[Peter John]

Problem solved. The culprit was of course Windows Media Player. I opened the same movie in VLC media player and everything sounded exactly as it was supposed to sound ie not lower than expected as in playback via WMP.

[Peter John]

Thanks Ian,

this is very good to know so your reply is much appreciated.

Today I got my first decent opportunity to review the clips again and also all else that I have shot since then (as have had no option but to continue and hope for the best). Fortunately when I play the clips back in Content Browser the problem only seems to manifest itself with the first batch of clips that lead me to post this forum question. All the other footage filmed since then seems to be ok (though have not tried to open it in Premiere Pro yet). Quite a relief!

However when played back in Content Browser some of the initial batch of damaged clips continue to show what appears to be sudden breaks and black banding that last a few frames then continues normally. Fortunately this is only in a few clips in the same batch, not all of them, so am hopeful the problem may not be as serious as I had initially thought.

Maybe a defect SD card (bought new from a reputable NY dealer) or the archaic version of Adobe Premier I am using and most likely a combination of both of these issues? Needless to say I have stopped using that particular card for now.

So the lesson I have learned from this is quite a basic one (of course Big Ears!) to check all new media more carefully before using it for critical work and when something goes wrong, as it always tends to do, just be thankful the problem is not much worse.

Just now running around in rural east africa where internet is slow and not so reliable, so will wait and follow up on this when I get home again.

[Peter John]

This thread was started a long time ago but some things never change so it is still relevant, at least in my case, as have just got hold of an EX1 and am wrestling with the external audio settings.

Thought the external audio recording system or the Audiotechnica AT897 was faulty when I tried it out with the trim set to -41db that is the default setting recommended both in the EX1 operating instructions and also in the AT897 spec sheet if I read it right:

OPEN CIRCUIT SENSITIVITY –40 dB (10.0 mV) /
(Phantom / Battery) –41 dB (8.9 mV) re 1V at 1 Pa*

At first the results were not promising. While the levels for the internal mic were about right, the levels for the external mic (with the trim set at the default -41 setting were very low.

Hmmm? Is something wrong with my preloved camcorders audio recording system? It didnt help that Dumbo at this time I hadn’t figured out how to set the AGC link and Audio output settings either, which I did later).

Fortunately I found this thread and this post by Joel that I really appreciate, as it solved my problem:

You’ve all probably worked this one out by now but I find setting the trim to -53dBu is ideal. It gives you more sensitivity than -41dBu. It seems good in most room situations. This is with my Ex-3.

After I adjusted the trim from the EX1 default and Audiotechnica recommended settings -41 (if I read them right) to -53, as Joel suggested, the audio levels of the external mic with audio level set at 0 matched exactly the audio levels of the internal mic (ie more or less were I expected them to be in the first place with the settings at default).

So either I misunderstood something or the default settings were not right for this particular camera with this particular mic??

Or would you expect the default settings for the external mic ought to be at a lower level than for the internal mic???

Anyway at least now am a Happy Camper quite relieved the problem is me and not the preloved EX1 🙂

[Peter John]

am guessing this is a rendering problem brought about by a complicated sequence overloading the system at certain (unpredictable) points in the process. i guess if I had so much going on in my head at one time as the cpu and memory of my computer i would also crash – particulalry since my brain is only dual core 🙂

[Peter John]

some additional possibilities:

1) problem may be my version of PP CS4 not installed right – as when I completely removed and reinstalled program found the flicker in a slightly different spot

2) could have something to do with my ATi Radeon graphics card and/or driver, so updated to the latest version of the driver but this didn’t seem to make any diffence

3) maybe my computer (i7 4GB PC 1 1TB7200 HD) still has insufficient capacity to export such a big sequence and therefore falters when it runs a heavy load

4) I am importing AVCHD from a Panasonic TM300 camcorder that is 1080i (interlaced) and outputting to MPEG2 HDTV 1080p so maybe this is part of the problem that I have asked about on a separate post

5) I can see for some effects I need to use field options such as deinterlacing and reverse field dominance for example for freeze frames and maybe it is the proximity to these effects in the processing sequence and the way I have fixed the settings

6) clips that flicker are doing so as they like me are getting worn out by all this storm in a teacup

7) maybe source clip is too big, as the one that has the most flicker gremlins is 28 minutes long and about 2.8GB

7) and (most likely): all of the above 🙂

8) none of the above 🙁

[Peter John]

OK so now I tried the interlaced option and can see that it was a dumb move for anything but interlaced playback. Does this really mean there is no other alternative for export for computer playback than choosing progressive and ?dumping about half the interlaced data? from my AVCHD files

[Peter John]

following this up further:

1) upgraded my computer to i7 4GB computer now runs faster but flicker persists

2) removed effects (video) from one of the problem clips and this also seemed to remove flicker problem with that clip

3) another problem clip with few (audio) effects was fixed when I moved away the sub-title I had over it

[Peter John]

Not sure Nathan but suspect it could be because the clips in question are overloaded with too many effects; am still trying to figure this out.

[Peter John]

Hmmm, so what are the alternatives?

forget about the AUX input and use a micro-jack to XLR converter cable to connect the mic to the Beachtek —though this kind of defeats the whole purpose of putting together a well functioning little system and also means more trouble on the job in terms of more cable plus weight and risk of connectors not staying in place.

buy a different mic with XLR connector or upgrade to a camcorder with easily accessible audio controls. Not sure if I want to do that as budget is tight and all I need this for is to produce small promo videos like this: https://sites.google.com/site/peterlowefoto/tanoso

try to get the cable fixed then compare the quality of audio coming from the mic into the camcorder via the Beachtek AUX compared to direct plug in mini jack of mic into camcorder.

forget about the Beachtek and continue to have to adjust the audio levels via the menu system.

[Peter John]

Thanks,

Looks like this may be solvable.

The crackling noise comes when I wiggle the cable where it enters the Beachtek, so I guess the problem is with the connection rather than the cable itself. That is not bad news.

One cause for a little concern is that when I wiggle the wire the levels go up and I get a scratching noise but there is no way no matter which way I wiggle the wire that I can hear sound of my voice or any background audio coming through from the mic.

I found an old post elsewhere by somebody else who also had a Beachtek cable problem. He just cut off a little bit of the cable and solderered it back on again and that worked for him. He says as a result he was happy for his high school electronics class. I don’g have a soldering iron or an electronics class so I will just find a local technician who I can ask to do this.

Warranty is not an issue as this is an old model.

What I fond interesting is that there does not seem to be huge differences between the various models of these Beachtek DXA adapters in terms of compatibility with different camcorders. Perhaps I am wrong. At least in this case having a battery in the mic and not needing phantom power seems to make life simpler in terms of compatability, as all I really want is to use the Beachtek as a big switch to enable control of audio levels without having to dive into the menu system.

So far so good.

Let’s just see what goes wrong next 🙂