no audio with powervcr II v3

[one23]

i have an ati tv wonder ve card and bought powervcr II. i can capture video without any problems but i cant record audio! the video records file and when i play the file i can see the video but i dont hear any audio!! please help! i paid 130 bucks for this crap!

[Tommyknocker]

Calm down. First make sure that if you are using the "Line In" port, it is activated on your recording settings.

Also, if you are using a sound card too, you may want to check your installation manual to see if you need to feed sound into your capture card, out of it, and then to your sound card.

Keep us posted!

[one23]

sorry im b=just confused, i expected something that sent me back 130 bcuks to work, right out of the box...

and yes im using the line in port, it selected in the settings (whould you believe it, thats the only info cyberlink gave me when i asked for help)

im using a sound blaster value and no, thats not necessary (cant find it in the book of the ati card or the sound card)

well, now i get very little audio. i have to trun up my speakers all the way before i can hear anything, and theres mostly this 'fuzzzzz' noise so its still hard to hear.

[tomreedtoon]

Okay, you have low audio with a lot of buzz.

I'm not familiar with how Windows ME handles audio; I've only used 95, 98 and XP Pro. However, go to wherever you found the volume control and select the recording controls. See which ones have their volume controls up, and which are checked/unchecked.

(The reason I'm uncertain is that in 98, when you check the box under the recording control, that input is un-muted; in XP, when you check it, it's un-muted. Screwed me up horribly when I first installed XP.)

Since I suspect you're using the external "line in" for the audio, you'll want to make sure that's up for recording. The noise might be coming from something like a microphone input being left up.

You can always check to make sure your card is working by plugging the speaker straight into the output plug on the back of the TV Wonder card. If the audio sounds okay there, you know the capture card works.

You might just have hum coming from a bad cable or connection.

Sorry, that's about all that comes to mind.

[fyreboltx2]

im also having trouble with this:

tom,
i have everything up on max and nothing is muted. i did plug in my speakers to the audio out of my ati card. i used powervcr II and i could hear the audio file but i had to turn my the speakers almost all the way up. then i tried using mmc 7.6 and the audio is fine at normal level (1/4 of the max). im starting to think this might be related to powervcr II (yes all the level son powervcr are on max).

by the way, thank you both for your input 8) . you guys have been more helpful then the cyberlink jerks (they havent responded to my emails yet)!

[one23]

where can i get mmc 7.6? i think i have mmc 7.1 or something.

the video quality of mmc 7.1 is very crappy compared to powervcr II, too bad the audio doesnt work.

[fyreboltx2]

you can get mmc 7.6 at the ati website, select the drivers section, your running me but select xp as you os, you should be able to d/l 7.6 and install it without problems.

and can anyone help with the audio problems?

[gll99]

I have BT878 card (Avermedia) and tested my audio with Powervcr I as well as a number of freeware apps like virtualdub and they all worked fine. When I tried Powervcr II the video was ok but sound did not work. I was using the vxd drivers (win98).

I know in my case it wasn't a connection issue or forgetting a check on the line-in or something like that.

I installed the tweaked "wdm" drivers and now Powervcr II works fine with great audio. I think the app accepts both types of drivers but has a problem when using the vxd in recognizing the audio source properly. The free apps like amcap and virtualvcr based on directshow filters also work to capture AVI. Commercial apps like ShowShifter, WINDVR, Wincode and Win producer all work and allow capture of mpeg1 and mpeg2 in real time.

Unfortunately other apps like WinVCR 2.5, NanoDVR, WinVDR Pro (not WINDVR note V and D are reversed) and powervcr I which worked with the VXD driver no longer work because they can't connect to the vxd driver or think the driver is already resident and say that they can't open another instance. Virtualdub wont work for cap either because it was (at least up to vs 4.10) designed to use vxd.
Some of these may need to be reinstalled since I changed the drivers after installation and this could explain why they don't work.

I tested Powervcr II and (windvr or wincode) and I like the quality of the latter much better. They looked the same on my PC but when I copied them to CDRW and checked them on my standalone DVD player the image produced by Powervcr II wasn't as clean even though it has 2 inline filters designed to reduce noise and smooth things. I tried with the filters individually and together as well as without them and after a number of trials prefer Windvr and wincode.

What Drivers are you using???

[one23]

um.. i dont know. im not an expert, sorry. i dont understand anything in the post before this one.

ive tried different programs. here are the results:
virtualdub: couldnt detect card
winvcr: couldnt detect card
nanodvr: couldnt detect card

is this card bad or am i doing something wrong? if it works with mmc 7.1 and 7.6 why doesnt it work with other programs?

im sooo lost.

[gll99]

one23.

A further explanation:

I know you just want a quick answer so you can get on with your life and you may not like all the details.

One day you may be helping others and it helps to understand how your problem was solved.

Your card is based on the bt878 chipset (some are bt829 bt848 or bt879 but that's ok) just like mine even though it is made by another manufacturer you = ATI, Mine = Avermedia. Capture cards like other hardware need drivers so that windows and other programs can communicate with them.

The one thing the 3 apps you named have in common is they will only accept "VXD" drivers. The fact that they don't recognize your card leads me to believe that you have loaded "WDM" drivers.

To understand these terms browse the web (Google search) and you will find many sites with detailed explanations.

So, the 3 apps that you named all expect to see your card only if you have the VXD drivers installed otherwise they will not find your card. It's not your fault that these programs don't recognize certain types of drivers its the way they were designed.

However, that is not necessarily a bad thing. It just means that those 3 programs will not work with "WDM" drivers for video capture but many others will.

What you need is to find an app that uses "WDM" drivers and then you will know for sure. Look for a free app callled "AMCAP" or virtualvcr or shareware like iuVCR, WINCODE or WINDVR. They all work with "WDM" drivers.

Video for windows drivers (VXD) came with window95 and window98. Old apps that do capture were designed using those drivers. The new apps are based on "DirectShow filters" (part of the DirectX libs) which can talk with the "WDM" drivers. Both types of drivers can potentially work with all versions of windows but they are not included in all packages.

So we all have to make a choice as to which apps we use for capture.

I know that "wdm" drivers are much faster and are less likely to drop frames. Also they can be used to do real time software MPEG1 and MPEG2 captures which can be immediately written to cdr or crw for use with a standalone without any further processing.

You can't do that with "vxd" drivers. They will not do software capture "MPEG1" or "Mpeg2" directly.

If you try the "WDM" based apps and still want to reinstall the "VXD" drivers instead then post again and I will give you info on how to do that. Its more than just removing the "devices from the system".

Please try this and post your results. I know you feel new at this but if you don't understand please ask specific questions.

Don't just say I don't understand anything! Proper feedback will encourage more useful comments

[one23]

gll99,

first of all thank you for not giving up on me! 8)
i will try to be more specific this time.

and no i dont really mind the long posts as long as its easy to understand (hey i thought drivers were only for cars )

ok i did a search, and it said on a site that WDM (windows driver model, ohhh) comes with me, xp, & 2000. so yes that means i have WDM!

i also did a search for VXD (virtual devide driver) and as you said, that comes with 95 and 98.

i tried wincoder demo (windvr wasnt available for download) but it just caused an error. i think that was my pcs fault though.

ok, now some questions:
1. i take it that mmc 7.6 is wdm compatable. well it is pretty good software but i cant capture higher then 240 as my vertical resolution. so far, all i know about it is that it has something to do with the wdm drivers.
so, can i do anything to fix this?

2. im thinking of reformatting my hdd and installing 98. so what is a good VXD compatable program for best capture quality?

3. is the WDM drivers the reason i get such low levels of audio on powervcr II?

4. is it bad for a system to have both WDM and VXD?

again, thank for your info. it was very helpful! 8) i dont mind learning a thing or two. i will read a long post if you dont mind typing it.

[gll99]

Lets deal with the "WDM" drivers first.

1)
If you want to capture mpeg1 or mpeg2 then you must stay with the "wdm" drivers. I am running win98 and I have applications using "wdm" drivers that capture only "avi" or "wmv" (windows media format). and other apps that only capture mpeg1 and mpeg2. I am completely satisfied with them.

As far as I know you can have both sets of drivers (vxd and wdm) on your system. The problem is that when you install your capture hardware it is linked to the drivers that you choose at the time of installation. So if you assign the wdm drivers then your capture card won't be linked to the vxd drivers and vis versa. So I guess the answer is as far as I know, you can't really use both at once and I would stay with the WDM. If you insist on going back to vxd then the best (vxd) capture app is actually built into virtualdub. Its not the fastest but the most flexible. I used (past tense) the custom size 352 x480 and the bicubic inline vertical reduction filter and other tricks to improve the capture. Anyway thats another story.

2)
Your problem with Powervcr II is a little more puzzling. I had the same problem when I had the vxd drivers installed but it went away when I used the wdm drivers. The only difference with the wdm drivers is they only expose the "wave" and "sw synth" options for audio and not the line-in option. Although you still have to have the line-in option selected as your recording option. It may be that you have to raise the volume on those also. During recording, don't raise anything above 3/4 or you will introduce static noise with the sound.

First, how is the sound when you use another capture app?
If it is ok then obviously the problem is specifally related to powervcr II.
I noticed after I used it that the wave volume option on my sound card was set to zero. Check it and make sure its on and not muted. A couple of days ago I posted an answer for someone else who was experiencing sound problems. Try to find it and read it and see if you have a cabling or option problem. I don't want to write it again.

3) The resolution limitations you experience with MMC 7.6 are not likely caused by the wdm drivers but more likely the app. I don't know that application but if I find a trial I will get it and test it on my system and let you know. I would need to know a little more about your system and settings.

4) There are tweaked wdm drivers that you may want to try. I found them when I did a search on GOOGLE for "wdm tweaked drivers" . They apparently corrected some issues with the version provided by Microsoft.

PS Try Wincoder again its a great app for mpeg1 or 2.

[one23]

gll99,

i have done some more research and it seems that wdm drivers are faster for both avi and mpeg captures so i will reinstall me again.

i still dont understand why powervcr II doesnt play any audio. i have read the post you mentioned and yes, my connection are correct. i used both ATI MMC 7.1 and 7.6 and both played my audio fine.

oh and i have looked it up on the ATI site, and it seems for some strange reason, ATI put the 240 vertical resolution limit there on purpose! i dont know why...

i did try wincoder again, but again i recieved errors. i did a restart on my system and it just gave me more errors. i think its because ive installed some many capture devices on my system (ive had like 9, only 1 works )

but i will look for tweaked WDM drivers as you hae recommened.
thank you for all your help. thanks to you i know why certain apps dont work.

[Gargoyle]

Try installing the patch for PowerVCR:
http://www.gocyberlink.com/english/products/product_order.jsp?ProdId=20#free - (It's one the three at the bottom of the "FREE" section)

[gll99]

Sorry ONE23, I remember reading about that patch but completely forgot.

Good show Gargoyle! That's why these forums are so great.

PS: The "wdm" tuner/capture drivers will work with win98 (some don't like WINME) but they don't come with win98 you have to get them elsewhere.

See:
http://www.iulabs.com/eng/index.shtml


And the one I use and recommend to you:

http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/index.html

[spooky]

One23
I used to have the Radeon AIW card, when I first set it up on Windows 2K I could not get the card to work with any other capture software except for MMC 7.0/7.1
I have called ATI ( somehow got through LOL )
I was told that their card was optomised for DirectShow DirectX & it did not have WDM capture drivers.
That set me off, I could not understand why they would do this but he said " We are trying to comply with Microsoft " OK
Anyhow, when MMC 7.5 came out they included WDM capture drivers on their website, once installed ALL the apps that did not work before started to work.
So, my suggestion is to try upgrading to MMC 7.6 or 7.7 ( which ever it is out right now ) or you can try looking up issues with it at www.rage3d.com ( all ati stuff )
Hope this helps
Spooky

[stevech]

I posted a fairly long writeup on my experience with MMC, ATI TV Wonder VE, PowerVCR II 3.0 and SB Live Value on the following thread:

http://www.vcdhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=108398

Look for stevech (towards the bottom). May be it will ring a bell.