Pinnacle Studios 11 - Low Frequency Audio Hum

[notheldge]

I am capturing video from a DVD player using Pinnacle Studios 11 movie box. The video looks fine, but when there is no dialog on the screen, you can hear a low audio hum.

I have experimented with the audio capture volume level, and making sure there is no other Electrical device around the DVD player, capturing device, or computer.

Any suggestions?

[filmboss80]

Aren't you converting digital to analog, back to digital this way? If you have a DVD drive in your computer, just rip the DVD straight to harddrive and convert the video to the format best for editing with Pinnacle (usually DV-AVI). There are plenty of free DVD ripping tools, and VirtualDub MPEG-2 (also freeware) is fine for making conversions. This way, you stay in the digital realm.

[notheldge]

Yes. However I need to. I am using a clearplay dvd player, which has filters on the movies. So I need to actually capture the video and audio signal coming from the DVD player. The video is good quality, but the audio has a low frequency hum when there is no dialog on screen.

I tried using the soundsoap Bias, but it just makes the whole audio track sound muffled.

Any other suggestions?

[jagabo]

You have a ground loop or other noise leakage problem. Try plugging the DVD player and computer into the same power bar. Keep the moviebox away from other electrical devices. Use shielded audio cables. If there is some automatic gain control for the audio path disable it. Try a ground loop isolator.

[notheldge]

I have tried a ground loop interference cable. I have used everything up to Monster Shielded cables. But still the sound is there. Nothing has altered it.

[jagabo]

Are you sure the noise isn't in the DVD player? Try a different DVD player. Or some other A/V audio source like a cable tv box. Even an audio only source like a walkman.

Remove the moviebox and run audio from the DVD player directly to the computer's line-in audio input. Do you hear the noise there?

[notheldge]

Yes I have tried several different dvd players, and ipod. I have moved the components around to try to isolate the hum, but still nothing

[grossjamesh]

Ok, let's look at basics. The only place that this hum can come from is the AC power.
So, there is a open or reversed ground or hot-neutral reversal.
Go to the hardware store and get a AC outlet circuit tester.
Ckeck every outlet (all plugs on an outlet) in the house.

Let us know what you find.

[jagabo]

It could also be analog video (59.94 Hz vertical refresh) leaking into the the audio within the Moviebox (badly isolated video and audio sections).

You said you can only hear the hum when there is no dialog. Do you mean it is only there when the audio is very quiet? If there is some other low audio can you still hear it? Does other background noise get louder when there is no dialog or music?

[grossjamesh]

Ya, I forgot about that. But that would mean a pretty crappy piece of hardware.