My Quest for the Best Wireless Video

[Mark LeClair]

This is going to be a lengthy post so I apologize in advance. I'm also not fantastic at writing these types of posts so I will do my best to keep it somewhat structured.

I'm a 2nd year non union 1st/2nd AC from Vancouver. Over the last six months I've been testing and researching wireless video transmitters and receivers because it's something I've been looking at adding to my kit. It is also an expensive but very crucial piece of kit I feel. I always research the shit out of anything that I plan on purchasing for my kit as I feel it's necessary to be able to fully rely on your equipment so you can focus on your job. But I went a bit overkill on this specific piece of equipment because of how important and expensive it is, for me atleast. I will also say that the recent thread about a cancelled Vaxis group buy rubbed me the wrong way and motivated me to post this information as I feel it may truly help some other people in the same situation as me or similar. I will do my best to stay unbiased but I feel that is going to be very hard because of what I've learned from my research, talking to some industry professionals, and just personal experience.

My main goal was finding something incredibly reliable at the best price to performance ratio. In 2018 as we are moving into 2019 after my first few months of research I was able to quickly narrow down my options to two companies.
Teradek/Paralinx and Vaxis/GM Innovations.

TL;DR I decided the Vaxis Storm 1000+ was the most reliable at the best price to performance ratio for many many reasons. In particular I narrowed my search down to the Vaxis Storm models and the Teradek XT models in the end.
I must say that because of how new the Teradek XT line is I have yet to test them. I plan to document a thorough comparison test with the new XT's vs the Storm's this oct/nov and will update this thread.

Before I give a run down on each company I will share a bit of personal experience and knowledge from my 2 years in the industry. This is going to sound like I'm bashing/hating on Teradek but I feel it's based on facts.
I began in the industry thinking what most others do I think. That Teradek is industry standard because they are the best. But just because they are industry standard does that really make them the best? Or does it just mean that for so long have they been the only alternative up until late 2017/2018. Yes Paralinx has been around for a bit but I would only consider their Tomahawk 2 which I feel is a really top of the line reliable product but it's a bit of a donkey, very expensive, and mostly suitable for specific high budget, long range applications. Over the last two years working on indie projects, short films, indie features, etc. Everytime there has been a Teradek Bolt on set it ends up shitting the bed or causing some sort of issue 90% of the time. At first I just blamed it on the sound guy and all the cast and crew on their phones connected/searching for local wifi, and other congested wifi interference. Teradek's slowly began to make me really appreciate the lost art of running BNC.

I guess you could say my research into the subject of wireless interference with Teradek's and wireless transmitters in general really truly began when I had sent a picture of my personal GH5s build to my cousin. The build was sporting a Teradek bolt I had been loaned for the project I was shooting. My cousin replied saying "Nice build! minus the Teradek..." My cousin lives in Budapest and has been working in the industry for atleast a decade I believe. He is a very skilled DMX programmer that has worked on huge features such as Blade Runner: 2049, Atomic Blonde, Red Sparrow, Gemini man and is currently working on the Terminator Reboot just to name a few. When I had asked him "why do you say its nice minus the Teradek?" He told me a really crucial piece of information/story.

On Blade Runner: 2049 my cousin was very fortunate to work very closely with Mr. Roger Deakins. He played a crucial role in programming the hundreds of SkyPanels used for the insane dimming sequences such as in the library/archive. I believe he did a majority of the dmx programming minus the insane concentric circle chase in the water office. For his role on the production he was invited to Berlinale along with the Gaffer, and the developer of the SkyPanel to discuss their work on the film. He is someone I have a lot of respect for and really look up to in the industry. Even though we are in different departments we message each other a lot to shoot the shit about what we are working on etc. I really enjoy chatting with him because he shares pics and a lot of info from features I could only dream of working on. Anyways, enough back story on my cousin. He knows his shit which is the point I'm trying to make.

When principle photography began he told me that for over a month they had Teradek interference and he was also having interference with his wireless dmx. It got so bad and to the point where it was affecting camera dept so badly and also my cousins wireless dmx that he took it upon himself to purchase a very expensive and advanced wireless spectrum analyzer out of his own pocket. Now you're going to think oh yeah well he's programming dmx on a 185 million dollar feature, he's making bank and can afford to do so. Well...not really. Hungary is a pretty poor country which is why huge features love shooting there because their dollar goes so much further. My cousins rate on these features is most likely far less than most of you in the US make working on indie stuff.
After he purchased the spectrum analyzer on his own accord. It turned out the Teradek's were using his channels and vice versa. He was able to mitigate interference on the Teradek's and dmx mainly by him being able to control his own channels. I'm not sure if he worked with camera dept to change channels on the Teradek's to achieve this however. My cousin did this all on his own without anyone asking him to, I'd consider him a hero for solving this issue. Considering the camera setups on remote heads and super techno's etc I would consider wireless video very important.

I find it unacceptable that a $185m feature shooting on Alexa XT with top of the line Teradek Bolt Pro's (most likely?) can have wireless video interference that also causes interference for wireless dmx for over a month. And only have it solved because the lighting programmer is so pissed off that his shit isn't working properly that he takes it upon himself to solve the issue. You think on such a large budget feature Teradek would have flew in a technician or something. I understand it's possible they weren't aware of the issues during production because they weren't contacted maybe. (Maybe Mike from TD can chime in) But you think when their products are being used on such a large feature they would be in touch to ensure their products are satisfactory for someone such as Mr. Deakins. This also assured me that Teradek's have interference in almost every application from indie to multi million dollar features. That doesn't sit well with me.

Time for a short run down of both Companies. Let's start with everyone's favorite and industry standard. Teradek.

Founded in 2008 or 2009 depending on what source you check. Which would have them sitting at around a decade of experience of producing/manufacturing advanced high level wireless video transmission products and other amazing products. (happy 10 year anniversary btw Mike and everyone at Teradek! Thats a great milestone) They are based out of Irvine, California which is where they design and test their products to my knowledge. According to linkedin they have 82 employees. I'm sure Mike can confirm or correct me on any of this information I hope. The city they are based in has a population of around 270k. (this info will become relevant later on in this post) To my knowledge they import "Amimon Pro" chipsets from China. (source: https://teradek.com/blogs/articles/...the-background-and-the-ugly-choices-out-there) And they design, test and assemble their Chinese made parts at their Irvine, California location. I'm not sure if this is where Teradek Bolt pro's are actually manufactured but I'm positive Irvine, CA is their design and testing facility. Their products containing Chinese chipsets/boards are assembled in the good old United States of America which I respect. (Again I'm sure Mike will clarify any of this if I'm incorrect) I also have no idea if their new XT or LT lineup is still using "Amimon Pro" chipsets/boards or some updated or new version. I get why they are importing Chinese chipsets/boards and assembling them in the US. China is atleast a year ahead of North America technology wise and their manufacturing costs on such technologies cannot be beat. Teradek is known for their Bolt line of tx/rx units that have become industry standard on most productions. They are a very big company owned by Vitec which also owns Paralinx. Paralinx is the company that created the king of transmitters known as the Tomahawk series specifically the Tomahawk 2. It makes sense why Teradek/Vitec would acquire Paralinx for this sole reason. Now remember the place where Teradek's are designed and tested only has a population of 270k. That's not a very dense population. However I'm sure they also test their products in major metropolitan cities in the US, or have affiliated industry professionals test them before they are released.

 

[Mark LeClair]

In 2018 sometime after Blade Runner: 2049 premiered. Teradek announced their new XT line of transmitters/receivers catered to industry professionals touting "Wireless spectrum management" as one of their main features/selling points. I'm sure this was just a coincidence. Regardless I was very excited for the new XT line and planned to purchase a 1:1 500 XT set even though it was well above my budget at the time. I'm glad I didn't and decided to hold off pre ordering or purchasing one. The reason is, I feel there was a lot of misinformation surrounding the 500 XT specifically that wasn't clarified by Teradek until way later on. In my opinion the 500 XT does not belong in the XT lineup and Teradek did not make clear until way later that the 500 XT does not have the ability to manually change wireless channels. It has the ability to view the spectrum management page which is completely useless if you are unable to manually change the channels. What is the point of being able to see you are on a congested channel if you cannot manually change it? After I realized the only feature I truly cared about on the 500 XT was bullshit. I realized the 1000 XT and 3000 XT which had the feature to manually select channels were unfortunately way beyond my budget. And I felt that the price to performance ratio for a brand I'd had nothing but problems with was ridiculous. Teradek ruled themselves out of the running at this point.

Onward and upwards to the new kid on the block. Vaxis/GM Innovations.

Founded in 2005. (wait what? they have been around 3 years longer than Teradek?) They opened a US Office in 2015. I have no idea how many employees they have but I would assume at least 50. Their main headquarters is located in Changsha, China which has a population of roughly 7.5 million people. (remember how I said population would come into play?) This is where they design and test their products to my knowledge. They might manufacture in a different city such as Shenzhen. I'll be honest I don't know much about the companies history and past products. But I do know that their flagship model, the Vaxis Storm is starting to become very popular in China, and now North America. They also use Amimon chipsets/boards but they design, test, and manufacture their devices in the same country as the Amimon chipsets/boards are made. Most likely in Changsha, which like I said has a population of roughly 7.5m. They claim over 65% of the industry in China is using their wireless products, And I don't doubt it one bit. These Chinese guys have previously been using Bolt Pro's but have switched to Vaxis Storm's. It really made me curious and wanted to dig deeper and find out why.

Beginning of the summer I was prepping B cam for a small series. The owner of the rental house had just got one Vaxis Storm 500 in and was giving it to our production but for A cam. The owner is also a very well known dp/cinematographer in Vancouver. I chatted to him about the 500 because I had heard it was better than Teradek's last generation of Bolt's. He told me he thought it was way more reliable than any Teradek he'd ever used. I checked in with the A cam 1st who is union at the end of the show and asked him how he liked the Vaxis compared to Teradek's. He said he loved it and only had one tiny bad signal issue but switched channels and fixed it right away. Few weeks later I was prepping an old Alexa plus for an 18 day indie feature and ended up getting the same Vaxis storm 500 from the same rental house. Not a single issue in 18 days of production. 12 days of which were inside an old concrete and brick and mortar building which as you know can cause havoc with wireless signals. At this point Vaxis had really convinced me there was a more reliable alternative to Teradek at a better price to performance ratio and I was pretty amazed because I thought this wasn't possible up until that point. I felt that if the 500 performed that well, that the 1000+ would be pretty damn good for everything I could ever possibly need it to do.

So I started to just really think how is it possible that Vaxis has made a product that seems to be superior to the industry standard Teradek. I think the Chinese just really know what they are doing and have a much more challenging environment to create a wireless transmission device in. Like I said before China is at least a year ahead of us technology wise. More of their population has internet and wifi routers etc compared to us. The city where the Vaxis is designed, developed and tested contains 7.5m people in a very dense area. Either way you want to slice it their product is designed to work in a more challenging environment that has ATROCIOUS wireless interference/congestion. If their product will work in a city with 7.5m people, I'm positive it will work reliably in my city with 700k people.

After all said and done and roughly 7-8 months after my quest and research began I purchased a Vaxis storm 1000+ gold mount. It was an expensive purchase for me but I couldn't be happier. I really hope some of this info can help others who were in the same situation as myself in looking for a reliable video transmitter. I'm sure this post will stir a few feathers but I really didn't intend to. I just wanted to share what I have learned, sometimes there's no real easy way to do so.

 

[David Peterson]

Before I give a run down on each company I will share a bit of personal experience and knowledge from my 2 years in the industry. This is going to sound like I'm bashing/hating on Teradek but I feel it's based on facts.
I began in the industry thinking what most others do I think. That Teradek is industry standard because they are the best. But just because they are industry standard does that really make them the best? Or does it just mean that for so long have they been the only alternative up until late 2017/2018. Yes Paralinx has been around for a bit but I would only consider their Tomahawk 2 which I feel is a really top of the line reliable product but it's a bit of a donkey, very expensive, and mostly suitable for specific high budget, long range applications. Over the last two years working on indie projects, short films, indie features, etc. Everytime there has been a Teradek Bolt on set it ends up shitting the bed or causing some sort of issue 90% of the time. At first I just blamed it on the sound guy and all the cast and crew on their phones connected/searching for local wifi, and other congested wifi interference. Teradek's slowly began to make me really appreciate the lost art of running BNC.

OI!! Don't be blaming us soundies.

The camera department causes so much wireless (and more) issues for us in the sound department.... !! :-/

Seriously now, it is bad!
As our trusted sound brands put a lot of thought into wireless and how it works (or not) with us. As even the smallest of small shoots the soundie will be using wireless.
Why the camera department? I walk around with my RF Explorer and I see broad spectrum spray all over the place. On a recent short film I couldn't even use my preferred boom mics because the RF pollution from the camera department was so bad! I really wish camera accessory makers (& crew) would put better thought into their design so they wouldn't harm us, it's unnecessary.

When principle photography began he told me that for over a month they had Teradek interference and he was also having interference with his wireless dmx. It got so bad and to the point where it was affecting camera dept so badly and also my cousins wireless dmx that he took it upon himself to purchase a very expensive and advanced wireless spectrum analyzer out of his own pocket. Now you're going to think oh yeah well he's programming dmx on a 185 million dollar feature, he's making bank and can afford to do so. Well...not really. Hungary is a pretty poor country which is why huge features love shooting there because their dollar goes so much further. My cousins rate on these features is most likely far less than most of you in the US make working on indie stuff.
After he purchased the spectrum analyzer on his own accord. It turned out the Teradek's were using his channels and vice versa. He was able to mitigate interference on the Teradek's and dmx mainly by him being able to control his own channels. I'm not sure if he worked with camera dept to change channels on the Teradek's to achieve this however. My cousin did this all on his own without anyone asking him to, I'd consider him a hero for solving this issue. Considering the camera setups on remote heads and super techno's etc I would consider wireless video very important.

I find it unacceptable that a $185m feature shooting on Alexa XT with top of the line Teradek Bolt Pro's (most likely?) can have wireless video interference that also causes interference for wireless dmx for over a month. And only have it solved because the lighting programmer is so pissed off that his shit isn't working properly that he takes it upon himself to solve the issue. You think on such a large budget feature Teradek would have flew in a technician or something. I understand it's possible they weren't aware of the issues during production because they weren't contacted maybe. (Maybe Mike from TD can chime in) But you think when their products are being used on such a large feature they would be in touch to ensure their products are satisfactory for someone such as Mr. Deakins. This also assured me that Teradek's have interference in almost every application from indie to multi million dollar features. That doesn't sit well with me.

Yeah, I too have many times noticed Teradecks struggling on sets.

Anyway, yes, a top of the line wireless spectrum analyzer is indeed very very expensive!

But you can also buy them for dirt cheap, a couple of hundred bucks or less! I use one frequently as part of my work as a sound mixer on set. (hmmmm.... I thought I had an unboxing on my YouTube channel when I explained what I had in depth, but I guess not. Haven't uploaded it yet? Ah well, just google "RF Explorer". I'd guess that is likely what your cousin was using instead? Or at least surely would have tried out using first)

 

[Jeremy Wiles]

I was just about to purchase a wireless system today. Thanks for sharing your experience, Mark! Anyone experiencing interference with Teradeck and does anyone else have some feedback on Vaxis?

Thanks!

 

[Curtis boggs]

I have 2 Vaxis systems and have had zero issues.
They’ve been solid as can be.

 

[Mark LeClair]

OI!! Don't be blaming us soundies.

The camera department causes so much wireless (and more) issues for us in the sound department.... !! :-/

Seriously now, it is bad!
As our trusted sound brands put a lot of thought into wireless and how it works (or not) with us. As even the smallest of small shoots the soundie will be using wireless.
Why the camera department? I walk around with my RF Explorer and I see broad spectrum spray all over the place. On a recent short film I couldn't even use my preferred boom mics because the RF pollution from the camera department was so bad! I really wish camera accessory makers (& crew) would put better thought into their design so they wouldn't harm us, it's unnecessary.

Yeah, I too have many times noticed Teradecks struggling on sets.

Anyway, yes, a top of the line wireless spectrum analyzer is indeed very very expensive!

But you can also buy them for dirt cheap, a couple of hundred bucks or less! I use one frequently as part of my work as a sound mixer on set. (hmmmm.... I thought I had an unboxing on my YouTube channel when I explained what I had in depth, but I guess not. Haven't uploaded it yet? Ah well, just google "RF Explorer". I'd guess that is likely what your cousin was using instead? Or at least surely would have tried out using first)

Haha I'm sorry I meant that as a joke because everyone knows sound gets blamed for everything. I wrote this after 1am which is why it probably came out sounding like that. Sound is not to blame but could very possibly be a contributing factor in the picture as a whole when put in a room with many other wireless devices.

You are right about the amount of rf interference/pollution on set with a majority of it stemming from the camera dept. You are also right in the fact that not only do they need to put better thought into their designs and impact on other equipment. But they should be working with other manufacturers to mitigate issues when commonly used devices are used on set together. The problem is that each manufacturer really only cares about themselves and their own products. When companies such as RED and Nvidia for example start to work together, amazing things can be achieved that truly benefit the community in many aspects.

I believe my cousin went straight for a wi-spy unit.

I was just about to purchase a wireless system today. Thanks for sharing your experience, Mark! Anyone experiencing interference with Teradeck and does anyone else have some feedback on Vaxis?

Thanks!

My pleasure Jeremy!

 

[David Peterson]

I agree with all that, so I'll forgive you if you promise to never give too much headroom and never mix wides/tights together! ;-) Then I can always rock only the boom and never worry about wireless ever again old school style :-D

 

[Salomao Abdala]

man, thanks for this post.
I have been having problems with "Industry Standards" for such a long time.
I own a Red Weapon Helium 8K, and I can't remember a time I haven't had a problem with Teradek.

There was one time I was shooting a Commercial for Honda, on the middle of nowhere, 0 interference and the Teradek Bolt 1000 was so bad, that if I stayed more than 3m away from the TX, I would lose signal of the Small HD + Teradek Monitor kit I had rented.

I went to buy the SmallHD Cine 7 monitor and payed extra for it to have the fancy RED CONTROL. in less than 6 months, the RED CONTROL of the monitor stopped working, now I could now control my Red through the monitor, I contacted SmallHD while still on warranty and they said there was nothing they could do, and advised me to buy a new cable although the problem was probably on the monitor unit itself.

Not going to enter the amount of problem I also had with the Industry Standard Movi Pro... so much so I started calling him the Movi PROblem... switched to Ronin 2 and not a single problem have I had with that gimbal.

I would take very much care of the term "industry standard". always investigate if the gear you are using is actually the best for that kind of work.

About to buy the VAXIS Atom 500 SDI, the only thing I'm sad about it is that it does not connect to more than one Vaxis RX unit

 

[Mark LeClair]

man, thanks for this post.
I have been having problems with "Industry Standards" for such a long time.
I own a Red Weapon Helium 8K, and I can't remember a time I haven't had a problem with Teradek.

There was one time I was shooting a Commercial for Honda, on the middle of nowhere, 0 interference and the Teradek Bolt 1000 was so bad, that if I stayed more than 3m away from the TX, I would lose signal of the Small HD + Teradek Monitor kit I had rented.

I went to buy the SmallHD Cine 7 monitor and payed extra for it to have the fancy RED CONTROL. in less than 6 months, the RED CONTROL of the monitor stopped working, now I could now control my Red through the monitor, I contacted SmallHD while still on warranty and they said there was nothing they could do, and advised me to buy a new cable although the problem was probably on the monitor unit itself.

Not going to enter the amount of problem I also had with the Industry Standard Movi Pro... so much so I started calling him the Movi PROblem... switched to Ronin 2 and not a single problem have I had with that gimbal.

I would take very much care of the term "industry standard". always investigate if the gear you are using is actually the best for that kind of work.

About to buy the VAXIS Atom 500 SDI, the only thing I'm sad about it is that it does not connect to more than one Vaxis RX unit

Apologies for the late reply. Don't bother with the Atom, thats consumer grade. only use their storm products which I consider to be truly industry standard and bulletproof.

I am now in the union and was on a tier 2 feature last year with top of the line teradek 3000XT's on A/B/C. The interference was so ridiculously bad on my camera, B cam that we had to send back the 3000 for a bolt 2000 pro. it was less bad but still useable but I experienced exact same issue as you. The receivers would lose connection with the tx next to camera and I would literally have to carry the camera around the studio for it to regain connection. Don't trust SMALLHD anymore either as they are owned by CS which also owns teradek and other "industry standard" companies.

Since I wrote this post my original vaxis storm 1000+ 1:1 has increased to a 1:4 with panel rx. It has done more shows than I can count, been powered on for thousands and thousands of hours and its still going strong with no colour shift and minimal interference in severely congested locations. That's the only reason I haven't upgraded to the new 3000 yet.

 

[Taylor Morrison]

Bought a Vaxis Storm 1000 and have not looked back. Absolutely no problems 4 years into owning it. I see issues with Teradeck on sets and wonder why.

best

taylor

 

[Phil Holland]

If you are looking at dif encodes and signals, though I see some weird thoughts on Teradek, the new signal provided by the Bolt 4K is the highest quality wireless encode I've seen sans spending 6 figures on a solution.

Did these tests a while ago:

As close as I've seen to straight output from SDI really.

 

[Thomas Buchan]

Been using the Vaxis Thor 800 for about 18months. Damn thing is in Mandarin/Cantonese but haven't needed to use the menu once. It just works.... to about 400ft : )
It's a 1:2 system, been super happy with it.