Whoof! I was so wrapped up in the onboard mic vs. external mic discussion, I failed to pay attention to the first post in which Bob specifies he has a VX2K. OOOPS, senior moment!! :-) How embarrassing!

That said, the Senn is a lovely professional system that will punch out a whomping signal.

If you don't have the $400 or so for the required power module and head combo, that slick little Mixpad at $170 will indeed take any ol' dynamic mic and also add a lot of versatility to your audio game.

Or if even that is too much, try a Behringer Eurodesk MXB1002 mixer for $100, or if you don't need battery power try an 802 or 1202 for $50 or $80. Plus your choice of dynamic mic(s). Yeah, I know, some say Behringer is just a Chinese knockoff of Mackie, but there are a lot of them out there working.

Either way, you are worlds apart better off than trying to use the internal mic, which on the VX2K is often considered a weak point of that camcorder. And who needs to fuss with plugging into the sound card and worrying if it has good enough performance. Best to stay on the pro audio side.

Chinese. I always figured Behringer was German.

Hah! That's what they want you to think. :-)

Actually, now even Mackie is making some of its mixers in China. At least it's all their own engineering, and they have real power supplies not wall warts (which is the subject of a whole 'nother rant on my part).

If you really want to connect a mic to your computer, this is a must-read:

http://www.shure.com/support/technotes/app-soundcard.html

Having said that, I'll still record my audio on video tape first, then Firewire capture it.