DVD Audio Connections

[Seekermeister]

I'm trying to make connections between the PC and an external DVD player, so that I can play a DVD movie on either the internal or external DVD player so that the audio and video are properly in sync.

As it is, if I play a DVD on the external player, but view it on the PVR150, the audio and video are in sync, but if viewed on the TV, they are out of sync, unless I use the TV audio, instead of the PC's.

I have the video connection via S video, and the audio via an RCA cable, adapted for a stereo connection to the PVR150. I thought that a second cable running to the sound card might work, but I don't think that I have another audio connection of the ext. player.

Sound and audio run to the TV via antenna, and I was wondering if I did the same with the PVR150 antenna connection, if that would work also?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Seekermeister
I'm trying to make connections between the PC and an external DVD player, so that I can play a DVD movie on either the internal or external DVD player so that the audio and video are properly in sync.

As it is, if I play a DVD on the external player, but view it on the PVR150, the audio and video are in sync, but if viewed on the TV, they are out of sync, unless I use the TV audio, instead of the PC's.

I have the video connection via S video, and the audio via an RCA cable, adapted for a stereo connection to the PVR150. I thought that a second cable running to the sound card might work, but I don't think that I have another audio connection of the ext. player.

Sound and audio run to the TV via antenna, and I was wondering if I did the same with the PVR150 antenna connection, if that would work also?

I'm a little confused on your setup.

Route everything through the HTPC and you should be OK. If you're watching something that you are running through a capture board like the PVR150, you need to also run the audio through the PVR150, then use the PC's audio output as your audio feed. Otherwise you'll get delay issues.

 

[Seekermeister]

That you are confused is not surprising, because I'm about as confused as the tangle of cables belhind my PC. However, I'm not sure about what you mean about routing everything through the HTPC. I suppose that would be an applicable title, but it is my workstation, and not dedicated to only theater. I do have the audio through the PVR150, and yes, there is no problem, as long as I view this with the PVR150. The problem comes when I want to view the TV, using the PC's audio, instead of the TV's. The PC has a much better sound sytem, so If I can sync the PC's audio with the TV video, I would have a better option.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Seekermeister
That you are confused is not surprising, because I'm about as confused as the tangle of cables belhind my PC. However, I'm not sure about what you mean about routing everything through the HTPC. I suppose that would be an applicable title, but it is my workstation, and not dedicated to only theater. I do have the audio through the PVR150, and yes, there is no problem, as long as I view this with the PVR150. The problem comes when I want to view the TV, using the PC's audio, instead of the TV's. The PC has a much better sound sytem, so If I can sync the PC's audio with the TV video, I would have a better option.

...is the "TV video" somehow not the same as the PC's video?

If you want to do something like:

(external) DVD player->TV for video, but (external) DVD player->PC for audio -- do NOT run the audio through the PVR-150. You'll get a delay from the MPEG2 encoder.

For that setup, you would need to run audio directly through the sound card's line-in and just 'listen' to that feed. That should have an extremely low delay.

Alternatively, run an s-video (or component/VGA/DVI if applicable) out from the PC to the TV, then run everything through the PVR-150. Although at that point, why not just use the DVD drive in the PC?

 

[Seekermeister]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: Seekermeister
That you are confused is not surprising, because I'm about as confused as the tangle of cables belhind my PC. However, I'm not sure about what you mean about routing everything through the HTPC. I suppose that would be an applicable title, but it is my workstation, and not dedicated to only theater. I do have the audio through the PVR150, and yes, there is no problem, as long as I view this with the PVR150. The problem comes when I want to view the TV, using the PC's audio, instead of the TV's. The PC has a much better sound sytem, so If I can sync the PC's audio with the TV video, I would have a better option.

...is the "TV video" somehow not the same as the PC's video?

If you want to do something like:

(external) DVD player->TV for video, but (external) DVD player->PC for audio -- do NOT run the audio through the PVR-150. You'll get a delay from the MPEG2 encoder.

Correct.

For that setup, you would need to run audio directly through the sound card's line-in and just 'listen' to that feed. That should have an extremely low delay.

This was one of my thoughts, but I thought that I would need a connection to both the PVR150 and the TV to sync both. I might be able to do this with some kind of adapters, but the jacks on the external player are limited to using only one cable.

Alternatively, run an s-video (or component/VGA/DVI if applicable) out from the PC to the TV, then run everything through the PVR-150. Although at that point, why not just use the DVD drive in the PC?

I have an s-video now going from the external player to the PVR150, and as I said, it works fine unless I want to use the TV instead of the monitor. I could move the WinTV window to the TV, but that has caused problems with my previous video card. I do not know if that would be true with the current one.

You are offering ideas that I have already said that I have, or am using, so we are going in circles. To make it simpler, it just boils down to one question...if I connect the ext. player to the PVR150 via the antenna, will it still have the same delay factor or not.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Seekermeister

For that setup, you would need to run audio directly through the sound card's line-in and just 'listen' to that feed. That should have an extremely low delay.

This was one of my thoughts, but I thought that I would need a connection to both the PVR150 and the TV to sync both. I might be able to do this with some kind of adapters, but the jacks on the external player are limited to using only one cable.

...then use a splitter on the RCA audio output? 😕

Running the audio through the line-in of the PC's sound card and then out through its speakers should not introduce enough delay to be noticeable. The PVR150 would not be involved at all in that case.

Alternatively, run an s-video (or component/VGA/DVI if applicable) out from the PC to the TV, then run everything through the PVR-150. Although at that point, why not just use the DVD drive in the PC?

I have an s-video now going from the external player to the PVR150, and as I said, it works fine unless I want to use the TV instead of the monitor. I could move the WinTV window to the TV, but that has caused problems with my previous video card. I do not know if that would be true with the current one.

I didn't realize you were talking about a computer that is not actually being used to drive the TV all of the time, yet you wanted to run the audio from an external device through. This is a very odd setup.

Most video cards cannot run hardware-accelerated video on the second monitor/video output (you'll get a black window, and/or the application will die). If WinTV can run in a software-only mode (not using hardware overlays), you could then use it on either monitor. Alternatively, you could make the TV the 'primary' display, or just have the TV output mirror the desktop.

You are offering ideas that I have already said that I have, or am using, so we are going in circles. To make it simpler, it just boils down to one question...if I connect the ext. player to the PVR150 via the antenna, will it still have the same delay factor or not.

Where did the antenna come in, and how can you use an antenna to connect anything? 😕

Basically -- anything you feed through the PVR150 will be delayed with respect to the original source (but everything going through the PVR150 is delayed by the same amount).

So either you want to run everything through the PVR150, or not use it at all. You can't feed just the audio through the PVR150, because it will get out of sync with the video.

 

[Seekermeister]

Matthias99,

This is a very odd setup.

I never said or thought that it was normal. I pride myself on being odd.

Where did the antenna come in, and how can you use an antenna to connect anything?

As I said, that is the way that the ext. player and the TV are connected now, and it works fine. I suspect that it would work also with the PVR150, but I do not know if the delay would still exist.

...then use a splitter on the RCA audio output?

My concern about this, is that there would then be dual audio inputs...one through the PVR150 and one through the sound card. Obviously, if these were out of sync, the audio would be garbled. But, if the PVR150 wasn't being utilized, I suspect that the sound would sync with the TV. But, if I were using the PVR150, then the two signals would be mixed, unless I muted the sound cards input. That is probably the answer, but I was hoping for something a bit more automatic.

EDIT:

Most video cards cannot run hardware-accelerated video on the second monitor/video output (you'll get a black window, and/or the application will die). If WinTV can run in a software-only mode (not using hardware overlays), you could then use it on either monitor. Alternatively, you could make the TV the 'primary' display, or just have the TV output mirror the desktop.

This probably answers a question that I had before. I frequently overlayed the PVR150 output on the TV, and it worked most of the time, but on occassions it would freeze or go black. I could fix the black screen easily, but the freezes were more of a problem. But, as I said, it worked fine most of the time with the old Geforce 6200. I haven't tried it yet with the 6800GT...would the hardware accelleration damage the video card?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Seekermeister

This is a very odd setup.

I never said or thought that it was normal. I pride myself on being odd.

That's okay. Many people around here are pretty odd. 😛

Where did the antenna come in, and how can you use an antenna to connect anything?

As I said, that is the way that the ext. player and the TV are connected now, and it works fine. I suspect that it would work also with the PVR150, but I do not know if the delay would still exist.

...what "antenna" are you talking about? "Antennas" are not used for connecting things.

...then use a splitter on the RCA audio output?

My concern about this, is that there would then be dual audio inputs...one through the PVR150 and one through the sound card. Obviously, if these were out of sync, the audio would be garbled. But, if the PVR150 wasn't being utilized, I suspect that the sound would sync with the TV. But, if I were using the PVR150, then the two signals would be mixed, unless I muted the sound cards input. That is probably the answer, but I was hoping for something a bit more automatic.

Basically, yes. You would have to mute one input or the other, or else it would sound bad. I'm not aware of anything that would do this automatically. It's a rather unusual setup.

EDIT:

Most video cards cannot run hardware-accelerated video on the second monitor/video output (you'll get a black window, and/or the application will die). If WinTV can run in a software-only mode (not using hardware overlays), you could then use it on either monitor. Alternatively, you could make the TV the 'primary' display, or just have the TV output mirror the desktop.

This probably answers a question that I had before. I frequently overlayed the PVR150 output on the TV, and it worked most of the time, but on occassions it would freeze or go black. I could fix the black screen easily, but the freezes were more of a problem. But, as I said, it worked fine most of the time with the old Geforce 6200. I haven't tried it yet with the 6800GT...would the hardware accelleration damage the video card?

...why would using hardware acceleration damage your video card? You've probably been using it for years. It might not work with dual monitors, but it's not going to break anything.

If you can switch to a software-only mode, that should solve the problem. Otherwise, you're probably going to get behavior that is inconsistent at best.

 

[Seekermeister]

...what "antenna" are you talking about? "Antennas" are not used for connecting things.

Obviously they can, because I'm doing it...not the antenna, but the antenna cable.

If you can switch to a software-only mode, that should solve the problem. Otherwise, you're probably going to get behavior that is inconsistent at best.

I looked through the preferences, and it appears that software mode is not an option. However, I also found that I could select the mixer inputs for the PVR150, so I'm going to do some experimenting to see what happens. I already tried switching them, but with the audio plugged into the TV card, it simply uses that, regardless of any selection that I make. Perhaps with the audio only plugged into the sound card, I might have greater control.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Seekermeister

...what "antenna" are you talking about? "Antennas" are not used for connecting things.

Obviously they can, because I'm doing it.

The only connections on the PVR-150 are S-Video, RCA, and RF (the screw-on coaxial connector, marked "TV" on the card).

Perhaps you are referring to the "RF" or "coax" connector as "antenna", since over-the-air antennas often use the same sort of coaxial plug. However, that's not the right name, and using the wrong terminology is very confusing when you start talking about AV stuff.

If you can switch to a software-only mode, that should solve the problem. Otherwise, you're probably going to get behavior that is inconsistent at best.

I looked through the preferences, and it appears that software mode is not an option. However, I also found that I could select the mixer inputs for the PVR150, so I'm going to do some experimenting to see what happens. I already tried switching them, but with the audio plugged into the TV card, it simply uses that, regardless of any selection that I make. Perhaps with the audio only plugged into the sound card, I might have greater control.

Yeah... I don't have a lot of experience with the WinTV app -- I use BeyondTV. So I'm not really sure what it's capable of.

 

[Seekermeister]

Perhaps you are referring to the "RF" or "coax" connector as "antenna", since over-the-air antennas often use the same sort of coaxial plug. However, that's not the right name, and using the wrong terminology is very confusing when you start talking about AV stuff.

Odd and confusing go hand in hand. I never claimed to know much about A/V, or it's terminology. However, a rose by any other name...