Bird nest box camera audio buzz with 20m cable - preventable interference or just garbage mic?

[bathowl]

I have this camera fitted to a nest box in my garden connected to my computer via the 20 meter AV cable supplied with it.

The audio features an extremely overbearing buzzing sound that renders it effectively worthless.

I wondered if this could be some kind of interference due to the length of the cable (I know very little about these things) and if it could possibly be mitigated using something like this or if it's simply a terrible/defective microphone.

In this sample you can just about make out the sound of the parent bird entering the box and the nestlings tweeting, however it is all but drowned out by the obnoxious humming:

 

[rojo]

If the camera / mic is plugged into a different power source from the monitor / recorder, then the culprit probably is a ground loop. The best solution would be for you to have both the recorder and the camera plugged into the same power circuit. If that's not reasonable, then the ground loop isolator might be worth a shot. I've used RCA line ground loop isolators like the one you linked in my car successfully. If it doesn't work, at least it didn't cost much to try.

 

[bathowl]

This is how it's set up.

 

[Speedskater]

Does it work with everything sitting on the same table?
Does it work in another building?
Does it work with another signal cable?

 

[rojo]

You've got white going to audio and yellow going to video, right? Is that USB capture device mono or stereo? Are you splitting the audio into LR before plugging into the USB gadget?

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Forum Fiend v1.3.1.

 

[highfigh]

This is how it's set up.

The noise could be from your laptop's screen- they're noisy.