Anyone have anything to say about working with the Teradek Serv Pro?

puredrifting

puredrifting

Major Contributor
I've been eyeing the Teradek Serv Pro since it came out. https://teradek.com/collections/ios-monitoring
Phil Holland put together a group buy over at REDUser last year and most of the feedback has been that they are pretty cool and a nice alternative to
the more expensive and involved Bolts and dedicated monitors. If you haven't checked out the ServPro, basically it is a small box that you can mount on your camera and it serves up a Wi-Fi feed from HDMI or SDI to
up to ten iOS devices. Pretty cool concept and would be really handy for some of the shoots I have been doing lately.

The question is, is anybody here using one, has used one, owns one? User feedback? A minimum two frame delay, typically more, so not good for following focus but for framing and composition, nice that your client/director can just
pull up the camera on their iPhone as can your prop department, hair and makeup, boom op to check edge of frame, etc. up to ten iDevices at once. How handy would that be for all kinds of production? I can even mount it to my Crane 2 and get a wireless
feed of my X-T3, which would be really handy for the musical performances I have been shooting lately for a Sergio Mendes documentary.

It's $1,800.00 plus another $150.00 for a Sony NPF to Lemo battery plate but that's still cheaper than two Bolts with the Small HD Focus and ten people can view, on their own devices, versus one or two with the Focus Bolts. The free Teradek app is pretty good and you can even load LUTs into the iDevice. And I don't really need or want
a monitor on my cameras, trying to stay light and small and the C200 and X-T3 screens are fine for most of my shoots, other than when we need a client monitor. I have a spare iPad 4 Mini laying around doing nothing, add a case, I have a Hoodman
for it, and some Anker batteries and voila, Directors Monitor.

Other than the cost, I can't find anything that wouldn't make this incredibly useful for most of my shoots where we don't rent a client monitor.
 
I haven't tried or used one of the Serv Pro's. On paper, it sounds like it could be really useful on many shoots. My big hesitation, and this goes for all wireless systems, is will it work all the time - especially inside buildings with wifi?
Case in point - I just rented the Teradek Bolt 1000 system to give it another go for a 5 day corporate shoot a couple weeks ago. Just needed to be as quick as possible on jib/dolly with many set-up's in industrial setting where cabling can present extra hassles/problems. First 3 days, the 1000 worked flawlessly - allowed me to use my own LUT for both live viewing & playback from my FS7 to 18" client monitor - all via V bricks that ran it for hours. Day 4, in a new building, and bam, no signal. Day 5, another different building, and bam no signal. Had to hard wire every set up. Quite frustrating given the price of the system (even when renting - it's not cheap).
When I mentioned this to rental company - I was told this is very common when shooting indoors and they even have issues in their own warehouse. And since most of my work is corporate shooting.... it seems like throwing money away...
Would certainly love to hear others have much better reliable results with whatever wireless system they are using...
 
I have the forerunner or the SP, the Cube(which is still available and is actually a separate line/device, now). I bought it probably four years ago or so when dedicated wireless video was still a little more expensive than now. My thought process followed some of yours, Dan. Like not having to have a receiver on a monitor, the “receiver” and monitor were all wrapped up together in the iOS device and pretty much everyone used an iPhone. There is way too much delay to use it for focus or remote operation, but to just see the shot, it’s good. First time I broke it out running around shooting a college football feature, one of my producers loved it. Using it on another feature shoot after that, one of my audio guys loved it, because he could just set his iPhone in the bag and see what I was shooting and didn’t have to worry about his boom in the shot.

If it’s like the Cube that I have, there are a lot of settings for quality that effect the delay. I’ve also had good luck with my iPhone and iPod Touch and old iPad. When I’ve tried it with my iPad Pro, for some reason, they don’t get along. Hopefully the SP boots faster than the Cube. It’s several minutes before you get a picture with Cube from a cold boot(as opposed to ~10 seconds with my Bolt XT). Range is also not as good as a true wireless system, if you’re going straight from the transmitter to an iOS device. Obviously that changes if you’re creating a wireless network. And something else I ran into: severe interference with wireless audio if the audio receiver on the camera and transmitter on the camera are oriented and placed too close to each other. BUT, this was with a block 26 Lectrosonics system, which is now “illegal”, because of the frequency auction. I had also had problems with block 26 in a strong WiFi office environment, before, too. So, this may not be an issue, just something to think about.

It’s honestly a small miracle, though, that any wireless works as well as it does with everything going on around us, pretty much everywhere.
 
Last edited:
markfpv said:
I haven't tried or used one of the Serv Pro's. On paper, it sounds like it could be really useful on many shoots. My big hesitation, and this goes for all wireless systems, is will it work all the time - especially inside buildings with wifi?
Case in point - I just rented the Teradek Bolt 1000 system to give it another go for a 5 day corporate shoot a couple weeks ago. Just needed to be as quick as possible on jib/dolly with many set-up's in industrial setting where cabling can present extra hassles/problems. First 3 days, the 1000 worked flawlessly - allowed me to use my own LUT for both live viewing & playback from my FS7 to 18" client monitor - all via V bricks that ran it for hours. Day 4, in a new building, and bam, no signal. Day 5, another different building, and bam no signal. Had to hard wire every set up. Quite frustrating given the price of the system (even when renting - it's not cheap).
When I mentioned this to rental company - I was told this is very common when shooting indoors and they even have issues in their own warehouse. And since most of my work is corporate shooting.... it seems like throwing money away...
Would certainly love to hear others have much better reliable results with whatever wireless system they are using...
Click to expand...

If you read the group buy thread over on RED User, no, it won't work reliably in all situations. It gives me some pause that I am using the Røde Video Wireless that also operate at 2.4Ghz but they are agile, not sure if the Serv Pro is but the Serv Pro also can operate at 5.8GHz so that's not too much of a worry.
Fortumately for me, if it worked, it would be an added bonus, I am looking at wireless monitoring for the Director and Producer as a "value added bonus" that increases my worth in hiring me over other DPs/Camera Ops although there is that lighting skills thing too ;-) If it worked 75% of the time, I would be happy.
 
Run&Gun said:
I have the forerunner or the SP, the Cube(which is still available and is actually a separate line/device, now). I bought it probably four years ago or so when dedicated wireless video was still a little more expensive than now. My thought process followed some of yours, Dan. Like not having to have a receiver on a monitor, the “receiver” and monitor were all wrapped up together in the iOS device and pretty much everyone used an iPhone. There is way too much delay to use it for focus or remote operation, but to just see the shot, it’s good. First time I broke it out running around shooting a college football feature, one of my producers loved it. Using it on another feature shoot after that, one of my audio guys loved it, because he could just set his iPhone in the bag and see what I was shooting and didn’t have to worry about his boom in the shot.

If it’s like the Cube that I have, there are a lot of settings for quality that effect the delay. I’ve also had good luck with my iPhone and iPod Touch and old iPad. When I’ve tried it with my iPad Pro, for some reason, they don’t get along. Hopefully the SP boots faster than the Cube. It’s several minutes before you get a picture with Cube from a cold boot(as opposed to ~10 seconds with my Bolt XT). Range is also not as good as a true wireless system, if you’re going straight from the transmitter to an iOS device. Obviously that changes if you’re creating a wireless network. And something else I ran into: severe interference with wireless audio if the audio receiver on the camera and transmitter on the camera are oriented and placed too close to each other. BUT, this was with a block 26 Lectrosonics system, which is now “illegal”, because of the frequency auction. I had also had problems with block 26 in a strong WiFi office environment, before, too. So, this may not be an issue, just something to think about.

It’s honestly a small miracle, though, that any wireless works as well as it does with everything going on around us, pretty much everywhere.
Click to expand...

I have read about the Cube. Supposedly the Serv Pro is easier to setup and configure. It's a gamble to buy and try it, I will probably rent one if I can find a place that rents them and try it on a shoot or two. On most of our shoots, the Director and Producer are in the same room as us or pretty close nearby, I don't do a lot of shoots where we would need monitoring from hundreds of feet away. During the RED Group buy, they also had a deal with the Teradink Link that amplifies and sets up it's own WiFi network and extends the range to 1,000 feet. I could always add one of those, they run off of V Mounts and cost $699.00
 
Used it on a show for two months. A, B, C cam all using them. Director would run around with a iPad on a shoulder strap and be able to look at all 3 cameras framing on one screen through the software. All linked through the link creating one network.
Worked 85% of the time seamlessly. Occasionally would have to turn off and on devices, or the software on the iPad. Never seemed to be everything went down at once. When it did give us issues it was 1 out of the 3 cameras wouldn't show up, but the other 2 still working fine so we would just shoot until an ideal time to reset.
Bring an extra little portable battery pack for the iPad/iphone itself. Software sucks up juice in those big time.
Overall everyone was very pleased. Director was way happier, but it suited the run and gun nature of the show, rather than a bigger monitor setup.
Definitely can not be used for focus. Delay is real, but for framing, following along. Works a treat.
 
DendriteStudios said:
Used it on a show for two months. A, B, C cam all using them. Director would run around with a iPad on a shoulder strap and be able to look at all 3 cameras framing on one screen through the software. All linked through the link creating one network.
Worked 85% of the time seamlessly. Occasionally would have to turn off and on devices, or the software on the iPad. Never seemed to be everything went down at once. When it did give us issues it was 1 out of the 3 cameras wouldn't show up, but the other 2 still working fine so we would just shoot until an ideal time to reset.
Bring an extra little portable battery pack for the iPad/iphone itself. Software sucks up juice in those big time.
Overall everyone was very pleased. Director was way happier, but it suited the run and gun nature of the show, rather than a bigger monitor setup.
Definitely can not be used for focus. Delay is real, but for framing, following along. Works a treat.
Click to expand...

I am still on the fence about it. I don't need it for focus, if I hire ACs and shoot Cine lenses, they take care of all that, but the latency is a bit disorienting, I watched a few YT videos showing the delay and hmm. It would be so useful for hair/makeup/sound/props as well as director/producer I shoot with periodically that it's tempting. But I bet they won't pay me anything additional for it on my flat rate I have established for them for my two cameras, gimbal, small G&L package. If it was $700.00 - $800.00, I would order it today but with the outboard battery bracket, I am pushing $2k so it's a good amount of money that I need to make a return on. Thinking, thinking.
 
puredrifting said:
I am still on the fence about it. I don't need it for focus, if I hire ACs and shoot Cine lenses, they take care of all that, but the latency is a bit disorienting, I watched a few YT videos showing the delay and hmm. It would be so useful for hair/makeup/sound/props as well as director/producer I shoot with periodically that it's tempting. But I bet they won't pay me anything additional for it on my flat rate I have established for them for my two cameras, gimbal, small G&L package. If it was $700.00 - $800.00, I would order it today but with the outboard battery bracket, I am pushing $2k so it's a good amount of money that I need to make a return on. Thinking, thinking.
Click to expand...

I know we’ve talked about this before when it comes to justifying gear purchases, it’s not always “can I charge more for it?”, but also and sometimes more importantly, “Does it make my life easier or allow me to be more efficient/faster/better in any way?”
 
Run&Gun said:
I know we’ve talked about this before when it comes to justifying gear purchases, it’s not always “can I charge more for it?”, but also and sometimes more importantly, “Does it make my life easier or allow me to be more efficient/faster/better in any way?”
Click to expand...

And this is why I brought up my experience with Teradek recently. Like PureD, I'd likely not have many jobs where I could charge more for bringing a wireless system. If I was certain it would work seamlessly 95% of the time... then maybe. But if the number is more realistically 50 - 75% ... then it becomes more of a hassle / headache to me...just one more unreliable thing.... I wouldn't buy a camera or light or microphone that worked 75% of the time, so why is it ok for wireless monitoring?
 
Last edited:
https://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/27366-mini-review-uray-on-camera-hdmi-ip-encoder/

I can't get the user manual as I'm not a member there, but it's not incredibly hard to set up. All of these streamers (and I really mean all of them) will have delay. It takes time to encode the stream, and time to buffer the data on each end. Half a second is probably the best you are going to get without finding an expensive real time device.

You could always buy it and return it if it didn't do what you needed. The brief testing that I did showed some pretty decent quality at 1080i (GH2 output) and the delay when I was in the same room with it was what I consider "short" for this type of device. I bought the version without the battery, if my memory is correct it takes 9 to 18 volts DC input so you could feed it off of a Dtap through an adapter cable. (please verify first)
 
Greg_E said:
https://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/27366-mini-review-uray-on-camera-hdmi-ip-encoder/

I can't get the user manual as I'm not a member there, but it's not incredibly hard to set up. All of these streamers (and I really mean all of them) will have delay. It takes time to encode the stream, and time to buffer the data on each end. Half a second is probably the best you are going to get without finding an expensive real time device.

You could always buy it and return it if it didn't do what you needed. The brief testing that I did showed some pretty decent quality at 1080i (GH2 output) and the delay when I was in the same room with it was what I consider "short" for this type of device. I bought the version without the battery, if my memory is correct it takes 9 to 18 volts DC input so you could feed it off of a Dtap through an adapter cable. (please verify first)
Click to expand...

I'm talking with Teradek to see if they'll give me a loaner to review for HD Video Pro. I think some hands on is needed to make a decision about how useful this would be for me.
 
Yes, you need to test to see if any streaming device will work. There are ways to mess around with the buffers to shorten the delay, but real time is not going to be possible in the small dollar range.

How long do you want to test? I might be able to send my encoder out to you if you want to give it a go. Or as mentioned just buy and send it back within the return window.

Having a stream encoder is useful once in a while, having one that is cheap is even better because you don't feel guilty having it sit on the shelf. But then my need to have the ability to stream content might be different from yours because I do stream live out of our studio every week (different device). If you never take any corporate jobs that require streaming the content out, then it might be of little value to you.
 
I will say this, when I ordered my Cube, my dealer told me they were special order(with them) and didn't accept returns on them(outside of a defective product), because a lot of people were expecting them to be something more than they were and were returning them when they weren't happy. Keep in mind this was several years ago, too.
 
Run&Gun said:
I will say this, when I ordered my Cube, my dealer told me they were special order(with them) and didn't accept returns on them(outside of a defective product), because a lot of people were expecting them to be something more than they were and were returning them when they weren't happy. Keep in mind this was several years ago, too.
Click to expand...

After reading this thread and several others, I think I have talked myself out of buying one for now. I have an occasional need for it, not often and $2k is a chunk of change. The lower end solution that Greg is using seems like it could be a PITA to set up and get working and I just too busy with shooting two different documentaries, finishing up the Sergio Mendes documentary I've been shooting for another producer, corporate gigs, my PR/Media job, etc. I have barely gotten in any time with the Mix Pre 3 and Tentacles I just bought so a wireless monitoring system would just get thrown onto the pile of stuff that needs to be dealt with, learned, tweaked, setup, etc. If Teradek loans me one, I'll check it out.
 
Well your post - and my most recent experience - has made me want to start another thread somewhere about wireless systems - and specifically about their reliability, dependability - in general.
For those of us working with budgets that often don't permit a DIT / extra PA or additional help with a "video village" type client monitoring set up, I'm wondering what most shooters are using. From many posts I've read on this site and others, it seems everyone is going wireless with a hand-held "directors monitor" type set up. But while I've not tried all of them, as I posted earlier, even the nice, expensive systems seem prone to failure indoors around strong wifi signals.
For me, having to fiddle with trying to get the wireless signal to work on location, can be a bigger headache than simply running a 25 - 50 ft cable. Obviously, this doesn't include Steadicam type shots, etc.
I realize if you are outdoors, this might change (after all, my PPro4 drone's wifi signal is about 99% reliable). But then, shouldn't smaller budgets be able to rely on an on-camera monitor?
 
I'm not certain the PITA really applies, it isn't that hard to set up. Once I get over a few hurdles at work I'll have to break mine back out and do a set up that many of us would want to use. Or if IronFilm sees this he can fill in since he is using it this way.

It's really up to can you allow for up to a second of delay to occur? In the direct connect modes, with a strong signal, I wouldn't expect there to be more delay than this.
 
markfpv said:
Well your post - and my most recent experience - has made me want to start another thread somewhere about wireless systems - and specifically about their reliability, dependability - in general.
For those of us working with budgets that often don't permit a DIT / extra PA or additional help with a "video village" type client monitoring set up, I'm wondering what most shooters are using. From many posts I've read on this site and others, it seems everyone is going wireless with a hand-held "directors monitor" type set up. But while I've not tried all of them, as I posted earlier, even the nice, expensive systems seem prone to failure indoors around strong wifi signals.
For me, having to fiddle with trying to get the wireless signal to work on location, can be a bigger headache than simply running a 25 - 50 ft cable. Obviously, this doesn't include Steadicam type shots, etc.
I realize if you are outdoors, this might change (after all, my PPro4 drone's wifi signal is about 99% reliable). But then, shouldn't smaller budgets be able to rely on an on-camera monitor?
Click to expand...

I did a shoot last year and two the year before where we rent the Small HD 17" monitor and have ran two C300 MKIIs in for Step Up: High Water I shot in Atlanta or two C200s last December for a two camera corporate shoot with actors. I assign a grip or PA to moving the monitor (it has a C-stand recepticle on the back) and it runs off of V-Mounts so it's not too painful. Maybe I should just buy one of those Small HDs instead or more interestingly, the Sumo? Most of the time, I don't need wireless, except for gimbal. The cables are a PITA at times but love the side by side feed via dual SDI sources that monitor can do when shooting two cameras. Clients like it too!
 
Last edited:
puredrifting said:
I did a shoot last year and two the year before where we rent the Small HD 17" monitor and have ran two C300 MKIIs in for Step Up: High Water I shot in Atlanta or two C200s last December for a two camera corporate shoot with actors. I assign a grip or PA to moving the monitor (it has a C-stand recepticle on the back) and it runs off of V-Mounts so it's not too painful. Maybe I should just buy one of those Small HDs instead or more interestingly, the Sumo? Most of the time, I don't need wireless, except for gimbal. The cables are a PITA at times but love the side by side feed via dual SDI sources that monitor can do when shooting two cameras. Clients like it too!
Click to expand...

I really like the look of the sumo, they're pretty popular here for small productions. I've been on one shoot where the AC provided a larger smallHD monitor and I don't think they were overly impressed (the colours were "off" (shooting with alexa mini)), though idk if the issue was resolved. I think the sumo is a sweet spot as far as adding one as a paid item on a shoot - people understand the need one but it wouldn't share the same rental price as the older industry standard monitors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top