New Clearcom Wireless- Freeespeak II or Edge?

[TimMc]

I just looked it up and they did discontinue it. Must have been recent, I ordered a 3rd one not that long ago. Pro6a needle in haystack now, but someone might have stock leftover. I order from B&H and they are out. Haven't seen a replacement either. Wish com companies would just add Bluetooth as an option. It really come ain handy....

Because Bluetooth is not a professional-grade protocol? I can see angry customers calling support, screaming about latency and disconnects at some critical moment in the show... and worse, on a pack that could have been a WIRED INTERCOM.

Copper - when crap really matters.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Because Bluetooth is not a professional-grade protocol? I can see angry customers calling support, screaming about latency and disconnects at some critical moment in the show... and worse, on a pack that could have been a WIRED INTERCOM.

Copper - when crap really matters.

You'll find Angry Audio's Michael Dosch, who co-designed the PR&E broadcast boards, the king of their market for 20 or 30 years, disagrees with you:

BluetoothGadget - Angry Audio

angryaudio.com

 

[TimMc]

I just looked it up and they did discontinue it. Must have been recent, I ordered a 3rd one not that long ago. Pro6a needle in haystack now, but someone might have stock leftover. I order from B&H and they are out. Haven't seen a replacement either. Wish com companies would just add Bluetooth as an option. It really come ain handy....

Because Bluetooth is not a professional-grade protocol? I can see angry customers calling support, screaming about latency and disconnects at some critical moment in the show... and worse, on a pack that could have been a WIRED INTERCOM.

Copper - when crap really matters.

You'll find Angry Audio's Michael Dosch, who co-designed the PR&E broadcast boards, the king of their market for 20 or 30 years, disagrees with you:

BluetoothGadget - Angry Audio

angryaudio.com

I know Mike, and I disagree with him. It's all good until it isn't, and you lose the account over it.

My perspective is a little different. If something fails or doesn't work as planned, in the businesses I managed for 30 years, we get fired. If a producing company has a failure of their equipment or people, it's just a disappointment, not feeding families and keeping a business running. Losing a corporate account because the CEO's "walk up music" stuttered or didn't play at all is a whole 'nuther matter.

I remain fully confident in copper wire, and have yet to find *anything* wireless that has the reliability of a wired connection, at least outside of military grade hardware and personnel.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

My perspective is a little different. If something fails or doesn't work as planned, in the businesses I managed for 30 years, we get fired. If a producing company has a failure of their equipment or people, it's just a disappointment, not feeding families and keeping a business running. Losing a corporate account because the CEO's "walk up music" stuttered or didn't play at all is a whole 'nuther matter.

We have established, yes, that there is a tier where any failure at all, however unnoticeable, is unacceptable.

But you know, even though *I* disapprove, we're launching people to ISS using *Windows* on the consoles, nowadays.

Point is, "nothing may fail ever" is not *the only tier*, and people who are not in that tier should be permitted to buy -- and be able to buy -- things of lower performance. You buy your Riedel Bolero and have fun with it.

 

[TimMc]

We have established, yes, that there is a tier where any failure at all, however unnoticeable, is unacceptable.

But you know, even though *I* disapprove, we're launching people to ISS using *Windows* on the consoles, nowadays.

Point is, "nothing may fail ever" is not *the only tier*, and people who are not in that tier should be permitted to buy -- and be able to buy -- things of lower performance. You buy your Riedel Bolero and have fun with it.

I rent Bolero if that's what is needed but usually those choices are made before I'm hired. I just get to inventory them.

And yes, Windows CE is still in use in an embarrassing number of aerospace and defense applications. Sorry 'bout that. Seems that once they get their "widget" working they are loath to make sweeping changes. To be fair, even Windows 95 could work fine if it only has to run 1 primary application... but once something is built the platform does not change.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

I'm pretty sure SpaceX's master control workstations are running Win10 or 11, from screens included in wideshots, not CE.

But, again: because there are people who *need* Reidel quality comms, that does not mean that things lesser than that *should not be sold commercially* -- that was your assertion, right? Or have I misunderstood you? Happens once a month, at least. ;-)

 

[TimMc]

I'm pretty sure SpaceX's master control workstations are running Win10 or 11, from screens included in wideshots, not CE.

But, again: because there are people who *need* Reidel quality comms, that does not mean that things lesser than that *should not be sold commercially* -- that was your assertion, right? Or have I misunderstood you? Happens once a month, at least. ;-)

We have 20 year old missle systems that run on Win2k. There are naval systems with Win98.

As for what should be on the market, I mostly don't care. I care about reliability, functionality and range. In my work failures result in lost accounts and diminished incomes. Andi take failures personally.

 

[firewater88]

I did place my order for FreeSpeak II 1.9 and just got it in, it was just like Christmas for me. Got the base, 4 antenna, 1 splitter, 12 belt packs with headset, 3 chargers and spare batteries for all.
The new packs have Bluetooth built in now! That had me really excited.
I'll install it all after the new year, we are closed for break now. My next venture will be finding the cause of the buzz on my A line that runs all over the building... Might have to just abandon it and use B and wireless for a cleaner signal.

 

[EdSavoie]

Very nice buy!

Does your venue have A/B toggle switches on the wallplate for each XLR connection?

I recently had to hunt for buzzing as well, and the simplest way to isolate the noise was to toggle every station over to B one by one until It introduced buzzing to B.

 

[firewater88]

Some locations do have a/b switch, but there is a lot of runs to the drawing rooms and others areas, all on A. There is something down the line going there I guess. I pulled all the wall stations in each of those locations years ago, but lines still run there.
My spot booth is A and has XLR jack. That's the only spot that is only A. I need to check if there is an actual second line on the cabling there, then I would just switch to B there and I should be good everywhere else.

 

[EdSavoie]

Assuming you can access the base station, you can also pop a headset into it and pull the outputs one by one to find the noisy segment.

You might not have eardrums left when you're done though, unless you take your headset off before pulling each line.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

You got 4 radios but only one splitter?

I feel like you need 2 splitters for 4 radios, no?

 

[firewater88]

You got 4 radios but only one splitter?

I feel like you need 2 splitters for 4 radios, no?

No, I've done this setup before. Base has 2 antenna outs, 1 will go to an antenna local, other port goes to the splitter (in a remote location). Then 3 antennas come off the splitter to get to other areas of the theatre needed

 

[Jay Ashworth]

No, I've done this setup before. Base has 2 antenna outs, 1 will go to an antenna local, other port goes to the splitter (in a remote location). Then 3 antennas come off the splitter to get to other areas of the theatre needed

For some reason I thought the splitters were only 2:1. We didn't get one, so I haven't been hands-on.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

UPDATES: Someone just posted a pair of blueset F4's on the Bay; each went for a bit over $200.

FreeSpeak II packs manufactured later than last Christmas-ish have BT built in, yes.

And there is no third update.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

We have 20 year old missle systems that run on Win2k. There are naval systems with Win98.

As for what should be on the market, I mostly don't care. I care about reliability, functionality and range. In my work failures result in lost accounts and diminished incomes. Andi take failures personally.

I love the way you say "my work", almost exactly like it *isn't* my work, or firewater's, or that of about half the other people on this site, Tim. You need a Snickers, dude?

Note that ClearCom is now unacceptable for 'your work', as they've added BT as factory to the FSII packs this year.

You won't care, but I'll let everyone else know how it works in a month or so when I'm back in that house.

 

[TimMc]

I love the way you say "my work", almost exactly like it *isn't* my work, or firewater's, or that of about half the other people on this site, Tim. You need a Snickers, dude?

Note that ClearCom is now unacceptable for 'your work', as they've added BT as factory to the FSII packs this year.

You won't care, but I'll let everyone else know how it works in a month or so when I'm back in that house.

I know what my work is, the client expectations, and co-working environment. I don't know what yours is so I didn't say anything about it. You drew the inference, Jay.

 

[firewater88]

I have a few productions with the new setup and I must say it does not disappoint. My LD and I have Shoxz Opencomm headsets paired to the FSII pack. It is very clear and plenty loud enough. The one issue is the lack of adjustability of sidetone control for the BT headset, but I think CC is working on that for future updates. The fact that I just have a pack on my belt, no dongle to get in the way and no wires from hip to head is a total game-changer for me.
I have heard that CC is working on a BT headset of their own and I think a large A/V company here in my town is testing them.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

I have a few productions with the new setup and I must say it does not disappoint. My LD and I have Shoxz Opencomm headsets paired to the FSII pack. It is very clear and plenty loud enough. The one issue is the lack of adjustability of sidetone control for the BT headset, but I think CC is working on that for future updates. The fact that I just have a pack on my belt, no dongle to get in the way and no wires from hip to head is a total game-changer for me.
I have heard that CC is working on a BT headset of their own and I think a large A/V company here in my town is testing them.

From things said about the Blueset, I have to wonder if they're *purposefully* not sending sidetone, because they can't get the RTT down to where it won't freak you out when it's "so late"...