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General discussion

Sony DCR-HC96 MiniDV ? Bad Audio / Humming Issue?

by kevinwynns Oct 30, 2007 1:48PM PDT

I just purchased Sony's DCR-HC96 MiniDV Handycam, and there's a notable "hum"/"buzz" when playing or recording on my MiniDV tapes (I have Sony Premium DVC MiniDV tapes). Of course, this shows up on the tape recordings themselves. It's not super horrible, but the buzz is noticeable on playback. Anybody own one of these and have the same issue? Or does anybody know anything about this? Is it normal or did I get a bad camcorder?

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2 Posts

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When you made the recording,

by boya84 Oct 31, 2007 4:09AM PDT

was there any audio for the camcorder to pick up?

If the environment you were in was essentially completely silent, the auto-audio level circuitry could have boosted all the way up (searching for audio) and ended up recording the tape drive motor(s). This is common when in very quiet recording environments.

This typically is a lot less apparent when there is some background noise... Could you try "testing" again with a radio or TV sound in the background and tell us what you get?

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Another option is to use an external mic...

by boya84 Oct 31, 2007 4:16AM PDT

preferably isolated from the camcorder body using a shock mount (if the mic needs to be mounted to the camcorder). A camera bracket attached to the camcorder's tripod mount will work - the camera bracket would have a cold-shoe to which the external mic can be mounted - again, preferably using some sort of shockmount...

With the HC96, you will need the Sony mic adapter thing from B&H Video in order to us 3rd party mics (that cannot use the active interface shoe directly).

Or... a wireless mic...

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