cmka~+

beowulfschmidt said:

Have you used any of the similar DJI systems?  If so, how do they compare?  I've seen tons of YouTubers using DJI and am curious.

I’ve used the DJI lav mic system extensively for recording live streamed talks that later go out on YouTube and recently got the DJI mic 2 and rode pro both for a commercial shoot (location sound wasn’t a priority on that project so a boom operator and mixer weren’t hired)

TLDR: DJI for run and gun; rode for more controlled situations.

The sound quality in the rode is indeed better, but the biggest trade-off comes in the fact that with the DJI you can access all settings on the receiver’s touch screen. With rode many things have to be pre-configured using the phone or computer app. (The letter of which kept crashing on the latest Mac OS beta)

as I’m most likely to use these on solo operator gigs that makes it a tough call for me. For my own work I’d probably go with the rode but on set when I had to make things work fast while being pulled in other directions I went with the DJI.

rode also has timecode, which is a great feature in more pro use cases but it can only be a source which makes its efficacy limited.

some YouTubers like that when using the built in mics in the rode you can close the case even with the windscreens on, while you can’t wth the mics in the DJI charging case. moot if using wired lav mics) 

the charging case for DJI is a bit sleeker but doesn’t support data transfer in case like the rode does.

some of the auto noise filtering features in DJI are good for quick and dirty turn around but it’s nothing you couldn’t do as well or better in Davinci resolve after the fact.

lastly price- DJI ends up being more expensive when you ad mics. Be warned some wired lav mics introduce rf interference in the audio recording with DJI. There are whole YouTube videos on this, the Shure lav mic is a great option but maybe wasted on the DJI’s merely ok sound quality. 

anoylla said:

"I strongly dislike the facelift of System Preferences in Ventura. Older is better." I totally agree! If the purpose of updates is to make users' lives easier, then one thing is certain, System Preferences (System Settings in Ventura) has made users' lives a nightmare.

I wouldn't say older is intrinsically better, but it does feel like the apple faithful are being asked to accept a number of downgrades of late, in the name of... progress? the new system preferences is a prime (if relatively innocuous) example of this. 

Anyone know if Sync.com will be affected? doesn't seem like their end to end encryption would be compatible with this new API

So I just got in a reply from the wonderful folks at Caldigit regarding my in query about how the USB ports do or don't share busses: "The short answer is that there are a total of 3 USB buses for a total of 7 USB ports. The USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 + 1 USB-A is on one bus. 3 Rear USB-As are on the 2nd bus. Front USB-A and USB-C are on the 3rd bus. "

cgWerks said:

If there are other ports on the eGPU like Ethernet or USB, do they function regardless of whether you 'eject' the GPU or not? It would be great if you could use the eGPU or not (i.e.: say you want quiet), but still utilize the extra ports. Though, I guess that would require video passthrough as well for an external monitor.

I have the Mantiz as well (with Vega frontier) and yes the ports work regardless of whether egpu is active (or even installed). same is true in bootcamp.