capuring from source far from PC - sound issue

[franky111]

Hello everybody,

After several trials (and errors) I could finally back up my old VHS family tapes on DVD and overcome an everlasting out of synch problem.
To do this my VCR was placed close to my computer.

I am trying now to record TV programs from my sat receiver which is far from my computer (I have a 10 meters long cable – one for composite video, one for sound in line-in of my sound card)

Everything goes well, except that the sound on the final video is very very low and noisy (Basically you cannot hear anything)

Is it due to the cable length ?
If yes, is there a way to overcome this (amplify the signal or whatever ?)

Thanks

[Duchess]

Everything goes well, except that the sound on the final video is very very low and noisy (Basically you cannot hear anything)

Is it due to the cable length ?
If yes, is there a way to overcome this (amplify the signal or whatever ?)

I doubt that it's due to cable length, over that sort of distance I would expect little degredation in audio level, but there will be increased noise and almost certainly 50 or 60 Hz hum (depending on whether you're in the USA or Europe) unless you are using very, very high grade screened cable.

Loss of audio is more likely to be:
(a) due to a short and/or open circuit in the cable or connectors
(b) no output from the equipment
(c) the input to your sound card id being overwhelmed by noise or hum, although this would normally show as severe distortion.

Can you hear sound before you record? On my system I can monitor the input before recording starts so I can both see that video is present and also hear whether audio is available.

[franky111]

Hi Duchesse,

I'm in Belgium. not so far from you...

Thanks for your reply.
My problem is solved. The sound level of my sat receiver was at min.
I just increased it and all is perfect now.
So stupid......

[Duchess]

<chuckle> We all make silly mistakes, even the professionals (like me, I'm an electronics engineer) do it from time to time so don't feel too bad about it.