I bought an NTSC 170.
I followed a previous poster's advice to check for the
buzzing. He said plug in headphones, turn cam on,
and open LCD. He said it would be immediately
apparent if you got a bad one. I did that, with no
problem. What I didn't know, is that the problem varies with the angle of the LCD. On mine,
with the LCD straight vertical, it's almost
unnoticable. Five to ten degrees off vertical
and it's very noticable.
I've been away from the boards for a couple weeks.
I got this cam from B&H two weeks ago. I'd appreciate
anyone's thouhgts on what to do next.

Send it back, explaining what's going on. Then hold your horses for longer, or find out which ones are good, call Sony, ask to test another at B&H, properly, do what you have to do, or change horses. I got my second PDX10 a few days ago, and found out that it had a bad sound in the zoom action. I listened to it a number of times, decided I was not comfortable with it, called B&H, explained myself and that I wanted to exchange it for another. No problem. We're all taking chances, and some of us know to deal with resellers (B&H) that will support us when things aren't right to begin with. It's just that you are faced with a known and common problem.

Whatever you do, I would call Sony, just to help in further making known the extent of the issue. Isn't Sony one of those operations that records telephone conversations, like B&H, or most banks? They gotta be. Might as well put it to use. Tell them what you know and what you think; ask them what they know, and what they think.

Go here:

http://www.dvdoctor.net/cgi-bin/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=Camcorders&number=15&DaysPrune=1000&LastLogin=

If you don't already know, this forum is handled by the guy, named Jan Van Der Meer, that's been helping to create press about this issue. Add your voice to those threads, after calling Sony. Be sure and include the serial number. What, by the way, is your number in relationship to this one:

http://www.global-dvc.org/html/PD170.asp


That's what I would do.

And always inspect a cam thoroughly upon getting it home, that day, or the day after, of which I'm sure you're well aware.
Hope this helps.

Shawn

unless B&H makes an exception, you are beyond their 1-week exchange policy.

The fix, so I'm told, takes 15 minutes and sounds like they just make certain a screw is grounding something.

If B&H won't help, call the Sony pro support 800 number and talk with them. They may help you make the fix or want you to send it to Georgia.

Thanks Shawn,
I will do what you've suggested.
My one concern is that the return policy with B&H is 7
days and it has been two weeks since I bought it.
Or is there a different policy if something is actually
received defective? Have you all experienced that B&H is pretty fair and reasonable when dealing with problems.
I've bought a ton of stuff from them, but it's all been
mail order.
Regarding the serial number, supposedly the fixed ones are above 1,212,350. Mine is 1,111,900. :-(

I posted over at DVDoctor and I'm now going to
call B&H to see what they have to say.
I just hope there are no denials.
I could easily record the buzz, door closed, door open,
and post it for anyone to make up their own mind.
It seems there are mixed reports as to whether
Sony is officially acknowledging the problem.
I will contact the Sony Pro division soon. If they need
a recording, I can send them one, too.
Someone at DVDoctor replied to my post:

"I hope you did not buy your camera from Chris. Because he told me two weeks ago that all their PD170s have been checked and they do not have this noise issue."

Whatever that means.

Well, I talked with my supplier. Actually, I talked
with four different people over there. Some said
they, themselves, have no knowledge of a problem with the NTSC models, some said otherwise.
But because I contacted them two weeks after I ordered the camera, rather than one week after, they want nothing more to do with the camera.
Sony is not officially acknowledging any such problem.
So, who wants me to post a recording of the buzzing?
I'd appreciate your opinions as to whether this buzzing
is the type of background noise that would go well
as a backdrop for interviews, or with a couples' wedding vows, or with dialog.

Aww, Dave. That sucks. I'm sorry. But at least you can have it fixed, if for a price, right? Georgia and what not....

B+H said that? Man, talk about crappy customer service!

It not so much the "you were beyond the return period, tough luck" that bothers me so much. When I retailed (pet supplies) I never did business that way, but they have a rule, they state it, so be it. This doesn't make them a bad retailer, just an "ordinary" retailer.

What disturbes me is they "buzzing? what buzzing?" bit. If Sony has not acknowledged this as a problem (I don't know either way.) then the retailer needs to call THEM and let THEM know that the customers ain't happy.

These cameras are not cheap. R+D problems can happen in any field. I once baught a pistol that was of a new design, I had to send it back 3 times, but it got fixed, no charge, and it was only $400.

Hi Joe,
The first thing I did after receiving the camera was to
check for the buzzing following the directions of
Anthony Baxter, as described in the link below,
which was in answer to a question I put to him
in mid-December, in anticipation of ordering the
170.
So I made a good faith effort to ascertain
whether or not I got a bad one. I later
read that the problem varies from camera to
camera and that for some models the buzzing
is heard with the door tilted. I tested
and found that this is the case with mine,
but unfortunately, the 7-day period had passed
by the time I discovered this.
(Actually, the buzzing *can* be heard with the
door not tilted; it is pretty faint, though.)

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18417&perpage=15&pagenumber=2