Audio Distortion Issue While Capturing Vhs Using Usb Device That Came With Roxio 10

[tdk00]

Hello,

 

I am attempting to capture my VHS tapes using the USB device included with Roxio 10. Video is smooth, but the audio is heavily distorted. I did troubleshoot the VCR by buying a second VHS Hi-Fi at the local Goodwill. Same issue with audio distortion. I tested the USB device by capturing a DVD through my DVD player. Worked great!! No sound issue at all.

 

The question is what is causing the distortion? Is there a way to control the audio signal's strength while capturing video? Should I run the audio through my Sound Blaster Card? Will that cause any sync issues?

 

Thank you for any help you may have,

 

Todd

[tbrewst]

If you captured from a DVD and had no audio issues then you shouldn't have any with the VHS unless the setup differs.Both are analog audio using the same inputs on the DVC-100.

If the DVD worked then the 100 is ok.

[sknis]

Hello,

 

I am attempting to capture my VHS tapes using the USB device included with Roxio 10. Video is smooth, but the audio is heavily distorted. I did troubleshoot the VCR by buying a second VHS Hi-Fi at the local Goodwill. Same issue with audio distortion. I tested the USB device by capturing a DVD through my DVD player. Worked great!! No sound issue at all.

 

The question is what is causing the distortion? Is there a way to control the audio signal's strength while capturing video? Should I run the audio through my Sound Blaster Card? Will that cause any sync issues?

 

Thank you for any help you may have,

 

Todd

 

Don't know if this will work but it doesn't hurt anything.

 

Go to Windows>Start>run>type in dxdiag>OK> when the window opens go to the sound tab (it may be audio or other)>turn down the Audio Acceleration slider all the way to the left.

 

Try capturing again. If everything is OK, you can up the slider one notch at a time until you get the crummy audio.

 

Let us know if that helps.

[d_deweywright]

Actually, it sounds like the VCR's are outputting a stronger signal that is overdriving the input to the DVC-100. (It may be a proper line-level value, but just higher than the DVC-100 is set up to handle.) The only "solution" would be to reduce the signal on its way to the DVC-100. How to do that? One way would indeed be to use your sound card.

 

Feed the output from your VCR into the Line-In jack of your sound card. You should be able to listen to the audio track as you play the tape. Now, split the signal that's going to your speakers (you'll need to get a "Y" adapter for this) and feed the signal from your sound card into the DVD-100. Using the mixer application (usually it looks like a little "speaker" icon in your system tray) turn down the sound going to your speakers, which will reduce the signal going to the DVC-100, until the sound isn't distorted.

 

Now, the potential downfall of this approach is that the sound from the DVC-100 may be getting fed into your sound card as well, and you wind up with either a feedback loop, or, depending on the system delay, a weird echo. If you turn down or mute the WAVE input in your mixer, that may solve the problem.

 

Hope that helps! (And if you're not into fiddling with audio connections, you may not want to try this.)

[tdk00]

Thank you all for your responses. I used a little of all of them and got a workable solution. Here's the outcome:

 

The line level was indeed to strong for the USB Device to handle. So, I used my old dusty tape deck as a line input control. I ran the out of the VCR to Line In on the tape deck, then the Line Out went to the USB device. Found an old tape, tricked the recording mechanism and adjusted the line level. I combined this with a little tweaking of the mixer option in Vista and ran a 5 minute test. Burned the disc and no more distortion---and, at least for 5 minutes no sync issues.

 

Of course, this begs the question--- are the PCI Capture cards worth the money? Would they handle the audio line input levels?

 

Anyhow, time to learn about the various capture options. 1GB for 5 minutes??? Wholly Cow!!! :-) :-) Once again, thank all you for your help.

 

Todd

[d_deweywright]

Thank you all for your responses. I used a little of all of them and got a workable solution. Here's the outcome:

 

The line level was indeed to strong for the USB Device to handle. So, I used my old dusty tape deck as a line input control. I ran the out of the VCR to Line In on the tape deck, then the Line Out went to the USB device. Found an old tape, tricked the recording mechanism and adjusted the line level. I combined this with a little tweaking of the mixer option in Vista and ran a 5 minute test. Burned the disc and no more distortion---and, at least for 5 minutes no sync issues.

 

Of course, this begs the question--- are the PCI Capture cards worth the money? Would they handle the audio line input levels?

 

Anyhow, time to learn about the various capture options. 1GB for 5 minutes??? Wholly Cow!!! :-) :-) Once again, thank all you for your help.

 

Todd

Excellent use of an old Tape Deck! Yes, that works too! One of the disadvantages of all of the USB capture devices I've had, audio and audio/video, is that they have no recording controls to let you adjust the incoming signal to eliminate clipping, as you can with an internal sound card. So, a PCI Capture card would likely have that ability, or it may have you use your existing sound card for the audio capture. (I had a card that worked that way.)

 

1GB for 5 minutes? Sounds like your capturing as a .AVI file, which is great for editing and preserving quality. If you won't be doing much editing, you could consider capturing directly to .MPG.

 

Good luck!