08Jan Monoprice 2.4Ghz Wireless lav system?
Jordan posted this demonstration of the Monoprice wireless lav system. The $82 price tag is pretty attractive, maybe I should say really attractive. Honestly, that’s extremely well priced. It also supports two way communication over the 2.4Ghz wifi band and sports a pretty decent transmission distance (150 feet).
The lav mic didn’t sound that good in Jordan’s demo video (very muddy), but what do you expect from a wireless system this cheap? The main thing is that the transmitters work properly. As you can see above the lav uses a cellphone style TRRS “4 pole” connector. While this isn’t an extremely common type of connector for lav microphones, you can find some very decent lav mics that are designed to work with smart phones that support this style of connector.
The Rode smartLav+ and the Aspen HQ-SPK lav mics are just two examples. Add one of these mic’s to this very affordable wireless system and you might have a good combination. This setup might even work with other lav mics with a simple trs to trrs adapter. I may try to get my hands on one of these Monoprice wireless lav setups. If you beat me to it, be sure to let me know what mics and adapters you test.
Even with the purchase of a lav mic, the combined price would be in the $150 price range. If that provides good clean audio, than this system could be a very good deal for the price.
January 8th, 2015 at 9:46 am
Hi Deejay, I had a thought about this setup. Wouldn’t there be an issue when around wifi routers?
January 8th, 2015 at 9:59 am
What I meant was being around multiple routers, sorry I should have clarified.
January 8th, 2015 at 10:04 am
In a really high concentration wifi environment, your range on these things is probably going to drop down to 20 to 30 feet (if you’re lucky) and it might be completely useless, but 2.4Ghz devices generally have built in channel optimization and move around in the 2.4Ghz band in order to get the best signal strength so if you don’t have more than 3 or 4 wifi routers around you, things should be fine.
January 8th, 2015 at 10:17 am
First time I’ve seen one use the Wifi band…interesting. I’ve been experimenting with the Sony ECM-HW2 bluetooth wireless kit. It’s a little pricey but the transmitter and receiver are teensie and it interfaces directly with the Multi Interface Shoe on my a6000, a7r, and a7s. So far I’m impressed with what it can do especially with my Rode Lav mic connected but I haven’t put it through enough yet to make a proper decision. I’m hoping it can be a permanent part of my guerilla film kit. Going to try and blog about it if I can find the time.
January 8th, 2015 at 10:28 am
I’ve been looking at that guy. Sony is smart to add hot shoe support. They are also selling an adapter for their UHF systems that looks pretty interesting. Let me know if you put anything out on the Sony ECM-HW2. I’d been interested to hear more.
January 8th, 2015 at 10:36 am
I’m also very curious about the new Sony pro lav mics (UWP-D series) with the MIS shoe interface as an optional add on but I’m not in the market for a pro model upgrade yet. I’ve been using a Sony UWP-V kit from the previous generation of wireless mics since 2011 and have been extremely happy with them.
I’ll let you know how this one works out. I’m trying to keep a video ready emergency kit ready for every day carry because you never know what can happen!
January 8th, 2015 at 1:55 pm
Hi Deejay, What do you think about Azden EX503 lav?
maybe a good solution with that
January 8th, 2015 at 2:29 pm
You would have to use an adapter of some kind, the Azden is a mono 3.5mm if I remember correctly, not TRRS. It also requires input voltage, haven’t found anything that says the Monoprice unit will definitely output power.
January 14th, 2015 at 11:06 pm
I’ve finished my initial testing with the ECM-W1M Bluetooth microphone.
No spoilers so you’ll have to check out my blog post and see for yourself how it did.
http://davetameling.com/blog/2015/1/sony-multi-interface-shoe-microphones
January 15th, 2015 at 5:46 am
Will check it out. Thanks Dave.
February 29th, 2016 at 9:29 pm
I’ve been playing with the Monoprice wireless kit for several days now. Purchased it direct from monoprice.com for $49. Range is decent…like who really needs to transmit out of sight of the camera? I’m using the Rode SmartLav+ and the audio is better than expected, but still seems pretty hot and strong which necessitates careful placement of the mic, low gain settings at the camera or recorder and fiddling with EQ in post. What is the low cut switch on the receiver for??? Has no affect, unlike the low cut switch on the transmitter which does what you would expect it to do.
One issue I haven’t seen discussed is the latency or audio lag issue with this system. Monoprice manual states 1 second delay as common with 2.4ghz systems. Audio lags about -200 milliseconds behind video during my tests. Easily fixed with VLC Media Player and Avidmux 2.6 (both free).
For $49, I didn’t think I could go wrong. I’m good with this kit for now.
March 1st, 2016 at 7:54 pm
Mine was within a frame which is decent. As for the low pass switch its actually for the talk back audio, you can actually send audio back to the transmitter via the plug and ear piece, which is handy when you need to read lines to an actor or give them braking information in a live event, or spy on people.