I found this while trying to figure out why my PTZOptics camera had such a high noise floor on its audio. You advertise the line in as a feature, I don't think you can just say, "So the audio input on the PTZOptics cameras is not the most ideal for production, more for monitoring, due to the noise floor it presents." I'm experiencing -24dB noise floor on two separate cameras. This isn't just "not ideal." it makes the line in unusable for audio. At the same time, I see videos from PTZOptics touting the line in jack as the perfect place to attach a mic or inject background music. Is there any plan to improve the audio handling on these cameras?
We're in the process of making a purchase decision in the week or two and are seriously considering the PT30X NDI or SDI. RTMP-to-youtube directly from the camera with excellent S/N ratio audio are critical requirements for us. An estimate on the timeframe to get the fix into these cameras as well as some feedback on what the vastly improved S/N ratio is would be very helpful and quite likely earn you at least one new sale. :)
Hi Everyone,
Thank you everyone for sharing these excellent details on the issues you have been dealing with.
After some time spent working on the noise floor issues as described we are finally investigating a few options to improve the audio.
We are hoping to begin our testing of this improved audio quality around the end of this month once we have been able to verify the options do not impede upon other camera functions.
Once we have verified that the improvement is moving to production we will be happy to return here to share the good news.
If any setbacks are discovered we will also followup to let everyone know what's occurring.
If you have any follow up questions as we work on a potential fix please don't hesitate to post here.
Hi Dan,
Unfortunately, we do not have a fix for the USB models yet.
We are working on it for the USB cameras and we will post an update here once it is released.
In the meantime, we have found increasing the input volume coming from the audio source and lowering the gain on the cameras in the Web GUI can help eliminate the noise floor.
Is the Beta only for the SDI models? I have of the USB 20X models and 1 of the USB 12x models, all with Lav mics running to the Line In on the back of the camera. The only complaint is the noise floor. We've been able to remove most of it successfully in post but that adds more work.
Hi Collin,
So far we only have the noise floor fix for the 20X and 12X SDI/NDI models. And both of those should be available through the Firmware Finder.
We are working on getting that same fix applied to the other model cameras and hope to release the firmware updates soon.
Hi Everyone,
I wanted to provide an update on the audio issues that have been shared.
We have been able to vastly improve the noise floor issues as well as some other minor tweaks that should provide a substantially better experience using the line input.
I currently have a beta version of the PT20X-SDI-XX-G2 (PoE Version) firmware that I believe will be moving to production in the near future as well as being listed via the PTZOptics Firmware Finder at that time.
If there is someone that has a PoE version of the PT20X-SDI-XX-G2 and would like to trial the beta firmware please do the following
Please be aware a response will come from a different address at PTZOptics than the one your are sending to.
We will support as many "beta testers" as possible but if there is too much interest a response to the inquiries will no longer be generated.
Once I know that this firmware has moved to the PTZOptics Firmware Finder, as officially released, I will be sure to update this forum posting.
In addition as we begin to implement this same update to our other camera models I will do my best to keep everyone updated here.
If anyone has any additional questions, concerns or ideas please feel free to follow up on this message in the forums.
Note that the tryatyourownrisk e-mail address has no implications towards this actually being a try at your own risk firmware upgrade
(Normal firmware upgrade policies should still be followed or problems could arise)
Just to let people who were waiting for the noise floor fix on the 30X models, a new version of the 30X firmware was released this week.
It can be downloaded from the Firmware Finder.
So at this point the firmware update with the noise floor fix is available for the 12X, 20X, and 30X, SDI and NDI models.
That's great news, Colin! We ordered the 30x SDI on Sunday based on Andrew's message 6 days ago. We'll definitely be beta testing the fix soon after the new camera arrives and will report back...
So, we had our first big show on the weekend going direct to YouTube live from the camera. And I'm happy to report that it was a complete success and the audio s/n quite decent - though I never was able to compare it to what it was before the firmware upgrade so can't comment on the difference. In our case, leaving the "Input Vol" at 0 for both left and right seemed to work best overall.
Thanks so much for the fix. :)
Hello,
Our church purchased one of your PTZ Optics 30x NDI/HX camera for streaming. We have the church mixing board output connected to the 3.5 mm audio input of the camera. With this configuration, the sound has a very audible noise in the background.
Is it possible to unplug the 3.5 mm connection and go directly from the board to an audio interface to USB to the PC? This would feed the audio directly to the production PC / Box using a USB Audio Converter.
At this point, the camera is our actual streaming method. How do I tell the camera to ignore the line input and use the USB audio coming in the PC?
Great to hear about the SDI and NDI update. Any update on the timeline for the USB models?
Hi Marius,
Are you doing a direct RTMP stream from the camera or bringing the video feed into software on the production PC and streaming out from there?
Assuming you are using software (something like OBS, vMIx, or Wirecast) on your production PC it would be fine to run the audio directly to the PC.
At that point you would be able to add the audio as a source within the software. And you can disable the audio feed on the camera if needed through the web interface, under the Audio section.
Also, are you sure your camera is up to date on firmware? The newest firmware for the 30X NDI models should have corrected the noise floor issue.
You can download the latest firmware from the Firmware Finder.
Hi Pat,
While not ideal it is a feature of the camera that a lot of our end users utilize and like having access to.
We are investigating ways to improve upon the noise floor but have no ETAs that could currently be provided.
Jerry Cates
We successfully set-up a live stream church service and were able to control the camera on Studio 6 by vimeo and on to YouTube. Our problem is a background static coming over the network with the video. The camera is located about 100' away from our sound rack and network drop, so both the cat6 and audio line (shielded XLR and a XLR to 3.5mm patch cable) are running together to the camera where we use the line in jack to drop in the audio to the stream. At first I thought it might be interference picked up on the way so I disconnected the audio jack from the camera and we still have the same static. Then I ran a separate clean cat6 line away from all possible interference to the camera and I still have the same noise. Do you have any suggestions?
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