VHS to Computer: Audio fuzzy and only through one speaker

ssspt · Post by **ssspt** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:55 am

Hi this is my first post. Have had a good look on this forum but there is such a mass of info so I had decided to post a question. Apologies if it has been answered and I missed it.

I've bought an EasyCap video grabber click here
that included Ulead Video Studio 10. My problem is that can get sound coming through only one side of my surround speakers and it¡¦s also very low in volume and fuzzy. Seems that only one of my VHS audio output works with the EasyCap. It usually works with the TV and stereo ok though. I've searched on Google as well. Do I need to buy a SCART? So that both streams of audio from my VHS player will get to the computer?

When joining and answering the profile questions, I didn't know where to find my sound card, graphic card and motherboard info sorry. Tried right click My Computer / Devices etc.

Thanks and hope someone can help me soon!

Brad

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:20 am

I think you will find that you have only half a problem. Most VHS material has only a mono sound track. (Stereo VHS started only near the end of its heyday.) Your converter does not know this and assumes that your mono track is the LH channel of a stereo track. What I would recommend is that you can download the free Audacity (open source) and use that to convert the audio to mono on both channels. At the same time, it is an excellent tool to normalise the audio level, remove the background noise and generally tidy up the sound.

ssspt · Post by **ssspt** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:00 am

Thanks for answer mate. Have been pulling my hair out!

That makes a lot of sense. Have installed and opened Audacity. When I open a file that I have recorded with Ulead Video Studio, it gets to 100% download then says this

"Audacity.exe has stopped working. A problem caused this problem to stop working correctly"

Any ideas?

Brad

Clevo · Post by **Clevo** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:08 am

Audacity has some stability problems in Vista... I can usually get it working well enough when I open the program by right clicking and "Run as Administrator".

ssspt · Post by **ssspt** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:59 am

I found out about another program called Virtual Dub which allowed me to record the audio in WAV format from the AVI file I recorded. Finally Audacity worked opening just the audio file. Now I've been trying to clean it up. I've removed alot of the noise but now the voice sounds like a robot or something. Any idea on how to fix that? Soooo many bloody options on both tese programs. Don't know where to start!
Thanks so far guys
B

Post by **lancecarr** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:09 am

With any consumer level sound editing software the rule is "less is more!"
It is virtually impossible to remove one particular sound that you adjudicate as unwanted from the overall without affecting everything else.
Whatever sound you are trying to remove will share frequencies with sounds that you want to keep.
The only solution is to keep playing with it conservatively until you can find an accceptable compromise and always keep in mind silk purses and sow's ears!
Or, in the vernacular of live sound mixers for mediocre rock bands...you can't polish a turd!

Clevo · Post by **Clevo** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:14 am

and always play-around with back-up copies of sound and video files...

ssspt · Post by **ssspt** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:23 am

Ok will give it a go. It is all sold so well though. "Buy this USB convertor and you can connect your VHS to your computer and record picture and audio of lossless quality in no time" Bloody headache so far!
Thanks heaps for your help so far guys. Will clean it up as much as possible and see how it goes. Is there a way at all to be able to record it without the flatulence sound from the start? Instead of recording it and then cleaning it up?

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:12 am

Maybe a look at http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=29031 would have forewarned you!

Sorry for the cynicism! At least it would have told you about mono on a single channel.

PidTel · Post by **PidTel** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:43 pm

Devil wrote:Most VHS material has only a mono sound track. (Stereo VHS started only near the end of its heyday.)

Devil,
When do you consider the heyday of VHS to have been?

VHS machines with hi-fi stereo sound were available by about 1988 and machines with linear stereo tracks were introduced some years earlier.

Tom

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:28 pm

PidTel wrote: VHS machines with hi-fi stereo sound

That is a total contradiction in terms. Hi-fi with a s/n ratio <45 dB and a THD of >2%? Really?

michael105 · Post by **michael105** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:29 pm

I Just Did This To Fix The Problem

Connected The av Audio Cables on output on my Tv/vhs/dvd ect

and brought this 2 channel converter thing which is a 2 channel av 2 a stereo 3.5 which i then connected to my line in

PidTel · Post by **PidTel** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:11 pm

Devil wrote:PidTel wrote:

VHS machines with hi-fi stereo sound

That is a total contradiction in terms. Hi-fi with a s/n ratio <45 dB and a THD of >2%? Really?

The term was not of my choosing. It was how the manufacturers described it.

eg. JVC Hi-Fi Stereo Video Cassette Recorder HR-D750EK

Tom

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:50 pm

So you believe everything that manufacturers' sales teams tell you?

Alludo USER to USER Web Board

VHS to Computer: Audio fuzzy and only through one speaker

VHS to Computer: Audio fuzzy and only through one speaker

Audacity error

Audacity works