White Noise through Headphone Jack

S

slave2lab

Member
I just purchased a new DVX100a and noticed (through a pair of Sennheiser headphones plugged into the headphone jack) that there is a steady white-noise-type hiss whenever the camera is turned on (even in the VCR mode). Did I get a bum camera?

I'm using the camera (in this instance) as a patch through from a firewire editing system (Apple G4 Powerbook) to convert the digital signal to an analog output so I can view on a monitor (plus the headphones). With the same exact setup, swapping out the DVX100a for a Sony VX1000, I do not hear the hiss.

Has anyone noticed this hiss? The camera was brand spankin' new when I bought it.

Thanks in advance for any feedback or advice.

-John
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

There was another thread on this subject not too long ago. It seems to be a "character" of the new A models. Some have noticed it (I have), others have not. The good news is that it's not recorded to tape, it's just in the monitoring loop.
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

Thanks Kai How apparent/obvious is your white noise?

It's hard to believe that people would not notice the "white noise hiss" that I'm referring to. It's quite noticeable. When the camera is off it's dead silent (obviously) but as soon as you click it on and hit VCR, the difference is quite apparent.

Does anyone else notice that type of shift? My hope is that this is an anomaly.
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

Oh I hear it... believe me. I've gotten used to it, and really just have to train my ear to ignore it. If it were being recorded to tape with the audio, i'd be in a tizzy, but since it's just on the monitoring side, i'm "dealing" with it... I trust my micing and recording techniques enough to know i'm getting good audio to the cam. (but in no way am I making an excuse or saying this noise floor we're talking about is acceptable in a $3500 camera...)
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

I hear it too, and I agree with you kai, it really isn't acceptable for a $3500 camera. however, the audio that is recorded with this camera is much better than anything else I have ever used. So I ask myself, would I rather have mediocre sound quality with quiet headphones or Magnificent sound quality with a little white noise. I think the answer is clear. But if not, I choose the latter ;)
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

Wow... that's pretty amazing.

I was really hoping I would be flooded with messages like:

"Dude, you got a bum camera. My $3500 dollar set up is perfect! No hiss, not for what I paid for it."

Given all the hootin' and hollerin' people give over the PD-150 (and even in the 170 from what I've read) about the hiss in the audio, I'm surprised Adam Wilt and others have not made any mention of this flaw. Granted, it's only on a monitoring level... it renders the camera useless as a deck (not that the precious heads should be run as one). Plus, I can't confidently monitor my audio on locations even if my sound guy tells he is getting a clean feed. A bit unnerving.

When I mentioned it to Panasonic this afternoon, they said, "you should send it in... with the headphones, but that hiss you're describing is unacceptable."

Kai, maybe we both got bum cameras?
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

It shouldn't render the camera useless as a deck as the hiss only should be coming out of the headphone jack. It plays fine as a deck connect to my tv with RCA cables. I personally don't really notice the hiss, as it can only be heard when indoors and no other ambient sounds are available. WHen listening to audio through the camera sounds good. Oh, and the problem with the pd-150/170 was that the sound was being recorded to tape, not just monitoring through headphones. I personally don't feel it justifyable for me to send in my camera and wait a couple of weeks just for panasonic to tell me that the sound is normal. maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but I really am just not bothered by it. Funny because I actually am getting a minor in music production so things like that should bother me. As long as it's not recorded to tape, I am fine.
But if you do send it in, let us know what the folks over at Panny say.
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

Yeah, I personally don't want to go that long without the cam just to have them "take a look". It's not stopping me from working, so it's more of a nuscance to me than an emergency...
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

Is there not some kind of y-splitter adapter you can buy that will allow you to monitor through the composite audio plugs? There must be!! Surely there's no hiss on there?
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

That's a line level output, no amplification... so you wouldn't be able to power some cans with it, or have volume control, etc.
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

Well, I guess that you could get a small amplifier to stick between the Line level out and your headphones, but then you would hear the hiss from the amplifier.
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

Heh. Can't win can you! :o I've recently got my DVX100A and I've been testing it out; noticed the god-awful headphone hiss yesterday. It really is loud on mine! Anyhoo, am still gonna get some nice 'budget' cans today, was thinking Sennheiser HD 25 SP?
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

Ain't it amazing what we 100A owners will put up with just to have the picture quality of our Pannys.
Headphone hiss, rattling eyepiece, excessive tape door play, slight play in the front focus assembly...the kind of things that would have owners of other brands screaming "recall"!

Of course the manufacturing quality control is more than just a little troubling, but then I look at the beautiful images I'm getting...yes, even in the dreaded "low light" situations with some gain up, and I realize that love really is blind. :)

Ken
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

Do you have all those problems on your dvx? I havn't noticed any of the problems that you listed other than the headphone hiss. Or are these just problems that others have had with their cameras? Be rest assured that this really has nothing to do with panasonic, if you go to the canon or sony land forums then you will see many different "defects" as well. One that comes to mind is with the xl1 stock lense losing it's focus while zooming, or having the white balance drift. I would much rather have "excessive tape door play" than a drifting white balance.
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

Same as Scharky. I have none of the problems mentioned by kplo above, except the slight hiss in the headphones.
 
Re: White Noise through Headphone Jack

Yes, I do, and If you have a 100A, you'll most likely hear that eyepiece rattle as well. The tape door "problem" results from the fact that both ends of the hand strap are attached to the tape door, instead of to the camera body. A design decision that can result in excessive "for and aft" play in the door, particularly if you hand hold a lot. It's about 1.5mm now, but doesn't (yet) affect the actual internal tape mechanism. I noticed the slight movement in the front focus ring right away when I was attaching the lens hood...never saw that on other lenses. It's also present on 2 other 100a that I saw. As I indicated above, it doesn't seem to affect the focus...just a little disconcerting (as in: will it get worse?).
However, I sure wouldn't hang a matte box on the end of my lens directly with a screw in adaptor; I'd get one with a base plate and rails that attaches to the tripod itself.

(My old XL1 had that soft spot in the zoom range too...never had a white balance drift though.)

All cameras have their "glitches" , I guess I just expected Panasonic's quality control to match the incredible feature set on this camera.

The white noise in the headphone output isn't that big a deal for me, as it's practically gone when record levels are mid range or below, and it's not recorded to tape.

Ken
 
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