Wireless video monitoring is more important than ever when running sets in 2020.
You need to keep key crew separate as much as possible, so having a setup that can run video wirelessly to many different places as simply as possible is vital for keeping your crew safe. To help fulfill that function, Hollyland integrated its low-latency wireless systems earlier this year with the Mars 300 to also support app monitoring.
This means a single transmitter on the camera can support multiple physical receivers and smartphone/tablet receivers to get more folks watching without having to crowd around a monitor.
The company has now upped that game even further with the new Mars 400S Pro, which supports traditional receivers, apps, and now livestreaming as well. By integrating USB-C into the receiver, you can plug that receiver straight into a laptop and set it up as a "camera" in any of your popular streaming software platforms to stream the feed to a live remote client safely.
Getting all this into a single unit is a real game-changer for small, independent productions.
Previously you would need an adapter like the Blackmagic Mini Recorder, which adds another set of cables and devices to bring along. By integrating it into one device, you can now set up a nice big monitor for the DIT that also does the stream for the remote client, and still have two other people on set watching on iPads or iPhones.
Having that livestream is vital, as clients are increasingly less interested in traveling to set to monitor work in realtime. We were impressed earlier in the summer with the experience of using the app, which comes with its own set of exposure and focus tools.
You can even use a USB-to-Ethernet cable to run the signal over Ethernet.
If you are shooting somewhere with a poor network connection, you can run Ethernet to a laptop computer several hundred feet away, where Internet might be stronger, to ensure that your remote client is getting a stable viewing experience.
Multiple power options for flexible setups.
On top of all that, Hollyland has redone the physical body of the device, including an external display and a cold shoe mount.
For tiny run-and-gun productions working without even a camera cage, the cold shoe is a smart improvement since it provides rugged mounting for the device directly to the shoe mount available on most DSLR and mirrorless cameras.
The device in general is all about flexibly. It supports both HDMI and SDI, both on the transmitter and the receiver. It has a barrel adapter for power or power over USB. You can monitor three separate ways. All in, it's an affordable, rugged little package.
For more information, head over to the Hollyland site.
