Puzzled by sound and yet no sound!

[videohelp]

I have tried to capture a home made movie from vcr and made into dvd. No problem there. Now I have two separate sets of setup as far as stand alone dvd and tv sets go -in different rooms. One set has 2 audio cables (L & R) from dvd going into tv AND other set has one (from L) audio cable from dvd going ((thru mono vcr) into tv. The first set is stero (L & R) setup and other is mono (L only) setup for audio. When I test my burned dvd into sterio setup (L & R audio cables both present) I hear sound. But when I play same dvd into other dvd where only L audio cable is plugged - I hear no sound! If I change from L to R in the back of the dvd and play the same dvd again then I hear sound!!! What is the diff in L versus R hookups? Why would L won't work in this capturing and burning dvd process? What am I doing wrong? Please educate me along with some solutions. I used Avermedia to capture and nero to burn. For audio I tried mpeg, lpcm and dobly while capturing -all 3 setting behave the same as stated above! Meaning no matter what type of audio I select -none wants to work thru L channel -only either R or both L&R!!! From vcr I captured from is mono. I also tried to capture from camcorder (another tape) but same result! Any help? Thanks.

[thecoalman]

If your device is outputting mono and you're capturing in stereo only one channel will be captured. In other words you're recording silence on one channel because there is no input. Easiest thing is to get a mono to stereo adapter, you plug the mono RCA from the VCR and it will send the mono signal out over both channels on the other end. They can be purchased at Radio Shack or other electronic stores for few bucks.

That or capture in mono, but it will have to be converted to stereo hence the reason it's esiest just to get the adpter. Your editing or authoring application should convert the single channel to stereo. As a last resort you can extract the audio file from the video. Import it into an audio editing application and copy the channel that is recorded to the blank one.

[videohelp]

Thanks coalman - your theory makes sense but...

I also tried from camcorder which is sterio!!! The setup I have is following: Yello, red and white cable (single cable) that came with camcorder goes (red and white rca male plugs) into an adapter which is two female rca and one stero plug into line in. Surely that is correct sterio setup -isn't it?

Just for your knowledge, for mono from mono vcr, all I did was unplugged red & white ends and just plugged in one mono male rca from vcr into one of the female end of adapter (adapter with 2 female rca end and one stero end). Makes sense? In this case you may be right as only one of the channel received audio -if I understood you correctly. So for this particualr setup, you are suggesting to get an adapter with one female rca end and one male stero end -right? Is that what you mean by mono to sterio adapter? I am confused so please bare with me.

But what about the first scenario -that should have worked properly -right? or did I miss something?

[thecoalman]

Thanks coalman - your theory makes sense but...

It's not theory... :P If you are playing a stereo track and are only getting audio out of one speaker then either one of the two stereo tracks are blank or there is something wrong with your sound system. If it's the soundsytem then no stereo tracks would work like CD's or anything eles. The easiest way to check is export the audio to a wav file and open it in something like Audacity .

The setup I have is following: Yello, red and white cable (single cable) that came with camcorder goes (red and white rca male plugs) into an adapter which is two female rca and one stero plug into line in. Surely that is correct sterio setup -isn't it?

This is simialr to the adpater you would need for the mono VCR except the adpter would have only one RCA female jack. As far as it not working with your stereo video camera make sure it's not a stereo to mono adapter.

[videohelp]

Okay -I will get an adapter (one female rca to stereo with 2 rings and not one -right?) and try it out.

But as far as for your last comment (As far as it not working with your stereo video camera make sure it's not a stereo to mono adapter) -no, it is not mono -how can it be because both (red and white from camcorder) goes into adapter (two female rca at one end and other end is stereo going into computer). This is the part that puzzled me since atleast it looks like the setup is stereo kind! (two female rca jacks and the other end that goes to line in is one plug with 2 rings which denotes stereo, isn't it?) May be I am wrong. Thanks for your time. But if you would like to expand upon this last part, which is still little unclear to me, then please do so. Thanks again.

PS: male plug with one ring is mono and two rings is stereo -is that right?

[thecoalman]

This is the part that puzzled me since atleast it looks like the setup is stereo kind! (two female rca jacks and the other end that goes to line in is one plug with 2 rings which denotes stereo, isn't it?) May be I am wrong.

Yes it would have to have two RCA jacks, each channel is carried over a seperate RCA cable, as fa as how many rings the mini plug should have I don't know... :P

Download Audacity as I suggested above, you can record and monitor the audio signal with it by itself. Not practical for using for video but you'll be able to troubleshoot with it to see if you are receiving a stereo signal. You may also want to make sure there isn't somerthing wrong with the cam and make sure it's outputting a stereo siganl by hooking it to a TV if you haven't already done so.

[videohelp]

Okay, thanks coalman. I will try your suggestion soon -hope all goes well. Thanks again.

[videohelp]

Hi coalman, I tried your suggestion and yes, I do get a sound. But I am kind of still puzzled. After the capture, I tried to burn thru nero. After I imported the content, there is a play button. When I tried to play the video -I see video but no sound even though audio is there (listed as dolby digital). Then I tried to get it into shrink just to play there to see if I hear sound -but no sound. I burnt it thru nero anyway and the final product has sound! (thru L, R and both L&R) Which is great. But any idea why shrink and nero preview won't play sound and just the video part?

[thecoalman]

Where is it that you can here the sound? On a DVD player only?

[videohelp]

yes - on stand-alone dvd player only. Not in nero (prior to burn like in preview) or even in shrink (like prior to shrinking in preview) which I know I should be able to because that's why those play/pause/stop buttons are there! No biggy -but just curious because atleast my final product does have sound thru L, R and both L&R audio channels.

[videohelp]

Also PowerDVD will play with sound!

But -for example, nero or shrink won't -that's kind of puzzling!

[thecoalman]

Also PowerDVD will play with sound!

AC3 (dolby digital) requires a AC3 decoder installed, powerDVD has one.... Either those apps can't utilize or aren't for some reason.

[videohelp]

How do I check if I have AC3 installed and if not installed then how can I get one? Thanks.

[videohelp]

Hi again,

Pls respond to previous post also. Plus:

What is the diff between Codec and Decoder? I downloaded following two files but don’t know the diff and so which one to use -if any.

AC3Decoder 1.2.6

AC3 Codec (ac3filter_1_11.exe)

Also what is ASPI for? Just curious. Thanks.