Marantz PMD-750 Digital Wireless

I

IronFilm

Veteran
Never seen this product before, as it is a brand brand new product that isn't shipping yet. But as a Marantz it should be worth checking out.

Has a low low price of US$399

2.4 GHz Digital Transmitter (like RodeLink, no need to worry about what frequencies are legal)

All info on the top, which is nice. But perhaps my favorite feature: "Receiver Can Pair to Two Transmitters". Handy!

Annoyingly the input is a 4 pin XLR, which doesn't match up with any transmitters I own currently.

Unfortunately it is not shipping yet, and there are no reviews of it online, but it looks like a product to keep an eye on!

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...nal_pmd_750_2_4ghz_camera_mount_wireless.html
 
2.4GHz wireless is now causing real issues - I've started to lose count of the number of shows I see having real issues.

All these products are brilliant.
2.4GHz wireless systems
2.4GHz iPad control of lighting
2.4GHz iPad control of sound desk
2.4GHz control of FOH audio processors
2.4GHz video links from wireless cameras

The trouble is, the band isn't big enough for them to all exist together. Turn the handheld radio mics on and the sound designer loses his link with the processors, the Foh mixer left unattended is suddenly 50m away from the operator wandering around with his pad. The video guys move their functioning camera to screen link and wander close to the radio mic receivers and the audio drops out. Sometimes you even have an audience, and there will be hundreds of phones trying to access any wifi node they find. How many connections can the sound desk router reject? The wifi audio streams may or may not get through the chaos. My radio mic racks were brilliant when I bought them. Now I'm going back to real radio on licenced frequencies again because 2.4GHz is just full ton the brim
 
Just like everything else in the world, I feel 2.4GHz has its own mix of pros and cons. It isn't perfect of course! Nothing is.

Pros of 2.4GHz:
Simpler for non-specialist pros to use.
If you travel a *lot* then you don't need to worry if your current wireless kit will be legal or not at your next destination.
Handy to have as a back up for when you UHF wireless might be struggling.

These could be strong pros for some people, or less important to others.

Of course if you're a working sound professional, should your kit be *only* 2.4GHz? Of course not! No one is saying that.
 
paulears said:
2.4GHz wireless is now causing real issues - I've started to lose count of the number of shows I see having real issues.

All these products are brilliant.
2.4GHz wireless systems
2.4GHz iPad control of lighting
2.4GHz iPad control of sound desk
2.4GHz control of FOH audio processors
2.4GHz video links from wireless cameras

The trouble is, the band isn't big enough for them to all exist together. Turn the handheld radio mics on and the sound designer loses his link with the processors, the Foh mixer left unattended is suddenly 50m away from the operator wandering around with his pad. The video guys move their functioning camera to screen link and wander close to the radio mic receivers and the audio drops out. Sometimes you even have an audience, and there will be hundreds of phones trying to access any wifi node they find. How many connections can the sound desk router reject? The wifi audio streams may or may not get through the chaos. My radio mic racks were brilliant when I bought them. Now I'm going back to real radio on licenced frequencies again because 2.4GHz is just full ton the brim
Click to expand...


Gets even worse when you are in a place that has every single wifi channel in use, like a modern college campus. We had some Sabine mics, the only way we could get them to work was to move them to a sort of legal portion of the band. I'm guessing it was really part of the guard band. Ended up not using them for a Sennheiser set which seems to be very fragile as we can't keep the transmitters working. Need to find better storage because I think the tool box drawer is killing them.

For use in non-built up areas, 2.4ghz might still be OK. But that said there is more and more 2.4Ghz long distance links coming into being all the time, and 5Ghz is out because companies are building "public" large area wifi (define "public" anyway you want, at all comes down to money out of your pocket).
 
While 2.4GHz is not a core part of my kit, I do use them now and then, and I've run into zero of the hyped up problems you suggest there are, even though I live and work in the Central Business District.

I'd say yes problems exist with relying upon 2.4GHz, but it is nowhere near as bad as some people claim it is, and they've got benefits too which many overlook.
 
It really looks like a good tool for the right circumstances. NYC is probably not one, nor a busy theatrical show that is using a lot of 2.4Ghz bandwidth. But since a LOT of the users on this board are doing low budget gigs it is probably usable for many of them. Plus the prospect of dropping $1K to $4k on wireless just to have your government sell off the band and leave you with a doorstop or an expensive update is kind of daunting for a micro budget.
And in all fairness if your working a gig where the lights cameras and sound system is all run on wireless remotes you probably should be coordinating and bringing other gear. You know the old "don't bring a knife to a gunfight". The killer being universities which often operate at lower budgets but also end up with a lot of modern gear, and students doing crazy stuff.
 
Worse case I saw was a small venue with a function band with a wi-fi based PA system. Nice bit of kit, but half way through the gig, it lost the link as more and more phones were on the go, and from that moment on, they had no mix ability at all, because it's iPad only! Far too risky in my book.
 
I have the Audio-Technica System 10 and the Azden XD Pro. Both use the 2.4GHz range. The AT works perfectly fine every time, the Azden starts dropping quite quickly when there is a strong signal nearby (I tested getting close to my wifi router and the difference was day and night). What I am trying to say is: 2.4GHz systems can perform very differently. I wish there were more tests of this one (I have only found one on youtube).
 
Noiz2 said:
Plus the prospect of dropping $1K to $4k on wireless just to have your government sell off the band and leave you with a doorstop or an expensive update is kind of daunting for a micro budget.
Click to expand...


Yeah I'm not on a micro budget but I still found it a bit scary when last month I purchased my first wideband modern Lectrosonics as there is the risk this entire band might get sold off in the near ish future! Arrrghhh
 
Noiz2 said:
It really looks like a good tool for the right circumstances. NYC is probably not one, nor a busy theatrical show that is using a lot of 2.4Ghz bandwidth. But since a LOT of the users on this board are doing low budget gigs it is probably usable for many of them. Plus the prospect of dropping $1K to $4k on wireless just to have your government sell off the band and leave you with a doorstop or an expensive update is kind of daunting for a micro budget.
And in all fairness if your working a gig where the lights cameras and sound system is all run on wireless remotes you probably should be coordinating and bringing other gear. You know the old "don't bring a knife to a gunfight". The killer being universities which often operate at lower budgets but also end up with a lot of modern gear, and students doing crazy stuff.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of going with a 2.4ghz system, but is it unwise to do so in NYC? Especially, since a lot of my work is Manhattan?
 
Now that is a hard one. If you go anywhere near the "great white way" pretty much every legal freq. is in use.
 
Well - wi-fif is busy, but Broadway, like our West End is crammed full of radio systems already - and these people are using proper radio planning software and constantly monitoring the bands for intruders who wreck things. In any busy area, interference is going to be a big feature, and nothing will ever be a dead cert!
 
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