The problem I see with using anything other than the Pany unit is you lose a true balanced mic/line input to the camera. All the 3rd party XLR adapters have to use the mini-stereo input which is not balanced and to me would add to the probablity of having audio problems, plus I don't know if the voltage and current supplied through this connection would be enough for a true phantom power mic.

I personally would encourage you to pop for the Panasonic unit.

Jeff

Only the Beacktek DXA-6 and DXA-6vu supply phantom power, and they use 9 volt batteries. I would definitely get the Panasonic XLR adapter. It has it's own mic clamp, and draws phantom power from the camera's battery.

Rode VideoMic
 

I asked this question before but never got a clear answer.

I want to run a shotgun mic on my DVC30, and I'm looking at the Rode VideoMic.
It says it uses a mini AV jack for the audio output to the camera. So does this mean I do not need the Panasonic XLR adapter to run this mic?

No, you don't need xlr for it.

Another question:

On the Rode VideoMic, when I want to check my levels, how is this done? Will my audio 'bars' on the viewfinder reflect the microphone recording even though it is not the stock one?

Yes they will.