all this talk about lav mics and i'm still confused
 

ok..so i'm readin' some threads on here..ppl talking bout the irivers and such.
i'm not sure what all that is for?? explain please

All i want to do is mic someone, do i just get a lav mic combo from B&H and be done with it or do i need to do other magical things.

thanx guys

there are 3 components to a wireless lav system. The mic, which is hooked to the transmitter, and the receiver unit. The receiver unit HAS to be hooked to either a camera (via XlR) or a mixer etc, which is coupled ot a recording device such as an iriver or dat player or hi-md etc etc. Thats the basics. If you're hooking up the receiver to camera via XLR, you should be fine. No need to worry about anything else. If you want to connect to an external recorder (not your camera), then you start worrying about irivers etc. So if you have a camera with xlr connectivity, yes one of those lav systems will work fine.

ok...wicked..i knew what hte lav consists off and the hookups etc. Jus the whole iriver thing..but u answerd it...thanx again
much appreciated :D

FWIW, not all wireless receivers have to be hook up via XLR. The Sennheiser G2, for example, plugs right into the cam's mini mic jack.

Usually when I see an iRiver, it's used *in place of* a wireless. The mic feeds the iRiver directly, this recording is then sync'd to the video track in post. See this a lot in wedding production where it's not feasable to wire the person speaking. A creative and low cost solution IMHO, sure not the best but it works.

Direct cable is still the best way I think, when it's practical to do so. Wireless is subseptable to interference and you can't monitor the iRiver until the recording is finished. But sometimes a cable just won't cut it...