Sound Through a ESS Maestro mic jack

[Alienz]

I have the ATI USB Edition capture card and iam capturing directly to Divx with Virtualdub. The picture is fine but the sound is horrible. There is this noise in the background i dunno where it comes from. But when i use the ATI capture software the sound is a bit better. The compression setting was on CD Quality in virtualdub. Is there a problem in the settings or is it just my lousy sound card. I have a laptop, so if anyone out there who can recommend a good PC sound card please do.

Thanks

[patrickm]

first, check the sound levels. but what i suspect is happening is one of two things- you're using the Mic input instead of line-in, or you have a ground loop.

don't plug line level audio into the mic jack. most electret mic's (what's commonly used for computers) need some type of amplification or at least a bias voltage. so you'll distort the regular audio signal like this.

if you still have the problem, it may be competing grounds. unplug the 'out' connection while capturing. if that's not enough, plug the laptop into the same electrical outlet/power strip as the source device. if it's cable, you may need a ground loop isolator if all of the above don't work. (pretty cheap, you can get it from radio shack or wherever)

[patrickm]

also, if you're looking for a different card, http://www.compgeeks.com has some aureal vortex2 2500 cards with optical out for $15

[arp]

I have the same problem. My laptop only have Mic, not line-in. I use PCTV USB and a laptop Compaq presario 1200xl.
With the pinnacle software sound is good, but with another programs like Virtualdub, AVI_IO, ... sounds came with noise and distort.
I try min level of mic at sound levels, but came bad anyway.
I think sound card have "pins" to make a line-in jack. So I am determined to open PC, but i don't know what "pins" of sound card can I weld a line-in jack.
Anybody know that "pins"?
Thanks

[stanwebber]

get a cheap 16bit pcmcia soundcard off ebay, although drivers might be a problem for win2k/xp

[patrickm]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-12-14 07:49:49, arp wrote:
I have the same problem. My laptop only have Mic, not line-in. I use PCTV USB and a laptop Compaq presario 1200xl.
With the pinnacle software sound is good, but with another programs like Virtualdub, AVI_IO, ... sounds came with noise and distort.
I try min level of mic at sound levels, but came bad anyway.
I think sound card have "pins" to make a line-in jack. So I am determined to open PC, but i don't know what "pins" of sound card can I weld a line-in jack.
Anybody know that "pins"?
Thanks
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

well, it's possible that there is somewhere you could tap into to make a line-in. it may be marked on the board, near an empty jumper header, probably near the mic jack. but it's possible you'll need to add some of the surface mount capacitors or resistors that may be missing. it'll probably be 4 pins in a row, with two grounds (they'll be tied together) and the L/R channels. you may want to look for a USB alternative if you're not familiar with electronics. i can't be real specific, because i've never a compaq or a laptop. but the maestro chipset definitely provides line in capability, it's just whether there are other missing IC's or resistors i can't really say.