Fuzzy sound when capturing... Any ideas?

[puar]

When running the PC-VCR application to watch programs through my Rainbow Runner-G, I have absolutely no problems at all. However, once I capture video (using either AVI_IO or VirtualDUB), playback includes fuzzy, static ridden audio.

Any ideas?

I've captured using both HuffyV and PicVIDEO codecs in 704x480(?).

My setup is as follows:

Windows 2000 Professional w/ SP2
Nvidia Geforce2 Pro GTS
Matrox G200
Matrox Rainbow Runner G
Creative SBLive X-Gamer
MSI KT7Pro (with IDE Raid)
Athlon XP 1600+
2 x 60 gig IBM Deskstars in Raid 0 configuration
12 gig Maxtor HD (OS drive)
512 MB PC133 RAM

[Brian Ellis]

You don't say how you set it up for sound. If you try to record in 8 bit sound, it could be that your pianissimo passages either disappear and/or have additional noise. You can't have the same dynamic range and 8-bit is quite limiting.

[puar]

Sorry about that. I'm capturing in CD quality sound (at least that's the setting in the capture software, i think 44Khz). I've tried some additional settings and it still has that same static.

[Brian Ellis]

In that case, it sounds like it might be a hardware problem. Try disconnecting everything from your sound card and moving it to a different slot: then try again. Also check the other sound socketry from start to finish. I once had a noise problem which was cured simply by unplugging the red and white leads from my camera into the Marvel BOB, and plugging them in again.

[Ted222]

I used to bypass my BOB when I used a similar setup. It also helped to give me better volume controll.

Ted

[puar]

Well... I've tried just about everything...
Moved hardware, switched cables, bypassed the matrox card and inputted the audio directly to the sound card... still fuzzy static. Another thing I noticed is that the sound seems to fall out of sync sometimes....

maybe that might be an indication of another problem. Also, I'm using DX 8.1. Could that cause any problems?

Thanks

[Ted222]

I suppose, if it were me I would get a new sound card and hope that I didn't have some sort of electronic interference going on.

The "out of sync" problems rings of a sound card problem or the need for current/different drivers.

I am assuming you have ehausted all the combinations of settings for your sound card's mixer panel.

Ted

[puar]

hmm...

maybe. i'll have to see if i can find another sound card to try.

i also tried capturing just audio using windows sound recorder, and it recorded sound fine without the static.

what kind of electronic interference could it be? also, i'm wondering why there's no static during normal tv viewing on my rrg versus when i capture.

[Sciascia]

Could also be the PCI bus is getting a little bit taxed between the audio and video being captured at the same time. Are you sharing any IRQ's?

Also try this, though it may seem strange, unplug any USB devices that you haev while capturing. It's a long shot, but what the heck, it's an easier step than replacing the SC. USB controllers are on the southbridge which is the same as the IDE controllers. There are some cases that the 2 don't get along all the time at high data rates. Just a quick idea.

[puar]

That actually crossed my mind... I do have several devices that all seem to share irq 11.

(sound card, vid, ethernet, raid controller)

although, i'm not sure how easy it is to change those in win2k. I actually did set up an alternative hardware profile disabling just about everything except vid and sound with about the same results.

not sure if that would help that much, but it was a shot.

thanks,
bobby