by passing sound card

[species8350]

I have read that there are pc utilities that enable streaming media to
be recorded without reference to the sound card.

Is this possible. I would have thought that all sounds must go through
either the sound card, or the 'on-board' sound facilities of the
motherboard.

Thanks

 

[Mike Walsh]

A sound card is necessary to convert a digital signal to analog. A sound card is not necessary to record a bitstream, but the people who stream audio don't want you to do that and make it very difficult. A workaround is to play the sound normally through a sound card and record the output of the sound card.

 

[Cordelia]

Hi - I am sure you'll get a much more comprehensive answer when the US
wakes up and people log on...
In the meantime, I'd say the answer is no, the sound card (or built in
'card') is required to translate the streaming media into sound. No
other part of the PC can do this. If there is no soundcard or onboard
functionality, all you'll get out of the PC is a beep...

Maybe there are new hardware devices that uses your PCs internet
connection and does the rest of the work itself. Such a device would
then have it's own sound card or equivalent. But this would be very
recent technology, not something available on the mass market.

Anyway, what precisely is it that you want to do, and why do you want to
circumvent the sound card? Or don't you have one? They are very cheap...

If you explain, somebody might be able to come up with a solution that
suits you.
Cordelia

 

[kony]

I have read that there are pc utilities that enable streaming media to
be recorded without reference to the sound card.

Is this possible. I would have thought that all sounds must go through
either the sound card, or the 'on-board' sound facilities of the
motherboard.

Thanks

Streaming media is a file that just comes down the pipes a
few Kbit at a time as it's played. The host application
sees it is the correct type and caches the data while
playing.

To "record" it you are not actually (re-)recording, you are
just saving the file in it's entirety by using an
applications that mimics the operation of the target
playback software, by connecting to the server the streaming
file is stored on it downloads it and allows saving it as a
file instead of just caching then discarding the data.
One catch is that some streaming is secured in that the host
playback software has to authenticate itself and thus a
mimicing *recording* software will have to do that as well.

The sound card is only involved with outputting the digital
sound data in a digital or analog format the next device
(for example an amplifier) can use to play it with speakers.
Since the file is not an input from an external source in
digital or analog, the sound card is not having to actually
"record" it.

 

[species8350]

Streaming media is a file that just comes down the pipes a
few Kbit at a time as it's played. The host application
sees it is the correct type and caches the data while
playing.

To "record" it you are not actually (re-)recording, you are
just saving the file in it's entirety by using an
applications that mimics the operation of the target
playback software, by connecting to the server the streaming
file is stored on it downloads it and allows saving it as a
file instead of just caching then discarding the data.
One catch is that some streaming is secured in that the host
playback software has to authenticate itself and thus a
mimicing *recording* software will have to do that as well.

The sound card is only involved with outputting the digital
sound data in a digital or analog format the next device
(for example an amplifier) can use to play it with speakers.
Since the file is not an input from an external source in
digital or analog, the sound card is not having to actually
"record" it.

Thanks all for the information.

Best wishes

S

 

[jaster]

Thanks all for the information.

Best wishes

S

In Windows XP you can use Sound Recorder to record the sounds from your
Line-In or your Audio device (sound card). Bottom line stream your audio
then record the sound with sound recorder. IIRC, the problem with sound
recorder is it only records 2-3min of sound, so if you have EasyMedia or
Nero use the recorder programs from those packages.