On Wed, 15 Nov 2000 09:50:34 GMT, doot
Hmmmm......... ;-)
OK, there are comparative critical reviews of various
Mini-DV camcorders on my web site that cover sound issues, at: www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/camcorder-comparison.htm
But,
>I'm looking to get a camcorder with 3 CCD's, small enough so that I can
>be a tourist and sling it around my neck (and not intimidate people that
>I point it at), and that uses a popular tape format that isn't
>proprietary to one manufacturer and won't be obsolete next summer. I
>thought the Sony TRV900 would be good, but I saw in Dec issue of
>Camcorder and Computer video (page 32) that it has hissy sound.
Hmmmm, again....;-) Most magazine reviews are nearly
useless since they merely repeat mfgr. add copy and
add a little depth to the features/controls descriptions,
but rarely criticise faults - uh, unless they get it wrong...;-) See below for more...
>Quiet
>sound is important to me, as I also tape panel discussions/board
>meetings that are held in quiet rooms. (For those tapings, I use
>multiple mics fed to a mixer, and go from there to the camera.) To
>check-out the magazine's "hissy" claim, I went to the camera store,
>plugged in a Shure dynamic mic (using XLR to stereo mini jack cable and
>with mic switch in the "off" position), plugged in headphones that
>sealed well to my head, turned the mic gain to "manual" and set both
>gain and headphone/speaker volume to middle of scale and indeed, there
>was a steady hiss, and unacceptably loud.
The headphone amp also drives the built-in speaker and the
amp is noisy - it is not in the chain in the recorded audio,
however, so its noise is not recorded...
>Then tried identical setup
>with Sony PD100, which had less hiss. Last, did same thing with Canon
>GL1 (although it does not have a "manual gain" setting). It was the
>quietest of the three.
It was in AGC mode; the TRV-900 was not - "apples and
oranges"...
>So, I confirmed that the 900 is noisy. But I still like its small size
>and use of a non Sony-exclusive tape format. I also believe that when
>recording the meetings I will be better off if I can manually control
>the audio gain, as is possible with the 900 but not with the GL1.
>
>Is there a way to make the 900 record clean, non hissy, sound?
Yes - straight-up...! ;-) If you want to use XLR-equiped
mics, go with the PD-100 version of the TRV-900, since it
properly uses the balanced output (the BeachTek and others
are simple converters to unbalanced inputs).
>Will a
>BeachTek adaptor do the trick?
With fairly short runs and good wiring, there is little
wrong with using unbalanced audio lines...
>Or, is there a camera by Canon,
>Panasonic, JVC, or Hitachi, that I should be considering?
If you want the very lightest/smallest 3-chip Mini-DV camera
(and it has excellent picture and sound, though relatively
few manual controls), look at the Panasonic AG-EZ30U
(reviewed on my site, and I just happen to have a nice mint
low-use one [the one reviewed] with the .7X WA converter and
all other original accessories, plus four extra batteries,
for a "mere" $1500...;-).