Help, no audio from capture card!

[KEG83]

I have a Sabrent TV Tuner/Video Capture PCI card. I am trying to transfer my home videos from my Sony TRV128 Hi8 camcorder to my PC. My capture card came with InterVideo WINDVR, and I also have Windows Movie Maker, and Cyberlink Power Producer. On all of those programs, I can get the video to play, but there isn't any audio. I have tried to mess around with all of the options on each program from line-in, mic, video, etc. My video card has a input for video and audio. My camcorder has a video and audio output on it's cord. I have put those in the right place, have a cord from line out on the pci card to line in on my sound card. What else can I try??

[ozymango]

Check your computer's sound card properties settings in XP, not just your programs, to make sure you're getting the correct audio input -- under the "Volume Control" panel for your sound device, select "Options>Properties" and see what kind of checkboxes you have under the "Adjust volume for Recording" button. Hope that made sense.

You should see a checkbox for "Line in" or "Audio in" or something like that , and it'll pop open the "Recording Control" window. My guess is that you can then select the slider for "Aux" or "Line in", whatever port your tuner audio output is connected to, and then you'll hear sound.

This is a lot easier to do than to describe!

[KEG83]

Thanks for the advice, I did all that, and it still won't work!!
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1951869&CatId=1427
That is the one I bought... I know super cheap, so maybe that is the problem? Can my audio cable from my camcorder go in the audio in? It doesn't seem to fit very well, and a cable more like the mic cable fits better. Is that the problem?

[ozymango]

Well, I'd try a test to see if we know exactly where the problem is occurring, is it in-fact the video tuner card that's the issue, or is there's something wonky with the camera audio or sound card input.

For starters, can you run the audio out from the camera directly into your sound card, line input, and then record or hear anything? At least this would tell us that the camera/cable is okay and the sound card is behaving. If not, we can troubleshoot that.

If you do get sound that way, then it may just be a bad cable (between the tuner out and the sound card in, that short cable). But try that first and let us know your results!

EDIT: Related, have you tried watching any TV with the card and if so, do you get any audio from the tuner, is it just the camcorder input you're having trouble with or you just don't get any sound period from your tuner?

[KEG83]

The audio out from the camera doesn't seem to fit in the sound card, it's a different cable... like the yellow, red and white a/v cables.

[KEG83]

I haven't tried the TV, I was mainly looking for something transfer my home movies to my PC to made DVD's... maybe I got the wrong thing?

[ozymango]

Ah, got it! Okay, all you need is an adaptor.

It should look something like (or exactly like) this:

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/274946.html

known technically as an "Audio Adapter, Dual RCA Female to Stereo 1/8" Male." Plug the red and white phone plugs from the camcorder output, into the jacks on the adaptor, then plug the adapter into the jack on the computer. Or the jack on the tuner card, which then gets passed to the sound card.

Depending on the clearances in the back of your computer, though, you may have to get an adaptor that's a "cable," that functions the same as this little device but has a smaller 1/8" plug to fit in close quarters, and the has two cables coming off that with phono jacks on the end. Looks like this:

http://www.smcelectronics.com/audcable.htm

Scroll down the page to the third item listed: Y-Cable. 1/8" Stereo Plug to (2) RCA Phono Jacks. Shielded. About 9 inches long. (Stock #: AV21)

You could order these, or go down to your local Radio Shack and pick up something, though personally I find most Radio Shack "technicians" rather clueless when it comes to any technical questions, no offense. Or if there are any electronics shops in your area, e.g. a Fry's, go dig around in their "adaptor" section and you'll find these buried somewhere!

[KEG83]

Ok, so it would be the 1/8, and not the 1/4? Someone just told me the 1/4, so now I am confused!

THANK YOU so much for your help and info! I was getting so frustrated, and ddn't want to waste the money I have spent so far. Thanks again!

[KEG83]

I also wanted to add, that I just have one black audio cord coming from my camcorder, is that ok? do I need an adaptor for that?

[ozymango]

Oh, and your card uses a Phillips SAA7130 chip, which fortunately has some support from other drivers (meaning you're not stuck with whatever software you got with your card). In a nutshell, you can get this card to work decently ... ... but you'll most likely have to tweak things to make it work best.

So, if you like learning new stuff, it'll be a great learning experience to capture and convert video. If you're looking for a more streamlined path from capture to DVD creation, and you've got a few dollars to spend, it might be worth it to buy a new video card that does direct MPEG2 conversion. Figure on about a hundred bucks more in that direction, to do that. To start.

OR ... start reading through the various guides and tools on this site, and absolutely you can do some very cool stuff on a pretty cheap budget, as long as you have time and interest. And you'll always find people here who can help, no matter what way you choose!

Oh, and welcome to the forums!!!

[ozymango]

I also wanted to add, that I just have one black audio cord coming from my camcorder, is that ok? do I need an adaptor for that?

If your black audio cord has an end that looks like this:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/images/full/1023i0.jpg

Then you just need an adaptor like this:

http://www.vellemanusa.com/us/enu/product/view/?id=350153

That would be a mono output from the camcorder, to a mono adapter. You can plug a mono adapter into a stereo jack, and you won't get stereo but you will get audio on both tracks that way.

And yeah it's a 1/8" jack, that's an absolutely standard size for computers and the kind of TV cards available to us mere mortals.

EDIT: And I'll bet you can find an adaptor like this in the electronics section of even your local supermarket, they're everywhere nowadays.

[KEG83]

I am sorry to keep bugging you! But, is there an adaptor for just the one rca cord, that is actually a cord like the 2 rca cord adaptor? There isn't much room in the back to put the adaptor you posted. THANK YOU!

Edit: could I just buy the 2 RCA, and plug into one, and it still work ok?
http://www.smcelectronics.com/audcable.htm

[ozymango]

I am sorry to keep bugging you! But, is there an adaptor for just the one rca cord, that is actually a cord like the 2 rca cord adaptor? There isn't much room in the back to put the adaptor you posted.

Yeah, you can just plug into either one of the RCA plugs on the adaptor cable and that'll work, though you may have to tell your conversion program (when you convert your video to DVD spec) that you have a mono soundtrack, i.e. you'll want to duplicate the single audio track so you have sound on both the left and right channels.

The software you have now may do this automatically, or you may have to tweak the audio before you burn everything to DVD. But we can deal with that once you get your sound working and some footage transferred, so no worries!

[KEG83]

Thanks again!!