Hmmmm.........! ;-)
Unnecessary as this may seem (and be), it may be worth
going through a procedure...
- On the camera, make sure 48kHz 16-bit is selected,
and that in the track mixer the slider is at channel 1.
- Check that either AGC is on, or that in manual-mode
the gain is not set near "0".
- Check with good isolation-type headphones that both
the camera mic and the external mic are in fact outputting
to the camera when each is tried.
- Record to tape some sound with the built-in mic, then
some sound with the external mic, changing nothing else.
- Listen with camcorder playback of the tape for sound
from both mics.
- In the DV capture software settings, make sure both
picture and sound are to be captured.
- Capture the footage and place it on the editor's timeline,
then look to see if a waveform is imaged in the sound track
for both mics.
- If so, make sure the track is not silenced in settings,
and try scrubbing/playing it.
If all the above are done and satisfied, but there is
still no sound from the external mic in the capture,
but there is from the camera mic, and both mics input
sound to the camera, well, ahhhhh....., errrr......! ;-)
(BTW, in response to email - there are no analogue
sound tracks on the DV tape...)

On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 13:56:37 -0500, Bill Van Dyk wrote:

>That is exactly the case: the video just before and just after I plugged the
>Sennheiser in is fine. Sound is there. You can hear the plug against the
>camera body, then silence on the firewire end. Plug headphones into the
>camera, however, and there is the sound. Baffling, if you'll pardon the pun.

>Neuman - Ruether wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 02:41:36 -0500, bvandyk
>> wrote:
>>
>> >After continuing to experiment, I still have this problem. Sound
>> >records onto the vx2000 through a Sennheiser MKE300 shotgun mic with a
>> >mono plug into the stereo mic input. The sound is there-- I can play it
>> >back. However, when the file is transferred to the computer via
>> >firewire, the sound is absolutely gone. No signal at all.
>>
>> A poser...;-)
>> If the sound is there on playback, it should be in the
>> FireWire signal, and unless something is set wrong on
>> the computer, it should make it into the computer. If sound
>> on the same clip from the built-in mic is present on the
>> computer, the computer settings are OK - in which case
>> reality is crumbling, and we had all better watch out
>> for the future (or lack thereof...! ;-). Dunno - but I
>> have never heard of sound that was present on a DV tape
>> not transfering, if the correct tracks are selected
>> and balanced on the camera (between 1 and 2), the
>> computer capture settings are correct, and on the
>> editor's timeline the track is not muted (my favorite
>> "no-sound" cause...;-).