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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Teradek Bolt first hands on / Delay test

I get mine tomorrow. Pretty excited, in twenty years shooting film this will be the first WV I've ever owned. Been shooting with long cables for too long now. I will also report about my experience here.
 
Tested the Bolt briefly yesterday. It works. The big question I think a lot of folks have is why not buy a $200+ Chinese video transmitter instead, which I intend to get as well for other reasons, laptop etc. the Teradek Bolt has its advantages. HDSDI which I personally need with my monitors, option for multiple receivers, build quality, rentability and features. Lot of folks who have broadcast monitors on set instead of TVs can't really use an HDMI system so that's really the biggest problem. But I can see lot of folks going for the cheap and simply if it works for them.
 
There is a tremendous difference between a professional chipset product like the Teradek Bolt or Paralinx Arrow (smallest, lightest, most cost effective professional grade system on the market), and that of a consumer product like the others out there. Please see my post in the PARALINX thread about this.
 
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One of the obvious advantages to the Bolt, besides HD-SDI which is required in a professional unit is the size and connectivity.
The Bolt is tiny and has robust lemo connectors for power via D-Tap to your cameras.

The bolt is almost invisible attached to the side of an Epic.
 
No doubt that the bolt is pretty revolutionary- if it works as advertised. The marketing strategies are a bit questionable (pricing on B&H) but given the features, if true, it is absolutely the best value...
 
I just finished up a week of shooting with my newly arrived Bolt and I have to say it is bad-Ass! I am really happy with it.

It is small (much smaller than the CamWave), no delay, it connects in about 10 seconds and it has an internal battery so it stays on even when you change camera batteries. I was not really pushing the range on this shoot. I had it about 30 feet from each other on a stage with a stage with flats, lighting... in-between.... and it worked great.

I would defiantly recommend it! I might need to buy another one myself.

Cheers,
Rich
 
What's the range on the bolt? I'm planning on ordering the v mount one that works with 2, 3 iPads.
 
been renting one for a few shoots recently, haven't run into a single issue yet. highly recommend it. Haven't done a range test, but it's been handling 50 feet through a few walls well.
 
Bolt

Bolt

Ok, I have had the Bolt now for a month and have put it through some different situations. It Rocks. In the Open spaces it's a great transmitter. Further and more stable than a Camwave. The Paralinx is basically the same in distance and stability. Interiors is Similar also. In wide open stages it works All around. If your gonna try and put a ton of walls and floors between you and the transmitter your range is much smaller but the great part is you could hide the receiver anywhere because it's tiny. But the interior range is still pretty descent. SDI, an internal battery, Lemo connectors, multiple receivers. I have only tried the two receivers but that worked nicely. I will have pictures soon. The Bolt is a pleasure to use. I'm not worried about the thing working. It takes very little time to connect and if it does disconnect it will reconnect quickly. around 7-10 seconds. The best thing is that it's reliable.
 
First the bad new, I got a lemon and had to send my Bolt back, wouldn't stay connected beyond 20 ft. The good news is that the folks at Teradek were all over it, quick response had it overnighted back on their dime so service and support seems good. The jury is still out on QA but if you have a problem they will fix it. I love the size and simplicity of the Bolt, I'm sure it will be a great product when I get a working unit :-)
 
There is not a lot of chatter on this thread but I need to report that my Teradek Bolt is alive and well and always has been. I turns out that I had power issues due to a bad fuse in the D tap wiring of my battery plate. My Bolt now works great, just needed the proper juice.
 
So a month later are the Bolt users happy? I've heard of some issues regarding voltage and the unit switching to in camera battery prematurely, is that something you early adopters have experienced, or any other 'gotchas'?
 
What's the battery solution to power the receiver for a wireless handheld monitor?
 
FYI to all - Signal from the Bolt cannot be seen by BlackMagic Design I/O hardware and Raptor VTR. Ben Cain over at Negative spaces also confirms this issue. I have also been unable to get ANY 3G signals through the unit at all. It will also send random, over modulated audio, even when there is no audio present on the HD-SDI source. We've kind of been getting the run around with tech support although initial contact was very responsive. Until these issues are overcome, we can't recommend.
 
I got Optitek Asus wireless solution for 850$. Yes it worked as any chinese WHDMI would work, but not proffesional because cables were not marked and finaly I ended up with 850$ disfunctional junk. After that I bought Teradek Brik.
Perfect. Any idiot can use it. No cables to mess up. Easy to mount. Internal bateries. 3000$ well spent.
I use it for stedicam work also, better for balance then Bolt.
If someone interested I'll post pictures.
 
I'd like to post a follow up to my previous insight:

Michael Romano said:
FYI to all - Signal from the Bolt cannot be seen by BlackMagic Design I/O hardware and Raptor VTR. Ben Cain over at Negative spaces also confirms this issue. I have also been unable to get ANY 3G signals through the unit at all. It will also send random, over modulated audio, even when there is no audio present on the HD-SDI source. We've kind of been getting the run around with tech support although initial contact was very responsive. Until these issues are overcome, we can't recommend.
Click to expand...

After posting this I was directly contacted by a Teradeck rep. who pointed me to the v1.2 firmware. After install, the below is now accurate:

1 - Blackmagic Designs I/O devices (Tested with the Ultrastudio 3D Thunderbolt I/O) can capture and display signal from the Bolt. Hooray! I cannot speak for the Raptor issues noted by Ben Cain as we don't have one to test out.

2 - Audio appears to be correct unless no audio is sent at all. This seems to apply to just silence as well as true 0 value input, must be tested further on additional cameras besides the ALEXA. This might need some real world testing for robustness but it isn't a huge deal breaker - For us anyways.

3 - All 3G modes at all framerates from the ARRI ALEXA still are unsupported. AArrrggghh! As I really would like to get this unit working, I'm trying to set up a conference call test with the engineers over at Teradeck. I'll post the results of said test when we can have a chance to complete it and figure out whats going on.
 
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