ADVC 300 Oddity

[THoff]

Something really strange happened to me today that I cannot explain and which has never happened to me before.

I tried to record a 4 hour live TV broadcast using my ADVC-300 using a S-Video connection. Before the broadcast started, I used the Picture Controller to confirm the filter settings and to kick-start the ADVC-300 detection. In my experience applications have an easier time finding the ADVC if I access it from Picture Controller first by opening the Preview window -- this also selects the correct video input source on the ADVC.

I opened the Preview window and saw and heard the TV program, everything was fine. I closed the Preview window, exited Picture Controller, started the capture, and went back to bed (the program was scheduled to run from 5AM to 9AM).

Shortly after 9AM, I stopped the capture and double-clicked on the AVI file for a quick review using Windows Media Player. The video looked great, but there was no sound! I double-checked all the usual culprits like a muted sound card, low audio levels etc., and even checked the audio properties of the file. The file did contain a PCM audio stream, but it was silent.

I reopened my capture program, captured a seconds of the current TV program, and checked that -- it was fine and had audio. I had made no changes in the cabling, capture settings, or anything else.

It's no big deal because I can get the program off my Tivo, I just need to hook up the ADVC to it and recapture, but it costs me time to do it and I'm at a loss to explain what happened. I have captured hundreds of hours with my ADVC-300 and this is a new one for me. Has anyone else ever experienced this?

[GrassValley_BH]

Does the TiVo recording have non-silent audio?

The 300 has only one input, and the DV codec should take the audio that's coming in, so I'm stumped.

[THoff]

No, the Tivo recording is fine, I'm recording that right now -- I've got another hour to go, and the reason why I recorded the live broadcast was to save me the time of doing what I'm doing now.

The ADVC-300 was connected to a separate DirecTV receiver in my office, and I watched the first few minutes of the live broadcast on the TV connected to that receiver. There was audio there, too.

I pulled the AVI file into Edius, and there was an audio stream in it, but the audio waveform was a flat line. A second capture shortly after stopping the 5AM to 9AM recording and discovering the problem without turning off the ADVC-300 or making any cabling changes worked fine.

I'm just going to pretend it never happened...

[kbosward]

Do you have a clever dog that might have disconnected the audio cables and reconnected them before you woke up? :) Sorry, I really have no idea what could have caused the lack of audio. I agree, just write it off as an unexplained event.

Ken.