In Box

by Donald Keller
May 1997

Rattled by Hum

Thanks to Mike Loehr for his Edit Suite column "Choosing an Audio Mixer" in the February 1997 issue of Videomaker.

I am a social worker who uses video as a tool to offer barrio youth some alternatives to drugs and violence.We have a Panasonic 456A camcorder that seems to work fairly well. My problem has been in using multiple external microphones. The Shure audio mixer we have seemed to be too powerful for this camera. I tried using low-impedance jacks and high-impedance jacks, but I'd always get a loud hum. This hum forced us to use only one mike at a time, which prevented us from having panel discussions.

The various audio/video dealers I had spoken to had no idea what was wrong. I even sent the camera back to Panasonic for a diagnosis. Needless to say, they found nothing wrong with the camera. Then I read Mr. Loehr's article. In it he explained that mikes are low-level and that other sources--like CD players or tape decks--are high-level (line-level). This caused me to think that maybe what I needed to do was to plug an attenuator between the mixer's line-level output and the camera's low-level mike input. I tried this and it worked. I was able to use the mixer and four mikes with no humming whatsoever. Thanks for helping me solve this problem.

Gilberto Cintron
Manhattan, New York

Where's Manual Zoom?

Your "Buying a Camcorder" Buyers Guide (December 1996) didn't list one of the most important characteristics of a video camera: manual zoom.

Manual zoom is necessary to do a quick focus and to do variable-speed zooms for effects during shooting. I cannot work an active shoot without manual zoom because auto focus is not accurate in cluttered scenes and auto zoom is not fast enough to use for focusing.

Please, in future buyers guides, score manual zoom. Thanks.

Jeannette Jaquish
Arizona

8mm vs. Hi8 as Master

You mention in your December article "Buying a Camcorder" that 8mm tape can be recorded on VHS tape but will lose some sound and picture quality. If such a transfer were made with Hi8 tape instead of regular 8mm, would it have better quality?

Patrick Chardie
Diamondhead, Mississippi

Any time you copy an analog video or audio signal from one tape machine to another, the signal will experience some degradation, called generation loss.However, some analog formats suffer less generation loss than others.The rule of thumb is: the better the format you record on, the less generation loss your copy will suffer. Since Hi8 is a better format than regular 8mm,a signal recorded on a Hi8 machine would fare better than a signal recorded on an 8mm machine when copied onto a VHS machine.

But your question is slightly unclear. You ask, "If such a transfer were made with Hi8 tape...." If by that you mean a Hi8 tape recorded on a Hi8 camcorder or VCR, the answer to your question is yes. However, if you mean a Hi8 tape recorded on a regular 8mm camcorder or VCR (which is possible but is a waste of money), the answer is no.The tape itself will make no difference; it's the signal recorded by the Hi8 machine that makes the difference.

--The Editors

Expecting Projectors

I have been watching your magazine and others closely for a buyer's guide or some other kind of price-to-product analysis of video projectors.

It seems to me that the video-projector field is being totally ignored by your magazine and others. Video projectors have come a long way in the past few years. I see them used at seminars and other presentations, and the quality of the image is exceptionally good in most instances.

I would very much like to see an article on these units that would cover everything from the "el-cheapo" to the more sophisticated models.

Paul Gross
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

Sorry, Paul. The only video display devices we cover are small- and medium-size video monitors because our readers use them to edit their videos. As you state in your letter, video projectors are used to display video to goups of people in classrooms, seminars and other presentations. Videomaker Magazine is geared primarily toward people who use camcorders, VCRs and other video-production equipment. In other words, we cater to those who make videos, not those who present them.

--The Editors

Correction

In our feature on music and sound-effect libraries (January 1997), we incorrectly reported that QCCS has a nine-volume music library. The company actually has a 20-volume collection. Each volume is available for $59, or $40 each if you purchase the entire set. You can reach QCCS by telephone at (541) 345-0212 or visit their Web site at http://www.PBTM.com.

--The Editors

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