Lectrosonics SR/5P Receiver - A Second Look After The Upda..

Lectrosonics SR/5P Receiver - A Second Look After The Updates

Last week I received the updated SR/5P. The unit had two internal and
one external hardware change and numerous updates to the operating
system.


Hardware Upgrades

The first improvements were for two bugs. The first corrected the
unit’s diversity and the second fixed the second channel’s battery
display. One IMPORTANT note: Lectro tells me that because of the way
the SR is designed, it is better to have the first channel be a LOWER
frequency than the second channel for performance reasons.

The obvious hardware upgrade is the 5P (external 5pin adapter) which
allows the unit to work on cameras that have a slot, but only have a
single channel activated. Basically, you attach an external TA5F cable
that splits into to XLR connectors and attaches to the rear XLR inputs
on the camera. While we all wish it worked in the slot, this is a good
fix until the camera manufacturers get up to speed. I do HIGHLY
recommend you get a backup cable with your 5P as it would difficult to
get a replacement on-the-fly.

Also, as per my request, Lectro got me some Phillips head screws to
swap out for the flat heads in my adapter plates.


BIOS Updates

New Backlight Menu

This is an update I’m very pleased with. Holding down the power and up
button allows you to access the backlight menu. You can choose from
having it “always on”, “always
off”, a “30 second timeout”, or a “5 minute timeout.”

New External Voltage Monitor

While in operation, hitting the power button shows the external
battery voltage. This is nice, but I’d like to see it read the
transmitter voltages in the future. Lectro says they’d like to do
this, but there isn’t room in the processor memory to accommodate
this.

RF Metering

Lectro has updated the display of the RF meters to respond more like a
411.


IN THE FIELD

I haven’t had a chance to run all my tests yet. This week I’ve been
working with BetacamSPs and have only been able to use the external
adapter hanging off the side of a camera.

With the limited tests, I must say that the improvements to the unit
seem to be rock solid. I’m getting much better range and reception out
of the unit and much less touch sensitivity than I had experienced,
previous to the updates.


CONCLUSION

I like it. A lot.

In fact, I just ordered two more SR/5Ps to use on a reality shoot that
I will be on for about four months where I will be feeding three
Panasonic HDX900s (in the slot, with 5P cables). That should be a
great test of the durability of the units and how they operate in a
high use situation.

-Chris Durfy, ATLaudio, http://www.chrisdurfy.com

This post can be found on my blog with pictures at http://blog.chrisdurfy.com/?p=7

Good news.

I'm still waiting for my SR to return from New Mexico. I had it for
less than a week before I received word of the recall. Didn't have
time to really familiarize myself with it. The small amount of testing
I'd done has me very excited to use the SR in the field.

Since it was going back, I was going to have Lectrosonics do the 5P
modification. As far as the technical support person I spoke with
knew, the 5P modification hadn't been finalized and the program
wouldn't go into full swing until the beginning of July. I decided to
hold off on the modification until things had "jelled" a bit.

It sounds like they're closer to a final design. I may have to send it
back in a couple of weeks.

Ted