Bizarre audio problem with my FS100

T

TMDFilms

Active member
Hello guys,

I have an odd audio problem crop up on my FS100. Just recently, it has been producing a quiet audio beep every second or so during recording. It directly corresponds to the memory card tally light. When data is writing to the card, there is a beep. I can only hear this beep if my ear is placed directly next to the body.

A beeping camera is really not an issue, but when it somehow bleeds into the audio recording, then it becomes a big problem. All of my recordings now have a faint audio beep every second.

I've tried about everything I could think of. I get no change with different; mics, cables, memory cards, and batteries. I still have the beeps when nothing is connected to the camera. But only get recorded beeps when an XLR mic is connected. Another thing I noticed is the beeps are faster in S&Q 60p mode. I'm guessing data is writing to the card much faster in this mode.

Has anybody experienced this problem with their FS100?

Thanks, Damon
 
Odd. The same thing was happening to HPX 500's about four years ago. They fixed it if you sent it in. Jan?
 
Sorry to hear that! I can't hear anything on mine.... sounds like maybe some crosstalk to the built-in speaker...? Did you try turning down the playback volume?
 
TMDFilms said:
Hello guys,

I have an odd audio problem crop up on my FS100. Just recently, it has been producing a quiet audio beep every second or so during recording.
Click to expand...

I have had the same issue

I have not had the resources to check it out fully yet

My guess was that it was coming from my Lav, maybe due to its placement near my Vlock battery creating some kind of 'magnetic or radio pulse' when power was drawn from the battery

I would do some experiments with different mic leads (and qualities), position of lav receivers etc

S
 
Sorry to hear that! I can't hear anything on mine.... sounds like maybe some crosstalk to the built-in speaker...? Did you try turning down the playback volume?
Click to expand...

I tried turning down the playback volume, but the beeps still record.

My guess was that it was coming from my Lav, maybe due to its placement near my Vlock battery creating some kind of 'magnetic or radio pulse' when power was drawn from the battery

I would do some experiments with different mic leads (and qualities), position of lav receivers etc
Click to expand...

I did some further testing and noticed the right channel (2) is more affected than the left. I did try three different microphones plugged in different inputs but still have the same results. I striped the camera down to just camera and microphone but still have beeps. Adjusting the trim level and gain level doesn't affect it. Factory reset didn't help. I've also tried recording in different locations just in case it was some sort of radio interference and still have the same result. What's odd is the intensity of the beeps can vary. Yesterday, I was getting strong beeps, but today with the same settings the beeps are quieter.

I guess the camera is going back to Sony. What worries me is this was not happening a few weeks ago. And I've been using this camera since mid June with the same external setup and settings.

Thanks for your help guys,
Damon
 
Ok, this is odd. Early I said I tried different memory cards. Which were two new SanDisk 16GB Extreme Pro SDHC UHS-I (45MB/s) cards. I tried an older SanDisk card I had in my DSLR. It's the 16GB Extreme SDHC (30MB/s). Both class 10. Well, the older SanDisk card somehow does not record the audio beeps. I've swapped back and forth between the new and old card and every time the results are the same. I don't see how this is possible. Not unless the FS100 is having troubles writing to the newer SanDisk card which is creating some sort of resistance in the circuitry. (I'm not an engineer :shocked:)

Unfortunately, the beeps can still be heard through the audio monitoring. This will drive my audio operator crazy with one second interval beeps while recording.

What cards are you guys using? Anybody using the new UHS-I SanDisk cards?

Thanks, Damon
 
Considering the routing of CH2 near the card it makes sense that the writing operation is putting out some sort of intereferance

Scan disk extreme, 32G, 30mbs class10 is my (only) card

S

my use of itialics means I do not have sufficient technical knowledge to comment but am making a guess
 
TMDFilms said:
Ok, this is odd. Early I said I tried different memory cards. Which were two new SanDisk 16GB Extreme Pro SDHC UHS-I (45MB/s) cards. I tried an older SanDisk card I had in my DSLR. It's the 16GB Extreme SDHC (30MB/s). Both class 10. Well, the older SanDisk card somehow does not record the audio beeps. I've swapped back and forth between the new and old card and every time the results are the same. I don't see how this is possible. Not unless the FS100 is having troubles writing to the newer SanDisk card which is creating some sort of resistance in the circuitry. (I'm not an engineer :shocked:)

Unfortunately, the beeps can still be heard through the audio monitoring. This will drive my audio operator crazy with one second interval beeps while recording.

What cards are you guys using? Anybody using the new UHS-I SanDisk cards?

Thanks, Damon
Click to expand...

You think the beeps indicates a buffer overun? Email Pro Sony and ask them if this is the case. FYI: I am using the Lexar 133x Professional line of cards (64GB). No beeping for me. Knock on wood.
 
This has happened to me a couple of times, spaced far apart by months. I thought it was a bad connection of a mic, when the mic had a bad connection, the beeping would start, but sometimes the mic had a bad connection, and there was no beeping. I had a mini plug mic connecting into an XLR to mini plug adapter. Beeps are about 1 second apart.

If I were to describe the sound, it is like the mic is picking up a regular squeak emanating from a tape drive mechanism, which of course doesn't exist.
 
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The manual P. 36 does say "when there is no audio device connected to an input jack, set the INPUT switch of that jack to line to prevent noise."

Sounds like they know more than they are saying.

While I have generally done this, I can't say I always do it. and sometimes I will have microphones/wireless lav receivers connected to both jacks, and will turn maybe the wireless receiver off when I don't want it recording. If I have to switch the input to MIC as well as turning the wireless off, that can cause problems if I forget to flip the LINE/MIC switch when turning things back on.
 
Kraut69 said:
The manual P. 36 does say "when there is no audio device connected to an input jack, set the INPUT switch of that jack to line to prevent noise."

Sounds like they know more than they are saying.

While I have generally done this, I can't say I always do it. and sometimes I will have microphones/wireless lav receivers connected to both jacks, and will turn maybe the wireless receiver off when I don't want it recording. If I have to switch the input to MIC as well as turning the wireless off, that can cause problems if I forget to flip the LINE/MIC switch when turning things back on.
Click to expand...

All they are saying is set it to line so you don't have a mic preamp running on no input. Anything without a connection to it can act as an antenna. When set to line, line does not require the amplification that a mic input does, and therefore, reduces any induced noise.

Makes complete sense to me.

On my mixing boards, I set all non-used inputs to mute to eliminate any noise from the preamps.
 
Here are some audio samples of the beeping problem. The beeps are fairly quiet so headphones may be needed.


Recorded on a 45MB/s SDHC-I SanDisk card. The beeps are most obvious on this card.
http://www.tmdfilms.com/audiobeeps/45mbscard.aif

Recorded on a 30MB/s SDHC SanDisk card. With this card, there are beeps, but it is very very quiet.
http://www.tmdfilms.com/audiobeeps/30mbscard.aif

And here is a recording directly from the audio monitoring jack off the FS100. This drives my audio guy crazy.
http://www.tmdfilms.com/audiobeeps/recordingfromaudiomonitorport.aif

What do you guys think?


Kraut69 This has happened to me a couple of times, spaced far apart by months. I thought it was a bad connection of a mic, when the mic had a bad connection, the beeping would start, but sometimes the mic had a bad connection, and there was no beeping. I had a mini plug mic connecting into an XLR to mini plug adapter. Beeps are about 1 second apart.
Click to expand...

I have reseated all connections, tried different mics and different cables. But nothing made a different.

The manual P. 36 does say "when there is no audio device connected to an input jack, set the INPUT switch of that jack to line to prevent noise."
Click to expand...

This is true, when a port is not in use, it's best to set the input switch to line. Setting it to mic adds a bit more noise. But for my problem, it doesn't matter what I set the input switches too. I always get the beeps.

Thanks, Damon
 
I wonder if the SD card is generating noise in it and that is inducing into circuitry in the FS100. Given one card does not do this, that would be my first guess. The fact it just started happening and didn't happen before with the same cards sounds strange. I'd be talking to Sony about this.

It is not uncommon for digital devices to induce noise into analog circuits, that said, the hope would be that there would be enough isolation between the circuits to prevent this. Yet, if that SD card is producing a huge amount of noise during writes, maybe even past a certain spec, it's possible that it surpasses some limit that the camera wasn't designed to be protect against.

I use Transcend cards and have heard no noise. The solution here though is you need to talk with Sony.
 
I am using the latest Lexar 128GB SD card. I recorded for 3 hours recently on a vacation, the audio was fine most of the time, at least playing the files back on the TV, no one commented about a underlying beeping (my wife has excellent ears, I don't). But when my mic lost connection at the jack (my camera strap was tugging on the cord sometimes), there was of course silence, but the beeps were there.

This is a 20mbps card, class 10.
 
Rick Burnett
I wonder if the SD card is generating noise in it and that is inducing into circuitry in the FS100. Given one card does not do this, that would be my first guess. The fact it just started happening and didn't happen before with the same cards sounds strange. I'd be talking to Sony about this.

It is not uncommon for digital devices to induce noise into analog circuits, that said, the hope would be that there would be enough isolation between the circuits to prevent this. Yet, if that SD card is producing a huge amount of noise during writes, maybe even past a certain spec, it's possible that it surpasses some limit that the camera wasn't designed to be protect against.

I use Transcend cards and have heard no noise. The solution here though is you need to talk with Sony.​
Click to expand...

​
Thanks Rick, that may be possible. I only have SanDisk so I can 't test any other brand of card at the moment.

I just emailed Sony about my audio problem. Hopefully I will hear back shortly.

Thanks for your help guys,
Damon
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