I have a TRV-950 that was manufactured in January 2004. When the LCD screen opens an unacceptably loud audio hum begins. When closed, it stops. If you set the LCD to BRIGHT from normal the audio hum vanishes as well. If you listen very carefully at the lower left corner of of the external part of the LCD you can actually hear some type of buzz when the LCD opens.....that happens at the same time as the audio hum.

Well, it turns out that this must be a widespread Sony manufacturing problem of late....

http://www.abcdv.com/article/articleview/237/1/53/

When I talked to Sony on the phone after I received the camera the folks appeared completely unaware that there was a problem. This in spite of the fact that Sony had shut down production of the VX-2100.

Anyway, I gave up since I had already exchanged one TRV-950 for a soft image problem. As long as I keep the LCD closed or set to BRIGHT I can get OK audio......but......my next camcorder will be a Canon. My age old Canon ES-970 has no audio problems outside of picking up the tape transport noise.


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Heah, you've got an AE-1? Me, too. I believe they sold
quite a lot of those. How old is yours? A problem
I've noticed with mine is the felt mirror bumper
is disintigrating.

It seems to be standard practice for manufacturers to deny the existence of problems they know exist from complaints and returns. Some dealers do it too.

Update: Sony has offered to "buy back" at my initial cost the TRV-950. I will accept the buyback and go to a local, reputable dealer and test a GL2 with headphones, and record to it on tape, play it back, and, assuming no obvious flaw like loud audio hum with the LCD screen open.....purchase it.

As an observation.....I will not purchase another Sony product.

I remember when General Motors used to do product testing via sales. And I have watched their market share slide these past 20 years because of it when in the presence of quality automobiles. I think Sony will have the same problem if they continue offering product testing to the public at high prices.

Mike, the PD-170 audio hum problem has been beaten to death around here already, but this is the first time I've heard of anything similar with the 950, or any other Sony camera for that matter. Actually I'm surprised that they offered to give you a complete refund; that seems pretty reasonable. Of course everyone has their reasons for choosing one brand over another, but I don't quite follow your logic for not buying another Sony product. Considering the large number of products they make I don't think the problems you mention represent any sort of consistent pattern.

But anyway, I'm glad you got your money back and can certainly appreciate how frustrating the whole experience has been. Hope your luck is better with the GL2.

Boyd,

Thank you.

My logic is simple: I got a product with a significant flaw. The money expended for this flawed product was substantial. I will minimize the probability of encountering this experience in the future by dealing with a company that has a long history (with me and the products I have purchased) of essentially functional product delivery.

At least where I come from $1700 dollars is very hard to arrive at. In most countries in the world this exceeds the average annual income of an entire family. Giving it over for a defective product is searing.

Thanks.