HD200 Fan Noise
 

Just got my new HD200 and after switching the AB plate to IDX I was able to power the camera up. I was surprised to hear quite a bit more noise coming from the power unit at the back of the camera. Is this normal? It sounds like a fan that wasn't there in the HD100.

I had the same thing with my HD-251, JVC replaced the fan and the problem is gone.

Thanks Marc, I was wondering what's going on here. I am contacting my dealer.

Jiri, other than the fan issue, what is your general impression of the camera? have you had a chance to test to see the quality of picture? and also, if you have did you notice a high amount of noise? I've read another post where a guy noticed alot of noise even under good lighting..... so i'm curious to see, because i would really like to get this camera.... but i want to make sure everything is good... Thanks

are you seriously telling me it has a fan?
 

Sorry for sounding naive, I use the HD101 every other week and haven't noticed anything resembling a fan or any noise. And my experience with other cameras are full size DV Cams from Panasonic, and no fan noise there. So from my limited experience I would assume this must be the only camera out there that needs a fan???

I mean we all know what happens to your car when your fan belt snaps! What will happen to the JVCs when your shooting a doco or film in a remote area have a bearing seizure or such like on the camera, does that mean it then cooks?

Stephen? Tim ? Chris ?

Am I the only one that thinks this sounds crazy??

cheers

Adam

The Sony HDCAM cameras like the F900 also have fans. Last I heard, the new Silicon Imaging 2k camera will also have a fan fitted.

All this data processing generates heat, so unless there's cooling provided the cameras will be unreliable. Perhaps the new 14 bit A/D and other circuits just takes the HD 250 over the edge on the heat production, so that it now requires the fan.

I'd imagine that the fan would be directly driven by a small electric motor rather than having a belt drive.

Lets hope if you are correct, that JVC have programmed a shut down feature in there - like PC's do


Andrew

I've always felt my Hd100 throws out a lot of heat. My DV500 didn't throw out nearly so many BTU's.

My PDW-F350 also has a fan. And yes, the camera will shut down if it overheats. I suspect the JVC has the same protection. It's not real hard to implement using a temp sensing diode or thermistor.

-gb-

Is the fan of poor design?
 

If this is a new camera to the market, and we have two players with slightly different models exhibiting the same problem with the fan, how many other players are finding this same problem. Will this become like the SSE issue where you buy the camera and bring it in straight away to be dealt with?

I say this, as I was planning to shoot a documentary this year with this camera which would also take me into outback Australia (Read very hot place to be). And the last thing you want to happen out there, is some el-cheap-o fan, or fan unit failing, or even not a total failure, just coming up with the noise problem which would i imagine creep its way somehow into your audio recordings?

I am not a scare monger, nor do I subscribe to such behavior, but this might have to be considered, are there any other players out there who have come across this problem? Also if it uses a fan, does it have some kind of filter system so the camera isn't sucking in dust. Central Australia has lots of lovely red dust!

Cheers

Adam

Q for Tim Dashwood (and others with HD200/250)
 

Tim, have you had a chance to check out the HD250 (for fan noise)? My HD200 went back to JVC. I am really curious to see if the noise is considered normal or if I just wasn't lucky and got a bad unit.

I just picked up a demo HD250 and haven't even had a chance to pull it from the case. Will check for fan noise later this week.

Jiri,

I didn't hear fan noise when I was plugged in most of the day with 4-pin power. However, I just popped on a AB battery and after a while the fan kicked in. In a quiet room it does seem louder than you would expect.
No louder than a typical blimped film camera, but the high frequency 'whine' of the fan is a little annoying.
I would say that it would be a very easy frequency to dial out in the mix if necessary.

Thanks for checking Tim. Your finding is interesting and differs from mine. Both HD200s I had here were producing the fan noise immediately when turned on, regardless of the source of the power. I am now getting an HD250 instead, which the dealer checked and claims is much quiter than both of the HD200s. We'll see, it should be here some time next week.