Crappy Sound on the Panasonic AG-DVC30 Camcorder: Part II

(It's not always software that's crappy, sometimes hardware ranks high on the craposity scale, too.)

It didn't seem right to me that the audio of a $700 camcorder would be superior to that of one that cost over twice as much. So, I went search for help.

I asked all my video/film-maker friends and they could give me no definitive answer. I finally broke down and shipped the camera to a certified Panasonic repair house, K&M Electronics in Atlanta.

I must say they were very prompt in responding, even thought they were less than helpful. They called me a few days later to say that they could not replicate my problem. They input audio at -10dB and it recorded perfectly at -10dB. They also dismissed my homegrown tests as meaning nothing.

Thus, according to Panasonic's official repair dudes, this camera is operating perfectly.

Talk about aggravating!

I took my issue to the forums at creativecow.net. An individual there responded with the following:

Unfortunately, your particular camera is simply a right royal pain in the neck to operate.

One of this camera's known weakesses is that there are no audio knobs, just a stinkin' menu. You need audio knobs and a meter to set levels properly. I don't know about the meter, but I do know this particular camera has no knobs.

If you plan to do any serious shooting -- and you plan to use the audio -- and you don't want spend all day setting levels, you might want to think about a different camera. This thing's gonna drag you down.

If you have any acquaintances who have oohed and aahed over it, see if you can sell it to them, bite the bullet, and get what you need. Don't sell it to a friend, because they know where you live.

Great. I'm stuck with an expensive camera with crappy sound that I should unload on a complete stranger and then leave town.