Tape motor noise on Sony HC44

[daveb975]

I bought a Sony HC44 a few months ago. I am generally very pleased with it, but the only problem I am having is that the noise of the tape motor (I assume) is clearly audible during quiet periods of filming.

From reading the forum, I understand that this is quite a common problem on miniDV machines, but how much should I actually be able to hear? It is very audible on indoor recordings, and quite audible outside as well, where it can be heard above background traffic noise etc?

Is there any settings to supress it slightly?

[redsox_mark]

That doesn't sound right. I'd expect you to be able to hear it indoors in a very quiet setting (especially with headphones)... but outside above traffic noise? I wonder if your unit is particularly noisy (faulty)?

Apart from replacing it - you can play around with audio filters in editing to try and remove it, but that is hard. The HC44 doesn't have a microphone input or shoe, so you can't add an external mic either.

Either your hearing is extreamly sensitive, or I think the camcorder is faulty.

[daveb975]

Thanks. I might try and compare it to one in a shop and see if it is the same.

When I say I can hear it above traffic noise, I only mean in the background. For example, I shot some film in a country park which was very quiet in itself, but the M25 was humming about a mile away. The noise was quite clearly audible then, but it wouldn't have been if I was neaer the road.

The camera makes quite a high pitched noise when the tape is playing/recording, and this is what is transferred onto the recording. Should I not be hearing the noise from the camera at all?

[redsox_mark]

All camcorders will make some noise... it's hard to tell from your description if yours is noiser than it should be, or if your ears are particularly good at picking up the noise.

Here is a link to a sound test on the HC46 (identical to the HC44, only difference is HC46 has DV-in).
http://www.magazinevideo.com/video-d...hp?videoId=190

If you translate the French it says something like very faint noise when zooming at high speed, and there is some tape noise in very quiet settings but not noticable in most situations.

This is not a model known for it's noise.