Rainbow Runner Sound Problem

[Gerry]

I'm using Mystique220 and RR 2.1 and MSPro 5.2.

How do you set the recordings with the PC/VCR for audio?

When I select the "Line In" I get NO audio at all recorded. I have to select the "Wave Out Mix", but that playback sound has static at the peaks.

I can record "Line In" with the Win98 Sound Recorder with good playback and also the Audio Editor of MSPro.

I only have this problem with the PC/VCR.

I have a Yamaha sound card (OPL3-SAx WDM Driver) if that makes any difference. If I had this problem with all recordings I would replace the card.

Anybody have any suggestions about what to do or look for?

[This message has been edited by Gerry (edited 29 December 1999).]

[fluggo99]

The problem might be with PC-VCR, since it does switch audio connections inside the BOB when it's loaded. (The other two programs you listed can't do that.) Try bypassing the BOB for audio and see what that does.

If that doesn't work, here's Fluggo's Sound Card Troubleshooter:

First, look at the capture options dialog box to see what audio quality setting you have. You might want to raise it to CD-quality for comparison.

Second, look to see where your sound is plugged in. Based on your report, I kinda doubt it's in the microphone spot, but check again.

Third, move to the control panel and open up Multimedia properties. The first tab is audio, and you'll see the preferred playback and recording devices. Make sure they're set to your soundcard, and not (Any available device) or a modem or something like that. Note that the items listed aren't recording sources, but soundcards and modems and other wave devices. Also, make sure "Show volume control on the taskbar" is turned on.

Lastly, you might want to look at how your recording mixer works. I never trust any program to set audio levels save the Windows mixer. It usually shows up as a speaker icon on your taskbar; double click it to open the "Play Control" mixer. This is the mixer for audio out.

Now go to Options->Properties and change "Adjust volume for" to "Recording." In the box below, put a checkbox beside everything in the list. Press OK and you'll see all the recording levels for your soundcard.

Now, different soundcards have a different way of doing things at this point. Some allow you to select only one recording source, others allow you to select several at a time (in this case, disable them all except the one you want). Time for you to fiddle around and see what works and what changes things. You might also want to enable Options->Advanced Controls.

Hope that helps. Man, that wore me out...

[Gerry]

I'm taking this advise home to try tonight!

by the way, what's a BOB?

My audio goes straight into the Line-In of the sound card.

[This_Idiot]

Gerry,

That'll be because the RR-S doesn't have a BOB (BreakOut Box). But check your audio input and output leads and try swapping them over. Depending on your I/O device, it's amazing how different the labelling can be.

The SCART lead that I use terminates in 6 phono plugs, 3 inputs and 3 outputs. Only the "outputs" from the VCR are labelled "input" and vice versa. Other leads are labelled differently, which makes it easy to get them the wrong way round

[Gerry]

Understood about the lines, but why is it that I can capture audio under Audio Editor and Win98 Sound Recorder that sounds ok?

My sound is still coming from the VTR the same as with RR.

I don't know how to explain the noise other than it "crackels" when people talk, at the peaks. I've try lowering the recording volume but it does the same (just not as loud) duh.

If need be I'll get another card. I don't know off-hand if my Yamaha OPL3-SAx is ISA or PCI. I'll have to look.

[This_Idiot]

Gerry,


OPLSax rings a bell, have you checked out the Tips & Tricks section ? There's a section devoted to audio distortion.

[fluggo99]

Forgive me, I have a Marvel...

[David]

Hi,

I've heard this same power supply problem so many times that I feel compelled to say a few words about it. (Quick, RUN!)

I'm not usually very critical about things, but this particular issue does tend to rub me the wrong way a little.

Matrox claim that their card adheres to all PCI specs and that the problem is the power supply/motherboard combination. In other words, "Not our problem." That is all well and good, but I must have had in excess of 50 different PCI cards in my system and the only one that has ever had a "power" problem is the RR-G. Common sense tells me that this is caused by the RR-G being too fragile in some way. This is something that Matrox should fix.

The fact that there is a problem does not bother me. I don't expect every card ever manufactured to work flawlessly in every board. I'm a realist and this is an unfair expectation.

What I do expect is for Matrox to agressively identify and fix the problem for all new RR-Gs that they manufacture. I also expect them to document the problem on their web site in a tech support section where the information should be EASY to find. A list of recommended power supplies would not go astray. Microsoft software may be full of bugs, but if you have a problem that they know about you can be sure to find a technical document about it in the Knowledge Base.

Insead of these solutions being implemented we have Matrox customers posting every second week on this board with the same problem. This is NOT an uncommon problem. People all over the world are experiencing it.

I remember reading about this problem something like 2 years ago. Brand new RR-Gs seem to still have the same problem. This really should have been fixed by now.

When I had this problem I first went through the online Matrox email support. Noone there had anything to offer. Every single person who answers those emails should KNOW about this problem. As soon as they get a message with the words "Abit", "TV tuner", "noise" and "not detected" in them the probable cause should be immediately obvious. The same goes for the phone support people.

I ended up finding these forums (thank God for MURC) and getting an answer pretty quickly. I went through a couple of power supplies and eventually got it working. It took me many hours, a lot of fiddling and a non-trivial amount of money to get my RR-G working. The whole process took several months. I hate to think what non-technical people go through!

This is not an attack on anyone in particular (the Matrox tech support guys on this forum are invaluable and it is fantastic that they are here), it's more an attack on the Matrox business procedures that allows a problem like this to continue for so long.

The fact that there is no information about this on the Matrox site really is terrible.

Enough rambling...

...David <optic@iname.com>

[David]

Hi,

My above post was not meant for this thread. Very sorry!

Sheepishly,

...David <optic@iname.com>

[Gerry]

No forgiveness needed.

I didn't get the suggestion about the Tips/Tricks section until I took the sound card out and swaped it with one I have at work. It's an ESS card. It worked with my prior system (K6/200;Mystque220/RR/MSPro 5.0; Win95).

I'll put it in a try it tonight. I'll look at the Tips and see what it says.

Thanks for your time to answer!

It is now the future! Welcome to the 21st Century everyone!