Video capture: got live images, but no sound (please help)

(Diagram)


I have an Xpert TV-PVR pci card installed & connected to a digital cable box. I was able to watch tv on my computer. The images were very nice. The problem though, is that there's no sound.

So I went to my Windows(XP Home SP2) Control Panel, Device Manager, under Sound, saw the following related drivers:
- Conexant BT878 Audio Capture (no driver installed for this device)
- Conexant BT878 Video Capture (device working properly)
- Conexant BT878 Tuner (device working properly)
- Conexant BT878 Crossbar (device working properly)
- Audio Codecs (device working properly)
- Video Codecs (device working properly)

I went to www.kworldcomputer.com, downloaded the most recent drivers. Conexant BT878 Audio Capture driver couldn't be recognized, even after I rebooted my computer.

Here are the connectors found in the back my TV-PVR pci card:

Remote
S-VHS
AV-IN
Audio Out
TV
FM

I have a cable (with the 3-color connectors on both end, i.e., yellow/red/white) connected from the cable box to the pci card. Because my cable box has the 3 holes:

yellow (VIDEO OUT)
red (AUDIO OUT)
white (L)

I was able to match them with the 3 colored connectors on my cord. The other end of the cord (yellow) is plugged into the pci card's AV-IN.

The pci card's "Audio Out" is connected to the soundcard's "Line In". I made sure the "Line In" was not mute in the Control Panel.

As I ran the PVR Plus software package, of the 5 video sources tested, the results were:

S-Video (a blank blue screen, no sound)
Antenna (snow screen, got snow sound)
Cable (snow screen, got snow sound)
Memory (snow screen, got snow sound)
Composite (got live video, but no sound)

Please help. Thanks,

 

Did you tune any channels in your software?
The audio out from the cable box, should be plugged into the line in port, not the way you have it in the diagram.
How can the computer get audio from the cable box, if there's no cable between the two?
The audio out of the PCI card, is for sending audio to a TV, from a recording already on your hard drive.
Get a Y splitter, hook red and white to it, and the other to the line in (stereo micro plug).

 

Rebootjim, below is a Y88 Dual Stereophone Y-Cable Splitter I found from the compUSA website. That is the cable type you've mentioned, right?
(image)


I was just wondering if there's some other way to capture the best live images. The Composite method I'm using is nice, though sometimes in fast moving screen the images seem to be a bit off. Could the S-video connection be a better alternative? My cable box does have a "S-Video Out".

 

That's the cable. Plug red/white into it, and the other end into the LINE IN on your sound card.
S-video can be better than composite. Try it.
Generally, you can change settings in your capture software as well, to increase recording quality.
Remember, S-video is still only video, and you'll need that cable for audio anyhow.

 

Just came back from compUSA, picked up the Y88 Dual Stereophone Y-Cable Splitter. One end of the splitter cable was able to plugged into the "Line In". However, as I tried to plug in the Red/White into the other end of the splitter cable, they couldn't fit. The Red/White connectors are too short. See diagram:


The 2 holes on the Y-splitter cable can only fit the connector type as shown on the last drawing (above diagram).

 

Very strange.
In the picture, it looks like the cable has standard composite(RCA) type female plugs.
Drag your cable with you, and return the one that doesn't work.
What you need is 2 composite to 1 stereo micro for audio.

 

It works, finally. The guy at RadioShack was able to get me the right adapter based on the description.

 

Glad you got it sorted

Edit: Well done on your posting etiquette. Pictures, accurate descriptions, and enough information to resolve an issue easily.
Kudos