Video recording equipment

[Ron Gillam]

Allison Henry recently asked:
>Does anyone
>know of any combined video (camcorder) and high quality audio recording
>systems which allows simultaneous recording and playback of sound and
>picture (but that doesn't involve long trailing wire between video and
>microphone)?

We experienced this same problem in a recent project in which we created
multimedia CD-ROM case studies of children with low incidence language
disorders.

We tried using a FM audio system that we connected to the microphone jack
of two different Hi-8 cameras.  Sales people and technical support people
at Sony and Panasonic told us that you override the internal camera
microphones (which are responsible for all the unwanted machine noise on
the tape) when you connect an external system to the microphone jack.
Unfortunately, we still got the unwanted camera noise when we connected our
FM microphone system.

We have purchased a digital video camera, and we get GREAT video and sound
with either the attached FM system or the internal microphone.  The video
is of better quality than the HI-8 video we were shooting and the audio is
as good as the digital audio that we were recording separately.  The best
part is that we don't have the synchronization problems when we digitize
and compress the audio and video.

I'd appreciate knowing if anyone has a camcorder that actually turns off
the internal microphone when you attach a FM system to the microphone jack.


Ronald B. Gillam, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Jesse H. Jones Communication Center
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX  78712-1089

(512) 471-1936 - office
(512) 471-2957 - fax
(512) 219-8114 - home office
rgillam at mail.utexas.edu

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/gillam/index.html