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Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin Issue # 2008-04a
April showers of news
CELL PHONE + CAMERA +DATA PLAN = LIVE TV
This isn't only about broadcasting, but we don't think there's a
TV station or network anywhere that won't want to get this right
away. Droplet has a software-only solution that lets any cell
phone with a camera (even a bad still camera) & a data connection
originate real-time live TV. It takes a server-side application
running at the station or network plus a handset-specific
application running in the phone. The first version sends
VGA-resolution images in an AVI package at a standard 29.96Hz
frame rate; the next version ups that to full standard definition
resolution. There's even talk-back audio from the studio over the
phone. Pricing is within any station's mad-money budgets, even
with today's terrible broadcast economy. Next time, we'll get
into other applications. Contact: John Ralston, DROPLET
TECHNOLOGY (Menlo Park, CA) 650-688-5762
mailto:ralston@droplet-tech.com http://droplet-tech.com Agency
contact: Evan Kennedy (Terpin) 310-821-6100x116 evan@terpin.com
INCREDIBLY, YOUNG ADULTS FIND BREATHALYZERS COOL
Welcome KHN Solutions, home of the BACtrack (BAC for Blood
Alcohol Content) handheld portable breathalyzer ($80). When we
first saw & reviewed it, our thoughts were mostly of the
concerned parental variety, but surprise followed. Son Ian, 21,
asked to take it along as he & his friends went drinking; this
group always designates a driver, so it wasn't about finding out
who could fly under police radar. Those who did drink passed it
around the table after each beer & the one with the lowest BAC
score bragged about it. The BACtrack makes that easy; you push
the button, wait for the digits to count down, then exhale into
either side (like fogging a window with a 5-second pant, not like
blowing & your lips never touch it); within seconds, it displays
your BAC percentage score. Whatever your reasons for covering it,
drop a note to Keith. Contact: Keith Nothacker, KHN SOLUTIONS
(San Francisco CA) 415-693-9756x113
mailto:keith.nothacker@khnsolutions.com http://bactrack.com
THIS MONTH, JVC BIMETAL HEADPHONES GET UPPITY
That JVC bimetal earphone technology that first emerged last year
in their HA-FX300 earbuds ($100) is now heading over your head in
a headband version with even more amazing sound quality. This
month, the new HA-SX500 ($80) mounts its earbuds on a lightweight
folding headband & bumps them up to a 16mm neodymium driver in
the same kind of vibration-damping, friction-reducing, musical
detail championing construction. Check in with Chelsea & give
them a listen. Contact: Chelsea Vander Groef, JVC COMPANY OF
AMERICA (Wayne, NJ) 973-317-5000x5312 mailto:cvandergroef@jvc.com
http://jvc.com
ZOOM HAS ROOM FOR OTHER MIKES
Whether in an NAB context or for anybody whose job description
stretched to include recording audio or for anybody with any
reason to record, the Zoom H2 ($200) & H4 ($400) portable
handheld digital recorders are essentially each a complete audio
studio recorder. The SD card (its recording medium) size sets the
capacity & you set the quality level (with less recording time
for pristine quality, tons more recording time if you're willing
to opt for an acceptable compression level). Each of these has
mikes built in, but don't overlook their ability to let you plug
in external mikes. The H2 has a mini-jack mike connector with
Plug-In Power available while the H4 offers 2 bottom connectors
that can each take either unbalanced quarter-inch phone jacks or
balanced XLR sockets (with phantom power available). Two-track
record an interview by putting a lav on each of two people or a
lav on the main speaker & a handheld pointing at each other
participant in turn. Use a boundary mike on the table to grab all
the participants at a roundtable or conference room meeting. Use
a pair of wireless mikes to grab two separate participants at an
event. The Zoom H2 & H4 have always been useful any time audio is
part of the process; their versatility expands once you also
think about using them with external mikes. Contact: Mark Wilder,
SAMSON TECHNOLOGIES (Hauppauge, NY) 631-784-2200x142
mailto:mwilder@samsontech.com http://SamsonTech.com
DEBUT AT CTIA: NEW ZPOCKET CELL BOOST DOCK
It all started with the house-size bubble of boosted cell
coverage that the Wi-Ex zBoost dual-band (CEL/PCS) cell bar
booster ($400) can make happen. Then we told you about the
smaller desk-size bubble of the zPersonal ($169). Now the bubble
& price tag both shrank again at CTIA with the Wi-Ex debut of
zPocket, a new cell-booster dock. While the other models connect
a signal access (mostly amplified antenna) unit to what's
essentially a miniature indoor cell tower, the new zPocket uses
an even lower power relay inside a small desktop stand. When a
cell phone is in the stand, RF inductive coupling gives it all
the benefits of a Wi-Ex cell bar boost. (Use a headset or the
speakerphone mode; don't lift the dock up to your ear). Contact:
Sharon Cuppett, WI-EX INC. (Norcross, GA) 770-239-5475x6380
mailto:scuppett@wi-ex.com http://wi-ex.com AGENCY CONTACT: Deanna
Anderson 404-759-1890 mailto:danderson705@comcast.net
READY TO REVIEW BUT NOT BUY: EUBIQ
Eubiq is earmarking a very limited number of the power track
products destined for US retail to let a few choice reviewers get
their hands on the product now. It is still a couple of months
before these can be bought in US stores & none of us wants to get
your readers, viewers or listeners excited about something they
can't yet buy. So if there's a way for you to cover it as a
"coming attraction" or if your lead time is long enough to be
compatible with eating this much calendar, get Marty your
shipping address now, please. Contact: NG Kee Haur, EUBIQ PTE LTD
(Singapore) +65-6372-9393x380 mailto:keeng@eubiq.com
http://eubiq.com
WHY STATIONS ADD $300 TO A MAKE-UP MIRROR
While the white LEDs in each Litepanels video/photo light are
precision matched for color temperatures within a 100K degree
range, TV stations are discovering that on-camera talent can get
their make-up wrong if they use standard dressing room lighting
(a lot of it fluorescent). The solution is to put a Litepanels
Micro ($300) at the make-up mirror so what they see in the mirror
is what the camera will see. If you're at NAB, you should see
this very cool (looking & running) new all-LED technology at
work. Contact: Ken Fisher, LITEPANELS, INC. (North Hollywood CA)
818-332-3070 mailto:ken@litepanels.com http://LitePanels.com
A TAIL OF 2 KITTIES
This question has more to it than just a not to electronically
cooled & heated Komfort Pets carriers: during summer vacation
travel, people almost always take a dog to a kennel, but what do
they do with a cat? You can easily leave enough food & water for
a week & a clean litter box should last that long, but should you
leave the thermostat at human-cool levels? With a Komfort Pets
carrier, just leave its door open & let its electronics give your
cat a cozy respite from the hottest of days even if you set the
house not to cool below 90. If you do decide to take kitty on
your travels, you can't bring him into the restaurants en route,
but a Komfort Pets carrier can keep him cool when the rest of the
car interior turns into a solar-heated Dutch oven. Ask Bob.
Contact: Bob Inello, KOMFORT PETS (Revere, MA) 781-485-0077
mailto:rinello@komfortpets.com http://KomfortPets.com
MOGO MOUSE CHARGES QUICKLY, DRAINS SLOWLY
If you can keep a MoGo Mouse moving & clicking non-stop for more
than 5.5 hours, you might run it out of a battery charge by then,
but for most folks, a full charge is good for 10-12 hours of
normal work. If you manage a lunch break & stick it back in the
slot to charge, it will get 85% recharged in 25-30 minutes & get
all the way from dead to 100% in less than an hour. For extreme
workaholics who need more non-stop runtime hours than that,
there's always the option of keeping a second MoGo Mouse charged
in the slot & swapping. Ask Jack. Contact: Jack Corrao, NEWTON
PERIPHERALS (Natick, MA) 858-792-0944
mailto:jack.corrao@newtonperipherals.com
http://NewtonPeripherals.com
SPECIAL REPORT: NEW PLAY FOR TELEPHONE AUDIO
Originally, journalists thought of people talking on a telephone
as a way to make an appointment, check a fact or sometimes even
do an interview. For the point of our current theme, we can
somewhat ignore elements like voice mail (nee answering machines)
& robot callers, but one development deserves a tiny bit of
attention: tie-ins between phones & the audio consoles on radio &
TV shows. Even more broadly, there's an established ability to
get audio into or out of a voice call with things other than
simply the handset between the people on the phone. We recently
checked & found that such devices (called hybrids because of the
nature of the transformers that separate the two sides of the
phone call) are now available in the $100-$200 price range with
decent quality, but there's more. This is about signs of a rapid
convergence of elements that together do things that just might
take some stress out of reporting. Even just going this far, that
kind of ability to exchange audio with a phone can make it easier
to record (then edit) interviews for a Web site audio feed with a
more professional audio quality; it's also a way that a colleague
can record your spoken notes from the field when more than one
colleague needs them to work on. Why not just key it all in? It
depends on how much time you have at your end; even a fast typist
can get the words out three times faster by speaking them. The
second path of convergence involves the increasing capabilities &
accuracy of PC-based speech-to-text software. Current offerings
can claim a 99% accuracy rate with connected speech (speaking
naturally, without separating words & saying them one at a time)
& without prior training to a speaker's voice. There are new
tricks, like being able to drop WAV or MP3 files into a folder &
having them automatically transcribed into text. If you're a
throwback to an earlier generation with the long-since rare
ability to narrate a piece exactly as you would type it, you just
became three times more productive; even if not, truncating the
time burden of transcription is a huge help. The third element
here is the growing array of small work objects you already carry
that either already have the ability to capture the spoken voice
or soon will, like the increasingly economical pro-quality
portable recorders, tiny voice recorders, audio recorders in
digital cameras & soon, cell phones; beyond voice notes, an
upcoming update to the BlackBerry will support direct voice
recording & give you several ways to get it out of the phone &
into your PC. With speech recognition turning words into text
without making us wear headsets, portable gear dropping recorded
notes & comments into a folder that transforms them into text &
our phones also able to turn speech into text in real time,
productivity may go up & stress may go down. The down side is
that if we all learn to talk the way we write, we'll be going
against the grain of a world that loves to interrupt us.
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW: VIDLED CAMERA LIGHT
The VIDLED camera light (base price $275) was the first example
we ever saw of battery-power LED lighting scaled to fit a
camcorder. The light comes from a front array of 52 LEDs, their
intensity under the control of a knob on the back. The body top &
bottom have 5 places to attach standard tripod-thread screws;
you'll generally use the center one on the bottom for a screw-in
shoe mount adapter. A coax power connector accepts 7.2-30VDC (the
literature warns that anything over 30 will blow it out forever).
This product has been missing in action since at least last
summer; the review unit we got in is from the first production
run of its new case tooling. The light's body is bar-shaped,
roughly 1.5"x1.7"x1.4" (before you add the shoe mount or screw on
a rechargeable battery). Our test unit came in black (a $25
add-on cost) with a pair of 7.2 Volt LiIon batteries, each with a
charger ($75/set) & each good for about 90 minutes of
full-intensity operation per charge. The light bar itself is a
little less than half a pound, with almost another half pound in
the shoe mount, battery & cord. The "DayLED" model they provided
provides a 5600K color temperature (they also have 3000K & 8200K
models) with a 40-degree flood beam width. Its light is
dazzlingly bright - in our estimation, entirely suitable for an
ENG run & gun light - though it may be uncomfortably bright for
stand-ups; it's rated 62 Lux/5.8 foot-candles at 6'. This glaring
impression is probably from the scheme it uses to generate its
approximately 5600K color temperature; instead of using an array
of 5600K LEDs, it uses a half & half mix of warm 300K & cold 800K
LEDs; the 8000K LEDs are somewhat more intense & have a greater
impact on our eyes. We love this light but recognize some
trade-offs; primarily, for bigger, more pro-level camcorders,
it's a good value, but for the small butter-box consumer
camcorders of today, it may be a bit unwieldy to put a pound of
light on a camcorder that only weighs a pound & a half itself.
It's handy for lighting things (though it can create multiple
shadow patterns) but because of its glaring intensity, it's tough
on the eyes of people who have to look in its direction (which
makes it a great light for ambush journalism). All that said,
it's still a LED light with a lot less drain on batteries, a lot
better lamp life expectancy, a lot of runtime per charge on small
batteries & a much smaller total environmental impact than any
traditional tungsten camera lights. Bottom line: a bright idea,
usefully delivered.
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW 2: AIRFIT ON-EAR HEADPHONES
Altec Lansing qualifies its Upgrader Series headphone designs as
being either SnugFit (with cushions that seal off outside noises)
or AirFit (on-ear designs that let the outside world in more
freely). We tried their 3.1-ounce AirFit UHP304 headphones in the
context of monitoring the audio your camcorder is getting
(assuming it has a headphone jack; not all do); we are not
evaluating them as audiophile quality, though they're fine for
casual music listening & similar uses. They have 32 Ohm 40mm
neodymium drivers. Their sensitivity & clarity are more than
adequate for field camcorder monitoring & an inline volume
control helps them adapt to the current ambient sound
environment. Their headband is a slender pair of titanium wires
giving a light but sure fit. Their weight is appealing & their
audio quality is more than adequate for camcorder applications,
though there are some missing mechanical elements that might have
helped (like a swivel to let the earpieces fold flat & a middle
hinge to help them pack more compactly. They do come with a
pizza-shape carrying case. Bottom line: a no-brainer at home &
very much worth considering for the road.
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW 3: ATH-ES5 HEADPHONES
The context for this review is the audio side of shooting video,
where you need to be sure while you're shooting of the quality of
the audio you capture; come to think of it, that's also entirely
true for recording & involves completely parallel concerns when
recording in the field. In either case, you need to hear what's
going on in the real world as well as what's going onto the
recording; in our experience, that requires on-ear headphones.
In-ear or circumaural (big cups that surround the ears)
headphones isolate you too much from those real-world sounds. The
ideal headphones for these applications are lightweight, fold to
pack in minimal space, adjust well to the head & offer good audio
transparency (since a less than linear response warps your
ability to monitor the quality of what's being recorded). One of
the newest alternatives to do a good job of filling that bill is
Audio-Technica ATHES5 EarSuit headphones. Mechanically, they take
some getting used to because their headband length adjustment
works by swiveling the 1.8" ear pieces from the mounting point on
the rim; we weren't thrilled with the fit, but had an inspiration
& found a very comfortable compromise by placing the band behind
the neck instead of over the head. The folding-away part works
fine; you end up with something like a 4" diameter circle about
an inch thick; we should mention it comes with a carry pouch. The
weight is ideal, a smidge over 2 ounces. As to the audio quality,
it's incredibly good for this style headphone; they didn't skimp
on the 40mm neodymium elements with coverage from 10Hz (too low
to hear, about the speed of an old telephone dial's clicks) to
25KHz (teenagers, bats & the occasional pooch can hear that
high). Bottom line: it's a lightweight to carry but a heavyweight
when it comes to the job of letting you hear the nuances in what
you're recording.
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW 4: AZDEN SMX-10
In a pinch, the mikes built into a camcorder can capture credible
audio, but they're not what you would choose to use
professionally when filing a video report. Among other things,
their audio response is not flat across the entire range you want
to record, they don't reject any significant part of the ambient
sound field & their sensitivity, while adequate, is far from
optimum. We've tested several camera-mounted external mikes & for
a while have used the Audio-Technica PRO24 in a tic-tac-toe
rubber band shock mount, which itself can get big & a bit
unwieldy. We just got in a mike with largely similar
characteristics but without that girth. The Azden SMX10
directional stereo microphone is a slender 0.7" diameter, 7"-long
cylinder (add a half inch to the length when it's wearing its
foam wind filter). Like other directional stereo mikes in our
tests, it's an XY design, meaning it uses twin electret condenser
capsules, each with a directional cardioid pattern pointed,
respectively, 45 degrees left & right of straight ahead. The
result is a good "center channel" overlap area straight ahead
that includes directional audio from the sides as well as the
nuances of unique placement in space that results from the
additional (phase & echo) texture of hearing the environment in
stereo. The condenser elements are powered by a single AAA cell
in the shank of the mike; there's a power switch to help with
battery life & a switch that turns on a low-frequency roll-off to
help reject things like background hum or camera motor noise. The
3.5mm mike plug is on a coiled cord to keep from dangling.
Mechanically, one of the most welcome features of this mike is
its unique low-profile shock mount; think of two metal plates,
each about 2.3" x 0.7", one affixed to the shoe mount & the other
to the mike's mounting clips, joined at both ends by rubber
squares, each less than an inch square, keeping the plates half
an inch apart. The mike body rides about 1.25" above the shoe &
the total max width of the mike, mount & windscreen stays under
2.5". In our test recordings, the mike exhibited good
sensitivity, good rear rejection, good & apparently flat response
& crisp performance. Bottom line: it is a very competent stereo
mike for camera-mounted use in most field applications with the
added benefit of being extremely compact to pack & carry, a plus
for solo shooting in the field.
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW 5: RODE STEREO VIDEOMIC
The Rode Stereo VideoMic (SVM) is a curious piece, replete with
trade-offs, made especially frustrating because it delivers the
best overall audio quality of any of the stereo XY directional
mikes in our tests. The first thing you'll note is its size
(nearly as big as the JVC GZ-HD6 camcorder we tested it on).
Naked, the mike & mount 6.5" long & 2.1"wide; the mike itself is
2.5" tall but the hood-ornament-style mount brings the top of the
mike about 4" above the level of the shoe mount. The mike is
sensitive to wind noise & comes with a "Dead Kitten" furry wind
noise baffle that fits over the end & measures about 6" in
diameter & 4" long. With the camera zoomed full wide, the
whiskers get into the frame. There are three ways to solve that.
One is to raise the shoe level with a small "stilt" adapter or a
dual-mount adapter (like the Cool-Lux MD3000) or a separate
mounting bracket (like the Bracket 1 Mini or a StroboFrame grip).
One is to make the Dead Kitten into a wig for your balding Troll
doll & put a foam wind baffle on it (the one for the Zoom H2 fits
fine). One has to do with the SVM shock mount, which uses rubber
O bands to attach side rails (extending up from the shoe mount)
to the top & bottom, fore & aft, of the left & right sides of the
mike (8 in all); if you detach the mike & reverse the mount, then
reattach, the mike will angle back instead of forward & it will
be easier to keep the Dead Kitten hairs out of the frame. (Note:
the big muffs used in movie & TV productions on mikes on boom
poles are called "dead cats" which is the root of the "Dead
Kitten" name, but it did make for some delays when first bringing
these from Australia through Customs). Like other mikes in out
tests, this is an XY stereo mike with cardioid (directional)
sensitivity patterns that respectively point 45 degrees left &
right of center, with some overlap in the middle & good rejection
behind. The condenser mike element polarizing Voltage & power for
the preamp come from a standard 9V battery that loads into the
top of the mike body. The back of the mike offers 3 tiny toggle
switches for power on/off, a 10dB cut (in case the signal level
from the mike is too much for the camcorder) & a low-frequency
roll-off (to reject camera motor noise or ambient ventilation or
machine noise or hum). In our test recordings, the sensitivity,
flatness, crispness, rear rejection & front reach of this mike
are the best we've yet tested by a small but discernable margin.
Bottom line: swap its hairy nose for a rubber one & get used to
its size for the best camera-mounted directional stereo mike
performance we've yet seen.
JOURNO JOB SHRINK & STINK & THINK
In the past few weeks, beyond the 100 buy-outs at a major news
magazine, we know of at least one magazine group folding, at
least one network getting hit by some significant job cuts & a
very large newspaper & TV ownership group gathering its bosses to
share the bad news of major budget cuts. A lot of our brethren
are about to join the unemployed. What stinks about it is how
much could have been avoided because every underlying cause was
long known but internal politics made management irrational. We
think it will get worse before it gets better, but we also think
there are some promising harbingers ahead. One is the economy,
which we see beginning a significant rebound in November. We
think it will be just short of a year before the housing market
stops bleeding or gas prices get friendlier. We think consumer
confidence will start returning toward the end of the summer. So
we see a stronger economic 4Q08 for media. While it's primarily
the size of the ad well that grows the editorial well, we also
see some promising new technologies that will bring down some
significant chunks of expenses in other operational areas, which
may allow them to again invest in content. Between now & a year
from now, our only advice is to marry & divorce somebody
extraordinarily rich & sans pre-nup. Contact: Martin Winston,
NEWSTIPS (Novelty, OH) 440-338-8400; mailto:marty@newstips.com
http://Newstips.com
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Newstips Bulletin [Novelty, OH] +1.440.338.8400 http://Newstips.com
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