TOOLZ: My Holy Grail is Realized… The iPad as a Live Camera Monitor

When I purchased an iPad a few months after the first generation was released, I honestly didn’t know how I would actually use it.  Like many at the time,  I just considered it an expensive hi-tech toy for Daddy.  Within about 2 weeks though, it became an all-purpose indispensable tool that I employed for every facet of my life from home to work to play.  It seems that every week through the every-expanding list of apps, I discover something else new and useful that the iPad can help me do better, faster or cheaper. It’s my radio, my teleprompter, my script library, my email client, my notetaker, my PSP, my newspaper, my movie library, my slate, my map, my weatherman, my web browser…it’s whatever I want for a whole bunch of things.

However, there is one Holy Grail task that I really want to do with the iPad that I haven’t been able to- use it as a live video monitor.

…That is to say, I haven’t been able to do it until recently.  Now there is at least one new tool that makes this killer iPad task possible: The Teradek Cube.

This new tool makes it possible to use an iPad – or better yet multiple iPads – as live monitors on set.  This offers tremendous practicality for a variety of shooting situations. – I’m thinking tight spaces, aerial shots, car shots, boats, etc. anyplace where wires and/or having everyone in the same room is not practical or possible.  It also seems to be a very practical tool for a variety of crew members from Art Directors and Set Decorators dressing a scene, to Gaffers lighting it, to clients in the green room, talent in the dressing room and of course for D.P.’s and Directors.  The idea is that iPads are becoming ubiquitous in the film world and everyone could essentially have their own monitor on-set in a position that best suited their individual purpose for viewing a live feed.

Personally, all I really wanted was an inexpensive way to send a video output from an HD camera to iPad via a single cable, but Teradek’s  wireless capability opens up a whole new set of options.  It also takes the task to a whole new price point – about $1500.00 as I write this.  Nevertheless, given the possibilities it opens up for various shooting scenarios, this may be a useful and cost-effective tool for a variety of filmmakers.

Check out Teradek’s video:

Teradek’s Vimeo page has a bunch more demos and tutorials with various scenarios and cameras if you want to see more.  It looks like it requires a little more tech-saavy and wireless network geekery than I care to get into to set up and get rolling, but I am definitely intrigued with this evolving iPad/video technology….Wonder if they have a layaway plan for guerrilla filmmakers?