Wired vs. Wireless headphones

M

Methane

Well-known member
I've been using the Sony MDR 7506 headphones for about a year, but I'm thinking about going wireless. I was shooting a film last month, and I reached for something while my headphones were plugged in and caused the XHA1 I was using to fall! The camera was OK, but I was wondering... would wireless headphones save me a disaster one day?

I was thinking about buying the Sennheiser RS130 headphones. Are wireless headphones OK for film? I don't even know if this model would plug into my HVX200, so any advice would be appreciated.
 
my opinion.
Terrible idea.

There's a reason NO one uses wireless headphones in the professional world.

I would say the reasonable solution is be more careful.
Also buy a 5 dollar headphone extension cable from radioshack and put a strain relief on it.
 
I thought that would be the consensus, but it would be so convenient! I've got a 30' cable extender, but it always seems to get tangled in the camera. I just need to have a dedicated audio guy so I'm not using headphone. Thanks Rippie.
 
Hmmmmmmm . . . .

Was blowing thru this, thinking like most "yea, something else to suck battery".

then thought - wait, camera to director. Range would only need to be 6', not 50'+ like boom op or wireless lavs. A bluetooth type device could do this? short range means could run for many hours on tiny rechargeable cellphone type batteries? Size could be tiny.

This definitely worth more thought.

In meantime - a breakaway connector definitely in order :laugh:
 
I would have to think the typical bluetooth device
wouldn't come close to sending the necessary information and freq's that you must have when monitoring.

Of course a couple years ago a company WAS working on a bluetooth
style wireless system, not sure if they ever completed it but the hype behind it
totally disappeared. (and of course something like that is going to be overkill
for wireless headphones)


pixelated said:
Hmmmmmmm . . . .

Was blowing thru this, thinking like most "yea, something else to suck battery".

then thought - wait, camera to director. Range would only need to be 6', not 50'+ like boom op or wireless lavs. A bluetooth type device could do this? short range means could run for many hours on tiny rechargeable cellphone type batteries? Size could be tiny.

This definitely worth more thought.

In meantime - a breakaway connector definitely in order :laugh:
Click to expand...
 
I found a working solution for bluetooth... using a 3.5mm dongle + bluetooth stereo Headset with A2DP.

this is the dongle :
http://www.itechdynamic.com/en/products_spec.asp?cid=6&pid=06020

This is the headphone :
http://www.itechdynamic.com/en/products_spec.asp?cid=3&pid=03040


I listened to the audio output from the headphones using wireless connection to a phone.. and the sound is very good and high quality. Though I do not have experience of using those high end sony MDR headphones, those audio are among the best I've ever heard.

So I guess, for the task of monitoring audio for camera recordings, it's good enough to hear the clippings / distortion / high / low levels or problems.

I'm not sure if this brand is available in your place, but I-Tech is very popular here in Malaysia. There's another brand with the 3.5mm transmitter dongle - 'B-Speech'. Please note the passcode when purchasing it as not all of them are compatible. The I-tech's code is '8888' while B-Speech is '0000'. The code for dongle and Headset must be matching.
 
Wseng - thanks for the post. Did a little more research, getting more intrigued. The iTech Bluecon35 II dongle looks ideal, but the sport headphones seem to have enhancement and noise cancellation circuitry which would be just what you don't want since the idea is to monitor exactly what the camera's hearing.

Next problem seems to be no North American dealer for iTech products. Actually there seems to be a real lack of non-USB bluetooth dongles all together.

The newer spec bluetooth devices seem to have the bandwidth to support full audio - some are even starting to pump video feeds over it. Basic integrated chipsets are very cheap & power consumption is low . . . I'm starting to envision
bluetooth from mixer to camera, camera to headphones . . . while we're dreaming, bluetooth wireless lav's, heck - bluetooth mic's - the chips are all ready small enough to fit in a neutrik connector . . . 'course we'll need those new fuel cell batteries ... or how about induction power. No more wires, we all walk around with RF sunburns. It's a shame the markets too small, we could be on to something here!

Heck, think a new hvx with bluetooth direct to your edit bay on your laptop. No more P2 cards. No batteries - just add water. Terry should do a poster.

Cortical implants! We could be watching Star Trek 897 in full surround when the refrigerator interrupts to confirm our beer order. Life is good! :happy:
 
I don't know of any wireless headphones suitable for monitoring.

And remember that about 3/4 of the price goes into making them wireless and only about 1/4 into the headphones themselves.
 
They use wireless headphones all the time in film. It's called a comtek. Usually though its for producers, and directors. Hardwired is still the most reliable.
 
As an improvised comtek I've seen a sound man give the director a G2 lav reciever with a headphone jack in it.

I posted a page ago that I tried this and there is a delay with Bluetooth that makes it unusable.

I don't know how much more helpful you can get than hearing from someone that's actually done it say it's unusable. Not "the audio quality wasn't quite up to snuff" but "tried it and it didn't work."

So hopefully anyone trying this will at least buy the bluetooth headset from somewhere they can return it and then test it before the return period runs out.

There's no such thing as sound cancelling headphones to the point of obliterating all outside noise, and I'm telling you, a few milliseconds delay between what you are hearing outside the headphones and what's in the headphones renders them useless, it's compeletely disorienting and you can't tell what's what.

If anyone finds no-delay bluetooth headphones, let me know, I'd still use them just for directing, which is what I was looking into them for in the first place.
 
A G2 is going to probably sound way better than a comtek.
I would NEVER ever use a comtek for "critical" listening.

They sound like crap.
But they totally serve their purpose.
 
I've tried several set of bluetooth headphones. They are definitely not as good as wired for monitoring sound quality. Some key points/problems:

1) Delay - very annoying at first, I've grown accustom to it though.
2) Battery life - you have to remember to charge both dongle and headphones before every shoot.
3) Weird buttons/indicator sequence - you have to hold buttons for certain number of seconds for certain functions and leds flash a certain number of times to indicate stuff. I find it hard to keep track of it all.
4) Volume control - Most can get really loud but not a good indication of actual levels.
5) Interference - when plugged into my AT1800 headphone jack, I get an annoying buzz. Headphones don't interfere with AT1800 though.

That being said, I own the WiRevo S30. They have slide switch so it's easy to know if it's on or off (but it will auto shut off if not in use for long time). They're rated for 8 hr battery life. Both dongle and headphones uses usb chargers. I used them primarily for editing. Ok for making sure you're not getting wireless interference. Plus, I needed a headset for when I'm driving and on the phone anyway.
 
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