E125 Speaker Click
Solution to CF Recorder Click Noise Problem!
Hi,
ever since I got my Netbook, I was annoyed about the click noise, most Netbook users hear, when recording straight to a Compact Flash Disk.
Problem
To test if you are suffering from this problem, make the following test:
1. Make sure you have a CF disk in D: (or E: )
2. Start the Recorder application.
3. Select File/New File and enter any name using the drive the CF is in (D or E)
4. Make a recording, for about 10 seconds, preferably in a quiet room without saying anything.
5. Playback the recording. You will hear a clicking sound often about once every second (varies according to CF-Card used)!
6. If you hear no clicking sound and the recording sounds clean, you have no problem!
Solution
I have just spent a couple of days at Photokina (the world's largest photographic trade fair currently on in Cologne, Germany) visiting CF-Manufacturers with my Netbook to get to the bottom of the problem. Basically, the problem is caused by the buffer in the CF-Controller emptying faster than it is being supplied with data. This affects a lot of CF card manufacturers and the only solution (apart from recording on C) is to use a CF card with an Hitachi Controller as that is the only controller which takes account of this problem and handles the data stream correctly.
I tested a number of CF-Cards at the show (only Dane-Elec refused to let me test their card) and this is the result of my hard work:
CF-Cards that Work Correctly:
SimpleTech (all SimpleTech CF-Cards use the Hitachi Controller)
Casio (Hitachi Controller)
Hitachi (of course)
DataFab (the sample I tested worked, they did not know which controller)
Extrememory (Some work, some do not)
Note: Large CF-Cards can still have problems. Even the SimpleTech 512MB CF-Card produced the click noise whereas the 256MB card was OK!
CF-Cards with Click Problem:
Sandisk (incl. Ultra)
Toshiba (all 3 controllers tested)
Dane-Elec (not tested, but uses Toshiba controller)
Those were the cards I tested. Perhaps the members of this forum can post their findings on other makes not mentioned above.
I personally made the mistake of buying a Toshiba card and had no end of problems. I must say that the people at Toshiba were very helpful and let me test a range of their cards. I will now be returning my Toshiba card and ordering a CF-Card from Simpletech as the cards I tested worked well. I have no connection with any of these card manufacturers!
However, I do recommend that before buying a CF card for the Netbook, from any manufacturer, you should always do the above test, first! Remember, in most cases I could only test 1 card per manufacturer so each card could differ. Test before you buy is very important in this case!
I hope this helps!
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