Hauppuage PVR2, OBS Studio, no sound?

[FussyBob]

I'm capturing video to my PVR2 GE with HDMI. I can see the video and sound just fine in Hauppauge's Capture app.

I would like to try the OBS Studio app. I select in OBS the "Video Capture Device" selection, select Hauppauge Sienna as the capture device and
I get great video, just no sound.

I want OBS to capture from the Video Capture Device (PVR2) not a desktop Window capture which I can do and have sound.

My question is - does anyone know what I need to set in OBS to have sound in OBS with the PVR2 as the Video Capture Device using a HDMI input?

[usually_quiet]

Which HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition do you have and what type of audio are you trying to capture? If you are trying to capture AC3 audio, the older Hauppauge HD-PVR 2 Gaming Edition 1480 does not have the ability to capture AC3 audio input from HDMI or S/PDIF. The ability to record AC3 delivered via HDMI or S/PDIF was added to the Hauppauge HD-PVR 2 Gaming Edition Plus 1504.

[FussyBob]

It's a PVR2 GE+

I capture AC3 audio without any problems using the Hauppauge Capture app.

My main question what do I need to do in the "OBS Studio" app to get sound (any format) from the PVR2GE+ using HDMI input. I get video just fine with OBS.

If I use the Window capture in OBS I get video and sound as this is just a Windows Desktop capture mode.

I wish to capture with OBS the video/audio as acquired by the HDMI cable.

[usually_quiet]

The HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition Plus is basically the same as hardware as the HD PVR 2 with a green stripe and different accessories in the box. This YouTube video addresses HDMI video and audio set up for the HD PVR 2 within OBS. Both video and audio require setup with Crossbar. Have you tried what it suggests?

[codehound]

OBS > Settings > Audio > Devices > Click dropdown > Select your PVR-2

Is this what you mean ? (I use an Elgato card, hence the Elgato option in my dropdown)


[Attachment 54742 - Click to enlarge]

Then go back to Audio Mixer > Click Gear icon > Advanced Audio properties > Select what you want (I select Audio and Monitor so i can record and listen on headphones too)

Mute/Unmute icon next to Gear icon for sources you want/don't want


[Attachment 54743 - Click to enlarge]

[usually_quiet]

Several years ago I used other capture software with the Hauppauge Colossus but I never used OBS. I guess you will need to wait for someone who does currently use OBS because the OBS user interface has apparently changed since Hauppauge posted their video.

[FussyBob]

OBS > Settings > Audio > Devices > Click dropdown > Select your PVR-2

Is this what you mean ? (I use an Elgato card, hence the Elgato option in my dropdown)


[Attachment 54742 - Click to enlarge]

Then go back to Audio Mixer > Click Gear icon > Advanced Audio properties > Select what you want (I select Audio and Monitor so i can record and listen on headphones too)

Mute/Unmute icon next to Gear icon for sources you want/don't want


[Attachment 54743 - Click to enlarge]

I think you have shed some light on the no audio.

When I look the Audio settings I don't see any choices that mention the Hauppauge PVR2.



I'm not an expert but does this look like the PVR2 isn't linked to my Windows 10 sound settings somehow?

Just to repeat, if I open the Hauppauge Capture app, there is sound/video. Leave it open, launch OBS and select Window Capture I get sound/video but I don't want that cluttered video window.

Close Hauppauge Capture, launch OBS, select Device Capture, select the Hauppauge PVR2, I then I just see the video window (uncluttered), but no sound.

[codehound]

In your bottom screengrab in the Audio Mixer you have both Audio sources active - null one out. (Mute) Try again. Then null the other out. You can't have them both active.

PS what type of source are you trying to capture ? IPTV ?

[FussyBob]

In your bottom screengrab in the Audio Mixer you have both Audio sources active - null one out. (Mute) Try again. Then null the other out. You can't have them both active.

PS what type of source are you trying to capture ? IPTV ?

I just did it and still no audio

[FussyBob]

I made a new Scene, with the Video Capture Device I selected my TV Tuner card. It works fine I get video/audio.

Still no sound with the PVR2.

Do you know how the Audio from the PVR2 gets to the sound card when using HDMI input?

[gll99]

I've only tested OBS studio (currently using v26 RC1 64 bits) for a few screen captures some with browser player audio source but I have never tried to use OBS to capture from the Haup PVR2 (1512 usb) until I saw this thread.

I tried a couple of small tests from hdmi source and a cable box and it worked right away. The files play both video and audio fine and in sync. The output file is MKV, 1080p, 60fps, stereo, aac audio all options in OBS settings menus which I'm sure you know more about than I do with my limited experience with this great tool.

I can say that at the very least simple stereo audio works from hdmi but I'm not sure what else to add except under the mic/aux option I clicked on the gear icon and then Advanced Audio Properties and of the 4 options offered for audio (based on the number of source profiles I am testing), I selected all 6 tracks of the video capture device to make sure I didn't miss any but made sure no other source profiles had any selected audio. Got good captures with audio!

As a further test I deselected all 6 tracks and captured a short clip and the output file was mute. Re-selecting the tracks and capturing again produced a good video/audio file.

edit:

Someone mentioned the "crossbar" earlier but I have difficulty reading text in images so sorry if this is just a repeat but its well worth it.

Since you already created a new capture source just to make sure the video and audio hdmi streams are linked properly...click on the video capture box under the sources section. Then right click and select properties and then configure crossbar. The 1st box probably says something like "0: Video SerialDigital In" now look underneath and see what it says for related pins. If It says something like "Audio AESDigital In: then check the box that says "Link related Streams. and press "apply". If "apply is grayed out just change the 1st video input box to something else and back again.

[FussyBob]

OK, I have video and sound!!!

My settings were originally ok, including the Crossbar selections.

Your input "simple stereo" was the key factor.

I was capturing video from PBS channel using Fire TV Gen 2. That does not have the option to output in Stereo , only Dolby Digital. I just happen to receive a new Fire TV Stick 4K today. I powered that up and it has a Stereo audio option! That gave me sound!!!!

Now is there a option in OBS to record the Stereo AAC to AC3 format with an AC3 encoder, etc.?

I find OBS just has better video than the Hauppauge Capture app as I can ramp up the video bit rate to get rid of that extremely slight jerkiness in recordings.

Capture has no problem recording AC3 from the Fire TV or the Fire TV Stick 4K.

I burn Blu-ray discs and need AC3 audio as AAC is not supported and the disc players won't output the audio,

[gll99]

I first used ac3 but switched to aac and other codecs can be used also. What I have under settings, output, type= custom output (ffmpeg) then further down you can select the video and audio encoders and bitrate etc... AC3 should be in the Audio Encoder drop down list

[FussyBob]

I first used ac3 but switched to aac and other codecs can be used also. What I have under settings, output, type= custom output (ffmpeg) then further down you can select the video and audio encoders and bitrate etc... AC3 should be in the Audio Encoder drop down list

Thanks for the info.

So OK I set up my output as follows.....




I get this error when I click on Start Recording....



Is there a wrong setting? Do you know what could be wrong?

[gll99]

Are You just capturing audio?
Under "Container format" I have matroska since I want an "MKV" (You should choose a compatible container that will accept your selected video encoder e.g. x264 and audio encoder e.g. ac3).

[FussyBob]

Are You just capturing audio?
Under "Container format" I have matroska since I want an "MKV" (You should choose a compatible container that will accept your selected video encoder e.g. x264 and audio encoder e.g. ac3).

Yes I want to capture both video and audio. So for X264 and AC3 what Container Format should I select?

Looking a little I believe that I need MPEG Transport Stream (TS). I don't see anything that resembles this from the pull down list.

I'm not well versed in all of this, learning as I go...……..

[gll99]

I don't convert anything to blu-ray or DVD format anymore. If I write to discs (which is rare now since I mainly use hdd) I leave the files in their original captured format e.g. with the Hauppauge capture apps (Showbiz or Hauppauge Capture) it can be TS, M2TS or MP4 and now with OBS I've been using Matroska (MKV). Try matroska or MP4 if you want and try a short test with your blu-ray software of choice to see if these formats are compatible. I haven't tried any other containers in OBS Studio but if you do just make sure that whatever you choose accepts h264 video (as per your x264 encoder selection) and ac3 audio in the container to minimize conversion in the later steps when you generate your blu-ray discs (if you are talking about the blu-ray format and not just the media in your original post).

[FussyBob]

I don't convert anything to blu-ray or DVD format anymore. If I write to discs (which is rare now since I mainly use hdd) I leave the files in their original captured format e.g. with the Hauppauge capture apps (Showbiz or Hauppauge Capture) it can be TS, M2TS or MP4 and now with OBS I've been using Matroska (MKV). Try matroska or MP4 if you want and try a short test with your blu-ray software of choice to see if these formats are compatible. I haven't tried any other containers in OBS Studio but if you do just make sure that whatever you choose accepts h264 video (as per your x264 encoder selection) and ac3 audio in the container to minimize conversion in the later steps when you generate your blu-ray discs (if you are talking about the blu-ray format ad not just the media in your original post).

Here is what the Hauppauge Capture app videos contain that burn nice to Blu-Ray.

Should I be looking for a AVC codec?

[gll99]

The x264 library (default) will generate the proper video type so no need to look for any video codec. Matroska will work fine as far as the video and audio compatibility are concerned. Just make sure your blu-ray creation program accepts the MKV extension as input.

[FussyBob]

The x264 library (default) will generate the proper video type so no need to look for any video codec. Matroska will work fine as far as the video and audio compatibility are concerned. Just make sure your blu-ray creation program accepts the MKV extension as input.

I have success!!!!

Here are my settings. Excellent no jerky video with the 20Mbps bitrate, sound is nice and clear. The files muxes into the Blu-Ray components, burns fine with Blu-Ray disk. Perfect video/audio sync.

Disc plays in my set top Blu-Ray player. The only glitch, and it is minor is that I can not fast forward the BD disc in the set top player. I can skip chapters. I can try come other video/audio codecs later.

Thanks again for all the help. I spent about 30 hours the last 2 days trying to figure this out. The OBS forums are kind of useless as no one responds.

This forum is GREAT!

[FussyBob]

OK to make this project a "complete" success. I can not Fast Forward the burned Blu-Ray disc with OBS captured video in a set top BD player(s). I can skip chapters ok. The Hauppauge Capture app captured video burned Blu-Ray disc can Fast Forward. I use tsMuxer on both captured videos to generate the needed BD components to burn the BD disc, and I use ImgBurn to burn the BD discs.

Here is the MediaInfo data of the captured video from each app.

Hopefully someone will know what be wrong to prevent FF in the OBS captured video?


[Attachment 54775 - Click to enlarge]

[gll99]

For the fast forward issue, I can only guess at how OBS Studio handles the PVR2 usb device drivers. I imagine that OBS can only "see" and play what comes out of the usb 2.0 port after the PVR2 hardware encoder is done with it. One thing for sure is that there is a 14000 Kbps hardware video bitrate limit possible using the capture programs supplied by Hauppauge. I don't know if OBS can get around that so using higher bitrates in the OBS post process capture seems counter intuitive. I have no idea if there is any adverse effect on the output file generated by OBS if the capture exceeds that boundary so I'm just spitballing. It might be worth a try to lower the bitrate accordingly and see if that has any effect on the ability to fast forward.

EDIT: Just to add

I'm not sure which version of tsMuxer you are using but the nightly builds have a number of fixes and some are Blu-ray related which I haven't researched but they'd be worth a look if you haven't already done so.

[FussyBob]

OK, I now have complete success!!!

FF/RW, chapter skip all work with the BLU-Ray disc on different standalone players.

I should have listened to you earlier. I changed the Container to Matroska, kept my same .264 video codec, AC3 audio codec and got a MKV out compared to my prior TS file. I use the latest tsMuxer app. I still have the bitrate at 20 Mbps.

I need to read more about Containers.

Last question is there a video quality difference between TS(MPEG) and MKV capture?

Thanks again for you help!

I learned a lot

[gll99]

Please don't think that mkv is the panacea of containers. You probably could have obtained the same results choosing MP4 since they both default to AVC as the video codec. Other combos available in OBS might also produce the same results if you hunt around. I just use whatever format works in in my players or are accepted by editing programs in case I need to trim some excess. Its the same with audio, I often used ac3 in my caps but a player on an android tablet did not accept ac3 so I changed to aac. I haven't turned on my old PS3 in ages but if I remember right it would probably choke on MKV and I'd have to switch to mp4 (or maybe it's the other way around... lol)

As far as the differences and which video codec is best you'd need one of our resident experts to chime in or maybe see what Google has to say.

To reiterate,

I learned something too. While I used OBS Studio prior to this thread for screen caps, I had not considered using it with the PVR2.

Although choosing MP4 in the Hauppauge capture apps would result in using the same AVC video codec for me the main advantage of using OBS is that my most frequently used sources are 1080i over hdmi and component and the output (TS or MP4) from Showbiz and Hauppauge Capture maintains that on the output. My main screen is 4K set to 1080p so OBS can produce a 1080P 60 fps output which suits my needs really well. The result is surprisingly good. In early test comparison I might even say superior.

[FussyBob]

Just to let you know my normal workflow is capture the video with the PVR2 using Hauppauge's Capture, or now OBS, use VideoReDo TV Suite's Quick fix mode (this normally automatically fixes a lot of things with ease, such as, video/audio sync), then tsMuxer to mux the Blu-Ray components (you can also dial in a set video/audio sync delay/advance to the audio track when the off sync timing is the same amount from beginning to end of the video), then I burn BD-R discs with ImgBurn. My video quality is great and most of the time perfect video/audio sync.