Audio Crackling When Capturing

[bisquitodoom]

I'm going through my old VHS tapes (mostly old concerts and such) and trying to convert them to DVD. Everything seems to be going pretty well except for some major crackling I get when ripping certain tapes. I put an example online here: http://www.darkstatic.com/~bisquitodoom/Test.wmv

The crackling you here throughout doesn't occur when playing it back on a TV. It happens mostly on dubbed tapes, but doesn't seem to be consistant in the types of tapes affected by it, as it does affect a couple professionally made tapes as well.

My setup:
JVC HR-S9800U VCR ---> A/V cables ---> ADVC50 capture card
I'm using Adobe Premiere Pro to capture the video.

I've tried using 2 other VCRs (a low-end Panasonic and a low-end Sony) with the same results. I tried different A/V cables as well as using S-Video just to see if that helped. No luck there either. I've tried different capturing programs and even switched computers (to an XP with an empty 500GB hard drive and 2GB RAM). Nothing seems to make a difference and the only thing I have left to switch out is the capture card. It's not dropping any frames or giving me anyother sort of problems, so I really don't think it's a defect in the card.

I searched the forum and found a couple other posts in the past with similar issues, but none ever seemed to get resolved. I've tried all the things suggested in the past (switching off hi-fi, lowering the master volume on my computer, switching to a softer image to avoid any background noise) and nothing seems to help. Anyone have any ideas?

[Video Head]

Does the crackling happen throughout the captured material or just at certain spots?

If you are certain that the crackling is not on the source tapes then it is most likely dirty or loose connectors somewhere. It could also be power. Try pluging the VCR into the same power source as your computer. If it already is, then try plugging it into one on another circuit. If that does not work, and as you have already tested 2 other decks and different cables, the suspision has to fall to the capture card. Try doing a capture while holding the audio input connector to the card to ensure a secure connection. After about a minute let go of the cable. After another minute try wiggling (gently) the cable. Listen to the test capture to see if there is any change in the amount of crackling.

VH

[GideonK]

When I capture from VCR to PC, I run the audio cable directly to the input of my soundcard instead of the input of the capture card. Try that and see if that makes a difference.