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SR11/12 Owners...HDD noise?

post #1 of 8
10/28/08 at 10:07am
Thread Starter 
I hate to make my first post a question, but I previously owned the SR7. I finally got the store to take it back after numerous unsuccessful attempts to rid it of the hard drive noise being recorded every 5 seconds as the buffer wrote to the drive. Much searching has revealed that I am not the only one who had experienced this. Some just disregarded it, no doubt those who usually film in busy, noisy environments. But my chosen filming environments (mostly outdoor nature type) are often very quiet and the noise sounded like someone tapping on the camera, and was very distracting. To get to the question, has anyone noticed this with the SR11/12's? I actually am very near to switching to Canon's HF10/11 series and avoiding the hard drive altogether, but I have numerous accessories for the Sony, and would like to avoid having to sell them all. Yes, the CX12 may be an option, but the memory sticks are still prohibitively expensive compared with SD. Also, I know that an external mike may help avoid this problem, but honestly, my friend has a $400 JVC with a HDD and there is not one bit of noise in the same film environments. One more comment, I read on here of one person who replaced the HDD on an SR11 with a flash drive. Has anyone else here done this with any success?

Thanks for listening. I've been a visitor on this site for a long time. Lots of good info.

Cheers

sevvy
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post #2 of 8
10/28/08 at 10:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sevvy View Post

I hate to make my first post a question, but I previously owned the SR7. I finally got the store to take it back after numerous unsuccessful attempts to rid it of the hard drive noise being recorded every 5 seconds as the buffer wrote to the drive. Much searching has revealed that I am not the only one who had experienced this. Some just disregarded it, no doubt those who usually film in busy, noisy environments. But my chosen filming environments (mostly outdoor nature type) are often very quiet and the noise sounded like someone tapping on the camera, and was very distracting. To get to the question, has anyone noticed this with the SR11/12's? I actually am very near to switching to Canon's HF10/11 series and avoiding the hard drive altogether, but I have numerous accessories for the Sony, and would like to avoid having to sell them all. Yes, the CX12 may be an option, but the memory sticks are still prohibitively expensive compared with SD. Also, I know that an external mike may help avoid this problem, but honestly, my friend has a $400 JVC with a HDD and there is not one bit of noise in the same film environments. One more comment, I read on here of one person who replaced the HDD on an SR11 with a flash drive. Has anyone else here done this with any success?

Thanks for listening. I've been a visitor on this site for a long time. Lots of good info.

Cheers

sevvy

If i record with my SR12 on the hard drive no noise is heard only what the mike records,i would ask for a new cam.
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post #3 of 8
10/28/08 at 10:37am
I have never noticed hard drive noise in video shot with my SR-11, even when shot in a quiet environment.

As far as switching the SR11/12 hard drive to a flash drive, I have seen the posts about that, but if I recall the discussion correctly, the flash drives are very expensive.
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post #4 of 8
10/28/08 at 11:15am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by flintyplus View Post

If i record with my SR12 on the hard drive no noise is heard only what the mike records,i would ask for a new cam.

I guess I should clarify. I have not yet picked up the new camcorder. The noise was heard on my SR7, which is returned. It has made me a little gunshy, however, when it comes to the Sony models.

sevvy
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post #5 of 8
10/28/08 at 11:53am
not enough noise to be picked up by the mic. This was bad with the Hi-8 and MiniDV cams, you could hear the servo motors the whole time you recorded, if you were using an on-board or camera-mounted mic.
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post #6 of 8
10/28/08 at 12:50pm
I own the SR11 and have not noticed any hard drive noises at all on recorded footage. Of course all my footage is outdoors.

Mike
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post #7 of 8
10/29/08 at 10:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sevvy View Post

One more comment, I read on here of one person who replaced the HDD on an SR11 with a flash drive. Has anyone else here done this with any success?

Why would you go through the hassle and expense of doing that?

Get the camcorder you want with the provisions you can return it if it is noisey.

Virtually all camcorders have been noisey at one time or another...


Rich
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post #8 of 8
11/4/08 at 10:37am
Thread Starter 
Update.

I am currently testing out the SR11. FS had a good deal on them. So far, HDD noise is far less than my SR7. I mean, you can still hear the HDD writing every few seconds, but so far it is not translating into a distracting sound on the recordings. I have taken some video at dawn, and as long as you use manual controls for focus, etc, you can get quite good results. The microphone is far better on the SR11 than the SR7. Video over water during sunset is spectacular. Once again, adjusting exposure and white balance manually gives the best results.
I am a little disappointed in the AF. It does a lot of searching, even in daylight. I hear the Canon is far better in this regard, so I am still not 100% sold.
Does anyone know if the Sony teleconverter lens (VCLHG1737C) would work on the HF series? They have the same 37mm threads, but not sure it would work.
One other Q...has anyone been able to get an HF11 in Canada? I can't seem to find any, at least at the major outlets.

Cheers
Sevvy
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