Why is the audio distorted on these MiniDV tapes?

[Hypersonic1]

MiniDV is supposed to be digital. These results are unacceptable for me.

[hech54]

Tapes are still mechanical, moving-parts objects after all.....just sayin'.
That is something that you may have no choice accepting.

[Hypersonic1]

All of the tapes do this to at least some extent. I doubt that this is typical behavior.

[smrpix]

Not hearing anything here that isn't typical of a microphone in crowded room being handled while a piano plays. What is the digital "distortion" you believe you are hearing?

[KarMa]

Could be radio interference if there were a lot of people there, with cell phones transmitting data or other sources of radio transmissions. Certainly sounds like some kind of data being transmitted. I'm still just guessing.

MiniDV is supposed to be digital.

Digital is just a medium. You still input analog signals, sample them digitally at a given interval and given accuracy (bit depth), and then upon playback it comes out analog again. Feed digital a garbage signal, and it will output a garbage signal.

[Hypersonic1]

No, that wouldn't make sense. I have three MiniDV tapes, and they are all doing it to some extent. What are the chances that it's the camcorder?

[smrpix]

Could be radio interference if there were a lot of people there, with cell phones transmitting data or other sources of radio transmissions. Certainly sounds like some kind of data being transmitted. I'm still just guessing.

I saw those peaks -- they still seem to be just overmodulated high end like you would expect with a cheap mic eq'd to favor voice. Maybe another example in a different setting would help.

[Hypersonic1]

I saw those peaks -- they still seem to be just overmodulated high end like you would expect with a cheap mic eq'd to favor voice. Maybe another example in a different setting would help.

It even does this when the audio levels are at -20dB for a while.

[Hypersonic1]

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/220566-audio-distortion-when-capturing-mini-dv

This person appeared to have a similar problem. I really don't know what the solution is.

[Hypersonic1]

I just connected my TV to the analog AV jack on the camcorder. Same problem. That tells me that it's not a problem with the digital transfer.

[KarMa]

No, that wouldn't make sense. I have three MiniDV tapes, and they are all doing it to some extent. What are the chances that it's the camcorder?

I have no back story on where these tapes were recorded. Were they in a crowded place with lots of people or were they in a place with few people, like your house?

[Hypersonic1]

I have no back story on where these tapes were recorded. Were they in a crowded place with lots of people or were they in a place with few people, like your house?

They were recorded in different places. Even in the house with few people does have a little of that distortion. Not all parts of the tapes are distorted like that, but a lot of them are. One tape (the one with the clip above) distorts the most.

[jagabo]

That distortion sounds like the squeaking of metal folding chairs. You can reduce it a lot (without harming the piano much) with a low pass filter at around 4 KHz.

[JVRaines]

I have heard similar distortion on 8 mm and DAT tapes. All these formats read audio from a helical scanner with extremely tight tolerances. I think it has to do with tension and tracking, and perhaps the tapes shrinking a bit over time.

[Hypersonic1]

That distortion sounds like the squeaking of metal folding chairs. You can reduce it a lot (without harming the piano much) with a low pass filter at around 5 KHz.

It does it in a house in some sections, and there are no metal folding chairs, or anything like that there.