Fix Found!: Audio through line-in too loud and Distorted

[Lucas]

After a 3 month quest to fix an issue that appeared with the coming of 2.1,
I feel that I should share the solution.

With the PVR250 and USB2, there was an issue were the audio recorded was captured at too high a volume, creating clipping distortion.

For the PVR250 card with the latest "292" driver, there are two settings in the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Globespan\Parameters\ivac15\Driver

1. hcwaudioscart1volume (master volume control)
2. hcwaudi0scart1prescale (relative to master gain control)

1. takes values up to x7701-the default - I now use x6a01 (the 01 is constant)
2. takes values from x0000 to x2a00 - I now use x1300.

There are also other values that control the volume of the TV tuner audio and the Radio tuner audio if one is present.

By adjusting each carefully, one can get the same volume levels for all input sources.


For the PVRUSB2 card
The fix came with the latest driver 2_25_22329.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Conexant\Parameters\ivac15\DrvUSB]
"PreScale_Scart_EXT"=dword:00001000

I have set mine to 0800 and it has lowered the volume by about 3db.

Hope this helps!

[mwhite]

Thanks Lucas!

I have two PVR-250s, one with analog cable in and one with S-Video/Line In from DirecTV STB, and had a similar problem when I upgraded to 2.1. The line in was way too loud compared to the audio from the analog cable. I could never get it fixed so I went back to 2.0.

Might be time to try upgrading again!

Thanks again,

-mark

[sledbc]

THANKS!!!!! been lookin for this for so long, this needs to be a sticky for sure!

[jimbobuk]

Do you have to restart windows for each registry change to apply? I restarted Sage last night and couldn't really notice a big difference. I've already got my source outputing slightly quieter than normal to counter this and a similar distortion that was audible through another connected device. Its just i've come to look at the recordings today (after a reboot) and they are too quiet now.. If you do have to restart windows it'll take a while to pick the right level

[fidget]

Originally Posted by Lucas

...
For the PVRUSB2 card
The fix came with the latest driver 2_25_22329.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Conexant\Parameters\ivac15\DrvUSB]
"PreScale_Scart_EXT"=dword:00001000

I have set mine to 0800 and it has lowered the volume by about 3db.

Hope this helps!

An easier way to adjust the record volume for the PVR-USB2 is to use the Scart1Volume entry in the same location. It will adjust the overall record level and not just the aux inputs (i.e., it does the RF portion, too). It has the same value as your hcwaudioscart1volume example (defaults to 0x7701, etc.).

[Lucas]

Correct, but the RF channel volume may be OK so one might not want to reduce it as it was in my case.

[shawncochran]

Any idea what the registry line might look like for the PVR-150?? Hauppauge tech support sent me into regedit, but the changes I made haven't made any difference. Again, I'm using the line-in on the PVR-150

[ben_95sl1]

yes, this is a common problem with pvr150. The older drivers responded to some specific reg settings....but then they changed all that will newer drivers, and I thought they sort of dealt with it but apparently not to everyones satisfaction. Just search for "hauppauge tweak" tool in google. There's info on that website about the driver specifics, etc. Also see shspvr.com forums for tons more info. I've been using an older driver and the tweak tool for almost a year.

[shawncochran]

Originally Posted by ben_95sl1

Just search for "hauppauge tweak" tool in google. There's info on that website about the driver specifics, etc. Also see shspvr.com forums for tons more info.

I have, and I did. Here's what has been done. I've manually edited my registry (thanks to Hauppauge support), I've used the tweak tool found on the shspvr.com forum & I'm still way too loud compared to the 5.1 audio. It sounds distorted it is so loud. I can't help but wonder if the "analog" audio is controlled through SageTV somehow. Maybe there is an application that it references to control the analog audio?

[Alfiegerner]

Originally Posted by shawncochran

I have, and I did. Here's what has been done. I've manually edited my registry (thanks to Hauppauge support), I've used the tweak tool found on the shspvr.com forum & I'm still way too loud compared to the 5.1 audio. It sounds distorted it is so loud. I can't help but wonder if the "analog" audio is controlled through SageTV somehow. Maybe there is an application that it references to control the analog audio?

Hi, apparently the hauppage tweak tool only works with certain drivers. Personally I've found the best compromise is using a fairly old set of drivers that work with this tweak tool. Follow the advice here:

http://www.shspvr.com/smf/index.php?...46415#msg46415

and you should be okay.

Using this this tweak tool has massively improves my video quality with the following settings: set the temproal filter to 1, static filter to 0 and crank the sharpness right up.

[ben_95sl1]

sorry, I guess I wasn't clear, you need to be using the older drivers to adjust them with the tweak program. I've found it surprisingly difficult to revert the drivers, since you need to replace the base driver. It is clearly explained on the shspvr website though, which has the older base drivers from the install cd. A friend had corrupt mpeg issues with the then current release drivers, and reverting to the older driver fixed that problem too.

I've been running driver: 23061 and never experienced a problem. I refuse to upgrade.

[shawncochran]

Originally Posted by ben_95sl1

I've found it surprisingly difficult to revert the drivers, since you need to replace the base driver. It is clearly explained on the shspvr website though, which has the older base drivers from the install cd.

Okay -- I will work through that because everything I've done so far doesn't work.... and "tech support" from SageTV is non-existent. I'm not sure why they charge for their software at this point, since it is totally and 100% supported by the people in this forum, and not their support dept.

[peternm22]

I just upgraded to the most recent version of SageTV (5.0.4), and the volume on one of my 250's is too high (it causes distortion). I upgraded from 2.0.20

I have two 250's, and only one of them does this. I looked at the registry edit, but it doesn't look like it allows you to reduce the volume of only one tuner. The Hauppauge tweak tool seems to work the same way.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

-Peter