Building a DIY wireless directors monitor / client monitor

[Paul_Moses]

Hey guys,

I usually rent directors monitors when i need them but back in Dec / Jan i decided to bite the bullet and have a go at building my own using a combination of parts i had laying around and also new parts on a (fairly) low budget...

I just wrote this article & would be keen to know your thoughts or if you think i could make it better?

https://cameramanadelaide.com.au/building-diy-wireless-directors-monitor/

Cheers

Paul

 

[CharlesPapert]

Nice!

I built something along these lines a few years back. After early experiences with the Nyrius brand (the original version of the stick which was very similar to the original Paralinx Arrow), I was pretty unenthused with the range. I see this is a later model but without external antennas, there are going to be range issues. If at some point you look to upgrade, I highly recommend the Amimon Connex Mini, especially if you can get a used set for cheap which show up on eBay from time to time (still quite a bit more than the Nyrius, but much less than units with similar range). This was built for the drone market so the transmitter is very small and light, and it uses the same chipset as the Teradek 3000. Transmission is always affected by environment but I have yet to see these fail at the distances you are discussing--they are nominally rated for 1600 ft line of sight (3300 with the larger Fusion receiver). Camera Motion Research makes some great accessories including small clip-on batteries for the transmitter.

Regarding that mass of cable--you should be able to chop down that P-tap to USB splitter cable without much fuss. Depending on how it was built it will have either two or four wires in it and it's just a matter of splicing the matching color wires together again. Electrical tape will do it if you aren't a solderer, or the newer heat shrink butt splice connectors are great for this. Same goes for the dummy battery to D-tap cable, if you are planning on keeping it dedicated to that rig. It always feel better not to have a chunky mass of cables!

Finally, one thing I have found useful is a small quick release plate assembly at the bottom mated to a female baby pin receiver, so I can pop it onto a stand when available.

Below are pix of my build which is abour 4 years old now. The monitor is a 9" Marshall, not a high-brightness model unfortunately. I am often sending a quad signal so I needed a larger display than a 7". Outside I use a vintage diagonal Hoodman left over from the tube monitor days, the one from the Sony 8040 fits this perfectly (ahh, the days when an 8" display weighed 17 lbs)!

The blue box is a master power switch wired into the gold mount plate so I can turn off the receiver with the monitor. I should probably replace this with a sleeker 3D printed box at some point. At least I replaced the handwritten label with a p-touch!

 

[doubledark]

nice article (and hello from Adelaide)

 

[rob norton]

Nice!

I built something along these lines a few years back. After early experiences with the Nyrius brand (the original version of the stick which was very similar to the original Paralinx Arrow), I was pretty unenthused with the range. I see this is a later model but without external antennas, there are going to be range issues. If at some point you look to upgrade, I highly recommend the Amimon Connex Mini, especially if you can get a used set for cheap which show up on eBay from time to time (still quite a bit more than the Nyrius, but much less than units with similar range). This was built for the drone market so the transmitter is very small and light, and it uses the same chipset as the Teradek 3000. Transmission is always affected by environment but I have yet to see these fail at the distances you are discussing--they are nominally rated for 1600 ft line of sight (3300 with the larger Fusion receiver). Camera Motion Research makes some great accessories including small clip-on batteries for the transmitter.

Regarding that mass of cable--you should be able to chop down that P-tap to USB splitter cable without much fuss. Depending on how it was built it will have either two or four wires in it and it's just a matter of splicing the matching color wires together again. Electrical tape will do it if you aren't a solderer, or the newer heat shrink butt splice connectors are great for this. Same goes for the dummy battery to D-tap cable, if you are planning on keeping it dedicated to that rig. It always feel better not to have a chunky mass of cables!

Finally, one thing I have found useful is a small quick release plate assembly at the bottom mated to a female baby pin receiver, so I can pop it onto a stand when available.

Below are pix of my build which is abour 4 years old now. The monitor is a 9" Marshall, not a high-brightness model unfortunately. I am often sending a quad signal so I needed a larger display than a 7". Outside I use a vintage diagonal Hoodman left over from the tube monitor days, the one from the Sony 8040 fits this perfectly (ahh, the days when an 8" display weighed 17 lbs)!

The blue box is a master power switch wired into the gold mount plate so I can turn off the receiver with the monitor. I should probably replace this with a sleeker 3D printed box at some point. At least I replaced the handwritten label with a p-touch!

I'm really coming around to the connex system! Is no audio ever an issue for monitoring/playback?

 

[CharlesPapert]

I'm really coming around to the connex system! Is no audio ever an issue for monitoring/playback?

Not in the world I inhabit, where there is always a sound person providing comteks. Have never missed having it as a result. Even with systems that can transmit audio, I can't remember using it. I can see where for a smaller operation it might be an issue though!

Some of the 3D printed rehousings I've done for various applications: this one converts the dodgy micro-HDMI and JST power connector to full size HDMI and 5.5mm plug (to make it compatible with the receiver):



These mate SDI converters with the Mini system to use as a standard transmitter (not as bulky as they look!)



Here with an old Boxx Meridien high gain antenna for a 1:2 system:

 

[rob norton]

Not in the world I inhabit, where there is always a sound person providing comteks. Have never missed having it as a result. Even with systems that can transmit audio, I can't remember using it. I can see where for a smaller operation it might be an issue though!

Some of the 3D printed rehousings I've done for various applications: this one converts the dodgy micro-HDMI and JST power connector to full size HDMI and 5.5mm plug (to make it compatible with the receiver):

View attachment 138692View attachment 138693

These mate SDI converters with the Mini system to use as a standard transmitter (not as bulky as they look!)

View attachment 138694

Here with an old Boxx Meridien high gain antenna for a 1:2 system:

View attachment 138695

Thanks. Seems like multiple people monitoring/reviewing audio should be a clear line in the sand for bringing in a dedicated sound person anyway. I think I’ll invest once the drought is over - tiny footprint, better range than bolt xt 500, cheaper price, just need to keep connections in mind when rigging, which you’d need to do anyway!

 

[CharlesPapert]

As I mentioned earlier, used ones pop up on eBay all the time sometimes very cheaply. And also, check out Camera Motion Research as they have some good inexpensive solutions for power, cabling and mounting the Connex line. They have a rehouse of their own for the transmitter-- they went larger footprint but flatter than the route I went.

 

[Run&Gun]

I built mine out at the end of '18/beginning of '19 with my (no longer often used, but still beautiful) Panasonic BT-LH910.

Teradek 500 XT with Anton Bauer battery bracket mounts(pass-through power for Gold Mount, power tap to receivers/transmitters)
Panasonic BT-LH 910
Camera Motion Research handles
Porta-Brace monitor cover with integrated sun hood.

This is a fairly neat and streamlined package. Even though it is heavy, because of the size and build-quality of the actual monitor. So many wireless directors monitors, with the exception of the newer fully integrated smallHD models, are a hot mess with the 'erector set' handles & cages and plate-of-spaghettti cable mess. With mine, the receiver locks directly to the battery plate and the battery goes on the back of that. Unfortunately with the 500XT series, the plates do not pass power THROUGH the receivers and transmitters, so you do have to run a power tap cable from the power tap to the Rx or Tx, but you just use a short one and then use a small coiled BNC with right angles into the monitor and it still stays neat and clean. The CMR handles are also very clean and streamlined, unlike some of the ones from Wooden Camera, etc. Plus it's nice to support a local(to my state) company.

 

[CharlesPapert]

I built mine out at the end of '18/beginning of '19 with my (no longer often used, but still beautiful) Panasonic BT-LH910.

Nice setup! I agree on the CMR handles--the one advantage Wooden Camera has is the erector set aspect, comes with more parts and thus more possibilities. I did end up changing out the foam handle covers after the picture I posted above was taken! So far the next set has not split, although this monitor gets much less use these days.

Which segues me to what I do provide directors with now! Because most of my work is in episodic TV, we have the traditional video village setup with 17" monitors but on most sets there is also a set of "minis", which is 7" monitors generally mounted side by side in an extended width cage for A and B camera. These almost always live on a c-stand or rolling stand because that setup (with wireless receiver for each monitor) is pretty heavy and unwieldy to handhold, and there is rarely a need to do so.

A couple of years ago while in prep on a network show I asked the producing director what was missing for his creature comforts on set. He said, I don't have anywhere to put my stuff (jacket, laptop bag etc). The village cart tends to double as battery charging station and there isn't any real estate available there. He also said that he preferred not to sit at village which is always a certain distance away from the action, that he usually sits at the minis on set with the script supervisor. The not-so-secret aspect of all this is that TV directors often prefer not to be sitting with the writer/producers as that can over-encourage the noting process...

So I started to re-think the minis. The footprint of a rolling stand is in the 3x3 range which is big enough for a vertical magliner cart. Starting with one of those, I added a file cabinet for the director's storage needs, plus a shelf with a pullout laptop tray. Rounding it out with power strip and plenty of USB ports for chargers, 3 cupholders and an LED gooseneck lamp. I use a Sumo 19 as the monitor, and wirelessly feed it with a quad signal from my own cart (same signal I send to the handheld monitor above, and a 32" vanities monitor we set up for other crewmembers). In quad mode the image size is slightly larger than what they would be seeing on dual 7" minis, and of course when we go single camera they get the benefit of the full size image. I can also feed a reference image into the quad if director needs to see a previous setup. And it is daylight viewable so they don't need a tent outside.

The backside shows the 9" handheld monitor shown in previous post perched on a baby pin for storage--if director needs to get closer to the action, they can just grab it and go. The coil of cables is a stinger and BNC used on that show by the script supervisor who would ingest video into her software to take frame grabs.

 

[rob norton]

I built mine out at the end of '18/beginning of '19 with my (no longer often used, but still beautiful) Panasonic BT-LH910.

Teradek 500 XT with Anton Bauer battery bracket mounts(pass-through power for Gold Mount, power tap to receivers/transmitters)
Panasonic BT-LH 910
Camera Motion Research handles
Porta-Brace monitor cover with integrated sun hood.

This is a fairly neat and streamlined package. Even though it is heavy, because of the size and build-quality of the actual monitor. So many wireless directors monitors, with the exception of the newer fully integrated smallHD models, are a hot mess with the 'erector set' handles & cages and plate-of-spaghettti cable mess. With mine, the receiver locks directly to the battery plate and the battery goes on the back of that. Unfortunately with the 500XT series, the plates do not pass power THROUGH the receivers and transmitters, so you do have to run a power tap cable from the power tap to the Rx or Tx, but you just use a short one and then use a small coiled BNC with right angles into the monitor and it still stays neat and clean. The CMR handles are also very clean and streamlined, unlike some of the ones from Wooden Camera, etc. Plus it's nice to support a local(to my state) company.

Looks good! @run&gun, I know you already own a bolt but do you think you could use an amimom connex mini system (with SDI mod/add on) in the same way without issue in your area of production?

Charles, this is from a post you made on the steadicam forum: "Having two units in close proximity seems to be a little problematic. I have the antennaes the prescribed 4-5 feet apart on a mast but they still seem to fight with each other a little. Good news is that like the latest Teradeks, if signal is lost is will quickly restore, much faster than the previous generation."

Would you say even though you'll experience lost signals (which are quickly restored), the same issue would occur with other wireless systems too? In other words, it's more in the category of something you live with vs. something that could've been avoided by spending more money? Specifically I'm speaking of mini vs. bolt 500 xt. I don't have experience with multiple wireless systems so please forgive my ignorance.

Also, the cart set up looks awesome. Great thinking about the original stand's footprint as the area you have to work with then taking advantage of all that vertical space. A similar inovativ build would've cost thousands..

 

[CharlesPapert]

Yes Rob, the 4-5 foot rule is recommended (or should be) for all the systems using the Amimon chipset (which includes Teradek) from what I have been told. It's rarely followed on set, I see a lot of receivers mounted next to each other in pics from other sets. The Connex system received the ability in the last upgrade to allow manual selection of channels which is cool, although it requires USB connection to a laptop to do so which would be unwieldy for many situations. Something I'd think about in a scenario where it was mission critical (live broadcast perhaps) and there was lots of RF at the venue, and someone had a frequency analyzer. Here's the setup I use to get the receivers far enough apart (cabling is terribly sloppy, how embarrasing! I have to get some shorter cables for the patch panels to the receiver).





There are times we experience interference and breakup, and we recycle the systems, making sure to do one at a time so they aren't fighting with each other over auto channel selection. But again, I've seen the same thing with Bolts. I used to own the 2000--when the 3000 came out I heard it was not always preferred, but that may have been early firmware. All I know is--I never want to own a $10K transmitter again! I'm queasily eying the 4K workflow--will cost me a ton to upgrade my whole signal path at this point.

 

[CharlesPapert]

One interesting scenario (please forgive me if I already posted about this on this site) was for a long one'r Steadicam shot weaving through the fabled Canter's Deli here in LA, trying to figure out how to get continuous wireless coverage from one end of the shot to the other. I reprogrammed the two panel antennas to the same transmitter and placed one halfway through the shot and the other at the end, then live switched between the two once the second signal got strong enough, so the image to everyone's monitor was continuous. It worked beautifully.

For the opening shot of the threesome walking down the street, we armed one of the antennas out the door of the adjacent Kibitz Room and because it was visible in the shot, had the art department do a little quickie dressing! Not quick enough from the looks of this clip (becomes visible around :12)--think they must have used an earlier take, before the dressing got added. Oh well!

 

[Run&Gun]

Nice setup! I agree on the CMR handles--the one advantage Wooden Camera has is the erector set aspect, comes with more parts and thus more possibilities. I did end up changing out the foam handle covers after the picture I posted above was taken! So far the next set has not split, although this monitor gets much less use these days.

Which segues me to what I do provide directors with now! Because most of my work is in episodic TV, we have the traditional video village setup with 17" monitors but on most sets there is also a set of "minis", which is 7" monitors generally mounted side by side in an extended width cage for A and B camera. These almost always live on a c-stand or rolling stand because that setup (with wireless receiver for each monitor) is pretty heavy and unwieldy to handhold, and there is rarely a need to do so.

A couple of years ago while in prep on a network show I asked the producing director what was missing for his creature comforts on set. He said, I don't have anywhere to put my stuff (jacket, laptop bag etc). The village cart tends to double as battery charging station and there isn't any real estate available there. He also said that he preferred not to sit at village which is always a certain distance away from the action, that he usually sits at the minis on set with the script supervisor. The not-so-secret aspect of all this is that TV directors often prefer not to be sitting with the writer/producers as that can over-encourage the noting process...

So I started to re-think the minis. The footprint of a rolling stand is in the 3x3 range which is big enough for a vertical magliner cart. Starting with one of those, I added a file cabinet for the director's storage needs, plus a shelf with a pullout laptop tray. Rounding it out with power strip and plenty of USB ports for chargers, 3 cupholders and an LED gooseneck lamp. I use a Sumo 19 as the monitor, and wirelessly feed it with a quad signal from my own cart (same signal I send to the handheld monitor above, and a 32" vanities monitor we set up for other crewmembers). In quad mode the image size is slightly larger than what they would be seeing on dual 7" minis, and of course when we go single camera they get the benefit of the full size image. I can also feed a reference image into the quad if director needs to see a previous setup. And it is daylight viewable so they don't need a tent outside.

The backside shows the 9" handheld monitor shown in previous post perched on a baby pin for storage--if director needs to get closer to the action, they can just grab it and go. The coil of cables is a stinger and BNC used on that show by the script supervisor who would ingest video into her software to take frame grabs.

View attachment 138704View attachment 138705

Thanks Charles. It was after one of your monitor builds that you showed off the other year, that I went in and cleaned-up and stream lined my 17"/mulit-viewer set-up. Do you think it's from your days shooting and operating that makes you wanna keep all your builds neat, clean and streamlined, now?

 

[Run&Gun]

Looks good! @run&gun, I know you already own a bolt but do you think you could use an amimom connex mini system (with SDI mod/add on) in the same way without issue in your area of production?

Charles, this is from a post you made on the steadicam forum: "Having two units in close proximity seems to be a little problematic. I have the antennaes the prescribed 4-5 feet apart on a mast but they still seem to fight with each other a little. Good news is that like the latest Teradeks, if signal is lost is will quickly restore, much faster than the previous generation."

Would you say even though you'll experience lost signals (which are quickly restored), the same issue would occur with other wireless systems too? In other words, it's more in the category of something you live with vs. something that could've been avoided by spending more money? Specifically I'm speaking of mini vs. bolt 500 xt. I don't have experience with multiple wireless systems so please forgive my ignorance.

Also, the cart set up looks awesome. Great thinking about the original stand's footprint as the area you have to work with then taking advantage of all that vertical space. A similar inovativ build would've cost thousands..

Thanks Rob. Honestly, I'm not a good person to ask. Unfortunately, I have yet to use my Bolt on a real shoot. I bought it after a big shoot in '18 and the only times I've been asked for it since, I didn't have it with me one time, and the second time one of my guys had borrowed the monitor I built it out for and hadn't returned it, yet. And he was on the shoot with me! We were shooting b-roll for a feature and the producer asked if I had a wireless monitor(about 5 minutes into the shoot instead of the day before). I knew the bolt was in the truck, so I said sure, gimme five minutes to run get it. Then my buddy asked me what monitor I was putting it on. I said the Panasonic. He then says, "You mean the one that I got last week and is at home?". Damnit, Jim. I did want to use it on a live shoot that we needed to be able to strike in a ridiculously short time, but it ended up being bagged(last year). At least I've rented it out. Once...

 

[CharlesPapert]

Thanks Charles. It was after one of your monitor builds that you showed off the other year, that I went in and cleaned-up and stream lined my 17"/mulit-viewer set-up. Do you think it's from your days shooting and operating that makes you wanna keep all your builds neat, clean and streamlined, now?

Cool!

Interesting question! I definitely got bit by the custom design bug early in my career, when being a Steadicam operator generally meant having a machinist make you bits and bobs that didn't already exist. I think once I moved up to shooting I became less focused on the camera itself, leaving that to the operators and assistants to configure, so that left me needing a new area to focus my attention onto! First my own cart (now there's full size and lightweight versions), then the monitoring side of things. I joke to my assistants that I am turning into a video assist guy! Outside of the custom stuff I have two large cases that come on every shoot; one is mostly video/power/data cables of all flavors, organized out by type, and the other has video DA's, SDI/HDMI converters and the like. I'd love to not have to lug them every time but it is inevitable that something unexpected will come up. On a recent commercial, the Steadicam operator's Transvideo monitor got its SDI board fried by a voltage surge--I suggested we test the HDMI input (the operator didn't even know there was one) which was still functioning. It was a mini-HDMI, not something you see much any more, but fortunately I had the cable, along with an SDI to HDMI converter with P-tap cable we bongo-tied onto the base of the sled. We were back up and running in minutes (with production wringing their hands). Glad I brought the stuff!

As far as the monitor carts like the one above, it became obvious to me that the main physical interface between camera dept and all of the important above the line people were these carts and adding creature comforts to them would be well appreciated and noted (and they have been). I actually had to fight hard to get my village monitor setup (presumably the one you are referring to--has padded individual slots with charger cables for cel phones, power strip etc.) onto the series "Champions", as networks prefer to rent through rental houses. Had to create a show-and-tell document for the line producer to argue my case to the network production executive of my "value-added" setup for the same price as the monitors alone from Panavision. On the first day of shooting, I said hi to everyone at village--the various producers and writers, including showrunner Mindy Kaling--and invited them to use the facilities. Mindy literally squealed "why didn't we have this on Mindy Project? Charles, this is amazing!" right in front of the line producer, which was a BIG win.

 

[markfpv]

On the first day of shooting, I said hi to everyone at village--the various producers and writers, including showrunner Mindy Kaling--and invited them to use the facilities. Mindy literally squealed "why didn't we have this on Mindy Project? Charles, this is amazing!" right in front of the line producer, which was a BIG win.

Good story! I absolutely love when this happens. And it's a great example to folks just starting out - that sometimes going that extra mile - can make a huge difference & establish a great relationship.

 

[Run&Gun]

I know we're getting away from the OP's topic, but... This was the clean-up job I did on my monitor after Charles showed one of his off a while back.

Sony PVM-1741 17" OLED
Flanders Scientific "leave in/on" monitor case(same as the Petrol cases, since Petrol no longer exists)
Decimator DMON 6S multi-viewer
Rigidesigns Para Mount monitor mount(just added recently. swapped over from a Matthews)

Fairly simple build-out. Added velcro to the back flap of the monitor case and to the Decimator to attach it. Bought a small 3-way power cable splitter and attached velcro to it to secure it to the monitor case flap. Short BNC to go from the Decimator to the monitor. Super short(maybe 18") IEC power cord to go from the monitor to the splitter which accommodates the monitor and the Decimator power cube. Then just plug an extension cord into the splitter to power both the monitor and the Decimator. Makes for a much cleaner and more streamlined unit.

 

[CharlesPapert]

Nice! I have been impressed with that ParaMount VESA assembly, have yet to see one in person but it's a lot of good ideas. I moved all my monitors over to the Backstage mounts which have friction-based tilt which I think is much better than the typical mount that requires reaching behind/unlocking/setting the tilt/re-locking. But this adds the handle and mounting points which would have been helpful in many of my previous builds.

I have a few monitors set up with single AC cord in and splitting out to other components as well. Usually I use an inline brick power supply vs a wall wart since they lie flat and don't require the bulkier AC splitter, plus I generally splice the AC cables to make them the desired length and avoid the splitter entirely. It's usually as simple as a small project box with some holes drilled in it and basic screw on wire connectors. Maybe I'll post some pix of the results. So many monitors, so many builds!

What do you use the DMON 6s for? that's lots of incoming signals. Are you just using it as a multiviewer, or as an ad-hoc switcher?

 

[Run&Gun]

Yes, the Para Mount is very nice. I saw an early article on NewsShooter last year and I emailed Greg Cooper(designer/owner) to talk to him about it, because I was worried about it working with my set-up(fitting in the case since the Sony has raised bars on the back for VESA mounts). We emailed back and forth and I sent him pictures and measurements and he said it would work. And of course, it did. I love the simplicity of its design and friction tilt system instead of having to use knobs and levers to tighten, loosen and adjust everything. It quickly becomes one of those "unsung hero" type accessories.

I do a lot of sit-down interviews and the like and a lot of those are multi-camera. The bulk of the multi-cams are two to three, but sometimes I do have some four to five's(which is one of the reason I bought it even though I had the Quad). I may have maxed it out once or twice. Kind of crazy how "cheap" it is vs. the original fixed four input Decimator Quad I bought before(still have it as a back-up). And it's flexibility with its ability to re-size and re-position the windows and make adjustments, like 2, 3, 4, etc. windows without a computer. You get a lot for your money with their gear.

 

[CharlesPapert]

Yes, the old MD-Quad was very expensive. The DMON4 is only 295 and does everything the MD did, except test generator. I have heard that has a touch more latency especially when switching inputs. I have both units in separate carts so have not tested that.

You are a bold man making those level adjustments on the front panel vs the UCP software! The Decimator UI took me forever to get proficient on--I still botch it sometimes.

If you ever need a remote switch for the Quad (either MD or DMON), I sell them for $70.