Newsgroups: rec.video.production,sci.engr.television.broadcast
Subject: I hate 3.5 mm jacks in audio systems (Re: Who on earth still use unbalanced RCA audio? WHY??)
References: <[email protected]> <[email protected]>
"Maurice R Fleisher"  writes:

> My only additional comment to your abhorrence of RCA Phono connectors is
> to say that 3.5mm mini audio connectors are a far worse abomination and
> should be banned from ALL equipment, audio or otherwise.
> Just my (crackle, crackle, break-up, crackle) two cent's worth.

I can say the same on 3.5 mm mini audio connectors. They are
unreliable and huge pain in audio installations. Unfortunately
all major computer soundcards, PC based video editing card and
equipments designed for Internet TV brodacasting seem to have
those 3.5 mm jacks. When you have a dozen of such connections
in a large Internet broadcasting system, you can just use
gaffa tape to fasten the wires to table/computer case and pray
that they don't craccle and pop much during the broadcasting.
No can do with those connections, because that's the stuff
you get from the companies working in this field...

Other thing where 3.5 mm jack are even in worse place:
video cameras. If you are talking about any small
video camera (for example DV camera) not stricly for
broadcasting use, you very ofthen find 3.5 mm jack for
the (stereo) microphone input. Whan you want to
plug any decent microphone (some professional microphone
with XLR cable) for repoorting purposes, then only thign you
can keep thos thing to work is lots of gaffa tape to fasten
that thin cable in 3.5mm to XLR adapter and the 3.5 mm connector
itself to the camera. I really heate this kind of connectors
in this kind of use!

Ban those 3.5 mm stereo jacks in any decent audio. The
only thing where they are suitable are small portable
CD players and small radios as headphone connectors.
They are not the most realible connectors there either, but on
those applications there is nothign very critical going
on which would be messed up if sound cracles and pops.

-- 
Tomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/)
Take a look at my electronics web links and documents at 
http://www.epanorama.net/