Video Capture Question

[rfdjr1]

Not sure if this is the right group to ask this, but since I'm using Windows 7
Professional 64bit, I'll try.

I've been trying to capture video from a video camera using a USB capture
device. I've tried two different ways, composite cables and an S-video cable.
Neither way can I get the sound to record. The video records alright with one
program I have but no sound and I can't figure out what the problem is. I know
there's audio because I can hear it coming from the camera while it's playing.
But it's not going to the file I'm recording. Anyone have any ideas on this?

Also, when I tried to use Windows Movie Maker as the capture software, it keeps
telling me the device is not being detected (even though it shows up in the
options as the video device) or that it's in use by another program, which as
far as I know, it's not. Any suggestions there? Thanks so much.

 

[BeeJ]

(e-mail address removed) formulated the question :

Not sure if this is the right group to ask this, but since I'm using Windows
7 Professional 64bit, I'll try.

I've been trying to capture video from a video camera using a USB capture
device. I've tried two different ways, composite cables and an S-video cable.
Neither way can I get the sound to record. The video records alright with one
program I have but no sound and I can't figure out what the problem is. I
know there's audio because I can hear it coming from the camera while it's
playing. But it's not going to the file I'm recording. Anyone have any ideas
on this?

Also, when I tried to use Windows Movie Maker as the capture software, it
keeps telling me the device is not being detected (even though it shows up in
the options as the video device) or that it's in use by another program,
which as far as I know, it's not. Any suggestions there? Thanks so much.

W7 is very much different than XP for audio.
You have to go into the audio setup and make sure the interfaces you
want to use are there and set up correctly. Hopefully someone else can
give more specific instructions.

 

[Paul]

Not sure if this is the right group to ask this, but since I'm using Windows 7
Professional 64bit, I'll try.

I've been trying to capture video from a video camera using a USB capture
device. I've tried two different ways, composite cables and an S-video cable.
Neither way can I get the sound to record. The video records alright with one
program I have but no sound and I can't figure out what the problem is. I know
there's audio because I can hear it coming from the camera while it's playing.
But it's not going to the file I'm recording. Anyone have any ideas on this?

Also, when I tried to use Windows Movie Maker as the capture software, it keeps
telling me the device is not being detected (even though it shows up in the
options as the video device) or that it's in use by another program, which as
far as I know, it's not. Any suggestions there? Thanks so much.

Video_Camera ---- S-video --- USB_device ---- computer

S-video and composite, don't carry audio. Just baseband video.

A "normal" composite cable bundle, include, yellow, white, and red
RCA (Cinch) connectors. Two of those are for left and right audio.
The third is the coax cable with the video on it.

You need to do something like this. You can either bring the audio
over to the sound card, and bring the signal in on Line In.

Video_Camera ---- S-video --- USB_device ---- computer
L --- RCA to
R --- 1/8" stereo ---------------> LineIn on soundcard

Or, if the USB_device has 1/8" stereo in or dual Cinch in, you
can do it there.

Since you didn't seem to see any extra connectors on the USB
device, I have to assume the USB device just does video.
And the sound is going to have to come in via the Sound Card
and the Line In.

Also, did you install any software for the USB device ?
If you did, perhaps it's using a private driver, and
has usurped any standard video class that might have been
used (USB Video Class). That might be why the device is "busy".
Purely a guess.

*******

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video

"Composite video is an analog video transmission (no audio)
that carries standard definition video typically at
480i or 576i resolution."

HTH,
Paul

 

[rfdjr1]

Video_Camera ---- S-video --- USB_device ---- computer

S-video and composite, don't carry audio. Just baseband video.

A "normal" composite cable bundle, include, yellow, white, and red
RCA (Cinch) connectors. Two of those are for left and right audio.
The third is the coax cable with the video on it.

You need to do something like this. You can either bring the audio
over to the sound card, and bring the signal in on Line In.

Video_Camera ---- S-video --- USB_device ---- computer
L --- RCA to
R --- 1/8" stereo ---------------> LineIn on soundcard

Or, if the USB_device has 1/8" stereo in or dual Cinch in, you
can do it there.

Since you didn't seem to see any extra connectors on the USB
device, I have to assume the USB device just does video.
And the sound is going to have to come in via the Sound Card
and the Line In.

Also, did you install any software for the USB device ?
If you did, perhaps it's using a private driver, and
has usurped any standard video class that might have been
used (USB Video Class). That might be why the device is "busy".
Purely a guess.

*******

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video

"Composite video is an analog video transmission (no audio)
that carries standard definition video typically at
480i or 576i resolution."

HTH,
Paul

The USB video capture device has a red, white and yellow input, along with an
S-video input at one end and a single USB cable at the other end. So I'm
assuming that sound is supposed to be brought in through the USB. Also, I failed
to mention, if it makes a difference, that it is an older video camera, a Hi-8,
using tape, and not a newer digital camera. The actual output from the camera is
a 3.5mm mini jack. So I plug in a cable with a mini plug at one end, and red,
white and yellow RCA plugs at the other, into the USB device which plugs into
the computer. From there I launch the software, and as already mentioned, the
video comes through but no audio. I'm going to try and uninstall the proprietary
software that came with the device, a Hauppauge US Live 2 capture cable, and try
Windows Movie Maker again and see what happens. Thanks for the info so far.

 

[Paul]

The USB video capture device has a red, white and yellow input, along with an
S-video input at one end and a single USB cable at the other end. So I'm
assuming that sound is supposed to be brought in through the USB. Also, I failed
to mention, if it makes a difference, that it is an older video camera, a Hi-8,
using tape, and not a newer digital camera. The actual output from the camera is
a 3.5mm mini jack. So I plug in a cable with a mini plug at one end, and red,
white and yellow RCA plugs at the other, into the USB device which plugs into
the computer. From there I launch the software, and as already mentioned, the
video comes through but no audio. I'm going to try and uninstall the proprietary
software that came with the device, a Hauppauge US Live 2 capture cable, and try
Windows Movie Maker again and see what happens. Thanks for the info so far.

I checked reviews on Newegg and Amazon, and no specific audio problems
were present to speak of. There was one report, of the USB device
not picking up a video signal. But no complaints about audio that I could see.

At this point, I would be wanting to verify that the cable used with the
camera is working properly. And that there is actually audio coming
out of it.

A 1/8" stereo plug (a normal one), would have three contacts, Tip, Ring, Sleeve.

Apple has one, which is slightly longer than normal, with four contacts.
It's possible Creative has used four contact mini plugs, on some of
their speaker systems.

To carry video, audio_L, audio_R, takes three contacts for the signals plus
a fourth contact for a shared ground for them. So if one end of the
cable has a 1/8" format plug, it would need four contacts to carry
all the signals.

You could try using a separate stereo sound source, and
plugging that into the sound inputs, as a means to verify
it will actually record a sound signal.

By the way - what is the model number of the camcorder ?

Paul

 

[Char Jackson]

The USB video capture device has a red, white and yellow input, along with an
S-video input at one end and a single USB cable at the other end.

When red, white, and yellow are grouped like that, it almost
universally means that yellow is composite video, red is the right
stereo channel, and white is the left stereo channel. As Paul said,
S-Video can take the place of composite video, but by itself carries
no audio signal. (Likewise, composite video carries no audio.) So
whether you use composite or S-Video, you still need to connect audio
to the red and white RCA jacks.

So I'm assuming that sound is supposed to be brought in through the USB.

Audio is fed into the capture device via the red and white RCA jacks,
and in turn is delivered from there to the PC via USB.

Also, I failed
to mention, if it makes a difference, that it is an older video camera, a Hi-8,
using tape, and not a newer digital camera. The actual output from the camera is
a 3.5mm mini jack. So I plug in a cable with a mini plug at one end, and red,
white and yellow RCA plugs at the other, into the USB device which plugs into
the computer.

Is it the cable that came with the camera, or something you picked up
separately? Also, have you looked through the camera's menu system to
see if you need to change anything in order to get the audio? I'm
imagining a menu item that lets you select the camera's loudspeaker
versus muting that speaker and making the audio available at the jack,
although I really expect that to be transparent and automatic. I
suppose there could be a volume setting that's turned down, as well.

From there I launch the software, and as already mentioned, the
video comes through but no audio.

Try plugging the audio cables from the camera (red and white, not
yellow) into an audio input on any other audio device, if you have
one. The object is to see if the camera is actually outputting a
usable audio signal. Maybe it's muted or turned way down, maybe the
cable is broken, maybe it's not the right cable for that camera, or a
host of other things that can be figured out quickly if only you can
verify that audio is available at those plugs.

 

[Don Phillipson]

Not sure if this is the right group to ask this, but since I'm using
Windows 7
Professional 64bit, I'll try.

I've been trying to capture video from a video camera using a USB capture
device. I've tried two different ways, composite cables and an S-video
cable.
Neither way can I get the sound to record. The video records alright with
one
program I have but no sound and I can't figure out what the problem is.

One possible solution appeared recently in comp.sys.laptops
for the Subject "Gateway audio configuration." Win7 built-in software
(e.g. Sound Recorder) does not use audio codecs (like WinXP) thus
instals none. Bill Holt wrote there:
"You will have to use some sort of streaming audio capture
application. There are a few free ones, but I will plug "Total Recorder"
again. As well as being a stand alone recording application, it provides
an audio driver that appears as a source in many audio programs."
TR software (free trial from http://www.totalrecorder.com/ ) says it
enables video recording with sound. It enabled my recording audio
off Internet on a Win7 machine the way I used to via WinXP.

 

[pjp]

One possible solution appeared recently in comp.sys.laptops
for the Subject "Gateway audio configuration." Win7 built-in software
(e.g. Sound Recorder) does not use audio codecs (like WinXP) thus
instals none. Bill Holt wrote there:
"You will have to use some sort of streaming audio capture
application. There are a few free ones, but I will plug "Total Recorder"
again. As well as being a stand alone recording application, it provides
an audio driver that appears as a source in many audio programs."
TR software (free trial from http://www.totalrecorder.com/ ) says it
enables video recording with sound. It enabled my recording audio
off Internet on a Win7 machine the way I used to via WinXP.

I've been following this thread and the one thing that's not been
pointed out is simply what input is the recording software using for
audio when recording. You can't assume it's the USB camera just because
you've chosen it for video.

I'd want to see what Control Panel/Sound Recording Tab offers as the
default device. Is the USB camera exposing a choosable device. If so, is
it selected as the input device?

There's also likely an option within the recording software to select
what device to record the audio from. Is the USB camera's audio device
listed? I use an old copy of SoundForge for recording, sometimes it's
sound cards Line-In, sometimes an analog mic into sound cards Mic input
and sometimes a USB mic. I've had to play with both options, e.g.
control panel and various software settings upon occassion and all I can
say is one might not respect the other's settings.