7Q? I would like simple playback capability without having to have the whole camera rig attached at all times.
 
I brought this up with the engineers this morning and they're looking into it. Might just be a firmware hiccup. These things happen. We'll figure it out and correct it. There's no reason for us to need to have an input, so we can fix the firmware.
 
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