Teletest Telesend HD LCD receiver Review

Jon Boast

Author: Jon Boast

Published 1st July 2014

by Jon Boast Issue 90 - June 2014

It was towards the middle of last year that I reviewed my Teradek Bolt HD wireless system for TV Bay magazine. I commented then, that monitors are about the one thing that cameramen use day in day out, wireless ones particularly. Even these days you change your camera from day to day, one day you may be out shooting on an XDCAM, then a C300 or an Alexa. Invariably though as an owner operator your monitoring systems stay the same for those shoots.
My Teradek Bolt is still going strong, and Ive found its the perfect combination with my 17 Sony Oled monitor in a controlled environment. When the director wants to be more mobile and free, I still dont find myself using the Bolt that often with my 8.4 Oled Monitor, as its all still quite cumbersome and cable heavy. On such an occasion, I still find myself using my trusty Transvideo 2.4ghz SD wireless monitor system.
When Nick at Teletest asked if I wanted to try out his new HD all in one wireless monitor system, I immediately thought that this could be it. The answer to many of our prayers, a monitor that adopts the transvideo built in monitor/receiver scenario in a HD package. The key to a system like this to be a success, is a monitor and receiver that doesnt have a mess of cables to break, is compact and light enough to keep the director happy all day and a good solid picture so the director or PD doesnt panic when the picture drops out. Have Teletest succeed with what they claim is the first product on the market of its type?
My first experience of Teletest was 14 years ago, whilst working as a trainee in a facilities company. We had several of their 2.4ghz wireless systems, it was the earlier days of wireless monitoring and directors were still used to lugging around a 9 CRT monitor. So the Teletest, and then Blackbox options new to the market were a welcome arrival. Their products seemed well made back then, reliable and I know several cameramen who still have Teletest 2.4ghz tx and rx in their kits. If something was to go wrong in these kits, invariably it was a powering cable or BNC running from the receiver to the monitor. Teletest then released the first monitor with an internal 2.4GHz receiver then, paving the way for many other similar monitors. Such as the Transvideo, which arguably gained such a strong market position in later years, cornering the market in a 2.4 receiver system with no additional cables and a built in receiver. Less things to go wrong on a shoot.

The first thing you notice when unpacking the kit, is unlike other monitor kits, everything has been thought about and included within the simple plug and play package. The kit is already in a flight case of its own. All be it not a peli, but none the less; there is no reason to rush out and buy a case; which is so often the case with any new kit. The monitor comes with its own directors carrying case/rain cover, a strap and there is even a lighting stand included that can be used to mount the monitor on, Nick at Teletest states this is particularly useful if you are in a environment whereby you arent moving much and you want to keep the receiver in line of sight to the transmitter for optimum performance. Not something I feel I would use that much with this type of monitor, its more designed for my kit as a confidence monitor for a director on something where mobility is always key. If the director was fixed to the same spot, wed probably have the budget for the 17 monitor.
The transmitter feels robust and has the design form similar to the IDX Wevi system, on a large ENG camera, it sits between the battery and the camera. Size for me is a slight issue, in a world of every changing camera sizes, I like the Bolt for its compact transmitter size and I did find the Teletest sender on my c300 rig did add more length to the set up. Reassuringly much of its size must be down to the flat triangular aerial sitting on the top of the transmitter, which did prove helpful in range on a later shoot. The system is based around a HDMI system, which initially worried me as HDMI carries with it a prosumer stigma but I suppose why not use an uncompressed HD signal that HDMI can carry. The unit is available in both HDMI and HD SDI inputs, and I think that some of the size of the transmitter in the SDI version is down to the electronics (dont ask me what.) that is used to convert the HDMI jiggery pokery into from the SDI signal. Certainly you notice the small but discreet HDMI plug which runs down the side of the transmitter.

Upon my first shoot with the system, the additional dtap that the transmitter provides came in handy and also the SDI version has an SDI loop through for feeding other monitors or an EVF perhaps. Id requested the vlock version as this works with all my cameras, but Teletest will ship them with any battery connector, Vlock, Anton Bauer etc etc

One thing that I was surprised with, was that the SDI version I borrowed didnt carry audio embedded in the SDI signal. Im used to other SDI systems carrying audio and the director being able to plug cans into the monitor a very handy feature. Ive been informed though that since I borrowed the monitor, Teletest have taken the feedback on board and the monitors are now shipping with embedded audio. Great news and proof that a company like Teletest will listen to users and implement changes quickly.
I had the opportunity to use this on a few shoots and all in all I was impressed with its performance. Ive owned an IDX Wevi before, and now the Bolt and I would say that it stands up very strongly to both of these in terms of range. I certainly found that directors were impressed with the picture quality and seeing things at full quality for a change rather than in SD 2.4ghz technology. Its still has the problem every HD system like this has, that when your signal drops out, the picture disappears (instead of breaking up like 2.4 ghz) it often stays out and a restart of the tx or rx is required for them to lock back in again. Ive found that this immediately causes panic for many directors who start yelping, lost picture, lost picture.. I suppose benefits of an analogue 2.4 system is the picture doesnt tend to drop out completely, rather more flicker. The directors enjoyed having it around their neck, commented on the picture quality and they couldnt meddle with any of the settings, thanks to a blanking plate covering the monitor controls. I did find that when I needed to check my brightness and contrast etc, removing the said blanking plate wasnt a quick on location job, so perhaps a quick release version in later models would be good. (again after reviewing this, Teletest have taken this feedback on board, and now ship with quick release thumb crews. Good work again Teletest.) The picture was sharp, certainly enough for focus pullers I would imagine and had a great picture. Crucially with zero delay on the picture. I felt that sometimes the picture had a slight magenta hue on the one I had but this seemed to disappear once the monitor had warmed up and been on for a few minutes.

One of the shoots we took it on, we found ourselves filming in Richmond Park, a perfect place to test its line of sight range. We were very impressed as you can see from the Wheres Wally style photo (image top right), spot the assistant and monitor. We calculated that the picture remained rock solid at about 40-50 metres. Would you ever need to use a directors PSC system like this over that sort of range, perhaps not, but its great to know that its possible.
On another shoot I was filming in a commercial kitchen in a much smaller space than Richmond Park and we found that the monitor lost sync a few times, particularly when the director put his back to camera. Its hard to say if this was just due to restrictions on the environment, given its good performance earlier that week in Richmond.
Once the directors had gotten their head around not panicking when the picture dropped out, they were very pleased with their new monitor. Its also reassuring as a cameraman to glance at a monitor quickly that is a close representation to what you are shooting, rather than a low quality directors monitor that we are all used to.
What does strike me, is when you by the Telesend, you would be buying British, the reassurance of buying something thats built in the UK and has the back up and after sales that would almost be one to one. I am sure Teletest would deal with a technical issues and you can probably speak to the guys who designed it directly.. This is more than what probably can be said for other larger international Monitor companies, whom youd never speak to the main person. This home built product point, does mean that the finish on the tx and rx looks a little more, how should I say, boutique than perhaps a more mainstream product but this doesnt effect its performance in the field. It seems solid and would stand up to a few knocks on location.
The entire kit, thats the rx & tx, case, stand and monitor, with the vlock plates is £2150 + VAT. Thats not bad when some competitors, would charge near on that for the rx and tx alone and not the physical monitor too.
All in all this monitor and wireless kit performed well. It was tidy of cables (none really other than then BNC.), and seemed to perform well. Some directors found the cutting out of the picture when it loses sync was frustrating and admitted to prefer the analogue monitor system. But when it worked well, they were very happy with It. The kit itself aesthetically, is no apple design icon, but you are supporting and getting the service from a British based company, and there is something nice about Buying British. The transmitter doesnt get anywhere near as hot at the Bolt does and as such doesnt have a fan that makes a noise like the Bolt, and this must be down to the extra space in the TX to dissipate the heat. Its a great price point as a directors monitor but one downside is it does mean your wireless system is rooted to one monitor, should you decided to use it with a 17 monitor or in a studio environment. It does now ship with an SDI or HDMI output, so it can be plugged into a 17 monitor to receive a picture, it just means you need to mount the teletest somewhere when doing this. All in all if its a tidy HD directors monitor you are after, then this is suited as Teletest had set out to. No hassle plug and play system.

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