On Wed, 11 Jul 2001 14:08:40 -0400, "L. David Matheny"
>"Neuman - Ruether"
>news:3b4d48d8.3033240@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu...
>> On Wed, 11 Jul 2001 10:59:35 GMT, "Larry Johnson"
>>
>>
>> >Apparently this camcorder has some sort of problem in the
>> >audio system which requires it to be sent back to Sony for
>> >upgrade/repair. According to some friends of mine this is
>> >the reason for the sudden price drops.
>> It is best to avoid propagating myths...
>> Speak from direct, or possibly second-hand,
>> experience, not from "I've heard that"...
>
>I like your site. You're one of the good guys. But I think you
>are defending the VX2000 a bit too much. Maybe yours didn't
>have the hiss problem, but others have. I bought one about a
>year ago and did some informal testing. Using the built-in mics
>the noise was acceptable, although not impressive for a $3000
>instrument. Using the mic/line input jack at either mic level or
>line level (from a CD), the hiss was there. It was pretty bad
>with AGC turned on and worse with manual levels. I didn't try
>to measure it, but it was definitely *much* worse than the noise
>in my PCM-M1 DAT deck. I got clean audio when I recorded
>in VCR mode from the RCA jacks, but there's no video from
>the camera that way. None of this has anything to do with the
>headphone amp, since I judged the hiss by playing the output
>from the RCA jacks through a good quality (Adcom) home
>stereo system. I reluctantly sent the VX2000 back.
Defective units do happen...
Though if you got clean audio in VCR mode...;-)
(Here comes the rant...:)
I get annoyed when people report this "problem"
about every two months on these NGs, when in use, in
real video situations, it does not exist (at least relative
to other $2500 camcorders, when the VX-2000 is used with
an understanding of its audio quirks). It is VERY easy to
set up my two VX-2000s to have VERY high background hiss
(and even "popcorn" noise). But, if gain matching is done
with external input devices (generally mics), and good
audio technique in general is used, the noise level is
acceptably low (and generally no higher than other
similarly-priced camcorders - which are not as quiet
as audio-only devices, or much more expensive cameras).
I get bugged because people bug me asking essentially
if they should buy a camcorder with a "hiss promlem",
when in practice, the VX-2000 audio is generally quite
quiet (relative to most other camcorders). I guess
the picture is so good, people expect more of the
sound than they get - but what they get is more than
acceptable by consumer/prosumer-level camcorder
standards. I find this continual reporting of the
"VX-2000 hiss problem" odd, since the similarly-priced
Canon GL-1 has what I consider to be both noticeably
inferior picture *and* sound quality, yet there is
little on these video NGs reporting these "problems",
and people happily buy and use them. Same with the
TRV-900 - it's audio has similar characteristics to the
VX-2000's, yet people do not report "the hiss problem".
The VX-2000 is a $2500 camcorder with an exceptionally
good picture, and better than average sound for its
price range, making it a bargain... If a particular
sample does not meet these standards (assuming reasonable
expectations and checking techniques), return it for an
exchange. Expecting it to have the sound quality of
$50,000 cameras or audio-specific recorders is not
reasonable... Reports of an "audio problem" with it
that is most often based on rumor, misuse of the
audio on the camera, or unreasonable expectations is
just plain annoying. Specific, informed, first-hand
complaints are interesting, but they do not necessarily
represent the experience of the majority of users, and
to me, indicate a defect in a specific sample, not a
general characteristic of the product.
(More or less the end of the rant - but be warned:
it *may* recur....! ;-)