Connecting Sound With AIW

[Ensign]

I know by reading the AIW instructions (and asking others) that there are two way to record sound with this card. One is to loop via the sound card, and the other is to use the CD Audio Connector.

The question I have is which method is better? The the CD Audio Connector method seems to be the way to go since all the connections are internal, however, I have read in this forum that it is not and that looping via the sound card is better.

So which is it

And can any sound file you have (or import) on your computer be accessd by either method?

[gtrz]

I have a TV Wonder and I have mine internal but I think the
reason external is better is it cuts down on electromagnetic
interferance in the case.?

[patrickm]

personally, i don't use either. i just route the sound directly to the sound card from the source (tv, vcr, cd, dvd, etc). (my stereo handles the audio and video switching for me). but this avoids the problem of the ATI software turning off the pass through accidentally or whatever too.

there's probably no difference in either way to route it through the ATI card. there's some interference in both methods. depends on what other interference is present as to which one's better or worse.

[Ensign]

Would it make any difference in how the auido is inputed in to the computer if your sound card only has a Microphone input and not a line input?

In such a case I would think that using the CD Audio Connector route would be the better one.

Though

[JJamez]

Weird - I've never seen a card with only a mic input. Anyway, yes, in that case you're probably better off the way you said. Mic inputs are mono, and I'm guessing capturing audio through the AIW will yield stereo results.

[etlprws]

Just to pick up on the point about 'no line input'

I have got a case for an ATX motherboard that has a headphone symbol where the line input is. Why....who knows, but the ATX board itself has mic. line-in and speakers out.

[Ensign]

> Weird - I've never seen a card with only a mic input.

Well, you have never seen the back of a HP Pavilion 6635 (its audio, and video, is built into the motherboard.
Nor it seems some of the (lower cost) Audio Cards I have looked over at the local COMPUSA store.

However, my other "Frankstein" Computer's audio card (transplated from my old 486 computer) has both line-in and line-out jacks (and its a 8 bit no-name ISA card!)

But, to put the advice of this post into one thought, it is the option of those who reply that a microphone-in jack can't be used as a replacement for a Line-in jack for uploading video to the computer.

Correct



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ensign on 2001-07-26 13:38:29 ]</font>

[patrickm]

no, don't use the mic input. most mic inputs are designed for electret mic's, not for line level signals. you'll overload it, and it'll sound really distorted, and there's a (very slim) possibility that damage could be done. using the internal connector should be just fine, and preferable to a mic input.

if your card/board meets the pc99 or pc98 or whatever it's called colorizing 'specs' the line-in should be the blue jack and the mic red.

if you want, just shell out $13 and go to http://www.compgeeks.com and get an aureal sq1500. 4 channel out, digital coax out, line-in, mic-in, and two more headers for inputs on the card. i just snipped a cd-rom audio plug in half, soldered it to 4 RCA jacks drilled into an empty slot cover, and now i have 3 line level inputs.

you should get stereo audio from the AIW, but to be honest, in MMC 6.3, i didn't under some configurations (mostly high-res MPEG). it was telling my sound card to only record mono, but MMC 7.1 has since fixed this problem. (i thought this was especially ridiculous, to only allow crappy sound at the best picture quality, and vice versa....)

[Ensign]

Thanks for the help, it has really given me a insight of what to do.

Now if I can only help my friend who also want to do video on a computer without a line-in jack, but, does not want to open up the computer (nor need all the functions of the AIW card).

Does anyone know if the parallel port (he has no usb ports)Dazzle Digital Video Creator loops its audio via the sound card?

In looking at pictures of it all I see are RCA jacks for audio/video input output.