I have to buy some cameras for putting up in classrooms. They will record and stream long sessions (around 6 hours) several times a week. Audio is captured by two microphones connected to a mixer, which has to be connected to the camera.

Can you recommend a good consumer camera that has a fairly wide FOV, audio input and HDMI output (for VidiU Pro encoder)?

Thank you!

Best regards,
Nikolaj

We selected Canon XA20 camcorders, in part because they have a fairly wide FOV, so important for shooting interiors.

35mm equivalent focal length of about 27mm; to my thinking this is reasonably wide. Anything in the range of (equivalent FOV) 24-28mm is a true wide angle, IMO, and about the best we can do with modern camcorders... unless one goes to cameras like the Canon C100, where almost any focal length is available in a zoom or prime.

Thank you. I was hoping for something a bit cheaper - what would you think about using something like the Panasonic HC-V750?

Looks to be a good choice. If you want or need something even cheaper but no further compromise on the image quality you can look for the Sony CX700 series, or newer CX/PJ760/790 seies with on board gimball stabilization system in the used market. The wide end on all these models goes to 26mm (35mm FoV equivalent) and the 10x lenses seem to be optimized for this wide end shooting rather than the middle range or at the tele end. All have external 3.5mm mic input and mini or micro HDMI out for live display and viewing. Low light shooting, in up to 1080/50 or 60p mode, is also excellent on all these models with basically the same 2.88" sensor.

Do keep in mind for live streaming with Panasonic cameras via HDMI that you must KEEP THE REMOTES because to turn off the on screen display, you need the remote.