Audio capture via firewire

[pbwgap]

I have been converting my old audio tapes into Audio CD's using my Turtle Beach sound card and CoolEdit for subsequent processing. But sometimes, the quality is not that good, significantly worse than the source.

Recently, I have bought a JVC DV Cam and have captured some DV footage through Firewire with WinDV. I am very happy with the results.

Now, I just got an idea!! It may give me a better quality audio if I capture the audio via firewire by passing it thru the DV Cam. DV Cam may do a better A/D conversion than the cheap sound card.

Is my idea sensible or plain stupid? If it can really give me better quality, then how can I capture audio alone? If I can capture, then I will use CoolEdit to post process it like changing the sample rate, reducing noise etc.

I would really appreciate any one's help on this.

[guns1inger]

There is no reason why you cannot do this. You will get blank video, or perhaps what the lens is showing (depends how your pass through works). You can then strip this off and process it to your hearts content. You can't just capture audio alone as the camera will send a full DV (video/audio) stream down the firewire.

Will this give you better quality ? Depends on the reason you were getting poor quality in the first place.

There is nothing to stop you trying this out for yourself to see if it fixes your problem. If your camera is set up correctly, you should get 16 bit, 48khz audio.

So why waste time waiting for people to respond. Do it for yourself (it won't kill you) and you can then boast about how clever you are.

[pbwgap]

Many thanks for the reply.

I posted the question as soon as I got the idea, in order to have other's opinions as well as to learn if there is a way to capture only the audio.

Meanwhile, I have found a S/W called River Past Audio Capture, which claims to be the only S/W which can capture just the audio via firewire. I have downloaded the demo version and will try it out today.

[The_Doman]

ScenalyzerLive has an option to capture to seperate Video and Wave files from the firewire input.

Better still you have the option to capture only the audio part!

I think you can even get away with the trial/demo version of it because it will only watermark the video part..

[pbwgap]

Many thanks. I will try that.