Radeon sound problems - volume gain/limiting adjustments

[spoox]

Having audio problems with the volume being compressed/gain adjusted.. (Compression here referring to sound dynamics, not size compression) That is, something is adjusting the volume up and down, very noticeable when capturing speech/dialog (ie news broadcasts, interviews). Sound jumps up and down.. I.e. it adjusts sound down if its very loud, or up if its low, so it goes up and down, up and down... VERY annoying, and totally ruins the caps.. Also sounds like it has some noise gate, because whenever raw hiss starts it seems to silence it (probably part of the compressor).

I verified that it's not the soundcard by connecting the line-out from the Radeon directly to speakers. This was also NOT an issue with the previous Matrox card installed (not in the system now), which caused none of this volume-jumping..

So, to me it seems that it's the Radeon card that does it. The input is not amplified at all, just straight from the VCR.

Tried searching a lot of forums, didn't find any help anywhere.. (Only people not getting any audio at all, which is not the case here).

Setup:

ATI Radeon AIW 7500
Applies both to preview/watching tv and capturing
Same in both VirtualDUB and MMC(7.6)
Motherboard-integrated soundcard
Intel P4 1.7ghz

HELP!

[tjdmobile]

I am sorry, I am not at home, so I can't give you the EXACT key to change, however...

Use regedit and search for RECVOLUME and RECSOURCE (?). The volume should be set to about 128 (decimal value) and the input (source) can be adjusted to be whichever specific input you want to use (I use line in, or stereo mix). Naturally, make sure the key you edit is actually in the ATI area of the registry...

This solved my volume problems with ATI MMC and I hope it works for you!

For VDUB and others - I dunno. The other thing I would try is to bypass the dongle for the sound (plug audio directly from source into the sound card's input). If you have already done this - Sorry to mention it.

TJD

[spoox]

Didn't really find anything that resembled those keys.. closest I saw was something under

HKCU\Software\ATI Technologies\Multimedia\Features\TV\Sound

but those settings didn't seem to affect anything

(Searched through the whole registry for both "source" and "volume")

Still some kind of sound dynamics being applied.. Did you have the same problem?

As for the other option, that's not possible (at least with the current cable setup here hehe).. But it's an idea if I can't resolve this otherwise.. Just seems weird that it would affect the sound like this.. Should only need to feed it straight and unprocessed through..

[tjdmobile]

I will look at my settings tonight when I go home. Yes, I had sound problems, when I would record, the volume would slowly rise, then it would go too high, then down, etc. I am sure that this is the equiv. of automatic recording level, much like in the analog tape recorder realm. At this point, I plugged the audio right into the sound card's input, because I was tired of the card adjusting the sound for me. When I first got the card, while using MMC 7.1 and MMC7.5 I sometimes had to reboot the PC because the card wouldn't let the audio pass through. Since that time, just a straight shot across. I don't know exactly what the dongle adds as far as volume leveling, or on/off. I just know my troubles are over.

Also, if you go into the advanced properties of the sound panel (the one from Windows, speaker icon) you can select recording properties. At that point, you will see a check mark next to the line that ATI's software is using to record. Set this to about 2 ticks from the bottom. This way, any gain adjustment from MMC software is actually in your favor. You can test the levels by using VDUB / capture AVI / Audio properties and then use the volume meter. I like to keep the 'spikes' about mid-level. You will note, however, after you go to all the trouble to adjust the volume, once you close MMC and re-open it, it'll reset the recording volume. This is where the key (which I will identify tonight) change in the registry is necessary. It will ensure that MMC sets the volume to 128 (rather than the 800 or so that it automatically did for me).

MMC software is a bit kookie at times, but it truly does render some awesome results when you get the hang of it.

TJD

[killswitch]

I just discovered I'm having this problem too, I have a AIW Radeon 8500DV. I have also applied the macrovision disable patch but don't see why that would do anything.

I decided to capture all my music vids so I can ditch the videos.

The volume compression is *very* noticable listening to bands like Slipknot where it gets very noisy and quiet very quickly.

I've done as you have and connected the output directly to the sound card line in and it's fine so it's obviously the ATI card.

Anyone any suggestions ???? I can't do any captures till this is sorted, or I'd have to capture audio and video separately which kind of defies the point of the card.

Cheers.

Paul.

[Craig Tucker]

I have a similar although not identical problem with my hercules all in wonder 7500. My cable tv supplier provides 5 analogue feeds and 1 digital. The sound level on the analogue channels are fine, but the sound level on the digital channel is so high that it clips and distorts. This is not only during capture but during normal viewing through both MMC and virtualdub. As yet I have not found a solution, the only way I can capture from the digital channels (and have decent sound) is to connect an external TV set to the composite in of the card and hence bypass the cards TV tuner completely. This does work but is less than satisfactory.

[boborg]

Try to change the audiocrossbar driver file: atinxsxx.sys to an older version. That got rid of the problem with the sound jumping up and down.

I've put up an older version here:

Win9x / ME
http://eurohost.webmatrixhosting.net/boborg/audiocrossbar_Win9x_5085.zip

XP/2000
http://eurohost.webmatrixhosting.net/boborg/audiocrossbar_W2000.zip

[killswitch]

Cheers ! I'll give that a go for TV recording.

I just ended up hooking my VCR directly to my line-in for sound and that worked a treat, a messy way round but it worked for this afternoon