S Video

Joni wrote on 4/21/2003, 5:23 AM

Hi,

I have a SONY DCR-TRV120E PAL.
I have to write the score for a movie but the guys editing the movie can't export via firewire. They can send outs to a VHS but that would not help me.
I took my little Sony cam and ask them to send the signal to my cam's S VIDEO.
The video was fine but there was no sound.

* Does S VIDEO only records the video signal?

I then tried to record only the video (with s video) and see if the audio could be recorded through the built in mic of my cam. But NO, it seems that the mic is off in VTR mode.
I did'n't try to connect a audio cable form their mixer to my cam's MIC imput.
Would that work???

If none of this works, can anyone tell me what is the easiest way to record video into my cam?

thanks

djoni

ps- my s video imput reads: S VIDEO ID-2

something else: what is LANC (some imput/output on my cam)????

Comments

Bear wrote on 4/21/2003, 7:10 AM

S video carries the video signal only. You can run a audio cable from the other machines out to your mic in and they will run together (video and Sound) If sync is not a concern you can also run out of the sending machine to a MIni Disc Player and then just lay the track in with your editing program. It gets a bit confusing with all the cables but with the "American" TRV 120 you can hook up the s video cable to your camera and then plug in the cable that comes with the machine and use the audio in (red and white) to go to the audo source and leave the video composite (Yellow) hanging. This is the way I usueally do it. Don't forget at least in America you can also use the 120 as a pass through Go to your menu and turn off the D/V in feature and it will pass right through the camera (in vtrmode) yo do not even have to have a tape in the camera. I keep a busted 120 on my desk I bought on ebay (bad heads) and it makes a perfect pass through to get analog into computer.

HTH

Joni wrote on 4/21/2003, 7:31 AM

Bear,

Thanks a lot for the comprehensive explanation

djoni

jbrawn wrote on 4/21/2003, 6:20 PM

Hi Djoni,

The LANC connector is used for remote control. You can get external devices like zoom controllers that make use of this connector. It is also used sometimes by analog editors to remotely start and stop the tape drive's play or record modes. The Canon ZR-1000 zoom controller is an example product that uses the LANC connector (see http://www.bhphotovideo.com/product/186651/CAZR1000/REG/3503)

I haven't had very good luck getting signals from an audio mixer directly into a camcorder's mic inputs. This is especially true of the Sony camcorders that have a low level phantom voltage on the mic jack for use with condenser mics.

I've also found the Sony DCR series sometimes has grounding problems when recording audio from a mixer. I use the BeachTek DXA-4S to convert balanced audio signals from a mixer to the 1/8" TRVS jack on the camcorder. This is like using the left and right RCA jacks on the "video-left-right" cable that came with the camcorder. But it is better because it handles the grounding problems, correctly terminates balanced signals, gives the choice of mic/line input level, and it gives separate level control for each audio channel. (See http://www.beachtek.com/dxa4s.html)

The audio input through the DXA-4S will work perfectly along with video from the camera in camera mode, and it will also work perfectly along with video from the S-Video jack in VCR mode.

A final note to further confuse the issue. I've also used the DXA-4S with unbalanced audio signals. It works fine as long as the unbalanced signals are terminated correctly on pins 2 and 3 of the XLR jack. Radio Shack sells cables that have an unbalanced 1/4" jack on one end and an XLR jack on the other.

Have Fun,

John.

Joni wrote on 4/22/2003, 2:03 AM

geeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! thanks jbrawn :-)

mikkie wrote on 4/22/2003, 9:30 AM

Dealing with balanced/unbalanced & a whole lot of other conectivity prob. are covered in both books and columns by Jay Rose (http://www.dplay.com/) with directions for making your own adaptors for just a few bucks.