Sound Card - Cure for My Sync Errors ?

[mrlewp]

I am plagued with A/V sync problems. I have integrated audio , but I'm now uncertain if that relates just to memory ? , and is my ATI All-In-Wonder TV card also my sound card ?
Too many examples to list right now , but seems to be thoughts on both sides as to whether installing a separate sound card with it's own built in ram would help the issue.
Thoughts?

[AlanHK]

I am plagued with A/V sync problems. I have integrated audio , but I'm now uncertain if that relates just to memory ?

Seems very unlikely to me.

Any delay due to outputting audio will give you audible stuttering and distortion, not any kind of consistent delay.

Depends on what kind of files, and what you're using to play them.

[saggitarius]

If you are talking about A/V sync issues while capturing, then yes, integrated audio is worse than having a dedicated sound card to do the job. You are making your cpu work really hard when you are trying to capture analog source to digital. The cpu has to send all that information in a constant stream to the hard drive while writing the file and it also has to process the sound correctly (in your case becuase of the integrated sound card) Installing a sound card takes THAT job away so your cpu san worry about only sending the file to the hard drive. Imagine you are working in a bakery and there are two people. You need to mix, bake and clean up. If one guy does the mixing, then the other guy has to bake AND clean up. Not very fair, and the guy with two jobs is tired at the end of the day. Hire a third guy (sound card) and everyone can concentrate on their one job and everything runs much more smoothly.

NOTE: stay away from Audigy cards, they don't play nice with the All-in-Wonder cards. You don't need anything too fancy for a sound card either, just as long as it is 24bit should be good enough.

[SLK001]

I am plagued with A/V sync problems.
Too many examples to list right now...
Thoughts?

Yeah, well it is usually the examples that help us to aid you in solving your problem.

Tell us your source, tell us exactly how the sync is off, tell us your CPU % usage, tell us your hard drive size, tell us of any partitions on your drive, tell us the chipset for your onboard audio controller, tell us your wife's name, tell us of any children you have...

In short, there is no such thing as "too much information". What you might think of as insignificant could be the clue to your solving this issue.

[mrlewp]

(ouch.....that guys tough !)
My apparent non-specific post , was meant to focus mainly on the sound card issue.....wondering if anyone , who had a/v sync problems in the past , solved them with the addition of a sound card. Also why I chose this forum heading.
You name it , I've had the sync errors.
I'm wondering also about having too many codecs installed , but that would be another forum, right?

[SLK001]

Well, to answer your question, "Yes", a sound chip can cause sync issues.

[Nelson37]

In my experience with a very similar card, roughly 80-90% of all synch issues were a result of FALSE indicators.

Multiple cards, CPU, on and 0ff-board audio, synch issues were caused by the playback and/or muxing software, compatible authoring tools and/or playback software was the solution, not a change in hardware.

Now, audio Quality is another matter.

Of course, some information about capture file types and software used, also whether the de-synch is constant or progressively worse, aggravated by FF and RW, playback software, etc., etc., could lead to a more specific answer.

[turk690]

A/V sync issues are very specific, and as Nelson37 puts it, may even be the result of false indicators. For example, when I edit in Premiere I often have to sync up external audio with some DV streams until they look & sound OK on preview. After exporting to elementary streams, I import these to Encore. On any timeline in Encore, when previewing, A and V are sometimes out of sync by a few frames. This would normally alarm anyone, but after the DVD has been authored A and V are in perfect sync, so it's only an Encore preview issue. There are captured DV streams that play fine in Windows Media Player but are out of sync in Premiere (or vice-versa), more so if they are more than an hour long. I have a TwinHan 1034 CI DVB-satellite PCI card that I regularly capture from; some streams are in sync after capture, some are not. You have to home in on very specific areas of audio/video sync issues to even start exploring it with a view to resolving it. Using a dedicated audio PCI card may or may not make a difference.

[DarrellS]

ATI does not like onboard audio.

I've used some onboard audio that played OK from the TV software but would always record out of sync.

I just bought a cheap Biostar MB to put my socket 478 3.2Ghz P4 and my ATI AIW VE in and the audio is like 3 or 4 seconds out of sync just watching the TV. I'll have to get a cheap audio card. I have a Turtle Beach Catalina that they don't make anymore in this machine and it works great. I might get the Montego for this machine and put the Catalina in the other machine or just get the Riviera, it's only $30.

[mrlewp]

Currently having difficulty with simple(?) task;
> source video file is 700+mb .avi , but in PAL standards. A/V OK ! It's
compressed a good deal , as it is about 1hr. 45mins. long
> DVDFlick , or DivX2DVD both will get you to NTSC / DVD files.
> Both , however leave me with sound AHEAD of video. Used to be always
behind the video, years back when first attempting mpgs 2 DVDs.
NEXT , I tried;
> Ripped the audio to .wav , combined using DVDFlick (nixing the orig.
audio in video file) Same results? I havent yet done this , but I added
750ms at dead area, at start of audio file, to then recombine and hope
that it comes close enough.
QUESTION; I've got 2 int. drives , and USB ext. If combining an audio
and video file , should the 2 files be on different drives to have any
chance of the operation going smoothly ? And what usage of 3 drives?
> What about VirtualDub? It can do the frame change, and adjust audio
also, but is that asking too much at once? I'd also have to use
compression, so that I dont end up with gigantic .avi file that's unusable.

[mrlewp]

NEXT , I tried;
> Ripped the audio to .wav , combined using DVDFlick (nixing the orig.
audio in video file) Same results? I havent yet done this , but I added
750ms at dead area, at start of audio file, to then recombine and hope
that it comes close enough.
QUESTION; I've got 2 int. drives , and USB ext. If combining an audio
and video file , should the 2 files be on different drives to have any
chance of the operation going smoothly ? And what usage of 3 drives?
> What about VirtualDub? It can do the frame change, and adjust audio
also, but is that asking too much at once? I'd also have to use
compression, so that I dont end up with gigantic .avi file that's unusable.

OK , tried the recombine of .avi and adjusted .wav file. Sound behind video.
Went back, and added only .25sec at start of .wav file. This gave me
near perfect sync all thru the movie.
Still not sure why out of sync to start with, but as long as it's consistent,
and I'm willing to take time of trial and error.............
HARD DRIVE questions: Really would like to know if I'm on track with this.
> If you have 3 drives , does it go better ('specially with aging system) to
have , as I said before, the source video and the source audio on
separate drives - and writing to the 3rd (<<namely C: or program
drive) ?? Talking of combining here (remux?)
> UPDATE , just did DVDFlick of another .avi movie. It went perfect , even
though the source was a 2 parter, both just over 700mb. Sound
synced ! Could there be different outcomes if writing TO drive A ,
from drive B , then if doing the reverse??

[Bjs]

You need to include the "software" product being used

I have only personally experienced this when using in the old days, a cheap sound card made by turtle beach, never with onboard's.

[mrlewp]

> UPDATE , just did DVDFlick of another .avi movie. (from last post?? Not familiar with it ?)

Hard drive usage questions..............anyone ??

[jagabo]

m on track with this.
> If you have 3 drives , does it go better ('specially with aging system) to
have , as I said before, the source video and the source audio on
separate drives - and writing to the 3rd (<<namely C: or program
drive) ?? Talking of combining here (remux?)

A tiny bit faster with 3 drives. No difference in quality.

> UPDATE , just did DVDFlick of another .avi movie. It went perfect , even
though the source was a 2 parter, both just over 700mb. Sound
synced ! Could there be different outcomes if writing TO drive A ,
from drive B , then if doing the reverse??

Encoding time may vary a bit depending on the read and write speed of the drives, fragmentation, etc. There will be no difference in quality.