Wireless Intercom System Recommendations
- Thread starter Ken1212
- Start date
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
I have been talking to a number of people who have been migrating from Eartec and Hollyland (I owned Clearcom HME's until recently myself), and the overall consensus is that the Hollyland is indeed superior in nearly every way. I think there is something about the noise suppression being stronger in the Hollyland so you have to speak up a little louder (i.e. beyond a whisper) for it to not cut you out, but on the flip side you get less hiss in your ears. If I were going to replace my system I'd definitely go Hollyland. The killer system btw is the Riedel Bolero, that's what is being used now on the top sets...has many amazing features but an astonishing pricetag. I was quoted close to $40K for a 10 unit system.
Thanks for the input. What's interesting though that there is a lot more sales on the Eartec. One YouTube review listed poor noise cancellation as a con for Hollyland. I have not used either and that's why I am trying to get some feedback. Do you have an idea how would you deal with monitoring audio on a camera with those wireless headsets? They do not have an audio input. Imagine a setup of two or three cameras each in a separate conference room recording presentations at the same time and wanting to stay in touch with each camera operator. This setup has no switcher or audio mixer, just simple straight recording to each camera. The only thing I can think of is getting a single ear headset intercom units and using an ear headphone plugged into the camera's 1/8' output to monitor on the other ear. Any other suggestion?
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
Look into Unity Intercom. You could bring the audio in from the camera via a dongle that treated that as the audio in. Or dedicate a separate phone to the camera audio.
Unity intercom looks interesting, it's a membership type but they have weekly which I guess I can only buy it for one week when I have a need. Have you used it yourself?
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
I tested it out pretty thoroughly a few years back. It's not great for applications when people are in proximity of each other because there is a certain amount of latency (the A/D and D/A conversion within the phone makes that an inevitability) so it is echo-y if people are standing next to each other. For distance applications like yours, it's pretty cool.
My scenarios will differ depending on the shoot. For some shoots we will be in different rooms on the same floor, for another such as a multi-cam will be in the same room. So, do you think being on the same floor at a hotel in different rooms about 50 to 100 feet apart will work okay?
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
For sure. It's when you are standing close enough to somebody to be able to hear them speak and you also hear the delay that can be disconcerting. Like if you are talking to somebody on a cel phone and they walk into the room while still talking.