BoB and sound out

[Lawrence Lin]

Is it just me or does the BoB's sound output vary by the phase of the moon? Sometimes I'll be able to get sound from the BoB to my VCR, most of the time I'm forced to run a cable directly from my soundcard. Is this the solution most people have adopted because of the BoB's flakiness with sound?

[TnT]

That's funny because my Sound In doesn't work.

[fluggo99]

Here we go again.......

Yes, this is the solution most of us have adopted. Not only because of that, but because of confusing labels on the cords themselves.

Always bypass the BOB for audio, because the BOB has an internal switch for audio based on whether you're watching TV (and as you've observed, it doesn't always work). Not only that, but every extra connection between source and destination means a slight drop in quality. (hums, buzzes, WBAP talk radio)

By the way, things we've discussed often can sometimes be found using the "search" feature in the upper-right hand corner. There are treasures untold stolen away in the caverns of the ever mysterious MURC...

[Rick6612]

Hi Lawrence,

I agree with fluggo99. Bypass the BOB entirely. Not only is it a pain to use the BOB because of the way it switches the sound on and off, but I have found that the BOB seriously degrades the sound quality, too!

Try recording from a good sounding CD on your stereo system, through the BOB, to your sound card and capture to a CD quality .wav file. Then play that .wav file back, out of your sound card and through the BOB and then on to your stereo system. You will notice a significant drop in sound quality when played this way.

Try the same experiment again, but BYPASS the BOB entirely. Assuming you have a decent sound card, you should find that when you bypass the BOB, it will sound almost the same as the original CD!

Rick

[Lawrence Lin]

Thanks for the sound on/off tip, I opened up PC-VCR and that automagically turned on the sound. Sheesh, what a design failure <G>. I tried the direct-from-soundcard route, but my RCA cables were too short, I could have gone soundcard -> speakers -> headphone out on speakers -> VCR but that was more trouble then it was worth.

Once the sound was on I made my dump (RealAudio video w/mono sound) and it looks fabulous, better then on the monitor because of that free anti-aliasing.