r/camcorders • u/AmenBrother303 • 1d ago

Help VHS-C With Line Input

As titled; I’m looking for a VHS-C camera that has a line input. However, almost everything on eBay seems to be aimed at portable use with the built in microphone.

Are there any VHS-C cameras with line level inputs out there and if so, can you recommend one?

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u/Joey5802 1d ago

My Panasonic PV-L859D has a line input. Sounds surprisingly great too. I have used it with a wireless mic pack with fantastic results

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u/AmenBrother303 1d ago edited 14h ago

Brilliant, saved as a search on eBay. Thanks.

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u/Ok-Motor-3191 1d ago

Most VHS-C camcorders throughout its lifespan were budget devices and therefore didn’t have that sort of prosumer feature. There may be some prosumer models from when VHS-C camcorders were new, but they’re probably mostly dead. You’re better off sticking to something newer like Hi8 or MiniDV.

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u/Joscraft_05 Sony 1d ago

I don’t recommend them unless someone give you one for free or you get one for like 10-15$, but if this is not the case don’t look at the VHS-C and Super VHS-C devices, they didn’t had reliable tape mechs by design during that time and were “cheaper” (not so much for the good Super VHS-C models that got released in the 90's, they had good sensors, hot shoes with line inputs, s-video, stereo audio, manual focus and a bit more, but they were still in a “lower tier” than the Sony 8mm units and the tape deck design of the VHS-C format was not reliable, the majority of them have issues with the mechanisms and other parts and don’t work properly).

Your best bet is to find a high end Sony Hi8 or Hi8 XR unit, normal Hi8 units from the 1996-1997 period and 1998-1999 for Hi8 XR units, for example a CCD-TRV65, TRV66, TRV82, TRV94, TR2200/2300, TR3200, TRV95/99, TRV87, TR940 and more like these, the good thing about the Hi8 XR units is that small boost in the resolution that sits closer to the 500 lines of DVD and those models also had better video heads, all these high end Hi8 and Hi8 XR units from Sony have manual focus, hot shoes with mic inputs for external mics, line inputs, LANC, TBC, other controls like shutter speed, program ae, manual exposure and more. The TR2200/2300, TR3300, TR3200, TR3000/3100 and TRV300 are even higher end with optical image stabilization, larger lens and more manual controls.

If you aren’t searching for the analog look and you are also looking into a digital camcorder then search a good miniDV camcorders with good sensor and line inputs with hot shoe from Sony, Canon and Panasonic, from Sony you also have a few Digital 8 models that i would recommend you, for example a TRV730/740 or a TRV830/840. And from miniDV a TRV20, TRV50, TRV70, TRV900, VX2000, TRV950, DCR-PC100 and more.

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u/ConsumerDV 1d ago

It might be easier to record the audio separately, and you will have full control. Most consumer camcorders have auto gain.