I have a Panasonic AG-DVX100A camcorder that I’d like to use in an aircraft. How do I get audio to it from the aircraft’s intercom?
The camera has XLR inputs and RCS jacks:
IIRC aircraft headset speakers (earphones) are 300 ohm (or 150 ohm/earphone wired in parallel. But I’m not an EE. Can the aircraft intercom simply be plugged into the camera? Or does it need some sort of impedance-matching device? Where would I get an adapter? News crews lack their cameras into the aircraft intercom all the time, so they must be available.
Bonus: How do I make the ohm symbol (omega) on a Mac?
Don’t know if this helps but I’ve used my Sony DCR-VX2000 miniDV camcorder with a standard sport pilot headset/intercom system and it worked fine. Just used a standard ½" to ¼" headphone adapter cable and plugged it into the LINE IN (not the MIC) on the camcorder.
You can probably just use one of these. Attached to one of these. Then plugged in to a back-seat headset jack (the headset’s definitely a 1/4" stereo jack, mic’s a .205" stereo)
If you don’t feel like putting your camcorder’s recording abilities in jeopardy (though I doubt a difference in ohms with kill it) you could always find a cheap digital recorder to record any sounds from the headset, and edit them in digitally. Then all you need is a mic (which is most likely 3.5mm male) to 1/4" stereo cord, and it should plug right in. (I keep one of these cords in my flight bag, because one of our club’s aircraft has a music input on the radio stack, and I can put on my MP3 player for those long cross-country flights.)
Yes Johnny. You assume correctly. You will need a male to male 1/4 inch Phono cable, no biggie- Radio Shack stuff. Then plug the male 1/4 inch phono into the adaptor you show, and voila !
Assuming you have no impedance issues. It may be a cheap go-around if you DO have impedance issues, to run the 1/4 inch phono down to a 1/8 inch mic input plug and jack it into a standard issue cassette recorder. Tape the stuff, then digitize the audio tape and input it into FCP and bypass the DVX-100A totally. Just a thought.
I looked on the Radio Shack site, and all I found were adapters that went from high impedance to low impedance. The camera’s manual says that the XLR inputs are high impedance. I did find that one at B&H, but they have that Sabbath thing going on so I couldn’t order it.
Yeah, I’d like it to be in synch; so it would have to run into the camera.