Bluetooth wireless lav. for phone?

G

Greg_E

Veteran
I'm wondering if anyone has ever seen a bluetooth wireless lav. that will pair with a phone and sync with the video recorded on the phone. No it's not a joke, just trying to work out a possible solution to a problem. To add difficulty, it should be relatively cheap, an $800+ system won't be the choice for this purpose.

The purpose is to come up with ways that we could make an online video production course for non-TV majors and maybe morph it into a course for majors down the road. The phone camera is almost ubiquitous now which makes it the lowest common denominator. With free software to edit, and something like Youtube to display for grading there are few impediments, but one impediment is certainly audio into the phone. Wired is functional and fairly cheap, but a wireless would make life easier if it was also cheap.

I'm finding many bluetooth wireless systems, but few say they can pair with the phone. Most use a receiver and cable to the phone (which would probably also work but more bulky). Thought I would ask because I'm probably not the first person to go looking for this solution.
 
I've yet to see a bluetooth wireless transmitter that pairs with a mobile device (not including headsets... I wouldn't want to appear on camera wearing one of those). All the bluetooth systems I know of require use of a receiver and output cable. It can add a little bulk, but for the type of workshop you're planning I would go against my own best advice and say that you don't need to push the higher-quality UHF systems like the Sennheiser G3 or even the bluetooth systems like the AVX.

Perhaps look at one of the lower-cost systems, and add a Manfrotto TwistGrip to get the phone onto a tripod and to add a shoe mount to the phone.
 
Yeah, I haven't found a system either. The one that looks most well done is the Samson Go Mic Mobile system that uses a USB or Lightning connection to your phone and a nice slim receiver. But I think that will be out of the price range for this type of thing ($250usd). http://www.samsontech.com/samson/products/wireless-systems/gomicmobile/gomicmobile/

A Beastgrip Pro cage for phones would be the higher end suggestion, that would allow good secure use of attachment lenses (all the way up to Zeiss and or a depth of field adapter in EF mount). Has multiple 1/4-20 sockets and places for cold shoes. Low end would be a cheapo selfie stick that has the phone clamp attached with a 1/4-20 on the end of the stick. Pull it off the stick and attach to tripod.

I doubt this will ever go anywhere other than more discussions about how we need to add a class like this. But with Avid MC First the editing part could be solved and it's back to the shooting part to figure out, and then the lesson plans and projects to figure out. At least wired mics can be a cheap option that will sound better than the built in phone mic.
 
Tascam 10L.

This suggestion, of course isn't wireless, but might work for you in a student environment where if something doesn't work out, it can be a learning moment. It isn't too expensive and has the benefit of teaching sound sync during the editing process. I have the plug-on version and it works great (for the price) except for the limited gain control.

Grant
 
Unfortunately I don't think anything like this exists, but boy it certainly would be really cool. Something in the $100-$200 range and halfway decent. Doesn't need to be pro quality. Just needs to work. I can think of a bunch of uses for it off the top of my head right now.
 
davefisk said:
Unfortunately I don't think anything like this exists, but boy it certainly would be really cool. Something in the $100-$200 range and halfway decent. Doesn't need to be pro quality. Just needs to work. I can think of a bunch of uses for it off the top of my head right now.
Click to expand...


And that's why I'm confused by the lack of products. Must have something to do with the A/D process and then the conversion from data to a file. But I do know that there exists analog to BT and BT to analog pairs commonly used for wireless speakers and that those wireless speakers can also take a stream (over BT) from devices like phones to play music, make calls, etc.
 
I have yet to hear a BT device that I thought qualified as "halfway decent", or one that didn't have dropouts and other periodic glitches.

The "cheap" solution would have been to grab a bunch of those Monoprice wireless systems when they were $10 a pop.
 
Greg_E said:
But I do know that there exists analog to BT and BT to analog pairs commonly used for wireless speakers and that those wireless speakers can also take a stream (over BT) from devices like phones to play music, make calls, etc.
Click to expand...

With a noticeable latency.

I have a bluetooth speaker for listening to music, and when I'm traveling and working on small projects that I edit on my iPad. But if I use bluetooth to monitor sound while editing, everything is out of sync. I connect to the speaker with an 1/8" TRS cable for that. I'd be worried about the same issue with a direct-connect bluetooth mic transmission when recording video.
 
Noiz2 said:
I have yet to hear a BT device that I thought qualified as "halfway decent", or one that didn't have dropouts and other periodic glitches.

The "cheap" solution would have been to grab a bunch of those Monoprice wireless systems when they were $10 a pop.
Click to expand...

Or, at the end when they were $5.99. Of course, he will have to have a hundred trillion dollar time machne to get those prices. How does he use more than one with his cellphone?
 
Alex H. said:
With a noticeable latency.

I have a bluetooth speaker for listening to music, and when I'm traveling and working on small projects that I edit on my iPad. But if I use bluetooth to monitor sound while editing, everything is out of sync. I connect to the speaker with an 1/8" TRS cable for that. I'd be worried about the same issue with a direct-connect bluetooth mic transmission when recording video.
Click to expand...

True, there will be a small delay and that's probably the biggest reason we don't see these systems available.

For the others:

Also keep in mind, this isn't my phone. This is students' phones and potentially students who are not even on campus to sign out equipment. Consider it a classroom lab "kit" of recommended items that they should have or need to have to complete the online class. We have equipment for the on campus classes, but there is some pressure to make as many different classes available online as is possible within practical terms.

For on campus classes, we have:

12 JVC HM-700u cameras (HD eng cameras)
12 Libec tripods
12 Lowel Omni/Tota lights kits
Lavs and handheld mics in each camera
27 computers for Media Composer and Adobe Audition with another 20 for Adobe Audition (total of 40 MC licenses)
"Dedicated" classroom for single camera video production (16 of the 27 computers)
8 smaller editing rooms (audio and/or video with VO mics and mixer)
5 camera HD studio (Ross switcher, Chyron graphics, Avid Airspeed, Wheatstone audio mixer, teleprompter, 8 unit G3 wireless, 4 unit Lectro IFB, etc)
Small 3 studio radio station (online streaming only)
ENPS Newsroom software (v 8.2) on just about all computers

And all that's great, but damn hard to use by a student in Alaska taking an online class (we are in central NY). Requiring every online student to own a DSLR and combination of microphones and lights and lenses is not a reality in a state school class. Working with a cell phone is at least a possibility and can produce decent work if the student takes the proper care in their process. As we know, a master can get great product from a simple phone, and an amateur can produce garbage from an Alexa. The tool is the not thing that separates success from failure, the technique and knowledge to use the tool withing it's limitations are the separating factors.

If there was a decent $30 to $40 wireless system out there, it could go on the suggested list, but not if it requires a bunch of other stuff to interface into the recording device. Also remember that the students we are getting are not the ones that are going to a film school. Our students (a state school) do not generally have the kind of money that it would take to purchase all this stuff. The difficult part is the lowest common denominator that students might possess. A laptop of decent power, a phone that shoots 16:9 video (even SD), and something to record audio and some sort of cheap tripod. The last two they may need to buy but hopefully won't cost more than a textbook (and not the science textbooks that cost hundreds of dollars).
 
Both ListenTech and Sennheiser make assistive listening systems to work with Android and iOS devices. The Sennheiser MobleConnect is quite small (4 per 1U rack space). Both have multiple mic/line inputs and claim very low latency. I don't know if they can be DC powered or the price.
 
Maybe a few ideas...
SENA BT10-01 Bluetooth® Mic
Nolan MIC Bluetooth Wireless Microphone,
Ampridge MightyMic

The DIY crowd leans toward taking the headphone/mic combo and cutting off the headphones. Taping the remaining microphone under clothes or improvising a clip and voila a wireless Bluetooth lapel mic...
 
Last edited:
Apparently most cell phones contain an FM radio receiver chip, but usually disabled.
http://www.npr.org/sections/alltech...io-inside-your-pocket-and-why-you-cant-use-it
http://nextradioapp.com/supported-devices/
There used to be cheap $10 or so little FM transmitters that could be plugged into headphone out of an ipod to send music to a car via FM where the car didn't have an input on the stereo. No idea if it is feasible to plug a mic into one of those (might need amplification first), send to phone via FM and could the phone record that along with the video it is shooting.
 
Well... You would have to use a mixer to combine them. But how does he use more than one mic with BT?
 
I think I'll have to test a cheap wired lav and see how well it works, something in the like $20 range. The only reason I was looking for BT was the modules are really cheap and you should be able to get something decent for around $20-$30.
 
Noiz2 said:
Well... You would have to use a mixer to combine them. But how does he use more than one mic with BT?
Click to expand...

A point, but then I lost my bluetooth headset years ago, apparently I did not notice when it fell out of my ear (grin).

Isn't it strange how the cheap way, becomes expensive when you try to do something semi-sophisticated? Of course if he only needs one mic there probably are several cheap ways of doing it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top