Why is it that -even when Im well below clipping on the DVX meters- I get some distortion in my audio when dialog gets the slightest bit hot.

What mic are you using? The distortion may be coming somewhere else down the line. For example, if you're using a wireless system, the signal may be too hot going into the receiver, which would cause distortion regardless of how hot the levels were on the DVX.

Hi

Its not wireless, but I get what you are saying. I have just had trouble knowing where to let the DVX meters peak because of the distortion even below peaking.

With a proper signal coming in, the DVX will not distort at any level unless the signal overdrives it past the peaking position.

Each dot on the meters represents 2 db. The red begins at -12db, so you can go very deep into the red and still have headroom. It's only when you hit the very last red bar and the vertical stop-point on it that you end up in trouble.

I guess I'll try some other mics. I was using a lower end Senn Lav