the other thing is, insurance coverage. another area that they demand you to have. it works out to around 16 cents on 100 dollars of rented equipment value. min. of 300 dollars.....
lets talk crystal sync generators...Honda's sine-wave inverter technology provides smoother, higher quality power than conventional (non-inverter) generators. With an unparalleled waveform distortion factor of less than 2.5%, the power generated by Honda’s EU series of generators is quite often better than what you get out of the wall outlet. Honda's inverter technology accomplishes this by taking the raw power produced by the generator and passes it through a microprocessor controlled multi-step process to condition it. First, the generator's combination flywheel/alternator produces high voltage multiphase AC power. The AC power is then converted to DC. Finally the DC power is converted back to AC by an inverter. The inverter cleans and stabilizes the power to make it equal to or better than household power. The power these machines generate is rock solid with a frequency variance of only hundredths of a cycle which eliminates the need for costly crystal governors. The Honda EU series generates true sine wave power with low enough distortion, and frequency stability to power HMI's without problems?
“… an electronic ballast is best to use with a generator in order to avoid flicker, however, the electronic ballasts draw more current.”
I ran a generator with HMI's and had no problems, no flickers, no wear and tear. I had a voltage regulator on it.
A line interrupter, in case there is a electrical disturbance, which you can buy at home depot, or make one for about 20 dollars.
dimmers, again, easy to make.
the large houses are geared for large budget films, features, that what they do, anyone else, is an annoyance to them. I have wandered around there warehouses, and seen all the stuff they have. There is a ton of stuff. all of which is insured, so, why are you paying for rental equipment insurance coverage? you break it, you pay for it, have you read the rental agreements? 3 times the daily rental until the part you broke, is replaced or fixed. that can cost you a lot of money.
big trucks, big expenses, and you are paying for them. Any truck over 2 tons requires yearly inspections, constant maintenance, all of which you pay for, and all the people it takes to load the trucks, building costs, heat, hydro, water, taxes, insurance's, fuel, it's you that is paying for it, and let's not forget they take a profit on all of this. So just what are you renting? Heavy overhead, for a few pieces of equipment.
The large production houses are just that, large, built to do feature films, and nothing else.
That's why I started up a package truck, not based on what the industry says the rental prices are, rather, what our rental prices are, and what we came out with is, 1/8 the cost.
We don't have everything they have, yet we have enough for you to get the job done, and not drain your pocket book.
most budgets go to the rental equipment.
Quite a few people have used our company because they woke up to what was going on with the large production rental houses. We keep adding to the truck as time goes on, eventually will have beyond everything you could ever need.
renting equipment is expensive, due to all the heavy overhead costs that the large rentals houses have. Just look at there parking lot at all the trucks, and building filled with equipment. remember, your rental costs also include all the downtime of their inventory.
What we have done is put a small rental house on the road, and so far everyone loves it. no hidden costs, no mystification, they get to use anything they want, and don't have to think about rental costs, they can just be creative and make there project.
