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[Wesley Key]

I have been the primary audio guy at a small church for 10+ years.  We have grabbed audio from the mixer and made our own CDs for a long time.  Now we feel the time is right to start doing full videos and posting content online.  I'm wondering if there is a good cheap camcorder with a mic input out there.  We can zoom in for video from our A/V room 50 feet away, and pull audio from the mixer.  No worries about video upload, as we can do it after the service ends.

If I am going about this the wrong way, I am open to suggestion.

[Brian Jojade]

Define 'cheap'

There are tons of cameras on the market. Most that I have seen do have an external audio input available.  Video quality, even on the lowest end is adequate these days.  If you're just planning to have a stationary single camera with no operator, what you get won't matter.  If you want an operator behind the camera, thats when you need to start thinking about things like tripod stability, controls, etc.  The price to do that right jumps by quite a bit.

If you're post processing anyway, and you're already creating an audio recording, it's pretty simple just to marry that to the video after the fact.  Then you don't need to worry about getting your audio feed into the camera and having something go wrong there.  Let the camera mic be there as a live 'backup' audio feed and you're good to go.

[Mike Caldwell]

If you get a camera that only has an 1/8inch jack for an external mic input and plan on that to be the source of audio for your video the 1/8inch jack wants to see a left right mic level input, at the least you will need a line to mic level pad that feeds the positive audio to both the tip and ring on the 1/8 plug.  To be safe you should use a transformer iso between the mixer and the camera.

Try using a passive direct box in reverse to feed the camera.

Do not just use a straight through wired XLR to 1/8trs plug cable.

[Wesley Key]

Define 'cheap'

Can I do it for $100?  If not, can I do it for $200?

If you're post processing anyway, and you're already creating an audio recording, it's pretty simple just to marry that to the video after the fact.

How is that done?  Does Windows have video editing software that can do this, or should I buy a software program?

[Wesley Key]

  To be safe you should use a transformer iso between the mixer and the camera.

So direct connection is a safety issue?  Or a noise issue?  What does the passive direct box do?

[Erik Jerde]

Can I do it for $100?  If not, can I do it for $200?

How is that done?  Does Windows have video editing software that can do this, or should I buy a software program?

What is your purpose behind doing this?  With zero knowledge and essentially zero budget you're absolutely not going to get a quality product that will represent your church well.  Maybe if you had great knowledge you could get something good out of such a small budget.  Maybe. 

[Caleb Dueck]

Can I do it for $100? 

Add two zeros to get into ballpark.  If you're looking for high enough quality that people aren't turned away at least. 

[Mike Caldwell]

Caleb's $10,000 will get you into the equipment that looks like you care about video production, add another 0 and it will start looking like what most people expect/are used to seeing on TV.

Now all that said.....a $1000 camera will look good and give you some actual control of what the camera is doing, and it may actually have a real audio input.

Now you will need something to put that camera on something aka tripod and that tripod will need a dampened pan tilt head so your camera moves are smooth and the camera stays where you leave it, figure at least another $800 to $5000 for a tripod and fluid head.

What about the lighting, no camera will look good in poor lighting, will peoples faces show up well on tv and not have bunch of shadows across their face.

I just did a quick price search for Sony Handycam, figure at least $200 to get something like that.
Maybe something like that is what you need to test your market and build from there.

The audio transformer isolation is for noise, audio level, impedance.

[Mark Olsen]

Maybe something like that is what you need to test your market and build from there.

To the OP .. This is the problem I see with things like this all the time .. someone has a great idea, it gets implemented poorly / cheaply and then fails. Then you're left wondering if it failed becuase of the idea or the execution.


It seems to me that if its something that is worth doing and matches the vision of your church, then do it properly.

With all the streaming content out there for churches right now, you have to ask yourself why are you doing this?
1. To reach people that are already in your church, and just can't get out of bed today? ..
2. To reach people that have never heard of you? ..
3. To do the hip thing that all the other churches are doing? ..


Don't do this lightly, because the acquistion is expensive and the operation is not negligble.
Will it just be a distraction that takes you away from the people you are already serving in your church?


Mark

[Scott Holtzman]

To the OP .. This is the problem I see with things like this all the time .. someone has a great idea, it gets implemented poorly / cheaply and then fails. Then you're left wondering if it failed becuase of the idea or the execution.


It seems to me that if its something that is worth doing and matches the vision of your church, then do it properly.

With all the streaming content out there for churches right now, you have to ask yourself why are you doing this?
1. To reach people that are already in your church, and just can't get out of bed today? ..
2. To reach people that have never heard of you? ..
3. To do the hip thing that all the other churches are doing? ..


Don't do this lightly, because the acquistion is expensive and the operation is not negligble.
Will it just be a distraction that takes you away from the people you are already serving in your church?


Mark

He didn't mention streaming and how can you take someone serious who claims their budget is less than what a few feet of camera snake cost?

[ProSoundWeb Community]