Audio syncs correctly if using microphone but not line-in

[myorg]

For the past year I've been having issues getting the video to sync correctly and/or an echoing effect with my sound card (built-in with a Via chipset) and I just assumed it was a cheap soundcard. When I get the syncing issue the sound quality is perfect and in Stereo. When I'm getting the echoing effect one channel has a high-pitch buzz. Today I bought a new Turtle-Beach Riviera and I'm getting the exact same issues. What's weird is that this problem only happens while using the line-in jack. If I use the microphone jack I always get good sounding recordings in mono. I would really like to get BeyondTV to record in Stereo!

Any suggestions? I'm totally out of ideas after messing with every setting I could think of.

Thanks,

Mike


------------------------------------
Athlon XP 2100+
512MB DDR
200GB HD
ATi TV Wonder Pro
nVidia GeForce4 MX 440
Turtle Beach Riviera
------------------------------------

[enormus]

Probably not what you want to hear, but the purchase of a Hauppauge PVR-250 would resolve your audio issues, lower your CPU utilization during recordings and -- in my experience with an ATI AIW -- yield a significantly better picture.

[softnerd]

No offense, but it seems like half of the technical issues posted are about AIW cards, TV Wonder cards (not the Elite...that's a good card...albeit a little over priced)--basically any device that uses the ATI Rage Theater chip. I have one too, but I don't use the capture/tuner functionality.

Here's the bottom line: Rage Theater cards use a hardware tuner/filter, but don't have a hardware video/audio stream encoder. Software encoders rely on your CPU, so anything that taxes your CPU will mess up your recording. They also tend to do a lousy job on the audio/video sync front as well as the image quality front. Software encoders WILL almost always be a problem when you're doing a lot of heavy capturing...especially in an unattended situation. I've tried all kinds of ways to get PVR software to work well with my AIW and they just flat-out don't work very well.

I've been soooooooo much happier since I picked up 2 Sapphire Theatrix 550 cards (based on the excellent ATI Theater 550 Pro chip). They encode audio and video on-chip and the powerful comb filters result in top-notch quality for a consumer-level capture device. Very low CPU utilization and very reliable. Also there are no wacky audio-video pass-throughs to your sound card to muck things up, so you never have to worry about audio levels or audio sync. I've heard of some people having trouble with 550 Pro-based cards, but they've been working extremely well for me with the latest drivers.

If you want your PVR setup to work well, cough up the $70 - $80 bucks for a card with a hardware MPEG encoder. Any of the hauppage cards or the Theater 550 Pro cards will do ya. It's well worth it.