Thought I'd share with you something I only found out recently. I had
been using my old Sony DCR-PC5 camcorder for years, in a helmet camera
setup to film my ATV rides. Recently I had an "incident" in which the
PC5 did not survive... So I went shopping for a new camcorder to use
with my bullet camera, but it appears that many camcorders nowadays do
not have support for a LANC remote control or even A/V IN connections.
That really blows because I need both and so do a lot of people who
use their camcorders for helmet cams. After much surfing and reading a
lot of forum posts, I found out that the new Sony camcorder actually
pretty much all have native support for LANC and A/V IN but just don't
have the required jacks installed on them for some reaso (probably to
save a couple bucks manufacturing!)...
But then I found a company who makes an adapter cable which connects
to the new Sony camcorders via the weird D-shaped connector, and lets
you hook up a LANC remote AND gives you RCA jacks to hook up the
external camera and mic. It's not cheap $50 but works like a charm
http://www.prolanc.com I found mine on eBay and saved a few bucks. I
use it with my brand new HDRCX12 and it works as advertized. I already
owned the LANC remote but otherwise you have to get one of these too
but they're fairly cheap. If you don't want to use it with a helmet
cam, the cable will also control the camcorder directly in camera
mode, pretty neat!

"mofo22" <onboardtv at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote in message news:ba4e6b03-8f06-4530-8155-b218b6af9a8d at (no spam) d32g2000yqh.googlegroups.com...

Thought I'd share with you something I only found out recently. I had
been using my old Sony DCR-PC5 camcorder for years, in a helmet camera
setup to film my ATV rides. Recently I had an "incident" in which the
PC5 did not survive... So I went shopping for a new camcorder to use
with my bullet camera, but it appears that many camcorders nowadays do
not have support for a LANC remote control or even A/V IN connections.
That really blows because I need both and so do a lot of people who
use their camcorders for helmet cams. After much surfing and reading a
lot of forum posts, I found out that the new Sony camcorder actually
pretty much all have native support for LANC and A/V IN but just don't
have the required jacks installed on them for some reaso (probably to
save a couple bucks manufacturing!)...
But then I found a company who makes an adapter cable which connects
to the new Sony camcorders via the weird D-shaped connector, and lets
you hook up a LANC remote AND gives you RCA jacks to hook up the
external camera and mic. It's not cheap $50 but works like a charm
http://www.prolanc.com I found mine on eBay and saved a few bucks. I
use it with my brand new HDRCX12 and it works as advertized. I already
owned the LANC remote but otherwise you have to get one of these too
but they're fairly cheap. If you don't want to use it with a helmet
cam, the cable will also control the camcorder directly in camera
mode, pretty neat!

I inquired about the possibility of a Canon HV20/30/40 Lanc adapter
(it REALLY needs one!), but alas, none is anticipated....
--DR

On Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:32:58 -0400, in 'rec.video',
in article <Re: Enabling LANC on new Sony camcorders>,
"David Ruether" <d_ruether at (no spam) thotmail.com> wrote:
"mofo22" <onboardtv at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote in message news:ba4e6b03-8f06-4530-8155-b218b6af9a8d at (no spam) d32g2000yqh.googlegroups.com...

Thought I'd share with you something I only found out recently. I had
been using my old Sony DCR-PC5 camcorder for years, in a helmet camera
setup to film my ATV rides. Recently I had an "incident" in which the
PC5 did not survive... So I went shopping for a new camcorder to use
with my bullet camera, but it appears that many camcorders nowadays do
not have support for a LANC remote control or even A/V IN connections.
[...]
But then I found a company who makes an adapter cable which connects
to the new Sony camcorders via the weird D-shaped connector, and lets
you hook up a LANC remote AND gives you RCA jacks to hook up the
external camera and mic. It's not cheap $50 but works like a charm
http://www.prolanc.com
[...]

I inquired there about the possibility of a Canon HV20/30/40 Lanc
adapter (it REALLY needs one!), but alas, none is anticipated....
--DR

I'm not sure how someone could design a LANC adapter for a camcorder,
such as the Canon HV20/30/40 series, that doesn't support LANC
protocol.

Sony does offer a very inexpensive wired remote controller for use
with select models of its consumer camcorders including the HDR-CX12.
It's called the RM-AV2, has a 59-inch-long cord, and sells for just
$38.95 at B&H.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/540091-REG/