DC800 Audio bug.

[Air On]

Now keeping in mind that underwater it is a very noisy place so this probably doesn't show up through bubbles and water noise...

When shooting a dryland video, out of the case, in a quiet setting...
There is a background noise in the recorded video that reminds me of an old phonograph record player at the end of the record when it rides around and hops the groove. T-pop.... T-pop.... T-pop....

See sample here:
MySpaceTV Videos: Video Charts: User Videos - All - Today's Top Plays

I've heard from some other new DC800 owners asking if i'd heard this on my videos too.
So its not just my camera thats doing it.

I watched the video by Sealife thats on a DC800, but they have pretty loud xylophone music playing over the underwater audio so I couldn't tell.

 

[Air On]

I changed the settings on the video sample, see if the video works now please and let me know.

Still pictures:
The pictures at the highest settings are 2816 x 2112 pixels with a 180 resolution, file sized about 1.8 Mb.

Some of the shots can be a little on the hot side in close with the flash, BUT I haven't messed with the settings much yet for land use.

Its meant for underwater use so keep that in mind with the pictures.... They provide a white balance target you should use to calbrate the camera for your intended setting. I think its also waterproof so you can set it at depth like a pro photog would use a light meter to set up thier camera.

One user was telling me the photos they took were really washed out... They mentioned that they were using the external strobe when taking the dry land pictures. Personally I didn't think an underwater strobe was supposed to be used on land? Its supposed to be set up for in water performance. They did say it did an incredible job when in the water... Backscatter was really reduced and the shots looked great. I don't know about you but thats were I want my Dive camera to have peak performance.

Someone asked If I thought it was worth it...
The camera is worth it in my mind, video is a secondary feature for any digital camera.
What do you really want from a pin hole sized microphone?

Buy a cannon camera of the same specs for $400.
Then find a underwater case for it around $400.
How does that compare?

If I was wanting to do video as my primary use I'd just get a housing for my Sony Camcorder.

 

[bornabolt]

yes, the link works now. Thanks for the input....

 

[ctyhallcoolio]

Howdy Air On, thanks for the several PM's. I gave the video a listen and I'd say we have the same issue though mine seems 10 times worse. The sea life folks offered up doing an RMA but it sounds like they don't know what the problem is and its affecting the production run of them so far made. Me having an EE background I'd say its a classic failure to shield the mic from the internals particularly the writing to the SD. I've also tried several brands now patriot, kingston, walmart, that doesn't seem to make a difference, but it does seem a little less when not writing to the SDHC card.

Other than the audio issue I'm pleased with the product and I think will keep it, but if they can fix it sure i'll take an RMA. I still have my Olympus 770SW and will probably just use that for the land audio-video I want to capture.

 

[Former Sealife Employee]

We do acknowledge some minor audio interference when taking video and we are working on a solution. The audio interference is usually masked by other sounds. It is also helpful to edit your underwater videos using Microsoft Movie Maker, which allows you to add music, titles and make other edits to your videos. We will post an update to this forum after our investigation is complete.

 

[Sharkyvvvv]

How does Sealife propose to correct the problem for the DC800's that have already gone out to market? I am interested in buying the product but would hold off if the solution is not easy for me to take care of on my own......................

 

[Former Sealife Employee]

We see this as a minor issue as the interference is easily masked by the usual underwater sounds. The minor intereference is only heard if there are no other sounds. However, as I posted yesterday, we are looking into this and will follow up.

 

[Former Sealife Employee]

We have researched the DC800 audio interference issue and confirm that there is a minor background sound that may be noticeable during video recording in a quiet environment. Our engineers have fine-tuned the camera’s audio quality to further minimize the interference. We don’t see this as a major issue because videos taken on land will normally have some background sound that hides any audio interference. The audio portion for underwater video is normally just the sound of the diver breathing. It is easy for you to add music and edit your underwater videos using Microsoft Movie Maker. Movie Maker is a free video editing software that is included on Microsoft XP and Vista operating systems. You can see a sample video on our website which was filmed with the DC800 and edited using Movie Maker. Click here - SeaLife Underwater Cameras

 

[SkipperJohn]

Denise, once again, thanks. I never knew this program was on my computer. I'm having fun just learning it. Fits the bill for my needs!