Posted by Mark & Mary Ann Weiss on 06/24/07 23:19

Hello everyone. My name is Mark Weiss, from Connecticut. I run a small video
production company, mainly covering event videos (cultural dance, orchestral
and other musical performances, fashion shows, weddings, corporate video,
etc). I'm also an avid audiophile. My background and profession before I
retired was Professional Engineer, focused in radio broadcast, which
included design of FM processors, stereophonic technology for over the air
transmission, etc.

I designed my own sound system in the 1970s and have acoustic design
background as well.


I own a couple of Sony VX2000s, but with the urgency to move to HD and sell
the earlier gear before it loses all sale value, I moved to the HVR-V1U. I
chose this camera for it's 30P capability, better video lens and...
professional quality balanced audio inputs. At last, I thought... a camera
where I can connect my Neumann U87s and actually record music with
reasonable fidelity!

Well, the reality was starkly different from the hope that the appearance of
these connectors gave me. At first, I thought there was a mistake in
manufacture with the first V1U, but when the second one arrived, I realized
it was no mistake. They really DO roll off below 1222Hz! I became so
interested in accurately measuring the response of the camera that I did
numerous tests, finally ending up with the industry standard RightMark test.
The results are abysmal. The camera fails on frequency response. It gets a
"very poor" rating.


What else can one rationally give it when you go out and record a marching
band, with the bass drum thumping your chest, and you come back to the
studio, play back the recording and those thundering bass drums only sound
like tapping on paper cups--this played on a legendary sound system
world-renowned for its bass response.

Needless to say, I think Sony has a major issue to correct with these
cameras. It's worse than the PD150 hiss problem. In all other respects, the
V1U audio is acceptable. s/n is pretty good for a camera, but there's no
excuse to roll off the low end at 1222Hz. Look at these results, carefully
measured under laboratory conditions:

http://www.basspig.com/HVR-V1U_PCM_Audio(DV).htm


This response curve is what I'd expect to see from the high pass output of a
two-way crossover network. No preamp in the world is this poor. There is no
excuse for the camera not to be flat to 5Hz, like every other piece of
digital recording equipment I own. Even my $299 Zoom H4 is flat to 5Hz and
sounds way better than the audio on this camera.

One of the attractive features of the V1U is the promise of higher end audio
than the VX2000. Anyone seeing the attention Sony paid to XLR inputs with
adjustable attenuators, individual AGC, etc., would conclude that the audio
better be pretty darned good. Instead, it's about telephone quality. Even
female speakers at a lecture I recorded sound thin and lacking in body to
their voices, and this was with 20-20,000Hz condenser mics known for their
big bottom end sound.

I am very disappointed, and so far, the technical support folks at Sony have
been silent about the results of their testing that they are supposedly
conducting on this camera at my request. It's been almost 2 weeks since
they'd said they would contact me with their findings. I can only hope that
they decide to recall the camera model and correct this glaring defect.

I've set up a general camcorder audio tests site at
http://www.basspig.com/CameraAudioTests.htm and invite owners of these
camcorders to run a RightMark test on your camcorder and submit it to me for
inclusion in our growing database.


--


Take care,



Mark & Mary Ann Weiss



VIDEO PRODUCTION . FILM SCANNING . DVD MASTERING . AUDIO RESTORATION
Hear my Kurzweil Creations at: www.dv-clips.com/theater.htm
www.basspig.com The Bass Pig's Lair - 15,000 Watts of Driving Stereo!
Business sites at:
www.mwcomms.com
www.adventuresinanimemusic.com
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