CAPTURE
GUIDES -> Sound Settings
When capturing
video, it is important to remember the audio portion of the
capture. Is the hardware installed correctly? Is the
software setup properly? Is the operating system setup
properly? Are the volumes a proper volume? Not having these
things setup can have many side effects, including low
audio, distorted audio ... or no audio at all!
Windows Audio
Properties
All versions of Windows have some sort of SOUND/VOLUME icon
located on the system tray. In most earlier versions of
Windows, this appeared as a yellow speaker, newer versions
have a smaller gray speaker. Double-click this icon to reach
the WINDOWS AUDIO PROPERTIES.
 
Play Control. After double-clicking on the SOUND
ICON, the following two screens should appear (mine is split
in half, the full size is 11 objects). It shows all the
available (and selected to be shown) playback volumes.
Anything NOT in use should be muted. Muting unused audio
will prevent bleed-through from other sources.
More sources. If you only see a few audio sources, it
means some of them are not selected. By default, Windows
hides more than half of your available audio sources,
including the commonly-used AUX channels. To view ALL of you
available audio sources, goto OPTIONS -> PROPERTIES
Properties. In the PROPERTIES area, you can access
both the PLAYBACK volume and the RECORDING volume. Check all
of them. Even if they are not going to be used for PLAYBACK,
they need to at least be muted.
Recording adjustment. Under the RECORDING properties,
select the audio source you will be using. In this example,
my system uses the AUX channel and is internally wired from
the SoundBlaster AUX port to the AUX IN on the ATI All In
Wonder card. Then set the volume to about 75% peak volume,
as shown in the following image.
Setting the volume. Refer back to the images ABOVE as
needed...
PLAYBACK CONTROL, WAVE and then the INPUT source (whatever
you choose, be it LINE IN, AUX or another one) should be the
only non-muted audio sources. These should be set somewhere
between 50% and 85% of maximum volume. You do NOT want to
raise the volume to maximum levels, as it can distort and
corrupt the audio. Plus capturing at maximum level tends to
enhance hiss and make audio restoration more dificult.
Test. Finally, do a test capture and make sure the
volume is acceptable. When viewed in an audio editor like
SoundForge, the peak values should never be clipped. If
clipping occurs, lower the Windows audio RECORDING volume,
and then check your capturing software and drivers. Most
good capturing software integrates the program volume with
the Windows volume (as does ATI MMC for ATI cards).
ATI
capture card audio setup
The follow information is for ATI All In Wonder cards using
ATI MMC as the capture software. The goal of setting the
audio is to not be too high or too low. Setting it too high
will result in crackling audio, setting it too low will
result in ambient noise (like hiss) being amplified.
General settings. On the ATI MMC control menu, the
audio is represented by a red-bar image. Moving your mouse,
click the left button and holding, and then dragging back
and forth, will change the audio. This is SUPPOSED TO match
up with the main Windows audio settings, but some systems do
not do it correctly. The ATI MMC (and/or Windows) volume
level needs to be between 50-85% (about 70% on average) for
the best results.
The quick trick is to line up the red bars with the gray
design that appears against the black field background of
the control panel. See image:
Registry hacks. Sometimes ATI MMC audio is not
affected properly by the ATI MMC or Windows audio settings.
it is NOT COMMON and often NOT NEEDED. Few people should
ever need this hack.
Find this key in the WINDOWS REGISTRY:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ATI Technologies\Multimedio\Features\TV\Sound
And find these values:
Value Sound: Defaulted at 244 (leave it as is, or change it
to this setting)
Value Record Volume Defaulted at 440 (change it to about 175)
In this example, the record volume was more than 200% too
high. Your default numbers may vary, and the amount to drop
it may also vary. Experiment with test captures to find the
appropriate values.
Page Last Updated: May 14th 2005
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