Why can't i get sound from my external mic onto my camcorder?

Question

I've got an older style sony camcorder (dcr trv275e). Getting decent sound from the onboard mic is not very good at all so I'm trying to get an external mic working. The problem is, with the 2 different mics I've tested on 2 different cameras (one slightly newer) I'm not getting any sound at all. The jacks on the camera say 'plug in power' which i assume means they provide the small amount of power needed for the mics which are not battery powered. Do i need battery powered mics or is it something else? Anyone ever dealt with this by any remote chance? Thanks in advance of any help.

Answer 1

Did you check with the Sony support site to see which microphones are optimal with your camcorder??

Answer 2

The connector you found is to power the camera when the battery is not attached. The typical video8 camera did not have good audio on the linear track. This is because of the incredibly slow tape speed of only 1/2 inch per second, and the use of ME metal evaporate tape. You might get slightly better audio if you switch to MP metal particle tape.  The mic is not the problem. miniDV uses a similar tape, but it records the audio as digital along with the video. Panasonic DVC pro has a linear audio track to use for cuing purposes only. DVC pro runs at 1.5 ips and uses MP tape to pull this off.