Posted by Richard Crowley on 12/31/05 16:37

"Rob J" wrote ...
> We have a Panasonic MiniDV camcorder that has a built
> in mic, the only input for external sound when recording
> is a mic socket that can only be used with an external mic
> from Panasonic. We want to feed in sound from a sound
> desk but this is impractical.

Why do you think it is "impractical"?
Why do you think it must hava a "mic from Panasonic"?
This seems pretty unlikely. Virtually all camcorders
with external mic jacks can be connected to an external
source (like a sound desk).
Can you reveal the model number?

> I now have a few options:
>
> 1. Record a separate digital soundtrack, say on a PC, and
> add it as a separate soundtrack during editing - Windows
> moviemaker allows this --- how do I sync it with the
> recording from the camera?

Generally, you can either create a deliberate "sync reference"
by clapping your hands or something, or take some naturally-
occuring reference that you can use to slip the sound track back
and forth to match the video. I haven't done this with WMM,
but it is nearly trivial in Adobe Premiere, etc. Most modern
equipment (camcorders, digital sound recorders, computers,
etc.) run at a stable-enough speed that you can maintain sync
for 10-60 minutes with no slipping. Even if the sound does
slip after a while, it is easy enough to bring it back in by
cutting a frame of audio or video.

> 2. Get some software that lets me capture from the camera
> to HDD via Firewire and also from a separate sound source
> (the PC's sound card) --- how do I disable the sound that the
> camera's mic picks up during recording as it can't be muted.
> I.E. the sound part of the incoming data stream on Firewire.

I don't know of any solution currently availble to do this.
But if your camcorder has a mic input jack, this should
not be necessary.

> 3. Forget about the firewire, get a video capture card that
> uses the S-Video input from the camera, this has no sound
> on it of course

Sure. Several options available. A rock-solid dependable
favorite is the ADVC series from Canopus. The low-end
model (ADVC-55) does input-only, but maybe that is all
you need(?)

> but now I need a capture card that can input at 720x576
> 24fps

Why? I thought you said you had a DV camcorder?
Never heard of a DV camcorder that runs at 24 FPS?

> and close to DV quality.

You lose a significant amount of quality going to
composite or Y/C. I'd bet that you would end up with
video that is visibly inferior to using digital Firewire.

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