h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hopefully, we have at least one video capture expert here who can help me with an audio problem.

Any specifics relating to system configuration will have to wait till I get home and can check my machine's specs, but here goes anyway...

I'm running XP on a reasonably new PC. I recently purchased a Plextor PX-AV100U digital video converter, in order to transfer some home video to DVD.

I'm positive I've made all of the connections correctly: video and audio cables connected to the video and audio outputs on the VCR, and to the inputs on the front of the capture device; USB connection to the PC. I've tried capturing video both with and without the "auxiliary" audio output connected to the "line in" on the PC.

The video capture works smoothly, and the quality is excellent. however, there is no audio during playback- my speakers make popping and hissing sounds, but no audio track.

I've checked all of the audio settings on the PC itself, to no avail. I had a similar problem when I purchased a headphone set with a boom mic- when speaking into the mic, my voice was barely audible. I've adjusted the volume controls for the "line in" under my audio settings, but this has not resolved the problem.

Can anyone think of anything I might have missed, or offer any other suggestions? If more specs are needed, I'll be happy to provide them when I get home this evening.

If it makes a difference- I am not trying to transfer video directly from a digital video camera. I have several old home movies on video, and am transferring from videocassette.

Have you tried changing the audio recording source and recording volume in the Volume Control Panel?

Are any other audio sources listed?

Yes to your first question. I guess I'll have to double check the other audio sources listed when I get home this afternoon, because I can't remember what my options were. I know that there were more than one source available- and I would swear I tried selecting each one separately. I'll have a look and will report back as to what the options are.

Thanks, in the meantime, for taking the time to assist.

PS- while I know it's kind of dumb to ask a question about my computer when I'm not at home to look at it, most of you are six hours ahead of me, so I figured I'd post the question now have several suggestions to try when I got home.

OK. Under the volume control, if I select "recording", I have only one input source, SigmaTel Audio. Line In, Rear Mic and Mic are all at full volume under the recording control properties.

In the Control Panel, under Audio Devices, I have two options for sound recording: SigmaTel Audio and Modem #0 Line Record, with SigmaTel as the default device. There's no volume control for recording there.

Do you have option in Recording Control Properties to show more volume controls? There should be a shedload of tickboxes or something.

Yeah- if I go into the volume control options, I am offered five tickboxes for playback, and three for recording.

Do I maybe need to deselect the tickbox for "line in", and select "microphone", if I'm running the audio connection to the mic input on the front of my PC? "Line in" is ticked by default, and the other two options ("rear mic" and "microphone") are de-selected.

Worth a try.

I'll give that a shot- tonight or tomorrow morning- and will let you know if that helps.

Thanks again for your help.

Nope. As it turns out, the capture device transfers audio via the USB cable and not through the audio cable. Tried ticking each audio imput and then capturing, and got the same result- flawless video, no audio.

Of course, the device's tech support is useless.

I've tried three different software programs to capture- the WinDVD stuff that came with the device, Windows Movie Maker, and my Nero software. No luck with the audio using any software program.

Uninstalled and reinstalled the device driver, and still no luck.

This might be a daft question but I've just downloaded the manual off the Plextor website and going through it bit by bit. What version of Windows are you using?

XP, Service Pack 2.

I suppose I ought to download the manual and go through it bit by bit as well.

I've been through the online manual (which was quite different from the manual that accompanied the device itself), and have unistalled and reinstalled the driver software repeatedly- to no avail.

Apparently, the problem is that the drivers aren't being installed correctly. When I check the device manager, the device definitely has a yellow exclamation point next to it entry. Also, when the "found new hardware" message pops up, it indicates that the hardware has not been installed correctly.

So it's probably safe to assume the lack of audio is caused by a driver issue, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to correct it. I've even tried downloading the drivers and updates from the Plextor web site- no luck.

And their tech support department hasn't even responded to my inquiries, two weeks later.