Newsgroups: rec.arts.theatre.stagecraft
Subject: Re: Video hookup
References: <[email protected]>
"Al & Marilyn Kuntz"  writes:

> We are going to be taping our performance with VHS video cameras (just home
> units) and we would like to be able to feed the sound to the cameras via the
> sound board.  We have tried in the past but without any luck, we either get
> no sound at all or just a hum.  Any help will keep the sound man here sane.

Home VHS video cameras have typically just unbalancec microphone level
inputs. Those inputs pick up very easily hum an noise. If you
connect you video cameras to mains and wire tehm directly to mixing desk
you are guaranted to have problems. My advice is the following
approach:

MIXER - long cable - isolation transformer - PAD - video camera

In this approach the mixer drives the lkong cable. After it
is isolation transformer (keeps noise away) and after
is is attenuation PAD to make the ixer output level
to souti to low level microphone input in vidoe camera. 

Anything like that without isolation transformers between
bixed audio system and consumer vidoe camera is just asking
for trouble (could work sometimes but is mostly problematic).

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