Very New to VideoStudio

[Vdanny]

Hi David,
Do you only have one set of AV cables that attaches to the camcorder? If you have a TV that still has AV inputs it would be interesting to see if you still get crackling audio if you connect the camcorder to it directly. Another thing you can try is to connect only one channel of the audio to the AV2HDMI device to see if the cracking is produced on both channels or just the left or right. Since there is little stereo seperation you can get away with only one channel or in OBS go back to the options cog in the audio mixer and click on the "mono" check box for your audio source to duplicate the audio in the other channel (this is with only either just the red or white connector attached to the AV2HDMI).
If HDMI audio recording remains problematic you can get an inexpensive RCA (red&white cables) to 3.5 pin adapter to conect them to the audio input of your PC soundcard. You can then change the input selection in OBS.
If you have a miniDV head cleaning tape around it wouldn't hurt to give that a go.

[detectingdavid]

Thanks tletter

But I'm wondering if there is a way I can correct the audio distortion with my current connection set up, rather than having to edit ever audio track.
I have quiet a few tapes to get through around 40.

Thanks
David

[RobertOZ]

Received FireWire card today, took 30 mins to install, installed Legacy 1394 driver, connected Canon MVX330i Mini DV, then opened VS2023, opened capture, selected Capture Video, dropdown box identified the webcam and also the Canon camera, selected Capture Video, downloaded (in real time of course) imported into VS quality excellent, no sound distortion.

Everything working correctly, $40 well spent, will try my other NLEs later

[tletter]

But I'm wondering if there is a way I can correct the audio distortion with my current connection set up

Have you tried replacing the cables, or at least cleaning the connectors and reseating them?

tletter
https://www.youtube.com/user/tletter

[detectingdavid]

Hi David,
Do you only have one set of AV cables that attaches to the camcorder? If you have a TV that still has AV inputs it would be interesting to see if you still get crackling audio if you connect the camcorder to it directly. Another thing you can try is to connect only one channel of the audio to the AV2HDMI device to see if the cracking is produced on both channels or just the left or right. Since there is little stereo seperation you can get away with only one channel or in OBS go back to the options cog in the audio mixer and click on the "mono" check box for your audio source to duplicate the audio in the other channel (this is with only either just the red or white connector attached to the AV2HDMI).
If HDMI audio recording remains problematic you can get an inexpensive RCA (red&white cables) to 3.5 pin adapter to conect them to the audio input of your PC soundcard. You can then change the input selection in OBS.
If you have a miniDV head cleaning tape around it wouldn't hurt to give that a go.

Thanks Danny, I'll give this a go.

[lata]

In the past a long time ago I did use a device cammed Ezcap USB capture
When audio was a problem it was recommended to connect the audio from the camera directly to the computers “line-in” terminal. Only the video being transferred through the device.
I am unsure if this has already been suggested

[detectingdavid]

Hi David,
Do you only have one set of AV cables that attaches to the camcorder? If you have a TV that still has AV inputs it would be interesting to see if you still get crackling audio if you connect the camcorder to it directly. Another thing you can try is to connect only one channel of the audio to the AV2HDMI device to see if the cracking is produced on both channels or just the left or right. Since there is little stereo seperation you can get away with only one channel or in OBS go back to the options cog in the audio mixer and click on the "mono" check box for your audio source to duplicate the audio in the other channel (this is with only either just the red or white connector attached to the AV2HDMI).
If HDMI audio recording remains problematic you can get an inexpensive RCA (red&white cables) to 3.5 pin adapter to conect them to the audio input of your PC soundcard. You can then change the input selection in OBS.
If you have a miniDV head cleaning tape around it wouldn't hurt to give that a go.

Thanks Danny, I'll give this a go.

Danny,
I took the Video Capture card off of the set up and run the HDMI output from the AV2 converter directly to a HDMI port on the TV and it worked perfectly, no crackling and a good picture. So I'm guessing its the capture card that's the problem.
But if I try to connect the HDMI output directly to a HDMI port on my PC it doesn't work?
Do I need a Video Capture card?

[Candive]

Hi David,
Interesting that I decided to read this post. It looks like you went down the same rabbit hole I did. Perhaps I can help by sharing my experience. You may or may not need a new capture card. I need to know a couple of things and forgive me if you have to repeat yourself from a previous post:

1. What is the brand of your capture card?
2. Your computer; is it a laptop or a desktop?
3. Does your computer have a thunderbolt port?
4. Did you shoot all your tapes with this camcorder?
5. Can you explain the chain of cables and devices from your camcorder to your PC? (how is each item connected)

[Vdanny]

Hi David,
Yes, you need the capture card as the current HDMI ports on your computer are output only. It is good that we have isolated that as the probable cause. In your "Sound" settings on your PC go to "Sound control panel". In the box that pops up select the "Recording" tab. Then select "Digital audio interface" and go to the "Advanced" tab. Change "Default audio" to "DVD quality" in the dropdown selection and hit "Apply". The capture card should be attached to the computer USB port as you do all this. This is to match audio frequencies rather than change quality.
If this doesn' t help, another option as Trevor and I suggested, would be to connect the red and white audio cables to an inexpensive and readily available adapter that allows you to plug them into the audio input jack on your computer. You would then change the input in OBS. As last resort, another HDMI capture card would be worth a try since the crackling audio isn't typical.

[Ken Berry]

Just a quick note re Candive's question 3 above: given that detectivdavid talks about his "PC" I think we all assume it runs Windows and not iOS. As such, it would not have a thunderbolt port, though, depending on how old it is, it might have a USB-C port or two (or even three!) While Thunderbolt and USB-C are not identical, they do at least share the same sort of shaped port. At least Thunderbolt 4 does AFAIK...

[detectingdavid]

Hi David,
Interesting that I decided to read this post. It looks like you went down the same rabbit hole I did. Perhaps I can help by sharing my experience. You may or may not need a new capture card. I need to know a couple of things and forgive me if you have to repeat yourself from a previous post:

1. What is the brand of your capture card?
2. Your computer; is it a laptop or a desktop?
3. Does your computer have a thunderbolt port?
4. Did you shoot all your tapes with this camcorder?
5. Can you explain the chain of cables and devices from your camcorder to your PC? (how is each item connected)

Hi Candive,
In answer to your questions:
1) The capture card was a basic Amazon buy (photos attached)
2) It's a desktop only a few months old.
3) No Thunderbolt ports
4) All the tapes were shot on the same handycam
5) Have also attached a photo of the connections
- A/V output from the camcorder to the AV2 MINI HDMI converter, red white yellow all connected. From the converter I have a HDMI cable to the Video Capture Card, which then plugs into USB3.0 port on my PC.

[detectingdavid]

Hi David,
Yes, you need the capture card as the current HDMI ports on your computer are output only. It is good that we have isolated that as the probable cause. In your "Sound" settings on your PC go to "Sound control panel". In the box that pops up select the "Recording" tab. Then select "Digital audio interface" and go to the "Advanced" tab. Change "Default audio" to "DVD quality" in the dropdown selection and hit "Apply". The capture card should be attached to the computer USB port as you do all this. This is to match audio frequencies rather than change quality.
If this doesn' t help, another option as Trevor and I suggested, would be to connect the red and white audio cables to an inexpensive and readily available adapter that allows you to plug them into the audio input jack on your computer. You would then change the input in OBS. As last resort, another HDMI capture card would be worth a try since the crackling audio isn't typical.

Hi Danny,
On the "Advanced" tab I don't have a "DVD quality" option.
Regarding your suggestion on the adapter, would this be in place of the AV2 converter set up? So just run the A/V from the camcorder plug the red and white cables (via the adapter) directly into the audio jack on my pc?
Also, what do you think I should really be expecting to pay for a decent Video Capture card?
Thanks

[Vdanny]

Hi David,
That is interesting that your audio only shows the option for one channel. This is common for those generic HDMI capture devices. Did you try only inputting just the red or white audio cable into the AV2 alone? This would give it just a mono source but I think it may be another issue.
The workaround is to still use the AV2 for the video portion with the yellow cable but run the red&white audio cables through the adapter I mentioned and plug it into the audio input of your computer. You would then change the audio settings in OBS to capture from your soundcard.
I am not sure how much you have to spend on an HDMI capture card to get proper audio out but I am sure the Elgato and higher end units would be better. That being said, I think the audio into soundcard workaround may give you the results you are looking for as the video quality from the cheap capture cards is actually surprisingly good.

[lata]

If connecting the audio directly to Line-in does not help then I would go back to the beginning of the post when Firewire 1394 was mentioned, certainly the best method to transfer the footage, that is what the camcorder was designed to do.
Cards are installed to PCi or PCie depends on your pc main board and of course if the slot is free / available. Worth checking if firewire can be installed to your pc, make sure you buy the correct card type.
Then you need a Firewire cable, 4 pin on cam to 6 pin to pc.
Do a google search for prices to compare with any additional AV to DV capture devices.

[Candive]

Hi David,
Thanks for answering my questions. I can confirm I have exactly the same setup. I can also confirm that I can capture in OBS and Video Studio. I have two of these HDMI-USB dongles. They look different and had different prices when I purchased them but they have exactly the same electronics inside. I think the only difference is the box they came in. You have a fancy box and I received mine in a plain nondescript cardboard box. If you were to look at Device Manager in Windows, it would identify these devices as "USB Digital Audio." Please confirm that this is the case.

I can produce the exact same screenshot of the Audio Interface you provided to Danny to resolve your audio issue.

So just to confirm. You are capturing in OBS and the resulting video is MP4? (Please confirm). And on these video files there is Audio distortion? You tried two different camcorders and you captured a number of different tapes but all have this Audio distortion. Correct? Another suggestion would be to conduct a test using an old VHS VCR with composite RCA cables and plugging it into the AV2HDMi and see if you get the same results. I suspect you will but if you have access to an old VCR, why not give it a try? Also, I would watch this video on youtube and follow the OBS setup. A different capture device is used but the same principals apply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk-n7IlrXI4&t=1277s

Just a note on Video Studio using this process. I can capture both MPG and AVI. To connect VS to the device I usually have my camcorder running so it can recognise it. The preview screen will freeze but once you hit Capture the preview screen will start playing. Then it will pause for a second or two and then continue playing again. I'm not sure what this pause is (buffer?) but it doesn't impact the final video.

So lets say you tested a VCR, you followed the instructions of the video using OBS, you captured using Video Studio but still your captured videos have this audio distortion. I would then conclude that the device is faulty. Forum members have suggested workarounds which may work but is a pain since you should not have this issue based on my experience. My advice would be to get a refund from Amazon.

So when you get your refund what do you do? You can spend it on another similar device and try again. I and other forum members are happy to help you with this method but then again it may not work in your case. You could also buy one of those Analog video to USB (EZcap/Dazzle) capture dongles and try it. Or you can get a firewire PCIe card and cable. Lets call these three methods; HDMI, EZcap and Firewire captures.

All your video tapes are digital. When I converted all my tapes, I had a combination of NSTC/PAL formats. Analog 8mm, HI8 and digital video to contend with. When it comes to analog video capture there is heated debate on the best methodology - not so much when it comes to digital video.

The HDMI method and the EZcap methods are good for converting Analog video to digital. The analog signal travels through the composite RCA cables (yellow, white, red) and then converts it to digital through the EZcap dongle or in your case the AV2HDMI.

But your video tapes are already digital! So they don't need to be converted! With your current HDMI method, your camcorder converts your digital signal to Analog to pass through the composite RCA cables, then the signal is converted back again to digital via the AV2HDMI process. Its a bit inefficient and can lead to errors which you are experiencing.

On the other hand, the firewire method, as recommended by RobertOZ and Lata, is bullet proof. The digital data on your tape is transferred digitally via the firewire to your computer. There is no conversion. Its essentially a digital copy. Based on my experience, this is the best method for you and will save you a lot of time and frustration (audio synch being a major problem).

Thankfully you have a desktop computer. your motherboard should have an empty PCIe slot. Based on your previous photo you shared, your electrical plug looks like you may be located in the UK. I checked Amazon UK and sure enough there are firewire cards and cable available. With your refund buy one of these. Then you can easily transfer all your 40-50 tapes using Video Studio without any hassle - and we are always here to help.