Pinnacle PCTV Pro card - how to record sound?

descartes · Jun 17, 2004, 09:19 AM

Can anyone help here?

The TV sound goes into the "line in" - and AC97 sound is available. Trouble is it can only be controlled form the Kx mixer and not from within the Pinnacle software. This also means that I can't record the sound with the video as it has to appear within the Pinnacle softwarefor that. It must be possible to route the sound correctly as the Creative drivers do it automatically.

Any clues appreciated.

descartes · Jun 19, 2004, 10:30 AM

I notice that several other people have had the same problem - but no-one has come up with a clear solution. The problem does not lie with the Pinnacle software as the Creative dirvers work perfectly with it. There is no obvious way to get the kX drivers to do so.

Doomsayer · Jun 19, 2004, 03:54 PM

I don't understand the problem. If you set AC97 line in as your recording source in kX, your Pinnacle software should have no problem recording the sound.

**dj_stick** · Jun 19, 2004, 08:21 PM

i think the pinacle software like some others, requires use of the windows mixer, which kX doesn't use. I may be wrong though, in the kX mixer enable the line in/ aux in (depending on whether you used the jack-jack cable or internal cd-audio style cable) and in the record window enable the ac-97 slider

descartes · Jun 20, 2004, 04:59 AM

I have it set up like that currently, but it is not correct. For some reason the PCTV software cannot control the volume directly - either for play or record. This would be fine but when I hit the record button all I get is a faint signal and very loud white noise - not exactly ideal. How come Creative's drivers work perfectly for this and no one even seems to know where to begin to deal with this for the kX drivers? I would have thought it should be the other way around. If it is a "windows mixer" issue, then why can't the kX drivers handle it?

**dj_stick** · Jun 20, 2004, 07:05 AM

kX Does not use the windows mixer app, as creative does, and this is why the software does not work. Try a program that does not require such usage of the windows mixer

NightBreed · Jun 20, 2004, 09:21 AM

I have a pctv pro card as well, Mine works fine for recording. I do however use an alternative driver set with winDVR. Which driver version are you using, 5.01, or something close to that? I also have the sound out of the card connected to the cards out pins located on the card itself. But that shouldn't make much difference. If you are using a cable from the back of the card and it's connected to the line-in of your soundcard, pctv should be set to access your line-in. And your kx mixer should be set as line-in for the source.

Technicaly pctv should be accessing ac97 instead. Try connecting the cable to your mic line just to see if it works. If that works, it just means that you have to make that adjustment as I mentioned.

KX does use windows volume controls, It just uses the ac97 ins differently. You just have to tell windows volume which source you are using for your line-in.

descartes · Jun 20, 2004, 10:36 AM

I have an Audigy card and I'm using the latest kX drivers.
There is a cable connection from the PCTV Pro card to the Audigy Line in. I have the line in slider selected in the AC97 section of the drivers and this controls the sound that I can here. Also there is a recording signal available which is AC97 also.

The volume control of the PCTV software alters directly the slider in the windows mixer - but for the "wave" slider. I have tried routing the AC97 signal in the kX drivers through the wave channels - but this has no effect. I'd not be bothered with this and the inability to use the remote control for sound adjustment, but the real problem is that selecting "record" does not allow access to a clean sound. This is obviously due to the signal not being channeled correctly and the Pinnacle software objecting. I can't see a way around it. The strange thing is this all works perfectly and automatically with the Creative drivers. It really seems that the kX drivers can't handle this.

NightBreed · Jun 20, 2004, 10:44 AM

it's just an issue with kx and pinnicle. KX does fine with other software controlling the tv card. As I've said WinDVR and ShowShifter both work fine with this. I do tv recording all the time and it comes out great for me. And again, I don't use the pctv drivers. Take a look here for more info http://sourceforge.net/projects/btwincap/

descartes · Jun 20, 2004, 11:21 AM

Great - Win DVR costs about as much as my my TV card. The Pinnacle software doesn't appear to let you choose drivers either - so I don't see any of this as an ideal solution to what is really a kX problem - though thanks anyway for the ideas. If Creative drivers work for this case then there should be a way to get the kX drivers to do the job. If it can't be done I'd like someone who properly understands the issue to let me know so that I stop wasting time. I don't want to put Creative drivers into this installation - but it might come to that in the end.

NightBreed · Jun 20, 2004, 11:36 AM

Ok first and formost, stop placing the cause on kx, Kx worked fine when I used both 4.2 and 5.01 of pctv software. I switched drivers because quite frankly PCTV's software is just as bloated as creative's. People quickly place the blame on kx when it doesn't work for them, and they don't take into account that the drivers do work for others. There's most often times other things that may cause issues. And if people aren't willing to try alternative solutions then maybe creative's software is the best thing for them to use.

BTW, windvr wasn't the only solution I posted.

Doomsayer · Jun 20, 2004, 01:52 PM

What are you getting when you're recording? What do you mean by no access to "clean" sound? If you can hear it clean, you can definitely record it clean.

descartes · Jun 20, 2004, 02:46 PM

I wish that was the case. When I hit the record button the sound goes from being clean to being a very loud "white noise" with only a faint level of original sound behind it. I'm sure that this has something to do with the sound not being routed in a suitable manner for this software. This didn't happen with the Creative drivers - but it does also happen if I use my other sound card - an EGO-SYS W/T192X - which uses similar drivers to the kX - with line patching etc. - in fact more like a sound engineers standard layout. I only want the W/T192X for music so that isn't important to me. I'm sure that the Pinnacle system here is rubbish - but it is a bit disconcerting that the crummy original Creative (spit, vomit..) drivers actually worked here. I know that is a contradiction of terms but it is unfortunately true. I'm the last person on the planet who wants to say anything nice about Creative - so please don't misunderstand this, I still hate them - though perhaps not enough to blow myself up as a martyr just yet. The point is that my otherwise wonderful kX drivers are not behaving here in spite of my best efforts - and two and a half year's experience with kX drivers.

**dj_stick** · Jun 20, 2004, 04:36 PM

perhaps you are recording the output aswell as the input

Doomsayer · Jun 20, 2004, 05:11 PM

Well, here's a simple thing to do - try recording just the sound while watching video, use whatever you like (windows sound recorder will do). If the quality appears the same it will mean that you have incorrectly set up kX. And that can be solved easily.

NightBreed · Jun 20, 2004, 06:43 PM

Which OS are you running? XP, 98...etc... It is a known issue with pctv drivers to not really work correctly with XP in alot of casses. The reason I mentioned the alternative drivers is because they access the pctv card using standard drivers and record directly. The drivers actually give you better choice over sound control then the originals. pctv's original drivers, although they record sound direct. The reason I say it's not KX that's at fault is because PCTV's tv application converts the audio to mpg format during the recording process. All of which you arent given a choice as to the audio codec you use. Go to the site I mentioned and download the video capture program or grab any video capture program that allows you to setup whatever codec you wish to use and see if any of those works.

descartes · Jun 21, 2004, 05:44 AM

I've been to the Pinnacle forum site and have discovered that it is another total nightmare - a company just like Creative that is completely incompetent and does not support it's clients. I'm now certain that the kX drivers are working just fine and that the (distortion) problem is entirely due to Pinnacle. There are a lot of people posting on their site that with all sorts of combinations of hardware they have this same problem and yet there is no direct response from the Pinnacle support - in other words they are liars and cheats just like Creative. There should be a blacklist of such companies somewhere so that we can avoid all this unnecessary time wasting.

RobyXit · May 26, 2005, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj_stick

i think the pinacle software like some others, requires use of the windows mixer, which kX doesn't use. I may be wrong though, in the kX mixer enable the line in/ aux in (depending on whether you used the jack-jack cable or internal cd-audio style cable) and in the record window enable the ac-97 slider

Hi.

I have the same problem of descartes which is the author of this thread, but doing your setting still doesen't works at all

anyway.. thank you for support

descartes · May 26, 2005, 04:56 PM

One year later - new motherboard with built in sound card - also "Waveterminal" 192 Khz high quality sound card - and the bottom line is that the Pinnacle software doesn't work with anything. I'm still usinng the same XP setup - ported over to a new hard drive. Everything except XP has been changed in my system. It appears that PCTV has an XP compatibility problem.