Newb Question: Sound Card when capturing?

[_JW_]

Hey all,
I'm going to buy a graphics card for capturing video from my TV, most likely an ATI, but my question is does the sound card matter as far as capturing goes? Does the graphics card have to hook up to the sound card in any way? Do you need a good sound card for good audio capturing or does it not matter? Thanks.

[akbor75]

i think your soundcard doesn't really matter, cos the audio goes to your comp via line in (maybe linked-through via the capture card). so the audio won't be mixed or so.

[Doramius]

It depends wether you have onboard audio or not. The computer has to catch the audio somehow. A video card usually just captures the video and passes the sound through to your audio source.

[Capmaster]

My first capture device relied on the PC audio card for the audio capture. Definitely something to avoid, as it was a sync nightmare. After 40 minutes almost every capture went out of sync and looked like a cheap Japanese horror flick :P

Get one that captures both and has a hardware lock between the two. It'll say in the device specs section.

[Doramius]

Capmaster, your's is on of those USB capture devices instead of a Card, or is yours AGP or PCI card.

[Capmaster]

Capmaster, your's is on of those USB capture devices instead of a Card, or is yours AGP or PCI card.

They're both USB. My first one was the ADS USB Instant DVD. What a POS!

My current one is a Snazzi III USB2. Muuuuuch better

[Doramius]

My parents have the Snazzy and they say it's pretty good. I haven't seen it since they got it, because they're 2000 miles away. I have the ATI AIW and it passes the audio to the card or on-board audio. I haven't had problems with audio out of synch unless I have something else using a lot of CPU power. I either get dropped frames or out of synch sound when that happens. Maybe there will be a new style of AGP port that has a card that has integrated audio and video than doesn't go out of synch. It better be 256 DDR and capture live TV. How else can I record my shows in top quality HDTV while I'm at work.

[snafu099]

The origingal ADS usb (1.1) InstandDvd only hardware encoded the video and the audio was captured via the soundcard line in. Lots of sync issues as well as compatability issues.

In the past (?) this seems to have been the most common setup, and probable still is. With growing pc power it may be less of an issue.

The current line of ADS usb capture devices, except InstantTv, hardware encode both video and audio. Excellent quality and no sync issues. Utilize an "audio lock" unless you disable it via settings.

DvdExpress when on sale for $49-us after rebate gives a lot of bang for the buck

user forum for ADS
http://p211.ezboard.com/fpyro1394frm8

ADS website www.adstech.com to compare product specs

[lordsmurf]

If your PC is P4/AMD+ material, you're fine. Get a real soundcard, and you'll be fine (none of that onboard junk).

The ultimate culprit for audio sync loss is often dropped frames:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/droppedframes.htm

It also depends on the card. ATI AIW cards do an excellent job. It is suggested to wire ATI to soundcard internally using the AUX channels and a sound cable (do not use the LINE IN wiring unless you are forced to). Good cards have AUX.

My soundcard died today, all it does is static. Had it for years, saw this coming for a while now. Gonna go get a good $25-50 SoundBlaster to replace the old $35 SoundBlaster.

"Audio lock" from Canopus and ADS, etc is great and all ... but it's the only real selling point of those devices. Don't believe the hype. If your system is fine, and you use a good soundcard and good video card, you'll be great. If not, then look at the external devices, especially on old sow computers (PIII, Duron, etc)