Surround Sound on a Camcorder? ECM-HQP1 Microphone Reviewed [Archive]

Philip Colmer

10-26-2005, 05:00 PM

<img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-2005-microphone-02.jpg" /> Product Category: Microphone Manufacturer: <a href="http://www.sony.com/">Sony</a> Where to Buy: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007NP5QO/qid=1127467982/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-3200100-4208722?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846">Amazon</a> Price: $149.99 USD System Requirements: Sony camcorder with the new Active Interface Shoe Specifications: Electret condenser, uni-directional microphones. Dimensions: 32mm x 74.2mm x 65.9mm. Weight: 50g. Pros:<li>Easy to connect and use; <li>Flexible configuration options (surround sound or wide stereo).Cons:<li>Hard to extract & process audio if you don't have a VAIO; <li>Rear sound could get blocked by your body; <li>Only works with Sony camcorders with new interface connection.Summary: When I first read about the surround-sound capabilities of Sony's 2005 DV camcorder range, I was intrigued as to how they were going to manage it. The only way to find out was to get one and try it!<!> <PAGEBREAK> Hardware Support The microphone is a very compact unit that fits into the new intelligent accessory shoe that is present on the 2005 range of camcorders. It is not compatible with earlier Sony camcorders. As to how it works, the top of the unit (Figure 1) gives part of the game away - it is labelled with front & rear, left & right labels. <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-2005-microphone-04.jpg" /> Figure 1: Overhead view of the microphone. Indeed, what Sony has done is taken advantage of the "two stereo audio streams" feature in the DV specification to allow them to capture four channels of audio at the same time. The specification allows for a single stereo audio stream at 16 bit quality, or two stereo audio streams at 12 bit quality. This is further confirmed by the camcorder's menu display (Figure 2), which shows the "4CH MIC" option when the microphone is fitted. This means that the recording quality is going to be reduced compared with the normal 16-bit recordings but it is a clever lateral-thinking way of getting the four channels recorded at once. <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-2005-microphone-05.jpg" /> Figure 2: Setting up the microphone in the camcorder. Fitting the microphone is relatively straightforward - you place it into the socket on the top of the camcorder, slide it forwards and then turn the locking wheel (Figure 3). Removing it is the reverse of that process. <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-2005-microphone-03.jpg" /> Figure 3: Mounting the microphone on the camcorder. For outdoor use, Sony provides an all-covering wind shield. <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-2005-microphone-01.jpg" /> Figure 4: Shaggy dog, anyone? Software Support The documentation that comes with the microphone pretty much just talks about using the "Burn DVD" feature in the camcorder. Unfortunately, for that feature to work, you need Sony's "Click to DVD" application ... which only comes with some VAIO computers. Yep, if you don't have the right VAIO, you don't have many options open to you to easily get the video & audio off the camcorder and encoded into 5.1 surround sound. You've got to be able to:<li> Retrieve both audio streams from the camcorder - this can be done with tools like Scenealyzer; <li> Load the streams into a surround-capable product such as Adobe Audition, Adobe Premiere or Steinberg Nuendo; <li> Position one audio track against the front "speakers" and the other audio track against the rear "speakers" in the audio mixer - trial and error may be required to figure out which stream is from the front of the microphone and which from the rear; <li> Encode to Dolby Digital 5.1 if you want surround playback through a home cinema configuration or Windows Media 9 Pro if you want to playback on a computer with surround speakers.Since the microphone is only capturing four channels, the front centre channel needs to be created from the overlap from the front left and right channels. Most surround systems will create this automatically if the front stream is positioned appropriately in the panner control. The ".1" or LFE channel can normally be left alone because, in practice, the home cinema amplifier will do a good job of directing the correct frequencies to the subwoofer. If you don't have a VAIO, and you don't have the tools to accomplish the above tasks, this microphone isn't going to be any good to you. This is a really big black mark against Sony. I just do not understand why they can't either supply the direct-to-DVD software with the microphone or make it available for download. If they are worried about DVD burning compatibility problems then they should, at the very least, provide software that will capture the streams off the camcorder and encode it to Dolby Digital 5.1. <PAGEBREAK> In Use In use, the microphone does a reasonable job, but not a brilliant one. Part of the problem is its placement. Located on top of the camcorder, there is a good chance that you are going to effectively block the rear left and/or right microphone with your head or body as you film. That said, since rear sounds are there for ambience rather than being directly noticeable, this isn't too big a problem in practice. It is also possible to rotate the microphone. This is useful if you're videoing a scene where the audio isn't aligned with the direction of the camcorder. One drawback to the approach that Sony has taken to capture the audio is that it doesn't work with the new generation of HDV camcorders. These only record a single stereo stream and so, although the microphone fits the accessory socket, it cannot be used for surround recording, only for what Sony call "Expanded Stereo". In that role, it probably does a better job than the built-in microphone, but you are losing some of the functionality. Conclusions I suspect this product has a very short lifespan. It is going to appeal to a very limited number of customers (particularly since you've either got to have a VAIO or a lot of additional software and a good understanding of audio) and it won't provide the same functionality on the HDV camcorders. It is a shame, really. It is a great bit of lateral thinking on Sony's part to deliver this capability with existing technology. They should have done more to make the functionality accessible to those people without a VAIO. It would have been interesting to see if they could have done anything with the HDV specification to get the four channels they required. Philip Colmer is an I.T. Manager for a global electronic publishing company. In his spare time, he enjoys researching his family history, developing his videography skills and going shopping with his wife.