Capturing RCA Audio
 

Hey there,
I'm just wondering if i'm perhaps doing something wrong here but,

I'm using an HV20 and i bought myself an RCA to mini jack adapter so that i could plug in an rca source into the hv20 and record it. In this case the RCA source was a mixer at a venue.
Anyway, the adapter cost me $3 so no big deal really, i just wanted to see if it worked. I tried plugging in my xbox's rca out into the adapter, and then the adapter into the mic input on the HV20 but all i got was that delightful steady sounding hum of electronics.
is it not as simple as just buying an adapter? or maybe i'm not thinking of something.
thanks!

Did you use a mono (Tip/Ring) or a stereo (Tip/Ring/Sleeve) mini jack adapter? The camera would be looking for a stereo input through the minijack. You can get adapters with single (mono) RCA female to minijack mono or stereo (same on both channels) male.

stereo,
made sure of that.

mini jack
 

i believe the hv20 mic jack will only accept a mic in source not a line in source which it sounds like the xbox is out putting

i'll try to find a mixer to try it out on. hopefully it'll work then

First, are you trying to capture camcorder video and external audio? Or just audio and you don't care about the video--that gets complicated with menu items.

I assume you want to use the camcorder video: yes, you will need a line to mic adapter. Radio Shack used to sell them but I can't find it on their website.

It is easy to make such an adapter if you are solder enabled. Here is a schematic: http://www.pana3ccduser.com/showthread.php?t=2386

external audio solutions
 

If you are going to be working with a lot of external audio feeds into the mic in of the HV20, I would highly recommend you look into investing in an audio adaptor from Beachtek( passive - no preamps) or a new company called Juicedlink (dynamic - includes preamps). These sort of boxes will be the answer to accomodating a variety of external audio input needs for most consumer camcorders. I wouldn't go anywhere without one. Also, I highly recommend you plug in a decent headset into the AV out of the HV20. You may need to make a menu setting change so you don't hear a lot of hum. Since that AV out jack includes stereo audio & video, I like to use a true 3 jack/cable to plug my headset in so there is no possiblity of getting interference from the video out. This is where a large handful of various adaptors from Radio Shack comes in handy.

Plan on investing $150 to $550 for one of the adaptors I mentioned above.

The HV 20 manual says:
MIC Terminal 􀂇 3.5 mm stereo minijack
-57 dBV (with 600 ohm microphone)/5 kohms or more

I'm a bit rusty on this kind of stuff but I don't believe that's line level either.
Someone correct us if that's wrong.

Ya. The "mic in" on the camcorder is expecting mic levels. I made the mistake of feeding audio one time from a mixer/soundboard into the mic in before I purchased an adaptor and everything was terribly distorted and over modulated. That's why one of these black box adaptors is the way to go. Your source can be either line or mic feeding into the adaptor. Incidentally, the one I recently upgraded to - Juicedlink, has the ability to mix inputs to left, center, or right plus it has LEDs to view audio levels.

hey there,
this is more or less what i purchased.
http://www.audiogear.com/cgi-bin/sho...&preadd=action


yes i am intending on recording video and audio. appreciate everyones help on this!

Depending on what else was in the setup at the time, a "delightful steady sounding hum of electronics" may be a ground loop if the hum you hear is 120 Hz or 60 Hz, and the simple adapters, while correcting levels, may not solve that for you.

Radio Shack does carry a ground loop eliminator (potted transformers with RCA leads in/out) that can help address this issue.