HD100 Audio Noise How much do you hear?

[Mark Silva]

I was running some tests the other day and was kinda surprised how much audio noise the HD100 records.

Without a mic attached, in HDV and or DV mode, just hit the record button for 20 seconds then play them both back.

I had to turn the monitor volume up to anywhere after the half way point to hear it (through headphones). You can clearly hear something. the HDV recording has a subtle pulsing sound to it.

Is this normal?

I understand the 110 has a noise reduction option in the menu, does that take care of the problem?

[Marc Colemont]

Without a microphone connected, the circuit hangs 'open' and wil pickup more noise and spikes then normally with a closed circuit. If you really want to test I would suggest that you make an XLR and put a resistor between pins 2-3 with 600 Ohm resistor and try again.
That way the input impedance is set to orginal specification of the circuit.

[Mark Silva]

We ran it with the line input from a console and that had the same amount of noise. I was kind of surprised it is that noisy on the audio with a line input.

Other cams I've used are near silent by comparison using line level.

[Brian Luce]

My HD100 sounds awful when I jack directly into the camera. Hissing and seething like a creature from a Stephen King novella. Once captured it sounds better.

[Mark Silva]

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

My HD100 sounds awful when I jack directly into the camera. Hissing and seething like a creature from a Stephen King novella. Once captured it sounds better.

I noticed that as well, it seems a bit muffled (the noise) on playback.
I find it interesting that JVC added noise reduction to the 110.

OK so I guess thats just how these units sound.

All along I had assumed thats the noise the stock mic came with (the one time I tried it)

I've used the HD100 a lot for 3 years now, but I hardly ever used the audio, so thats why I was kind of surprised.

[Brian Luce]

Originally Posted by Mark Silva

I noticed that as well, it seems a bit muffled (the noise) on playback.
I find it interesting that JVC added noise reduction to the 110.

OK so I guess thats just how these units sound.

All along I had assumed thats the noise the stock mic came with (the one time I tried it)

I've used the HD100 a lot for 3 years now, but I hardly ever used the audio, so thats why I was kind of surprised.

I've experienced this with several different mics on the 100. I think it sucks because you can't really monitor audio from the camera. A premix is way down on my christmas list...

[Mark Silva]

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

I've experienced this with several different mics on the 100. I think it sucks because you can't really monitor audio from the camera. A premix is way down on my christmas list...

You had mics that were noisy and others that were quiet?

[Marc Colemont]

The Stock Mic is a big turn off, the first thing I replaced.
I use now a Audio-Technica Shutgun AT815 with much better results on one side, and a Sennheiser ENG EW100 G2 Wireless.
I use the phantom power of the camera for the shutgun, and don't hear any pops or cracks so far in none of the two channels.

[Mark Silva]

Originally Posted by Marc Colemont

The Stock Mic is a big turn off, the first thing I replaced.
I use now a Audio-Technica Shutgun AT815 with much better results on one side, and a Sennheiser ENG EW100 G2 Wireless.
I use the phantom power of the camera for the shutgun, and don't hear any pops or cracks so far in none of the two channels.

I've not had issues with pops or crackles just general "noise" no matter if its a shotgun mic with power or line in from a really nice console. I dunno, just seems excessively noisy to me compared to other cams, maybe I'm wrong.


Can you hear the hiss if you put on headphones and turn your audio monitor on the jvc cam from 1 o clock and beyond? Thats where I hear it. 12 o clock and before that its fine.

[Eric Darling]

I think it's just a very noisy headphone amp that they put in this camera. They've definitely cut some corners to keep the cost down on this thing, and the headphone circuit is definitely one of them. Add this to the laundry list of other corners cut (LCD panel and viewfinder, battery, shotgun mic, etc).

On my HD-100UA, it does a fine job of audio recording from mic or line level sources, but the monitor is just plain bad.

[Brian Luce]

Originally Posted by Mark Silva

You had mics that were noisy and others that were quiet?

It sounds bad on all the mics I've tried.

At least through headphones. Once captured it sounds fine. But I really wish you could monitor audio on a set directly from the camera. You can't...

[Mark Silva]

very interesting on the headphone circuit being noisy.

[Eric Darling]

Not so much interesting as it is annoying... I think this would be one area they cheaped out on because doing so didn't affect the quality of the final result on the recording. Still, how much would a cleaner headphone pre-amp cost for this camera? $10? It's very distracting, and causes a lot of grief for owners and their sound recordists.

[Marc Colemont]

The headphone Amp does indeed add much noise when opeing the gain, more then then it should. But no pops or hisses.
It does amplify very loud aswell even on high impedance headphones were on other camera's they do not get loud enough in noisy environments.

[Mark Silva]

Originally Posted by Marc Colemont

The headphone Amp does indeed add much noise when opeing the gain, more then then it should. But no pops or hisses.
It does amplify very loud aswell even on high impedance headphones were on other camera's they do not get loud enough in noisy environments.

what I'm hearing as "noise" is definitely a hiss.

but a consistent hiss at that.