LIST PRICE: $9,990 - Bolt 3000; $2,990 - Bolt 500; $1,899.95 - Paralinx Dart
There I was between services, 15 minutes to doors and I am re-terminating a broken SDI cable, again. It’s the fifth or sixth one this month, I’m not sure why my camera ops are so tough on the cables, but I have yet to find a strain relief solution that will save the snake. At this point I have re-terminated it so many times, the cable ends are trimmed so short, the next time it breaks I will have to cut the snake open to have enough cable to fix it.
“These things just work. The volunteers have threatened mutiny if we didn’t replace the demo units.”
The only benefit to this situation is I have my SDI terminating technique down to a fine art; with just a pair of scissors and a crimper I can have the end repaired in about 2 minutes. What I wouldn’t give to never have to do this again.This is the situation I found myself in: our stage camera ops were just too hard on our cables. It had gotten to the point that I frame synced the cameras at the switcher so that when, not if, the SDI cable broke, my ops could swap to the genlock cable and keep going, which they did often. Imagine my excitement when I was asked to review the Teradek Bolt. I couldn’t say “Yes!” fast enough. I found the slogan for the Bolt “cut the cable” to be very fitting.
Why the excitement? Wireless camera systems are not particularly new, but in the past the systems were finicky to work with and cost prohibitive to boot. Also, most wireless systems have an inherent latency that made them unusable in an IMAG situation. In most IMAG systems, the main talent can be viewed alongside the image, so latency is to be reduced at all costs. The Teradek Bolt is very fast, boasting a latency of <0.001 second. In our practical test, we were not able to discern a difference between the cabled and wireless cameras in terms of latency. Once link is established, it’s rock solid. If you didn’t know it was wireless, you would never be able to guess it was wireless.
The goods
The Bolt is a fairly simple system, consisting of a transmitter and a receiver, not unlike a wireless mic unit. For this demo we were sent 3 versions: the Teradek Bolt 3000, Teradek Bolt 500 and Paralinx Dart. All the systems are essentially the same, the major difference being functional range. In our tests, we found the range estimates to be conservative. We couldn’t really put the 3000 through a straight distance test because, honestly, we didn’t have line of sight anywhere near the functioning operational distance of 3000 ft. With the Bolt 500, we dropped the receiver right outside our loading bay door and walked all the way across our parking lot out to the road. We measured the distance at 550+ feet. The Paralinx is rated to 1,000 but even that proved to be further than we could accurately accommodate. In practical tests we were able to get the Bolt 500 easily 400 feet and through a firewall before we lost connection. Anything inside that distance was amazing; no dragging, tearing, or stutters.
One of the … great features of the Bolt is the fact that it can multicast to four receivers.
While all of the units have HDMI and SDI out on the receiver, the Paralinx only has mini HDMI in, the Bolt 500 and 3000 both have HDMI and SDI in. The great thing about all these connections is that you can cross convert the connections between the transmitter and receiver. This means you can have a HDMI camera but come out SDI from the receiver or vice-versa. The Bolt 500/1000 and 3000 will also cross-convert resolutions and frame rates and audio transmission, as well as interlaced, PSF, and 1080p60/50 frame rates are supported in all Bolt systems except the Bolt 3000's 20 MHz range."
The transmitters can be powered by D-tap to a standard production ENG camera battery. The extra power draw didn’t kill our batteries fast enough for us to lose connection during a one-hour service. We typically ran the cameras through back to back services with no issue. The Paralinx Dart is small enough to be powered via a Canon LP-E6 which is roughly the same size as the Dart. It features 5v out so that it can power a GoPro, which it would not look out of place on. Each of the units also sports solid metal chassis, which is good because the transmitters do generate some heat, not enough to burn, but enough that you are aware of it. One of the other great features of the Bolt is the fact that it can multicast to four receivers. While this may not have a lot of practical use in the IMAG realm, it’s very advantageous in post-production environments. With multiple receivers, it would be possible to give a director, producer and choreographer their own production monitors. Attached to something like a SmallHD 1303 Studio Production Monitor and with the right battery the entire system could be wireless. Teradek also makes a universal receiver called the Sidekick which would also be fantastic in this application.
Testing
To give the units the benefit of the doubt we placed the receivers at the wall just off the stage. This ensured the shortest wireless distance needed. Our stage is 100 feet across, well within the specs. However, we connected the receivers to the 200+ feet of cable we have running from the stage to the video control room. Keep in mind while the transmitter and receiver have a functional transmission distance, the cable the receiver is plugged into also has a functional distance, usually about another 300 feet. In practical terms our distance test across the parking lot was 550 feet, but we were close to 750 feet from the switcher where we were monitoring the signal. The point being, if 500 feet seems like it might not be enough, keep in mind the receiver needs to be 500 feet from the transmitter, but it can be plugged into a cable several hundred feet long with no issue. The day the products arrived we were having a concert for a local band. About two hours before doors, we decided to try to integrate Teradek into the system. Typically, I would consider this a big no-no. I would wait and spend some time becoming familiar with the product and making sure I knew its limitations, but like a kid at Christmas I just couldn’t help myself. Besides, I was confident that we could get the camera ops back on cables in just a minute. The volunteers had drilled this this type of thing so often, I wasn’t worried. Long story short, we had them up and running and I was confident in the system with about an hour and fifty minutes left to doors. I don’t know how else to say it: “These things just work.”
End analysis
How much did we enjoy testing these out? Considering we didn’t hear any of the standard complaints about the snake from our camera ops; “it’s a pain to move,” “it’s too short to get me where I want to be,” “it’s too heavy.” To not hear those alone make the units worth their cost, but on top of that the volunteers have threatened munity if we didn’t replace the demo units. Needless to say, budgets are being manipulated to fit these in for the new year. The systems do range in price from $9,990 for the Bolt 3000, $2,990 for the Bolt 500, and $1,899.95 for the Paralinx Dart. There is no doubt in my mind they are worth every penny. I think the highest praise came from our creative director who said “using the Teradek turns the stage ops into John Wick. They are literally everywhere, I have never seen camera shots come up so fast.”
