Which wireless Lav kit?

[Giff Gfroerer]

We currently produce children's videos. We will always have one host, sometimes two. We shoot with a Canon XL1. Our hosts will always be within 15 yards, but for the most part much closer at maybe 5 yards. We are set to buy a wireless lav kit. Here are the options we were given for being under severe price constraints:

1 - $119.50 Audio-Technica PRO-88W Wireless VHF Lav Mic Kit
2 - $149.50 Azden WLX-PRO Wireless VHF Lav Mic Kit
3 - $319.50 Azden Dual Wireless VHF Lav Mic Kit (allows recording from two transmitters simultaneously)
4 - $459.50 Sennheiser EW-122P Wireless UHF Lav Mic Kit

We need to purchase in the next few days for a project in early August.....

Please, all comments will be most appreciated. We hear from our seller that pretty much the Audio-Technica and Azden are the same quality wise. But is the Sennheiser that much better?

Thank you so much!

MFP

[Nathan Gifford]

Number 4. However you might want to look at the EW-112P

[Giff Gfroerer]

Thanks, Nathan. Have you ever had a problem using a lav and the onboard mic at the same time?

Is there anything about the Sennheiser that I should know about before buying?

[Nathan Gifford]

You can use both, but audio resolution on the XL-1 has to be dropped to 12 bit. Additionally some NLEs do not support 4-track. However, there is add on software that will allow almost all NLEs to use 4-track.

As far as buying you might try Pro-Tape since I found a couple of units there, very reasonably priced. You might try the Houston store and ask for Jaime. Pro-Tape is a DVinfo sponsor too.

[Giff Gfroerer]

What exactly does the resolution being dropped from 16 bit to 12 bit mean for the final product?

What is an NLE? Of course, then the follow up to that is how do I know if my "NLE" will support 4 track?

I have talked with Jamie. He only has the 122p and we need the 112p. He said he could alter it with one of the other mics in the store. Is that bad?

We are also trying to figure out how exactly to attach this to our canon xl1 using audio 2 and the rca plugs. No one seems to know anything about a female 1/8 plug to 2 rca plugs???

Thanks,
MFP

[Nathan Gifford]

When you drop from 16 bit to 12 bit you are dropping down to about the same resolution as a CD (I think). Depending on what you are doing that may be just fine.

NLE is you editing package (Non Linear Editor). On Mac systems if the NLE supports 4 track, it will import all 4 track at once. Windows systems generally require 2 passes. You will need to look at the way your NLE works to see if you have support.

If your NLE does not support 4-track, that's not a problem just get Scenalyzer which is cheap and does the job just fine.

Without knowing which mic, I cannot say. I do use other mics (hand) with my bodypack transmitter and they work fine.

For RCA it takes 2 plugs: RCA to phono, phone to minature. Don't worry about stereo or mono, Sennheiser has the same audio out on both channels.