No Sound on TV Card

[Buck Turgidson]

I had a Happauge TV card installed in a new PC. I can get a good video
picture on all the cable channels (no cable box), but I get no sound.
The instructions say to run a cable from the Line Out of the TV card to
the Line In of the sound card. I have done so (I used the blue-colored
jack on the sound card).

But I still get no sound. The sound card and speakers otherwise work
fine. I have set set the TV to use line-in, and checked the volume
settings for line-in

Any ideas on things to try before I bring the box back in to the place I
bought it?

 

[John McGaw]

I had a Happauge TV card installed in a new PC. I can get a good video
picture on all the cable channels (no cable box), but I get no sound.
The instructions say to run a cable from the Line Out of the TV card to
the Line In of the sound card. I have done so (I used the blue-colored
jack on the sound card).

But I still get no sound. The sound card and speakers otherwise work
fine. I have set set the TV to use line-in, and checked the volume
settings for line-in

Any ideas on things to try before I bring the box back in to the place I
bought it?

Have you tried feeding some other audio signal into the line-in on the
sound card to verify that it is otherwise operational?

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Have you tried feeding some other audio signal into the line-in on the
sound card to verify that it is otherwise operational?

I have a microphone. Can I use that for line-in?

 

[JohnS]

I have a microphone. Can I use that for line-in?

You can try it but I think the output is too low.
However if you already have the lyrics to "You Are So Beautiful" in
front of you ---- might as well give it a try.

You can use any stereo plug usually from your stereo ---- CD line out
or something to test it.

 

[kony]

I had a Happauge TV card installed in a new PC. I can get a good video
picture on all the cable channels (no cable box), but I get no sound.
The instructions say to run a cable from the Line Out of the TV card to
the Line In of the sound card. I have done so (I used the blue-colored
jack on the sound card).

But I still get no sound. The sound card and speakers otherwise work
fine. I have set set the TV to use line-in, and checked the volume
settings for line-in

Any ideas on things to try before I bring the box back in to the place I
bought it?

Take speakers, or headphones, and plug them into the TV card
line out. Start the TV software and confirm it is set
correctly and tuning a station. At this point, you should
hear the audio coming directly from the TV card. If you can
hear that audio, your TV card is fine and the rest of the
computer is the problem.

Presuming the audio is audible, you should check your mixer
settings to confirm the line-in is set correctly. It could
be that there is a terminology discrepancy between the TV
software and the windows mixer- try the other audio input
lines to see if any have this signal.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Take speakers, or headphones, and plug them into the TV card
line out. Start the TV software and confirm it is set
correctly and tuning a station. At this point, you should
hear the audio coming directly from the TV card. If you can
hear that audio, your TV card is fine and the rest of the
computer is the problem.

Presuming the audio is audible, you should check your mixer
settings to confirm the line-in is set correctly. It could
be that there is a terminology discrepancy between the TV
software and the windows mixer- try the other audio input
lines to see if any have this signal.

Thanks. It sounds like you're saying that I can just unplug my speakers
from the soundcard and plug them into the line-out of the TV card? I'd
try it now, but I am at work now.

 

[kony]

Thanks. It sounds like you're saying that I can just unplug my speakers
from the soundcard and plug them into the line-out of the TV card? I'd
try it now, but I am at work now.

Yes, that is exactly what I'm suggesting... but you might
want to turn down the speakers first till you know what the
appropriate volume level would be.

This also assumes you have a self-amplified speaker set,
which practically all are these days (with seperate power
supply). The line-out on the TV card cannot effectively
power non-amped speakers to any reasonable volume level...
though you might faintly hear sound from them.

 

[~misfit~]

Yes, that is exactly what I'm suggesting... but you might
want to turn down the speakers first till you know what the
appropriate volume level would be.

This also assumes you have a self-amplified speaker set,
which practically all are these days (with seperate power
supply). The line-out on the TV card cannot effectively
power non-amped speakers to any reasonable volume level...
though you might faintly hear sound from them.

I've just set up a Leadtek PVR TV card in my machine and, although I didn't
have a handbook for it I noticed a socket on the card internally, like you
used to have to connect CD-ROMs / soundcards with in Windows 9x systems. I
connected that to my Soundblaster Live! which has a similar socket on the
card marked "Aux". (Luckilly I have a bunch of cables lying around from the
many PCs I've assembled / dismantled. Also these cables are included with a
lot of optical drives but not needed in XP boxes).

That worked perfectly. I would think that the Happauge would be connected
similarly huh? Internal connections rather than using the external ones
which are there primarilly for "TV Out" (or similar) functionality?

Just my 5c.

 

[kony]

I've just set up a Leadtek PVR TV card in my machine and, although I didn't
have a handbook for it I noticed a socket on the card internally, like you
used to have to connect CD-ROMs / soundcards with in Windows 9x systems. I
connected that to my Soundblaster Live! which has a similar socket on the
card marked "Aux". (Luckilly I have a bunch of cables lying around from the
many PCs I've assembled / dismantled. Also these cables are included with a
lot of optical drives but not needed in XP boxes).

That worked perfectly. I would think that the Happauge would be connected
similarly huh? Internal connections rather than using the external ones
which are there primarilly for "TV Out" (or similar) functionality?

I don't know about his particular card but yes some have
internal pin-headers instead, and some cards even have both
the internal and external. I prefer internal just to keep
the cable clutter outside the box as low as possible but the
internal cable ought to be shielded to cut down on noise
pickup, something the penny-pinchers spec'ing cables may not
care about so much.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I don't know about his particular card but yes some have
internal pin-headers instead, and some cards even have both
the internal and external. I prefer internal just to keep
the cable clutter outside the box as low as possible but the
internal cable ought to be shielded to cut down on noise
pickup, something the penny-pinchers spec'ing cables may not
care about so much.

Maybe I'll open up the box and look. I am inclined to let the people
who sold it to me fix it, though.

One other question: Can I purchase a "Y" cable such that I can connect
my speakers to my sound and tv card at the same time?

 

[kony]

Maybe I'll open up the box and look. I am inclined to let the people
who sold it to me fix it, though.

One other question: Can I purchase a "Y" cable such that I can connect
my speakers to my sound and tv card at the same time?

In theory it's possible but may reduce the sound level. I
had not intended to suggest hooking the card up to speakers
for anything more than confirming the output was working, to
isolate that factor, rule it out before proceeding to focus
on why your system isn't playing (or recording?) anything
through it's line-in port. This is most likely a windows or
sound card mixer issue.