Hiss in audio of captured video

[Dwight]

Soundcard used Sb128 pci..Line In Input from a scart adapter (left out/right out). Video from composite. Sound is super hissy!
What is the cause ? tape ? vcr ? bad cable's ? bad soundcard ?
I get way less hiss if I record my voice with the microphone in the mic slot :S
My tv-card is PCTV Rave.
Otherwise I'm happy with the capture results..but the sound..it's not acceptable.

[gadgetguy]

I'm not sure what you mean by hiss, but if it's what I think you mean, the most likely cause is from the VCR. The action of the tape dragging across the audio head(s) can cause a hiss, even when there's recorded silence on the tape. My first suggestion would be to clean the heads in the VCR. The audio head(s) are seperate from the video head so even if the picture looks clean, the audio can be dirty. If that doesn't help, (or help enough), you can extract the audio, use CoolEdit to remove the hiss, then re-mux.
If the problem is more of a hum then the source could be from any of the sources you mentioned, or none of them. Try repositioning your equipment (if possible) to get the VCR further away from the computer, or try using cables with gold tips. If you have a UPS for the computer, try moving that as far away from the computer and VCR and cables as you can. Try your sound card in a different slot. If the video card is PCI, try moving that to a different slot.