Capturing Audio

kmsilver · Post by **kmsilver** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 4:48 pm

I cannot capture audio when transferring from miniDV to V6 of Video Studio. Have tried setting for audio from line and stereo and get noise only on playback. Any suggestions?

Post by **Ron P.** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 5:45 pm

Welcome to the forums,

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I would suspect that your minDV uses some form of Dolby audio, and VS6 did not support Dolby. Could you post your video properties here? (Right-click on a video clip, select properties).

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:56 pm

And tell us the exact brand and model of your mini-DV camera...

And also describe in detail how you 'transferred' it to your computer e.g. did you use firewire (which you should have)?

I get the impression you may have used some other form of connection since you mention those other settings (audio from line etc).

kmsilver · Post by **kmsilver** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:06 pm

I have a Sony TRV50 and used component out of the camera into a connector that came with my video card-Radeon All-In-Wonder. Used the enable audio capture feature in V6 options and experimented with Stereo In and Line In. No other audio would even produce hissing sound for playback.

I do not have a Firewire port on this computer and the camera did come with a USB cable that plugs into the camera itself. Do you think that if I used that output cable that the sound would also be transferred at the same time as video?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:25 pm

Your camera is just about as old as my Canon 630i mini-DV model. And with cameras that age you don't use the USB cable that came with the camera: that is normally only for transferring still photos taken by the camera or else low quality streaming video (like a web camera).

For high quality transfer, you MUST use Firewire (called i-Link on your Sony -- check your camera's Manual.) The problem is that no camera manufacturer of which I am aware includes a Firewire cable with the camera, but they usually include a USB cable. This gives users the wrong impression that they use USB for the connection.

Of course, your computer must have a Firewire connection. But if it doesn't, then Firewire cards are cheap these days, and usually come with a connecting cable as well. With regard to the latter, make sure you get a cable with the right plugs at either end -- normally it is a small 4 pin one at the camera end and a larger 6 pin one at the computer end.

But if you don't use firewire, you will not only have trouble such as that you are currently experiencing, but also low quality captures. And after all, Sony claims to have invented Firewire precisely to capture video from their mini-DV cameras in the best possible quality.

Whatever the case, you certainly don't capture digital video from a digital video camera using composite cables!

kmsilver · Post by **kmsilver** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:33 pm

How then can I capture the audio when transferring video? I can even use S-Video out of the camera and plug the RCA cables in for audio. What settings in V6 can/should I use to make sure the audio gets recorded?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:38 pm

I have just told you -- no choice but to either install a Firewire card yourself (simple if you have spare slot on your motherboard) or pay to have one installed...

To put it simply, a mini DV camera requires Firewire to transfer DV video (with audio)...

kmsilver · Post by **kmsilver** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:41 pm

Would the same apply to transfer Hi8mm video to V6 and get audio as well?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:58 pm

No, you use the composite cords into your capture device for that. And if your Hi8 camera has S-Video, you can connect that for the video component, but S-video is video stream only. You would still need to connect the audio cable or cables if it is a stereo camera.

I am not sure whether your Sony has passthrough given its age, but the Manual might shed some light on it. One review I read of it suggests that it might.

If it does, you can connect your Hi8 camera to the Sony via a special cable which has the composite plugs at one end (for the Hi8 camera) and what looks like a standard 3mm stereo plug at the other which goes into the Sony AV plug. Such a cable should have come with the camera -- it will probably be called an A/V cable in the camera manual.

Then, presuming you install Firewire, the Sony acts as a converter, changing the analogue signal from the Hi8 camera into digital DV which is then sent to the computer in higher quality form (via Firewire) than what you would get by connecting the Hi8 to your capture card.

You might also try using the USB connection to see what the quality is like. It should transfer sound. But I repeat what I said earlier, in a camera this old (high quality though it may have been at the time), the USB was for transferring streaming quality video, which is of much lower quality than that which you would get via Firewire.

kmsilver · Post by **kmsilver** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:02 am

Thanks for the suggestions Ken. I appreciate your help.