Replacement for Canon GL2

[ChrisC300]

Our church has been using a Canon GL2 to record our worship services for over four years. We have been very pleased with it. I am working with a friend at another church that wants to begins recording video of their services and I am working on giving them a "shopping list" of what they will need to get started. From what I can gather, the Canon GL2 seems to no longer be produced.

What camera would you recommend to replace a Canon GL2. They are looking at doing it in SD, it needs to be able to accept audio from an aux out on the mixer and need the ability to adjust the audio level coming in from that jack.

[prochlea]

A used GL2 would be an excellent choice. That would be a good budget solution as well... Do you know what their budget is?

[timato]

I would say go with a used XH A1, honestly. It's a better value for the $$ and they can transition to HD at some point in the future and still have the same camera. Of course, going to a switcher out of that camera in HD could be a bit cumbersome, too.

Sony has some good options in the HD/SD world, but both you guys need to think about future-proofing as much as possible in order to spend God's $$ as intelligently as possible.

[ChrisC300]

prochlea, I am not sure what their budget is. But I do believe in future-proofing this much of an investment. I wish we had an HD option with our gear.

[ChrisC300]

Can anyone recommend a SD camera similar to the GL2 or should I have them go look for a GL2 if they want to do standard definition

[ChrisC300]

I noticed that the XH A1 has XLR inputs. Would it be feasible to connect a cable from the Auxiliary Out (1/4" plug) of the mixer into one of these XLR inputs?

[mjl5007]

That's exactly what we do at our church when we record our pastor's sermon every Saturday evening -- Aux send from the mixer to XLR input on our Sony DSR-PD170 camera. I can't imagine it wouldn't work for you, too.

(In the interest of full disclosure, what we actually do is go from the Aux send, which is TRS, into the XLR input of a distribution amp box custom-built by one of our volunteers who is an electrical engineer by profession, via a TRS-to-XLR cable. That box has several XLR, TRS, and RCA outputs and feeds many devices, including the camera, an amp feeding the lobby speakers, a DVD recorder, our overflow room, etc.)

[prochlea]

I noticed that the XH A1 has XLR inputs. Would it be feasible to connect a cable from the Auxiliary Out (1/4" plug) of the mixer into one of these XLR inputs?

We have an XH A1, and do exactly that for the audio. The XH A1 has switches for Mic/Line on those inputs, and you can send one audio feed, and flip a switch on the camera and it will put Channel 1 on both the left and right channels.

[ChrisC300]

Thanks for the advice guys! I suggested they purchase the XH A1 camera. I wish I had known about this camera sooner, I would have requested it be added to the budget for next year.

[MustangNazMedia]

ebay and craigslist is a good way to get gear.
Just be careful what you buy it could be junk or it could be fine.

We have bought 2 3chip cameras of ebay and had great sucess.

But we bought them with warrenty and from dealers too.

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