Knight Digital Media Center Multimedia Training

Tutorial: Canon VIXIA HF10

Introduction

The Canon VIXIA HF10 is a solid-state High Definition video camera, which means it doesn't use tape or any mechanical mechanism for the recording media. Instead it uses a memory card called Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) and built-in internal flash memory.

This camera is generally considered a high-end consumer-grade camera. The difference between this camera and a pro model largly revolves around the number of CCDs (charged coupled device) chips for recording the image. Most professional-grade cameras have three CCDs, as opposed to one chip. Generally, three-chip cameras capture a much higher quality image with better color rendition, but at a substantially higher cost. The Canon VIXIA HF10 is a one-chip camera.

Features of the Canon VIXIA HF10:

• Uses a dual-system to record video. You can record to either a SDHC memory card or 16GB of built-in internal memory (approx. 2 hours in highest quality)
• Has a mode specifically to take still images.
• Records video in either Standard Definition (SD) or High Definition (HD) modes.
• Offers manual focus, manual exposure, manual white balance and manual audio level overrides.
• Audio mic in, and earphone out plugs.

Battery Info

The Canon HF10 comes with a standard regchargable battery pack called the BP-809. Canon also makes an optional battery called the BP-819, but for the purposes of this tutorial it will be referred to as simply the "extended battery pack." Every camera kit at the school of journalism comes with one of each of these batteries.

Here is a table of approximate recording times. These times are adjusted conservatively, so actual life may vary.

Battery Pack	FXP	XP+	SP
BP-809 (standard)	50 min.	55 min.	55 min.
BP-819 (extended)	120 min.	130 min.	130 min.

To remove the battery, you must push the switch at the bottom of the camera, and the battery will slide down.

Also, at any time, even when the camera is off, you can press the Disp/Batt Info button which is located on the side of the camera (the screen has to be open to see it) to bring up a menu of what percentage of the battery charge is left, and the approximate recoding time you can expect.

Remember, the recording time is approximate, and you should be conservative with your usage.

This camera also has the ability to plug into an AC wall plug, which will both power the camera and charge any attached batteries. The adapter socket is on the back underneath a small door. Pull out the "DC IN" door to reveal the plug.

Setting up the Memory Card

Inserting the memory card

The Canon HF10 is a dual recording system that will capture video/photos to either a Secure Digital High Capacity memory card, or internal flash memory, but not both at the same time. You can, however, record to the internal memory and copy the footage over to a memory card without hooking the camera up to a computer.

IMPORTANT: The Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) memory cards are NOT the same as a regular Secure Digital (SD) memory cards. While both cards appear identical, the newer cards use a technology that requires a special card reader that supports SDHC. While these SDHC cards will physically fit into older memory card readers, they can't be read unless the card reader supports these cards specifically.

To insert the memory card, open the screen and click the switch that says CARD OPEN. Do not try to open the card without using this switch.

Slide in the memory card face up (the metal contacts should be facing down) and push it all the way in. Once the card is pushed in far enough, it will lock into place. Never force a memory card into the slot if it is not going in.

To eject the memory card, simply push the card further in and a spring will push the card out.

Changing the camera settings to use the memory card

As previously mentioned, this camera can be set to record to either an external memory card or the built-in camera memory. Once the camera is set to use one type of media, it will stay set to that type even if the camera is shut off. The key way to know what type of media the camera is setup to record on is to look for the respective icon designations on the screen.

SD memory card icon indicating the camera will record to external cards.

Built-in memory icon indicating the camera will record to internal memory.

If using the proper type of SDHC (Class 6 or higher) card, there is no advantage to recording to either type of media in terms of quality or reliability. We instruct all students at the UC Berkeley school of journalism to only record to the SDHC memory cards that have been assigned to them.

If you need to change the media type that camera is recording to, use the following procedure.

To change this setting, you first must turn on the camera and go into the menu system.

1. Turn on the camera by pressing the silver POWER button at the top.
2. Turn the control knob to the red video camera icon (second from the left).
   
3. You will be in video mode, and the camera will be prepared to shoot video footage. Now press and hold FUNC. button for about two seconds. (The func button is located just below the viewfinder screen.)
4. The next screen is a main options menu for general camera settings. Scroll down using the joystick (located just to the left of the screen) to the second option which is called MEMORY OPER.
   
5. This menu will allow you to get information about the current memory setup, or to change the type of memory that is used for recording. Use the joystick to move the selection to the right and then scroll down to the MEDIA options. You can adjust which media to use for taking photos (MEDIA:IMAGES) or for recording video (MEDIA:MOVIES).
6. To change the options, you must press the joystick in (like a button) and select the appropriate media type ("BUILT IN MEM" or "CARD") by pressing the joystick in again.
7. Press the FUNC. button to return to the camera mode.

Erasing the memory card for later use

The "Initialize" option under MEMORY OPER is for reformatting (erasing) either the memory card or the internal camera memory. Be very careful with this setting, as you can accidentally erase footage you captured.

Copying clips from internal memory to the SDHC card

Students can copy individual clips from the built-in internal camera memory to the external memory card. While we don't recommend doing this for organizational reasons, it's good to know it's possible in case a student wishes to retrieve footage stored on the internal memory.

Note: You can only copy individual clips, one at a time.

To copy content from the memory card, you must be in the video playback mode. Change the setting of the main control dial to the red camera with the triangle.

Video playback icon

Once in video playback mode, you will see a screen that will show you all of the clips from a particular media as thumbnails. You can use the small joystick to the left of the screen to navigate around.

There are four tabs along the top of the screen. They are built-in memory, SD card memory, built-in memory playlist, and SD card memory playlist. We will generally never use the playlist features of this camera. Use the joystick to scroll to the clip you wish to copy over to the SDHC card. (You have to be in the internal memory section)

Press the FUNC. button (located just below the screen) once.

A new sub-menu will pop up just below this screen. The option to the left will allow you to copy that clip to the external memory card.

If the option is grayed out, that likely means that you are either: Under the SD tab section, do not have an SD card plugged in, or you do not have a clip selected (your selection is still on one of the tabs).

Settings for Capturing Video

Once the camera is setup, students can now move on to capturing video. It's important to understand how the camera functions when using it to capture video.

Easy mode

But first, in case all else fails, Canon built this camera with an "easy" button. This button, when activated, puts the camera in full-automatic mode. Everything is controlled by the camera and the photographer has little else to do other than point and shoot.

While this may seem like an easy go-to option, we encourage students to learn how to utilize the other functions of the camera which will help to instill proper usage and technique. It's also important to note that while in the easy mode, the camera actually limits the options and settings available.

Shooting in video mode

This camera has four modes: photo, video, video playback and photo playback. They are all designated by an icon on the main dial switch. They are:

	Video
	Video Playback
	Photo
	Photo Playback

For the School of Journalism and its students, we will only be using the video modes. While this camera is capable of capturing still images, the lack of quality and control makes the digital SLRs a much better choice for photography.

Turn the main control dial to the video mode.

At the Graduate School of Journalism, we have preset all of the cameras with the appropriate settings for capturing video for the Web. If students feel these settings might have changed, please see the section on changing the camera settings.

In this mode, capturing video requires little more than just pressing the Start/Stop button on the back of the camera with your thumb.

A few things to note: The icon at the top left of the screen indicates the mode you're in, and the type of media that is being recorded to. Students should always make sure that they are in video mode and that they are recording to their SDHC memory card (see section on memory cards to verify the icon meaning).

Video mode settings

This section will describe the settings inside the video shooting mode. These would generally be used to adjust the camera to the conditions in the shooting environment. 

Pressing the FUNC. button will open up a menu that offers a range of options related to shooting video. Here is a brief description of each mode's purpose.

Shooting modes

• Program AE - "Program auto exposure," this mode is the most basic auto mode. It sets everything for you based on the conditions the camera sees fit.
• Tv - "Shutter Priority auto exposure," this mode allows you to set the shutter speed when shooting video. To set the actual speed, you have to select this option, then exit this menu and press the joystick up or down.
• Av - "Aperture Priority auto exposure," this mode allows you to set the iris or aperture.
• Cine Mode - This is a preset marketed by Canon to give your videos a 'cinematic' look. We do not recommend using this mode.
• Presets - This option allows you to press the joystick button in to pick from a variety of built-in presets. The presets are based on the shooting conditions you encounter. They allow to set the camera for conditions like sports, portraiture or going to the beach. We do not recommend using these settings. Instead, we recommend using the manual controls above to get the desired effect.

White Balance

• AWB or "Auto White Balance" - Generally the only one you're likely to use in 80 percent of situations. It sets the white balance for you.
• Daylight (sun icon) - This mode assumes your are shooting outdoors on a sunny day. It will adjust by adding yellows to counteract the blueish appearance of sunlight.
• Shade (icon of house with shade) - This mode assumes your are shooting in a shady spot during a sunny day. These situations produce a lot of blueish (colder) colors, so it counteracts with very warm yellows.
• Cloudy (cloud icon) - This assumes you are shooting on a cloudy day. It will add some warmth to counteract the blueish colors.
• Tungsten (pear shaped light bulb) - This assumes you are shooting indoors with traditional pear-shaped light bulbs lighting the room. These bulbs produce very warm colors that are near yelllow/orange. This mode will add green/blue to the image to counteract.
• Fluorescent (bar icon) - This assumes you are shooting in a room like an office with fluorescent lighting. It will add some yellow to counteract the traditional green colors that fluorescent lighting.
• Fluorescent H (bar icon with H) - This is the same as fluorescent, but to a much greater degree. It assumes you are shooting in a room where there are very harsh fluorescent lights. If you notice green appearence, use.
• User set (box with triangles underneath) - Use this mode to manually set the white balance to the conditions of the room. Point the camera at something that is suppose to appear as white, then press the joystick in (set) and wait for a few seconds. The camera will set the white balance based on that sample.

Image Effects

We strongly urge students to never use image effects. Most of these effects, if desired, can be created during the video editing process. Doing so in shooting process will permanently set your footage to these effects. Give yourself options.

These effects adjust the image's color saturation or sharpness, or color.

Digital Effects

We strongly urge students to never use digital effects. All of these, including the transitions, can be done during the video editing phase. Do not permanently limit footage to these effects.

Quality Settings

Students should only use the FXP quality setting when capturing video -- even for the Web. This quality setting refers to the amount of compression that is performed on the video. The only difference between FXP and XP+ is the resolution is a little bit higher with FXP. But because the final destination is for the Web, the extra resolution isn't necessary, therefore the FXP offers resolution high enough for the intended purposes.

Since students will be recording video to be edited later, they should only use a high quality setting. On FXP mode, you can record over two hours of video with a 16GB memory card. (combined with internal memory, that's 4 hours and 10 minutes.)

Recording Modes/Memory	FXP*	XP+	SP	LP
Canon HF10 Built-in 16GB of memory	2hr. 5min.	2hr. 50min.	4hr. 45min.	6hr. 5min.
SDHC 16GB memory card (Type 6 only)	2hr. 5min.	2hr. 50min.	4hr. 45min.	6hr. 5min.
Total	4hr. 10min.	5hr. 40min.	9hr. 30min.	12hr. 10min.

* FXP records at 1920 x 1080 while all of the other formats record in 1440 x 1080.

Still image setting

The Still Image menu refers to the photo button at the top of the camera. When this function is enabled, the photo button will allow the user to take a photograph instantly by pressing the button -- even when in video mode.

We recommend students turn off this function and not use the photo button at the top of the camera. There is a very long lag with taking photos with this video camera, and students should use a digital still camera for taking still photos.

Main camera menu

When you click the joystick in (set) while on this item, you will enter the main camera settings menu. The other option to enter the main camera settings is to press-and-hold the FUNC. button.

Students should never change any settings in this menu except for changing the memory type under Memory Oper, and changing the AV-Output to use headphones under System Setup.

In case the camera gets reset, here are a list of the settings we use here at the School of Journalism:

Camera Settings
Function	Setting	Description
Self Timer	OFF	Used to take pictures of one's self
D. Zoom	OFF	Used to provide extra zoom at a greatly reduced quality
Zoom Speed	Var	Variable zoom speed depending on how hard the switch is pressed
AF Mode	I.AF	Set to "instant" AF which is quicker autofocus
Focus Assist	ON	Uses infrared light on the front of the camera to help autofocus
Img Stab	ON	Image stabilizer helps steady the shot when camera shakes
Frame Rate	60i	IMPORTANT! Uses 60 fps interlaced, which helps sync audio monitor
A. SL Shutter	ON	Auto slow shutter. Camera will use slower shutter in low light.
WindScreen	OFF	Automatic wind noise reduction, but reduces low EQ on audio
Mic ATT	OFF	Automatic mic attenuation. Mic levels are automatically adjusted.

System Settings
Function	Setting	Description
Battery Info	[none]	Displays remaining battery time
WL. Remote	OFF	Allows camera to be operated with a remote control
Beep	OFF	Plays beep sounds for warning (We set it to off to avoid distractions)
Power Save	ON	Camera will auto shut down if not operated within 5 minutes
Quick Start	10min	Amount of time before camera shuts down when closing the LCD screen
AV/Phones	[Phones]	Toggles the function of the AV OUT plug outlet on back of the camera
Phones Vol	[highest]	Volume of the headphones
Img Numbers	[Continuous]	Whether the numbering resets when the card is removed
Comp. Out	1080i	Resolution to use when plugging a video cable to the back of the camera
HDMI	[none]	Status when plugging into a high definition TV

Setting AV plug for earphones

This camera has an "audio-video," or AV OUT, plug outlet in the back of the camera. The outlet serves two functions 1) As a way to plug the camera into a video monitor, and 2) A way to plug in a set of earphones to monitor your sound.

NOTE: The plug will serve either of these two functions, but not both at the same time. The function of this outlet can be adjusted in the camera settings.

The AV OUT is the yellow plug.

Since this plug serves two different functions, you may have to change it on occasion to serve as the earphone out. (This is the default setting for the students). If you plug in a pair of earphones and hear a buzzing noise, it's because you have to switch the function of this outlet.

To change the setting, perform the following steps:

[Insert image of AV/Phones menu]

1. Turn the camera on and make sure you're in video capture mode.
2. Press and hold the FUNC. button for more than two seconds to go into camera settings.
3. Scroll down to the SYSTEM SETUP icon (5th from the top) and click the joystick to the right to enter the system setup menu.
4. Scroll down to the AV/PHONES option, and press the joystick in (set).
5. Select phones from the menu. Then press FUNC. to exit.

Capturing Video

To capture video, turn the camera on and set the main control dial to video capture mode.

For about 99 percent of situations, students are likely to use the "P" or program mode, and AWB or Auto White Balance. Both of these settings are discussed in the previous section of this tutorial. Setting both of these settings to auto gives the photographer the ability to simply focus on the content of the frame without having to worry about the technical aspects of the shot.

However, a good grounding in the specifics of this camera's operation are valuable to correct unforseen circumstances.

Understanding the in-camera adjustments

By far, the most difficult part of using this camera is understanding how to use the joystick in relation to the in-camera adjustments dialogue.

The in-camera adjustments are a series of settings that allow you to make adjustments on the fly while shooting. These include setting the exposure, adjust the mic levels, adjusting the volume and others.

This is how it works:

While in the video capture mode press in the joystick once (the set button).

A menu will appear in the lower right hand corner of the screen. This is the in-camera menu. There are several of them, and to cycle through all of the menus PRESS DOWN on the joystick. However, here's the caveat -- you cannot press up to go back through the menus in reverse! Pressing up will actually activate that function and allow you to change the settings to that specific menu. I know, confusing.

Here are a few of the more important settings you can adjust:

The exposure setting allows you to quickly brighten or darken the image by adjusting the exposure. To activate this feature, go to the related menu shown above and PRESS UP on the joystick while this menu is showing. An exposure adjustment bar will appear in the upper portion of the screen.

To adjust the exposure, press left or right on the joystick. The exposure can be adjusted ONLY while the exposure menu is currently on the screen. If the set button is pressed, and the exposure menu disappears, the exposure can no longer be adjusted until the menu is activated again.

To actually turn off the exposure setting (or any of these settings), press up on the joystick again and the + - symbols will gray out and the adjustment bar at the top of the screen will disappear.

 
Left: Mic menu is turned on by pressing UP, on the Left: Mic menu is off because the + and - are grayed out.

To set the microphone levels, first press the set button, then press DOWN on the joystick until the mic menu is reached. To activate manual mic level adjustments, press UP on the joystick and the adjustment bar will appear.

Press left or right to adjust the mic levels. Be careful to not "peak" the sound. You'll know this is happening if you see red boxes as shown in the image above.

The manual focus setting works much the same way, except that the screen will temporarily zoom in to give assistance to setting the focus accurately. Manual focus is not very intuitive for doing creative techniques like a rack focus.

Logging And Transferring Video

This section deals with importing footage from the Canon VIXIA HF10 into Final Cut Pro.

The Canon VIXIA HF10 cameras only record in high definition format using a special codec (compression/decompression) called AVCHD. This new codec is revolutionary for it's ability to compress very high quality HD video in a relatively very small space. In fact, it so good that it can compress about one-hour of video into 8GB of space. When uncompressed, that same video would typically need about 60GB.

About AVCHD AVCHD is a great compression codec, however there are some drawbacks. Because the footage is so tightly wound up to make it small, it is virtually impossible to edit AVCHD footage natively with today's computers. What does this mean for us? Well, it means that in order to do any editing to the footage taken with the Canon VIXIA HF10, students must first go through a process of converting the footage to an Intermediate Codec, one that can be edited. Once converted to this intermediate codec, the footage will be quite large -- about one gigabyte per minute. This means students should import only the footage they need, and develop a strategy early on for archiving and storing the original compressed footage.

How footage is stored on the memory card

The Canon HF10 stores all of the footage in a master folder called AVCHD. This might be inside another folder called "private," which is superfluous and isn't required. Inside the AVCHD folder are several other folders.

If students choose to ever backup their footage, they should back up the ENTIRE AVCHD folder and all of its contents! The AVCHD folder itself can be renamed to something more relvant, but the folder structure and all of its files must stay intact. If not, the video editing program will throw an error message when trying to import.

The message will say: [card name] contains unsupported media or has an invalid directory structure. Please choose a folder whose directory structure matches supported media.

For the most part, students won't have to really touch the media on the card, but simply import it through Final Cut Pro. Just make sure these concepts are understood for archiving purposes. If students wish to archive or back up their raw footage, they should copy the AVCHD folder and all of its contents.

These can also be burned to a CD/DVD for more permanent storage.

Importing into Final Cut Pro using Log and Transfer

To import footage from the Canon HF10 into FCP, first insert the memory card and launch the program. If an error message comes up explaining that no device is connected, simply click "Continue," this means there is no camera physically connected to the computer.

Setting the scratch disks

The first step, as always in Final Cut Pro, is to set the scratch disks. The scratch disks refers to the location where all of the footage is stored during the editing process. This is also the location FCP will place the footage when converted to the Apple Intermediate Codec.

To set the scratch disks, go into the Final Cut Pro menu at the top of the screen, and select System Settings.

There are four places where student should set their scratch disks.

IMPORTANT: Students at the School of Journalism should only set the scratch disks to their connected Firewire drive. DO NOT set the scratch disks to any local folders, such as Documents or the Desktop. The reason for this is because there is a 5GB limit on every student's account, and setting the scratch disks to any local folder is likely to exceed those limits.

Log and Transfer dialogue in Final Cut Pro

Next, in Final Cut Pro, to to the File menu and select Log And Transfer.

Final Cut Pro will display a special transfer dialogue box. It should automatically find the SDHC memory card that is plugged into the system. If not, click the plus-folder icon at the upper left-hand corner of the window and locate the media.

• #1 - This area will show a list of the video clips on the card, as well as the duration of each clip.
• #2 - This button is used to change the Intermediate Codec setting, which will be described in the next section.
• #3 - This is the preview window for each clip. This can be played even before the clip has been logged.
• #4 - This is the area where the clip can be marked with IN and OUT points, either by using the buttons here, or by pressing the letters "i" and "o" on the keyboard.
• #5 - This area is to identify clips and include descriptions. It is extremely important to identify clips with relevant information.
• #6 - Only after the IN and OUT points have been set, and the info has been added to the clip, students can drag clips to this area to begin the logging process.

Before logging clips, students should take a moment to change the Intermediate Codec setting. FCP uses two different codecs for logging AVCHD footage, Apple ProRes 422 and Apple Intermediate Codec. The ProRes codec is technically better, but takes up substantially more space. Since the desired output for all footage for the School of Journalism will be the Web, students should use Apple Intermediate Codec. This will help save storage on the drive.

Changing the intermediate codec

Click the gear-shaped icon as shown in #2 in the image above and select Preferences.

The P2 Plugin menu refers to a special type of memory card used in high-end digital cameras. The Canon HF10 does not use P2 cards, but rather memory cards with the AVCHD codec, so this is the only menu that needs adjusting. Change the AVCHD setting to Apple Intermediate Codec. The audio codec can be left alone.

Logging footage

Once the codec has been changed, student can begin going through their footage and marking them with IN and OUT points. Once they have been identified, student should properly label their footage then drag the clips to the queue.

The system is setup in such a way that allows student to drag over several clips even when some are not finished, which simply adds them to the queue for processing. The status column will show a swirl to indicate that clip is processing. The processing can also be paused using the pause button at the top of the queue.

Since the processing takes several minutes (possibly twice as long as the duration of each clip) students should add all of their clips to the queue, then -- as they say -- "go get lunch." The clips should be completed when one returns.

Changing the Sequence Setting

When using the Canon Vixia HF10 cameras, you will have to change the sequence settings in Final Cut Pro to match that of the HD footage you have captured. You will have to do this before you begin to build out your project on the timeline, and usually after you have logged and transferred your clips.

The process is relatively easy. Simply grab one of the clips you have logged-and-transferred, and drag it on to the timeline. You should do this even if you don't intend to use the clip in your final piece. (you can delete it off of your timeline afterward)

Once you drag your first clip (captured by the Canon Vixia footage) to the timeline, a warning message will appear telling you that the clip settings don't match your sequence settings. A "sequence" refers to the actual timeline where you will be building your project. Answer YES to this dialogue box.

This will automatically set the sequence settings of your Final Cut Pro project to match that of the footage you captured from the Canon Vixia camera. You can now delete the clip and continue building your project.

If you need to change the sequence setting manually

If for some reason you answered "no" to the dialogue box, or you imported a clip that wasn't from the Vixia camera (like a photo), then your sequence settings probably do not match the settings of your clips. This could cause errors displaying a "RT Extreme dropped frames" message. Also, once you export, the footage may come out soft or even blurry.

To fix this issue, you need to manually change your sequence settings. Right-click or (control-click on the Mac) on the sequence you are working on located in your bin. The default sequence name is "Sequence 1." Change the settings to the image below:

• Frame size: 1920 x 1080 (or the HDTV 1080i 16:9 preset)
• Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square
• Filed Dominance: Upper (odd)
• Editing Timebase: 29.97
• Compressor: Apple Intermediate Codec

If you change your sequence settings after you have already laid some clips on your timeline tracks, then you will have to do one additional step to conform the clips to the new settings. You can do this by first selecting all of your video clips. Shift-click on video clips or you can select individuals tracks by holding down the Command Key (Mac) or Ctrl key (PC). Then choose "Conform to Sequence" under the modify menu.

Using the Wireless Microphone System

The Audio-Technica PRO 88W wireless microphone system is compatible with most video camera recorders and has a range of up to 300 feet with a direct line of sight.

Battery Info 

The transmitter and receiver are each operated by a 9V alkaline battery. Students are responsible for purchasing their own 9V batteries. To install battery, connect it to wires as shown below.

 

Then place battery in its compartment with ribbon underneath for easy removal.  Slide cover into place, top-side first.

Note: Although the receiver has a plug for a power adapter, these kits do not come with one, so don't forget those batteries!

Using the Transmitter 

1) Turn transmitter ON.  A red light will appear. 

2) The receiver and the transmitter have two channel options: "A" and "B".  Make sure both are set to the same channel.

3) Plug either the handheld microphone or the Lavaliere microphone (the small, bulbous one) into the MIKE INPUT jack on top of the transmitter. Use the supplied clip to attach the Lavaliere to to the subject's clothing.

4) Subject can put the transmitter in a pocket or clip to a belt.

Using the Receiver

 1) Turn receiver ON.  A red light will appear.

 2) As mentioned above, make sure both units are set to the same channel.

 3) Attach the receiver to the video camcorder by inserting the mounting bracket foot to the camcorder's accessory shoe.   

 4) Connect the mini-plug audio signal cable from the MIKE OUT jack on the receiver to the (red) external mic jack on  the back of the camcorder.

 5) We recommend you attach the headphones to the (yellow) phone plug in the back of the camcorder to listen to the signal. There's a little bit of a delay when you listen this way.  If the delay really bugs you, you can plug in the headphones or the monitor earphone to the PHONE OUT jack on the receiver. You will, however, only be able to hear on one ear of the headphones if you plug into the receiver.

Troubleshooting

A. If the selected channel is noisy, switch both the transmitter and the receiver the other channel. 

B. If there is a "dead spot" in a room (indicated by noise on the external earphone or headphones), try a slight change of position or changing the channel.

C.  Low ceiling fluorescent lighting, overhead telephone lines or close proximity to metal fences can all cause static.  If this occurs, try a slight change of position and/or try changing channels.

D. When the battery voltage of a unit drops below 6V, the red light indicator will go out.  This means you need a new battery.  (Note: To save battery power, turn off the units when they are not in use.)

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