I have been looking at several of the topics here and i was wondering is there a camera out there that someone can buy that you would have both the audio and IR cap needed for nighttime use, i saw the sony has the night mode and if you kick the ir with an ir attachment it works great, i don't know, your thoughts

This a tough Question or is it the cold shoulder

I have an older Sony Camcorder with "NightShot" that I use, and as with most other standard, run-of-the-mill camcorders it has it's limitations. Basically nothing will do exactly what you want in all circumstances unless you build or have a customized unit built for you.

As long as there is some ambient light such as full moon, streetlights, porch lights etc. when the camera is set to "NightShot" it does a very good job of giving you a viewable picture when many other systems would leave you with nothing but a black screen. The built-in IR source is not very good for anything beyond maybe about 15 feet if there is no other ambient lighting. I've used mine using the light source from a handheld Night Scope and found I can see out to about 50 feet using that means. Sony makes, or at least use to make an external IR Illuminator that could attach to your camcorder for around $100 that claimed would allow you to video out to 100 feet. Compared to night vision scopes that's not really impressive.

Here's a webpage with some comparison stills of a dark area using the built-in IR source vs Sony's external illuminator vs their model ($300 unit)

http://www.batmanagement.com/Ordering/irlight/irlight.html

Personally I think you'd be better off building your own using a 12v spotlight with IR Filter to block visible light and a gel cell battery. You'll get a longer range of capture. Downside is at full power the battery will not last all that long so don't expect to be sitting in the woods and get hours of non-stop taping.

sent you an email about this...