No audio when capturing with VirtualDub
 

Hi guys. I got my S-video cables today. I plugged in my ATI 600 USB, plugged in my TBC, downloaded the 15 rar parts, extracted the ISO, burned it onto CD, and installed it. I tried to do a capture test with the Virtualdub mod that I got from here (virtualdub 1.9.11 + Filters) but it crashed my computer on both attempts. I got it to work with the regular vdub app. I go to the capture section, and I can see my videotape playing, so at least I got that part right. However. I've got no audio. Help?

Are you expecting to hear audio when you're seeing the video displayed in the Capture pane? That feature doesn't work very well and is disabled by default. If you want to confirm whether audio is coming in, turn on the volume meter display under Audio.

I checked the volume meter and got nothing. Also, sometimes the video doesn't appear and I get a bar-code. Why is that?

Barcode...?

Sorry, I meant the color bars test pattern. My vcr is ejecting my home movies tape, and I think it's because the tab that keeps the lid shut was broken off. The other tapes i tested it with worked fine. Gonna transfer the film into another donor tape.

Yup, must've been the tab. I transferred the footage to another tape and it played fine.

-- merged --

So, anyone else know why I'm not getting sound?

Audio is can be tedious to work with. And because there's several dozens combinations possible, to get everything to work, computers can seem to be unique. I've come across many audio scenarios through the years.

Which Windows version is this? XP, Vista or 7. They all differ.

XP is actually the easiest of them. Lots of settings splintered in Vista, and again in 7, for no reason that I could ever figure out. That actually one of the reasons the OS doesn't work with older hardware -- too many changes in the audio/video subsystems.

Hi LS. It's windows 7, 64 bit, dual core.

Just wanna add, when I captured with Vdub the first time, I didn't have Huffyuv installed yet. Not sure if that matters, but I thought I'd point that out.

Oh, something else I forgot to point out. When I open ATI Catalyst Media Center and go to capture device and click on ATI TV Wonder 600 USB 2.0 SVideo, my computer color scheme goes back to windows basic, and the program tells me "The TV function cannot be opened". Help?

On some Windows 7 systems, ATI CMC simply fails to work. On one Windows 7 computer here, for no reason whatsoever that I can figure out, ATI CMC will not work anymore. I won't even acknowledge the card. Remember that Windows 7 is not officially supported by this card, and there are some differences between Windows Vista and 7. It should work, and often does, but a small minority of computers reject it. I have no idea why at this time, but it's something I'm trying to figure out.

I've never had VirtualDub not work.

I'm going to post a bunch of screen shot for you, for the Windows 7 audio. Almost there. :)

Cool, thanks LS. I am giddy with anticipation :)

i, too, would be interested in knowing the correct settings for VirtualDub :)

(after giving up on JVC DVD-RW drives, as it's been about 2+ years, since i was able to source one and the DVD-RW drive just didn't last, so i am having to resort to the ATi TV Wonder USB stick option now)

did you check your audio cables?

I actually don't have audio cables. It's just an S video cable connected from the VCR to the TBC, and another S video cable going from the TBC to the capture card.

thats why you have no audio..s-video carries just video not audio.

So, you need to plug in the red and white on top of the S video? I thought S-Video was basically the HDMI cable of standard definition, meaning one plug to rule out them all.

correct tyler, svideo is kinda like hdmi as its far superior then analog cables but it doesn't carry audio at all. You need to plug in the white and red audio cables from your vcr to the capture device (or audio mixer if you have one then to your capture device) then you'll hear audio with your video :D

Wow. I've been sitting on this project for 5 months now (to the day) because I didn't bother mentioning to LS et al that I didn't have those wires plugged in. Well, off to Best Buy to buy those external HD's so I have somewhere to put all the huge files I'm about to make :D

I made the same mistake ;) rookie mistake by far...been there done that have the shirt lol

Well, with that hurdle finally jumped, any suggestions you can give me to avoid dropped frames? I tried capturing a few times and had over 200 frames dropped with only 2 minutes of test recording. I know I should turn off any and all running programs that aren't being used, defrag the computer (I think), and even unplug my internet wire. I'm thinking of re-formatting my hard drive as well just so the entire system starts out as "clean" as possible.