How about the audio performance of the HMC150?

frankmcma said:
Finally! :)

Kit_L you are on track of exactly what I have been investigating. Most video people say "sounds great!" but if you listen with an audio ear its definitely there.

Easy test - record set to mic inputs and then use no mics. I tested this way by bringing the clips into Logic Pro and striping out the audio track, listening and then examining. There is a level of noise..not sure what to call it..I've called it fuzz cause its not really a buzz. Some call it white noise or as you call it floor noise.

(I've also started thinking that some people's headphones / monitors if they were not too high end would not notice it as much, perhaps its out of the frequency, just a thought)

This noise is most noticeable in the built in mic. Recording in a quiet room with the headphones set to the halfway mark, the floor noise is extremely noticeable. I was willing to give it a pass, thinking, well I am going to get a good shotgun mic anyway, until I started testing XLR mics and noticed the noise, while reduced, was still very much there, even when I unplugged the mics.

I called Panasonic tech support, and while the guy seemed knowledgable, he said this is the first he has heard of it. I am curious because as only having the new camera a few days, I cannot figure out if this is a bad unit or if this is the way the camera is designed (I've started leaning towards the latter...)

Kit_L I am very curious of your findings. I started a few threads on this and seem to be alone in the realization...until now :)

Frank
frank@fmstudio.com
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I definitely hear this as well. If you set the switches to inputs one and 2 without mics and listen with the monitor volume at about halfway (I'm using MDR-7506 studio monitor headphones) you can hear it clear as day? Is it just that the headphone circuit is that noisy or is this level of noise recorded?

Anyone else hear it?
 
Plugged everything all up today to see...

I do hear some noise! But I hear noise on everything with the bose noise canceling feature... :)

I did notice I got a different tone of noise when switching the HP mode to LIVE over recording... My test doesn't do much, but I have never heard the noise in post (even when I don't record audio) so that's all that matters to me...

I am pretty sure this is a headphone/monitoring system noise floor - not actually being recorded...

Averdahl said:
I have bought the camera and must say that i am pleased with its audio performance. :)
The mic i use is a Audio Technica AT825.

However, the delay in the audio chain makes monitoring the audio with headphones poor. The audio in the headphones is out of phase with the audio that comes into the mic/surronding audio. Not a big deal, but annoying.

/Roger
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Roger, switch your monitoring over to 'live' not 'recording' - live is without delay. (AV OUT SETUP / HP MODE)
 
MadHMC150 said:
Plugged everything all up today to see...

I do hear some noise! But I hear noise on everything with the bose noise canceling feature... :)

I did notice I got a different tone of noise when switching the HP mode to LIVE over recording... My test doesn't do much, but I have never heard the noise in post (even when I don't record audio) so that's all that matters to me...

I am pretty sure this is a headphone/monitoring system noise floor - not actually being recorded...
Click to expand...


It's seems to be about 50/50, If I listen to recorded video it is still there but not as pronounced as live as its being recorded through the headphone jack. Man I always loved my 7506's for making sure you hear everything, I just wish the noise floor was a little lower. I'm more used to the noise floor of a live audio mixer as I've done a little of that in my day. Its a harsh reality check when you plug in to a video camera for audio monitoring.

I've never has to thus far but as the quality of my production increases so must my audio. I am not looking forward to the issue of trying to sync audio from a separate recorder, I hear its a real *****.
 
I've had my 150 for a month, and don't use the built on mic at all. Have a wonderful shotgun that I mount and go in through the XLR's and have lavs to do the same. I've done a good deal of interview work in quiet places, and would have heard and seen the floor you refer to. Even if it's there, which I can't seem to find doing what you did on my system. I would tend to agree with KitL's analysis. Bad cables, fans in the room, you need to stop and really listen before recording on location. But I don't hear any kind of 'floor' with footage recorded with no inputs at all. I also use ProRes 422. But I can't hear it on any other method of monitoring the recorded output. So don't worry.

But saying all this, in retrospective, you might want to look at the JVC GYHM-100U or even better, the GYHM-700U if your budget allows. Now that I've chosen FCP as my editing bed, which wasn't clear in December, I like the idea of recording directly to MOV files. Do others think that I'm right there? However, the cost is about double for the camera, as far as I can see. I like the idea of dual SDHC ports and mov files on the JVC cameras. My thought is that if I need to get a "b" camera someday, maybe I'll move my 150 to that role and step up to the 700U as an A camera. But that's really a story for a different thread... (G)
 
The internal mics certainly have more noise than external mics, but they're OK at a push, depending on the volume of the subject and the acoustics of the location.

When sound is important (more often than not) I will use either a Rode NTG2 or a Sennheiser G2 wireless mic on the subject.
 
I was not referring to a particular mic, just the motoring hardware itself - unplug all mics and you still can hear a noise floor. I never notice it because any incoming audio will mask out most of the noise nor do I think its actually being recording.
 
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