Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nathan Shewell on November 14, 2011 at 6:28am

Can you get this equipment with the self-contained headset so you do not have a belt pack? If so, will you test this equipment?

Permalink Reply by Lindsay Beecher Latham on May 13, 2013 at 6:25am

Yes you can they have this great All-In-One Headset its the WH210. I have had a few customers use it and absolutely love it, and it is cheaper than purchasing the beltpack and headset

Permalink Reply by Bill Myatt on May 13, 2013 at 6:56am

Can "off headset" communication be heard with/thru the "all in one?" Really irritates me when I am trying to call a fly cue and the operator has turned the headset into a necklace to ask an actor or another technician something.

Permalink Reply by Bill Myatt on November 14, 2011 at 7:39am

Just played with this at the Iowa Thespian Festival. Seemed to have good range and clarity. Sound was a touch "tinny," but not bad. The belt pack in the protective case seemed almost indestructible - a real plus working with high school technicians. The headset unit I demo'ed was more of a concern as to durability, but I don't know the model. Please check that part of the unit as well. Can't wait to read more before I decide on this purchase!

Permalink Reply by Richelle Thompson on November 14, 2011 at 8:23am

Thanks Bill! We're looking forward to testing this week.

Nathan - Clear Comm does make an "all in one" headset for this system. One wasn't included in the shipment, but I'll ask our rep if we can get one to test. Here's what it looks like:

A funny side note - we didn't get a battery charger with our demo unit. We discovered that a fast food joint down the street uses the system, so my guys took some batteries down and charged them for a few to get us up and going until we got a battery charging station from ClearComm.

Permalink Reply by Bill Myatt on November 16, 2011 at 8:35am

Gotta love creative problem solving! One of the many skills taught on a daily basis thru theatre.

Permalink Reply by Richelle Thompson on November 19, 2011 at 5:58pm

Greetings once again!

Here's my next installment of the ClearComm HME DX210 wireless headset system review.

As promised,

patching the ClearComm base station into our RTS hard-wire system was literally as plugging it in and punching a button. (The rear panel of the unit is pictured right.) A large red button sits center of the unit for selecting the appropriate system needs. There are inputs for both 2 channels of 2 and 4 wire configurations, with 2 line loop outs.

The base station also offers an auxiliary audio input - for program or other audio feed. I have yet to test this feature - generally we only use an auxiliary input for a single station (stage manager) pack - but it would be useful in a variety of applications.

The station easily switches between single and dual channel transition. I also especially like that in single channel use the packs transmit on either channel button so the operator doesn't have to worry about the "right" button.

As noted in an earlier comment, our first attempts at testing the system were thwarted by a lack of battery power for the belt packs. One of my crew

was positive that a fast food joint down the street used the DX210 - so I sent them on an errand. The management was kind enough to let us use the open docking stations to get a partial charge so we could at least see if the packs were working.

(The bonus of the errand were shakes all around.)

Our own battery charger arrived a day later, and the features are great. Each charging slot (4 per station) have a yellow "READY" LED to show that the slot has power and is ready for a rechargeable battery. A red "Charging" LED lights while a battery is taking charge, and a green LED lights when the battery is "Ready" and taken a full charge. Each battery takes roughly 2 and half hours from zero to full charge. The charging station also has 6 slots for holding charged batteries - a great way to track what batteries are ready for use, and those in need of juice.

The only complication we had in setting up the packs is that programming the packs
isn't intuitive. Our demo unit didn't ship with instructions, so we took part of a day trying to figure out if there was a way to select packs to frequencies

or sync them to the unit. Once we gave in and downloaded a PDF from ClearComm, getting the packs "Registered" - or assigned frequencies and ready to use, was quite literally a simple "push of a button" ("REG" on the front panel of the base station) and powering up the pack while pressing "ISO" - the packs are automatically assigned (one at a time) and are ready to go. I would never have figured out this key sequence without the manual, but once done, as easy as using the "SYNC" feature of a wireless microphone.

I was also impressed that the base station can handle up to 16 hands free units in "full duplex mode." We have 6 units - 4 belt packs and 2 all in one headsets. We're about to see how they fare in use during a show.

More soon on using the system!

Cheers for now, cats and kittens.

~R

Permalink Reply by Richelle Thompson on November 25, 2011 at 11:28am

Greetings all!

Here's the next installment of the demo of ClearComm's HME DX210 wireless headset system.

This chapter, I'll focus on Nathan Shewell's question regarding the "all in one" self-contained headset.

When the units first arrived, my engineer popped one on his head and quipped: "Welcome to (insert your favorite fast food chain), may I take your order?"

All kidding aside, I am in love with the all-in-one unit. Not only does it take away the problem of two components per stage op, it also gets rid of that pesky cable that fly ops like to accidentally yank and/or break and/or pull right out of the pack. I don't know how many times I've had some poor crew guy or girl come up to me with a destroyed headset cable in hand afraid I'm going to yell at him/her. (I don't yell - though I have been known to whine a little.) This unit knocks that problem right out of the ballpark.

Originally I was concerned about how heavy the unit would be - but it's actually lighter than or the same as a standard headset of just about any brand. Certainly I've worn heavier corded headsets in my time. The headband is adjustable at both the support and control/mic boom side for the comfort and head size of the wear-er.

Although we haven't put the pack to extreme physical tests, they also seem to be durable - surviving two of our ops during tech rehearsals without a problem. Although light - they don't seem rinky-dink or flimsy.

One of the features that I initially liked - is that the all-in-one has two color changing LED's - one on the ear piece, the other on the mic boom indicating power and when talk is active. The op will know if they mashed the right button to get their mic on or off - it turns green when the mic is active, and red when it's not. (As mentioned before, I also really like that in single channel mode, both channel buttons activate talk.) The down side to this feature is that the LED was bright enough for my director and lighting designer to see it through a scrim panel during a blackout/scene change like a bright red fire fly. We had to tape over the LED's for the op to not be floating specter behind scrim forest.

The all-in-one uses the same rechargeable batteries as the belt pack.

These batteries are among the smallest of rechargeable units I've seen - which is a great feature for either the belt or all in one pack. They weigh next to nothing - a few ounces tops, and are easy to pop in and out of either all-in-one or belt back with a sliding release latch.

All for this chapter, cats and kittens.

Shoot me any additional questions you may have - more on the unit to come!

Cheers,

~R

Permalink Reply by Richelle Thompson on November 30, 2011 at 12:49pm

Greetings all!

Here's the next installment of the Clear-Com's HME DX210 wireless headset system review...

And this chapter starts out with a DUH moment. When we first set up the system and turned it over to stage crew for use during a show, everything seemed in order, but after the first day of rehearsal, the stage ops using the ClearCom packs or all in ones came up to me concerned that their headsets dropped out of range or were picking up interference once they were on the far side of the stage. At first, I thought this had to do with the fact that our demo unit only had one antenna - though I checked out the manual and although two is certainly better than one, the system is functional with one, and shouldn't have a problem with range. I scratched my head and told them "I'd look into it."

The next morning I headed backstage and smacked myself on the forehead. The base station was set up between a brick wall and a TV, next to a power strip and several charging stations. I can't say what I was thinking - other than... well... I WASN'T thinking! Once the base station was cleared out of the way of all that RF noise and power junk - the reception improved dramatically, and the ops can clearly hear all over backstage, as well as reasonably with in the bowels of the theatre - there are places were dropout happens, but when you work in a bunker of concrete and steel, that's to be expected. All of the operation areas - trap, fly line, fly floor, and the green room are good to go - which is what's really important.

Next, there's the one aspect of the system that I've discovered that I don't like, and that is the pack to headset adapter. Unlike previous ClearComm system's I've used that take a standard female 4 pin XLR, the DX210 was designed with a mini-4 pin in the packs. Although this may save housing space, I'm not a fan - as it requires this adapter:

Now, I know there are worse things than needing an adapter for a headset - having both male and female XLR connections on our existing wireless packs, I have come to terms with their necessity, but for me I would rather not need this extra piece to have the system ready to go. As adapters go, it's pretty respectable - reasonably rugged and arrived stock with clips to reduce cable strain. Still. Mmm. Would rather not.

Now - the accessory I LOVE - and that is the beltback pouch. Here's what ClearComm says on their web site about the pouch:

The Beltpack Pouch with internal clip is constructed with santoprene rubber to provide maximum protection on HME DX Series beltpacks. The beltpack is securely locked into the pouch and worn at the user's hip position. All buttons on the beltpack are bump-proofed by the pouch and yet still easily accessible.

In addition to "bump proofing" buttons, this rugged sleeve is easy to pop on and off a pack to access the battery, and for me - best of all - takes away my ongoing issue with any belt packs - standard or wireless: broken belt clips. I doubt very much that even the roughest of stage ops could rip or damage this pouch, and even if they could - or it was otherwise melted, cut, maimed, lost, or otherwise rendered useless - I don't loose use of the pack or have to jerry rig a clip from something else - I just need to pop it in another pouch.

All for now, cats and kittens.

Cheers!

~R

Although

Permalink Reply by Richelle Thompson on December 9, 2011 at 4:10pm

Greetings all!

Here is the final installment of the field test of Clear-Com's HME DX210 wireless headset system - pictures included.

Something I overlooked in mentioning - is that both the all-in-one headsets and
belt packs for this system have voice prompts. When the pack or all-in-one is fired up, a voice greets you and lets you know what system generation you're using. The voice will also tell you when the pack is out of range, and when the battery needs to be charged. Kind of a cool feature, and also has helped my crew during checks making sure packs are working or if the frequencies are off.

As mentioned, the batteries for this system are incredibly small. After I took this picture of the battery, I realized that my hand may not be the best point of reference. I have little

girl hands. (Yes, they're little even for a girl.) So how about this:

The HME battery is smaller than a bag of tea in a single serve packet, roughly twice as thick.

More detail on the all-in-one:

The all in one weighs less than 6 oz.'s. It has a recessed power on/off button that is on the inside of the headset to prevent the unit being accidentally turned off during use. Although the all-in-one doesn't have the pouch of the standard belt back, it's buttons are recessed enough that they're not likely to accidentally be activated either.

When December 26th rolls around, I'll be sad to have to ship this system back to ClearComm. It's been a great system. During it's trial run, we've had no pack or adapter issues - with the exception of unit that doesn't want to keep in frequency range. My guess is that it's getting interference from another source (maybe the fast food kids down the street.) It's a spare - so I've spent no time with it to pick another channel - still - I've little doubt it would easily be addressed.

My general impression is that our basic use of the HME DX210 is that we haven't touched what the system could be configured to do, and are using it in it's most rudimentary capacity.

Cheers!

Richelle

Permalink Reply by Bill Myatt on December 12, 2011 at 10:37am

We are looking at adding a black box space (on the other end of the building). I am already planning to schlep stuff from out current theatre/scene shop to the new space as needed. My question ...

should I pick up one base station and 4 headsets and

move the base station as required (headset communication will not be needed in both spaces at the same time)

or run main theatre on IC 1 and black box on IC 2

see if they will still be in range in the new space

I don't suppose they communicate directly to each other ...

or

should I buy two base stations?

Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Richelle Thompson on December 12, 2011 at 8:48pm

Hey Bill,

My gut instinct is to never share equipment between spaces, but that comes from the knee jerk side of me. (This is fueled by statements like "we never do musicals" - said by many a theatre that now stage productions like Camelot, Peter Pan, and Little Shop of Horrors as staples of their season.)

Really what it comes down to is cash. If you actually HAVE the resources (the budget in your new system money) I'd tell you to go for an independent system in the second theatre while you've got the money to spend. A year or two from now if you discover sharing is not good, trying to carve equipment money out of your regular budget may be right up there with pigs flying. If you have the funding at your disposal - go for it. If nothing else - if you ever have problems, you have a back up waiting in the other space.

If you have SOME money, but not enough to buy a complete system (both base station and packs) I'd tell you to buy a second set of packs before a second base station. You never know when an extra headset can make all the difference, and again, if you loose a pack or headset for whatever reason (a chord gets ripped out, an op drops a pack in the commode, etc.) you've got more in the other space that can back you up. Also, if you bought a second receiver but shared packs between two base stations - you'd have to reassign them every time you took them to the other theatre. Not hard - but kind of annoying.

As for sharing the base station using the 1/2 channels for the respective spaces - it's a perfectly feasible idea if you can get the headset feed from one space to the other, and the reception is good. If getting headset feed isn't happening, or the distance is simply too much, rep-ing a base station isn't the worst thing I've had to do between two theatres.

And now that I've said that, I'd tell you to get a second opinion. Every audio girl or guy has one... :)

Hope that's helpful!

Cheers!

~R

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