Sony ECMHW1 Bluetooth Wireless Microphone for DVR-DVD405, 505, HDR-SR1, UX1 & DCR-SR60, SR80, SR

Hear even more of what you've been missing with the ECM-HW1 Bluetooth Wireless Microphone from Sony, the ultimate accessory for capturing full 5.1 channel sound for all your digital video recordings. The Bluetooth-enabled wireless microphone captures clear and dynamic audio from up to one-hundred feet away. And it connects easily to your Handycam(R) camcorder using the convenient active interface shoe. Add a new dimension of sound to all your important moments. Records sound in Mono Records center-channel sound (for compatible camcorders with 5.1 Center mode) Earphone jack on receiver to monitor sound picked up by microphone Microphone transmitter powered by 2 AAA batteries Wireless microphone captures 5.1 channel sound Bluetooth-enabled captures clear audio from up to 100 feet away Connects easily to your Handycam(R) with the Active Interface Shoe

Customer Reviews:

Great microphone and good reception
I'm very happy with this microphone. The audio is balanced very well. We have a Sony HD-SR1 camcorder which records in Dolby Digital 5.1. There is a setting on this mic to set it as the center channel. You can also set it as the primary mic as well.

Recently we used this to record our daughters Holiday recital. She is only five and this was a group singing event. The microphone picked up her voice as the main center channel and the rest of the singers surrounded her. This was very effective. It was so cute to hear her voice from the crowd. This would not have been possible without this wireless mic. It even picked up her whispers. We were sitting about 50-60 feet away and the sound was excellent and we the bluetooth connection was never disrupted or disconnected. We even used it for her meeting with Santa and it was incredible to hear her whispering what she wanted to Santa. Our past videos simply have lips moving with inaudible sound. What a great experience to capture with the simple addition of this microphone.

Pairing was very simple as you simply turn on both the camcorder portion and the microphone. The bluetooth receiver uses power from the hotshoe so it doesn't need additional batteries. You will need some AAA's for the actual microphone though.

I only have two minor complaints...
- The neck strap is itchy. This is hard to explain. It is a nylon strap and the back portion is melted on to connect the strap. The melted portion is hard and scrapes your neck. I'll look for another strap but it is hard to find one that will work since the mic opening is tiny. This is a very minor annoyance though.
- My second minor annoyance is that when wearing the neck strap, any slight movement causes quite a bit of rustling sound. This results in large hissing type noise. We tried it with both the wind guard (small felt like cover) on and off and still get the rustling. Problem is especially worse with winter jackets that are loud anyways. The solution would be to use the clip or armband but the clip kept falling off our daughter and she kept playing with the armband and it looked unusual to have the armband on. Again, not a big deal. We are learning how to use this better and will practice with better placement of clip/armband when the situation arises.

Those two issues are so minor, I don't really fault the product itself which is great. I wanted to rate this 4.5 stars but it only let me choose 4 or 5 so I'm going with 5.
--2006-12-20

Price is misleading
This is not a review of the product, but a review of the product information. The "retail price" shown above for this product is $327.38 which is discounted here by an 'advertised' 61%. But it can be purchased directly from the Sony website for $199. The price here is still significantly lower, but not anywhere near the reported 61% lower. To me, this seems deliberately misleading and smells of 'cheesy' merchandising but perhaps it's just an oversight.
--2006-12-20

Bluetooth
Works great for adding audio remotely to your video. Used it at Disney, put it on the kids for their school plays and recitals- works like a charm.
--2006-11-13

A real solution to a common problem.
Lousy camcorder audio is the thing that makes "home movies" sound like home movies, just like shakey video does to the "look" part. This thing is great. Once I got it, it let me not have to stand so close, and reduced the background noise. When I interview people, having it clipped to me is enough to pick up those around me. I even used it for a music video for some dialog sequences ("Alicia" by Hold For Swank, check it out on YouTube.com). It's great and the distance is fantastic.

Downside: You can only have one plugged in at a time so I can't use it and the IR lamp at the same time. But, hey, what can ya do.
--2006-11-04

- Sony