Hi-MD -vs- Mini DV?

[thecool]

Okay,

i've finally got my funds situated where I can afford to get a mini disc player and a good pair of mics (i guess i better buy a s'load of Hi-MDs if they cut the line though)

I'm going to be doing field recordings of Marching Bands, but here's the thing, i've just borrowed a DV camera that has a plug in power mic in it.

i was wondering should i just buy a mic to work with it (i'd be getting the SP-TFB-2) or should i get the MD player for the audio?

if its a stupid question, please forgive me, i don't know.

thanks again.

[veezhun]

for audio use MD. very handy and editable on the unit itself..

DV is mainly used for video.. i dont know anyone who has used a DV cam with a plug in power mic for exclusive audio recordings..

from wikipedia "DV allows either 2 digital audio channels (usually stereo) at 16 bit resolution and 48 kHz sampling rate, or 4 digital audio channels at 12 bit resolution and 32 kHz sampling rate. For professional or broadcast applications, 48 kHz is used almost exclusively. In addition, the DV spec includes the ability to record audio at 44.1 kHz (the same sampling rate used for CD audio), although in practice this option is rarely used."

for video, i have no clue

[e1ghtyf1ve]

Okay,

i've finally got my funds situated where I can afford to get a mini disc player and a good pair of mics (i guess i better buy a s'load of Hi-MDs if they cut the line though)

I'm going to be doing field recordings of Marching Bands, but here's the thing, i've just borrowed a DV camera that has a plug in power mic in it.

i was wondering should i just buy a mic to work with it (i'd be getting the SP-TFB-2) or should i get the MD player for the audio?

if its a stupid question, please forgive me, i don't know.

thanks again.

In this particular situation, it really boils down to what the capabilities of the camera are and what quality you are looking for. Mini-DV cams record selectably 12- or 16-bit PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) digital audio onto tape. The more expensive models of these sometimes allow you to set record levels, but most consumer ones just use AGC (Auto Gain Control) and compress the sound; i.e. loud sounds are turned down and soft sounds are turned up. This may not do justice to your good pair of mics, but at least your audio is already synchronized with the video.

A Hi-MD recorder such as the MZ-RH10 ($299.99 at Fry's, highly recommended) allows you to adjust the recording quality (such as levels) and unlike Mini-DV tape allows faster than real-time transfers to your computer for mixing etc. Hi-MD PCM audio quality matches or beats that of the very best professional Mini-DV cams, but the rub here is that with Hi-MD you will need to manually synchronize your audio track to the video. I'm told that this is fairly simple - others on this board may be able to guide you. For what it's worth, most video professionals use outboard digital audio recorders such as DAT or (Hi-)MD for their projects.

Cheers

[thecool]

thanks for the info so far.

the mini dv camera does use ACG, but thats been fine thus far (surprisingly) and i've been in the thick of some pretty loud (marching) bands.

on the flip side of it too though is that I could always just rip the audio track once the video has been downloaded/captured to my computer.

[pisialvar]

I also own a MiniDV camera and it's quite good camera. I have mic input, i can select the recording volume for mic and it's 16 bit sound. But the quality of sound depends on the camera. I usually have recorded the sound from mixing unit with line in and used the camera only for filming when i want to capture live recordings. But you should do a test. Record with camera and with MD at the same time for comparison. That should show how good the sound of camera is compared to MD, ofcourse if it's possible.

[thecool]

i just ordered the TFB-2's from Sound Professionals. Now i'm just a matter of getting the MD Player.

its really a toss up, because there will be points when i'll be doing video as well as audio. i'm almost certain that audience will want video, but there a certain feel that stand alone audio presentations have that visual presentations don't.

[insrc]

Okay,

i've finally got my funds situated where I can afford to get a mini disc player and a good pair of mics (i guess i better buy a s'load of Hi-MDs if they cut the line though)

I'm going to be doing field recordings of Marching Bands, but here's the thing, i've just borrowed a DV camera that has a plug in power mic in it.

i was wondering should i just buy a mic to work with it (i'd be getting the SP-TFB-2) or should i get the MD player for the audio?

if its a stupid question, please forgive me, i don't know.

thanks again.

I have both miniDV cam and hi-MD recorder, which I use to tape live music.

First question, what kind of band is it? From my experience: recording a loud rock band in a club will get levels too hot on minidv even with external good mic. Recording piano music at open amphitheater was ok.

Consumer MiniDV has no sound level adjustment. On minidisc you can low the levels to be all good. Also miniDV cam doesn't have line-in. In most cases using line-in on minidisc with battery box and decent mics will get you much better sounding recording than minidv with the same mics.

When recording with both minidv and minidisc I use a mic that mounts on accessory show of the cam (or you could just use built-in cam mic if you plan to sync the better audio to the video). Minidisc in the other hand or in the pocket. Battery box and minidisc mics are on my body. So it's quite comfortable.

Note that minidisc PCM records in 44.1kHz and you will have to upsample it to 48kHz for the video (DVD). Just use a good program to do that. Minidv records in 48kHz already.

[dex Otaku]

A few quick notes from over here:

* If the camera has manual level controls, go ahead and use it. If it doesn't, use something else that does. It makes all the difference [manual vs. AGC].

* There's nothing wrong with the recording formats supported by DV25. If your final destination is CD, just be aware that you'll be resampling everything recorded on DV. [48 or 32kHz to CD's 44.1kHz]

* The mic preamps built into consumer video cameras are extremely dodgy at best. If you want good clean recordings, go with a format dedicated to audio. Even with the limitations of the tiny low-powered preamps in MD or HiMD recorders, they will almost always do a far better job than any consumer video camera, and quite a few prosumer cams as well.

* Lastly - if you can meet your own expectations with equipment X, i.e. if it works for you - use it. Our advice is not the end-all be-all.

Cheers.