Capturing audio/video in a car

[Chris Rieman]

Im looking to improve upon my audio and video capture on cars, specifically about the cars themselves.

In the past I have captured video with anything from a camcorder inside the car to a VIO lipstick cam runnng into the AV-in port on a GL2. I just run the VIO outside the car, racer tape it down to a body panel, and presto Im capturing video. The problem is, when I do that, I cant use the microphone port to capture audio at the same time using my Sennheiser G2 wireless. I usually run the receiver in the trunk and route the lavalier cable and mic to somewhere near the rear license plate to record audio. If Im just in regular tape mode on the GL2, then I can record the audio right to the tape, however Im then resigned to shooting video on the Gl2 itself. And I dont want that.

Im basically stuck between one or the other. If I input audio, Im stuck with on-board video. If I import the video thru A/V-in, Im stuck with audio on that channel too, which is useless because I have to get audio from the rear of the car to mask the wind noise.

I really want a solution where I can get video from anywhere on the car on the outside, and also grab audio from the rear of the car and record it to the same device at the same time.

Id rather not mount a camera on the outside with a stickypod (which I have), because of the attention it draws and flight risk. I prefer low-profile cameras or lipstick type cams.

Closest solution Ive found is this Sony unit:
Digital HD Video Camera Recorder - HXR-MC1/ACC

It appears to be a great unit. Only problem is, It doesnt appear to allow for audio-in to connect my Sennheisers.

Whats the best way to go about solving this entire dilemma? I must be able to record both audio and video on at the same time from separate inputs.

Suggestions, comments, please.

[William Japhet]

Juste finished a 2 days shooting with 3 x HXR-MC1 (inside : 1 for driver, 1 for passenger, 1 for both wide shot), 1 GoProHD (outside).
On every HXR-MC1, you have a little ambient mic included, very useful for synchronize audio when editing.
We had a sound guy in the boot, with his SoundDevices mixer, and the audio recording made with one 2-tracks audio recorder (it was a Sony PCM, but you can use Zoom H4n or other).

In the car, we have just added 3 Rosco Lite-Pad, for the light, to avoid blacks in tunnels.

The GoProHD choice, for the outside was perfect, it stabilize the shots like a travelling.

The result is perfect, really. You just need time to convert the Sony AVCHD in good file format (our Avid MC 5 hate the .mts files...)

[Chris Rieman]

Unfortunately thats a $10,000 solution to a problem my budget wont allow!

Unfortunately I cant fit a sound guy in the back of a Porsche so that idea is out too, nevermind the fact that I'm really a one-man show at this point.

I dont think theres going to be an easy solution to this. Man I wish the MC1 allowed for external audio-in. That would solve my entire problem.