Fix for silent ATI AIW USB 2.0N?

[jwillis84]

I just got an ATI USB 2.0 TV Wonder, also called an ATI AIW USB2.0 that produced (No audio on capture)

This is the little grey box with a Theater 200 chip in it that works ('perfectly') with VirtualDub.. but only works as far as we know with Windows XP.

This new box to me was installed with the 180-V01100-200 CDROM ISO that is known to be compatible with Windows XP SP2 and Windows SP SP3.

To be brief the solution was with the audio card in my desktop system, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.

Open the Santa Cruz "Mixer" from the icon in the system tray in the lower right corner of the desktop.

The Main tab > Speaker Mode > (default: Headphone Rear)

Setting the > Speaker Mode > (Headphone Front) or "any" other setting restores the sound output of the ATI AIW USB 2.0 in VirtualDub or any other capture program.

I found this very very odd.. and it didn't make sense.. I tried a lot of things and spent a lot of time trying the typical things like control panel items, messing with GraphEdit.. but only switching the behavior inside the Mixer applet for the Sound Card itself worked.

I don't pretend to understand it.

I don't know why it defaults to the (one) setting that made it go silent and all other settings do not silence the ATI AIW USB 2.0

Switching the external cable to the sound card to my speakers or headphones did not restore the sound, so its not a matter of mapping the output ports, and I tried changing things in the audio crossbar for the ATI AIW USB 2.0 that did nothing.

Its something specific to the sound card in the system.. and to the behavior of the Mixer installed by the sound card. The windows mixer also does not change this behavior.. I changed things in there and it also did nothing.

In VirtualDub turning on audio capture, audio playback and Volume Meter did display audio levels changing but no sound.. even though audio playback was checked on.

In VirtualDub turning on the Timing graph and performing a Test Capture did "not" produce the typical colored dots display. I did not check but this might mean a capture to disk would be incomplete.. or have a zero level audio track with no sound.

In GraphEdit a manual graph also could not playback sound.. until this "Speaker Mode" in the Mixer (for the sound card) was manually switched away from the default: Headphone Rear

I'm not even sure what "Headphone Rear" refers to.. there is only one designated Headphone jack, and I know I tried plugging the speakers into that output jack. I can only guess its some location on one of the interior jacks that is not usually hooked up.. but regardless.. it was "blocking" the contribution from the software routing of the sound from the ATI AIW USB 2.0 as a result of the capture.. which seems like a "bug" but might have some rational meaning.. I say this because if you don't have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.. the same thing may be happening to you.. regardless of your sound card, be it a different make sound card or one embedded in the motherboard.

You may have to search around for a sound card installed mixer (different) from the Windows Generic Audio Mixer.. specific to your Sound Card drivers.. and find something like the "Speaker Mode" and just try switching it to something else.

This is well worth your time.

This box is bar none one of the best and most flexible.. but because it is so different from other things on most systems at the time.. there is not a lot of troubleshooting information.

When it works.. its amazing.

When it doesn't work.. it can be frustrating.

Most times.. it just works.

update: I've found other Speaker Modes that can similarly silence the ATI AIW USB2.0 mostly they involve the Digital Out and Versa Jack combinations. But Headphones Rear always silences it.. so beware that the solution may be somewhat variable. I wish I understood why this happens.. but its cutting edge information.

I've never heard of this happening before and solved in this precise manner.

One person did report a silent ATI AIW USB2.0 and eventually pronounced it "apparently" tone deaf.. but now I very much wonder if it was the sound card "Speaker Mode" setting.

[lordsmurf]

There were several installer CDs. Do you have both versions? Not sure it'll make a difference, but should be attempted. I've not yet run into this error, although one of the cards I tested is giving the owner a no-audio issue as well.

As stated, the workaround is just to use Turtle Beach Santa Cruz instead of the on-card audio.

Conflicting sound card is not unheard of.

I'm honestly glad you're seeing this error, I know you'll troubleshoot it quite well.

[jwillis84]

I've spent some more time understanding the problem and solution now.

The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz has Left and Right and Front and Back "mixers" within its driver software.

The "default" setting focuses the Speaker Output on the "Rear" as if your sitting in a room and wanted to hear only the sound coming from the rear of you. It has sliders for "shifting" this in 4 speaker mode from Left to Right and Back to Front. When pushed to the extreme range of Back in 4 speaker mode. the ATI AIW USB2.0 goes silent.. and as your doing it... it "fades" out.

But when you push the control slider to the Front.. the sound "fades" back in.

The Speaker Modes basically manipulate with a two speaker system this same 4 speaker "grid space". Defaulting to this "Speakers Rear" only and hence it does not playback the ATI AIW USB2.0 sound at all. Setting speaker mode to "Speaker Front" snaps it back on.

Setting Speaker mode to 4 speaker, in addition to a L/R slider control, pops up a new B/F slider control on screen.. and you can fade it out and back in again by pushing the slider to the extremes.

I don't know synthetic 3D sound apetures.. but I do know this was invented for Gamers to simulate a 3D experience. It seems its a "feature" that was put in on purpose.

So its not "incompatible" its an unfortunate "interaction" with the video capture device and its output.

The output of the video capture device is "mixed" and the output is filtering sound input from the "front" and the "back" sources. It defaults to sources is "deems Rear" and filters out sources it thinks are in the "front" by default.

Figuring this out.. simplest guideline is leave it in 4 Speaker Mode and keep the mix in the "center" of the B/F slider and it mixes a little from the Front and Rear "sources" so the ATI doesn't completely go "silent".

The Sound Card mixer also has a "Reset to defaults" button.. doing that flips it back to "Speaker Rear" or "only display (allow sound) from rear sources to make it into the Output".

Its starting to "make sense" if annoying in the extreme.

Turtle Beach "should have" made the default [Speaker Mode: 4 Speaker] not [Speaker Mode: Headphones Rear (only)] that blocks all source sounds it thinks are coming from the front.. even if they are a synthetic source from a playback.

I know this doesn't happen with all video capture devices.. someplace, probably the registry there is a way of "hinting" or designating the new usb audio playback device as a "Rear" sound source to the sound card 3D mixer.. but I don't know how.. its something to investigate.. if possible. It might be a query to the device driver itself.. and if it doesn't answer.. the sound card may assume its a front sound source and filter it out by default.

Regarding the CDROM ISO images, yes I have both the -100 and the -200, from recent experience I knew which one to use with XP SP3 and it worked without error.. except the sound was silent. It isn't silent anymore.

I now understand its a filtering "feature" of the 3D experience the sound card is capable of synthesizing.

Update:

Also found by watching when I switch between [Headphones Rear] and [Headphones Front] it changes the diagram of the back of the card.

Headphones Rear : moves the "word" Headphones down to the "Black 3/4" jack.. if I plug my speakers or heaphones into that.. the sound "reappears".. its not a problem.

Headphones Front: moves the "word" Headphones up to the "Red 1/2" jack.. if I plug my speakers or headphones into that.. the sound "reappears".. its not a problem.

In these modes the opposite jack without the "word" Headphones.. the AIW ATI USB2.0 sound is gone.

Update2:

Performed a test capture with the "Headphones Rear" setting and it captured sound, no problem.

I assume it will do the same with the "Headphones Front" setting.

I no longer think this is a barrier to capturing sound, but VirtualDub has no menu options for manipulating the playback sound card mixer settings.. so moving your headphones or speakers so you can listen is the only choice.. or using the sound card mixer and setting it so that its running in 4 speaker mode and B/F is centered so that neither is filtered out of the actual playback.

In my case with the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.. I just have to be aware that I should always plug my headphones or default speaker set into the "Black" jack so that "when" the card defaults to "Speakers Rear" will produce sound from the ATI AIW USB2.0 by default.

I now feel silly and stupid because "if" this were better documented it would have been intuitive and obvious.. but I missed understanding what a "default" cabling of the sound card should be setup for.

But I still feel they should have defaulted to 4 Speaker mode, for stupid people like me.