Hollyland MARS 4K Wireless Video Transmission System Review

The Hollyland MARS 4K is the first affordable 5GHz wireless video system, at least to my knowledge, that is capable of sending a UHD signal. The system has a claimed range of 450ft / 150m (line of sight) and a latency of 0.06s. The Mars 4K was designed to combine high performance and reliable quality at an affordable price. We have seen a ton of affordable wireless video systems come to market over the last few years and a lot of them have very similar feature sets and capabilities. This increased competition has been good news for the end consumer as prices have continued to come down. So where it differs from other systems we have seen is that it can transmit and receive 4K UHD video at up to 29.97p. The Mars 4K also supports FHD and HD formats at varying frame rates of 23.98p up to 59.94p. Concept With a large array of ‘affordable’ wireless video transmission systems now flooding the market, Hollyland decided to make something that was a little different from the competition. As I already mentioned, the whole concept behind the MARS 4K was to offer uses an affordable, high-quality wireless video system that could send and receive UHD images. Build QualityrnI have reviewed a lot of wireless video systems over the years, and the build quality of even the most budget-friendly options has continued to improve. The MARS 4K is very solidly made. The exterior casing is robust and I wouldn’t think it is likely to break if you dropped it. According to Hollyland, the Mars 4K features superior corrosion and wear resistance for outstanding durability. This weight and size may not make them overly suitable for small-sized mirrorless hybrids. I personally think that the MARS 4K would be more at home on small to mid-sized digital cinema cameras as opposed to mirrorless hybrids, although you could use it on some of the larger-sized mirrorless hybrids, or something like a Canon C70. What do you get?rnThe MARS 4K comes with the following items: MARS 4K TransmitterrnMARS 4K Receiverrn4 x Antennasrn1x Cold shoe mountrn1x USB Type-C OTG Converterrn2x DC Adapterrn1x Expansion AccessoryrnQuick Start GuidernLimited 1-Year WarrantyrnIns & Outs Both the MARS 4K TX and RX units feature SDI and HDMI ports. The TX has an SDI In and an HDMI In. The RX has an SDI Out and an HDMI Out. Both the RX and TX units have cross-conversion. So you could have an HDMI source coming in and an SDI source going out on the TX unit for example. SDI Ok, so let’s try using SDI first. I measured the delay average over a series of three tests at 164.33ms when viewing images on a monitor connected to the RX when the TX was set to Speed mode. This was using an ARRI Amira. What do these figures actually mean? Well, anything below 100ms is considered to be low, because most humans don’t perceive a delay that small. Once you get over 100ms we perceive a noticeable delay. 164.33ms is certainly high, but the tests don’t lie. I recently tested the Accsoon CineView Quad and in this exact same test the result was 181.66ms. Interface & Transmission On the right-hand side of the TX and the RX units, there is a color screen with a user-friendly UI design that enables quick configurations and status checks. A rocker-styled button lets you access the menu and make changes. It is good to see somebody doing something different with the display screen and making a UI that shares some similarities with smart devices makes sense. The MARS 4K utilizes an upgraded dual-core codec chip that is capable of a 12 Mbps data transfer rate. This is a pretty low bitrate. A device like the Teradek SERV 4K can stream at up to 45 Mbps. The MARS 4K uses synchronous frequency hopping at a claimed speed of 0.001s at both the receiving and transmitting sides. You can use either a manual or auto-switching mode depending on your needs. Channel assignment options allow for interference-free transmission. A stable connection is established automatically upon startup. A smart channel scan helps determine which ones are occupied and selectable. What can you transmit? As I previously mentioned, the MARS 4K can send and receive signals up to UHD 29.97p over HDMI and FHD up to 59.97p over SDI. If you are using a camera that can output UHD over HDMI then you will be able to view a proper UHD image on a UHD display.