ATI AIW 9600 Pro Sound Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roger Zimmerman
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Roger Zimmerman

Hi Experts,

I recently purchased an ATI AIW 9600 Pro card, and am using it in a
new Gigabyte motherboard. I first connected the audio output to the
sound card embedded onto the motherboard. This worked OK for sound
from the system or CD. The sound quality was a little distorted when
I played back video/sound captured through the ATI card. I did a
System Compatibility Test with the ATI Mulitmedia Software, Ver 8.8
and it said that the sound card clock stability was greater than 0.2%.
It suggested getting a better sound card.

What I don't understand is that if the ATI already has an audio line
out, why do I need to have another sound card. Why can't I just use
my ATI line out for sound for everything? Is there a driver out there
that will allow me to do this?

I turned off the sound card on the motherboard through the BIOS,
hoping that the system would start using the ATI sound. This didn't
work, I did not get any sound out after this.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated. I'd rather not have to
go out and fork over the cash for a sound card now.

Thanks in advance

Roger Zimmerman
 
Unfortunatly there's a little more to making a sound card than just having a
"line-Out". I would guess that the sound to go along with the video on your
AIW9600 is created using hardware decoders, in which case there is no
facility to introduce software sound into its mix. Hence, no, there are
drivers you can get to make the "line-out" on your AIW9600pro act like as a
sound card.

CrimsonLiar
 
I wouldn't put to much importance on the result of that sound chip clock
stability test. I've had my machine pass on one occasion and then fail on
another (with no component or driver changes in between) and the sound out
of my All In Wonder Radeon has been OK all the time. What sound chip does
the Gigabyte motherboard use? There are *known issues with certain C-Media
chips* (fixed in the latest versions I believe) and MMC but these don't
occur with live TV - only recorded or time delay TV - hows the live TV/FM
Radio sound quality? Are all the mixer volume sliders at moderate levels?

The reason why you need the soundcard/chip is because the AIWs sound output
isn't amplified enough for driving normal speakers and the sound output from
the card is just a direct feed from the tuners/audio source - it has nothing
to do with recording to or playing back from, the HDD. It's a bit like
saying why can't a radio card or speakerphone/voice modem be used as a
general system sound card.

If you're unsure of the audio chipset, do you have the motherboard model and
revision? What does Windows Device manager or DirectX list under the
relevant sections for audio devices? Best to try all other options before
looking at disabling onboard sound and fitting a sound card.

Paul
 
What I don't understand is that if the ATI already has an audio line
out, why do I need to have another sound card. Why can't I just use
my ATI line out for sound for everything? Is there a driver out there
that will allow me to do this?
Click to expand...


You ARE using the ATI line out ALL sound.....related to the ATI.
Sound card is needed to amplify.
'Line in' from a 'line out' source is just that - input/output at
'line' volume...as if you were running a turntable (well close
anyway) with only the RCA outputs, you need to amplify it in a
different way (more power,simply) in this case.


The sound quality was a little distorted when
I played back video/sound captured through the ATI card.
Click to expand...

I first connected the audio output to the
sound card embedded onto the motherboard.
Click to expand...

Through what jack/input? do you even have an option? 'Mic in' or
'line in' or just an 'input'?
Sometimes line volumes are set High, its really up to the equipment's
max output / min input and the engineers discretion, and now I could
babble on about the intricacies of it, but that's the gist of it.
 
Paul,

It turns out the mixer level was set to high. I turned it down to mid
level and the 0.2% distortion problem went away.

The next thing I am trying to troubleshoot is a DMA issue. When I run
the ATI TV, it gives a warning that the DMA is not enabled on my sound
card and performance will be degraded. I checked in control panel (I
forget exactly where now) and it said the sound card is working with
Ultra DMA level 6.

Any suggestions as to why ATI gives the DMA warning?

Thanks

Roger Zimmerman
 
Sounds like there's some mix up there, its normally hard disk drives which
run under Ultra DMA 6. Have you had a read of this:
http://www.ati.com/support/compatibility/pccheck.html information about ATIs
PC Check utility? It refers to how you can ensure DMA is enabled for your
drives. If you're still stuck, if you can give the exact warning and
(precisely) where its found/what you did to get the warning, this will aid
any further troubleshooting.

Paul
 
Paul;

You are correct it was DMA for the HDD not the sound card.
Here are the details:

1. I run the TV feature of my ATI multimedia launch center 8.8. I get
Warning: DMA Not Enabled
Personal Video Recorder and TV on Demand
Performance will be degraded on this system as DMA for
the hard dis is not enabled.

Please check the System Setting in the Windows
Control Panel for the following devices:

Maxtor 6Y120P0

2. I check the contol panel//Device Manager/IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
The only controller is:
NVIDA NForce 2(tm) SPP/IGP ATA Controller
Under "Primary Channel" I get:
Master:
Current Transfer Mode
Ultra DMA 6 - Ultra 133
enable write cache [followed by a box with a check mark in it]

Slave
Current Transfer MOde
No Device

Under "Secondary Channel" I get:
Master
Current Transfer Mode
Ultra DMA 2 - Ultra33
Enable Write Cache [greyed out box, no check mark]

Slave
No device

The primary channel is the HDD, secondary is the DVD.

Any ideas on why I get the warning and how to correct this?

Thanks,

Roger Zimmerman
 
In terms of an answer for "Any ideas on why I get the warning and how to
correct this?" my thoughts would be along the lines of ensuring the latest
motherboard chipset drivers are correctly installed. What does ATIs PC Check
say about things (the last tab in the PC Configuration program under the ATI
Multimedia Centre start menu icons)? Additionally, do you get the DMA
warning under ATI DVD Player?

Paul
 
Paul;

You are correct it was DMA for the HDD not the sound card.
Here are the details:

1. I run the TV feature of my ATI multimedia launch center 8.8. I get
Warning: DMA Not Enabled
Personal Video Recorder and TV on Demand
Performance will be degraded on this system as DMA for
the hard dis is not enabled.

Please check the System Setting in the Windows
Control Panel for the following devices:

Maxtor 6Y120P0

2. I check the contol panel//Device Manager/IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
The only controller is:
NVIDA NForce 2(tm) SPP/IGP ATA Controller
Under "Primary Channel" I get:
Master:
Current Transfer Mode
Ultra DMA 6 - Ultra 133
enable write cache [followed by a box with a check mark in it]

Slave
Current Transfer MOde
No Device

Under "Secondary Channel" I get:
Master
Current Transfer Mode
Ultra DMA 2 - Ultra33
Enable Write Cache [greyed out box, no check mark]

Slave
No device

The primary channel is the HDD, secondary is the DVD.

Any ideas on why I get the warning and how to correct this?

Thanks,

Roger Zimmerman
Click to expand...


Don't worry about it, Roger. The Ati configuration app is notorious
for misleading and incorrect diagnoses, and the fact that it can't
read a number of IDE drivers' information is one of them. If your
system information says DMA is enabled and the Ati app says it may not
be, you're fine.

I've had any number of different MMCs running on several different
systems, all with DMA enabled at whatever speed and working perfectly,
and not once has the configuration app ever managed to detect this.
Other disinformation from it includes faster AMD CPUs and even, I
understand, P4s "not having MMX enabled" and capture drivers not being
installed when they are and capture is fully functional. You would
have thought Ati would be able to read the correct installation of
their own drivers!


patrickp

(e-mail address removed) - take five to email me
 
Patrick,

Thanks for the suggestions.

Could you assist with one other issue? I solved the 0.2% distortion
issue by reducing the mixer level. I am not fully happy with the
sound quality when I record from a Camcorder output. I have not tried
anything else yet (via the ATI card input).

I was told there could an IRQ conflict. I checked IRQs through:
accessories/system tools/system information/hardware
resources/conflicts/sharing. I found that the Standard OpenHCD USB
Host Controller and NVIDIA(R)nForce(TM) Audio Codec Interface both use
IRQ 20. I tried unistalling them and letting them auto install on
boot up and they both picked IRQ20 again. I can't find anyway to
change the IRQs that they each use in the device manager.

I suspect that my machine is fast enough (2.5GHz, 512MB RAM) that it
allows them to share IRQs. However when it comes to ATI audio
codecs/compression and recordng audio, I am suspicious that sharing
the interrupts with USB may screw up the sound quality with occasional
lost data.

Do you think this IRQ conflict could screw up sound quality? If so,
any tips on how to resolve the IRQ conflict?

Thanks,

Roger Zimmerman
 
Patrick,

Thanks for the suggestions.

Could you assist with one other issue? I solved the 0.2% distortion
issue by reducing the mixer level. I am not fully happy with the
sound quality when I record from a Camcorder output. I have not tried
anything else yet (via the ATI card input).

I was told there could an IRQ conflict. I checked IRQs through:
accessories/system tools/system information/hardware
resources/conflicts/sharing. I found that the Standard OpenHCD USB
Host Controller and NVIDIA(R)nForce(TM) Audio Codec Interface both use
IRQ 20. I tried unistalling them and letting them auto install on
boot up and they both picked IRQ20 again. I can't find anyway to
change the IRQs that they each use in the device manager.

I suspect that my machine is fast enough (2.5GHz, 512MB RAM) that it
allows them to share IRQs. However when it comes to ATI audio
codecs/compression and recordng audio, I am suspicious that sharing
the interrupts with USB may screw up the sound quality with occasional
lost data.

Do you think this IRQ conflict could screw up sound quality? If so,
any tips on how to resolve the IRQ conflict?

Thanks,

Roger Zimmerman
Click to expand...


Roger, I suspect from rereading your original post that you are
confusing the Ati config app's diagnosis of your soundcard stability
with distortion; unless you've actually measured distortion levels at
0.2%. The app's measurement of stability is basically a test of the
timimg clock of your soundcard: this is primarily, I think, for DVD
playback, but may well also be significant in capturing.

You say you have an embedded sound chip; I presume it is the nforce
one? I'm afraid I don't know anything about these. I've found the
same thing with Creative cards, though: that the sound quality
improves considerably when you back off on the levels: about 75%
volume levels are considered optimum for Soundblaster cards.
Different drivers can also make a considerable difference; it might be
a good idea to check what drivers you're running for yours. I'm
afraid Crimson Liar is perfectly correct, your AIW's sound handling
capability falls well short of even the most basic soundcard.

You don't say what kind of camcorder you're using, but some digital
camcorders have very good sound quality: it may just be that, by
comparison, you're expecting too much from your sound chip. As I say,
I have no experience of the nforce sound chips, so I can't comment on
this. Perhaps someone else can answer your questions? There are a
lot of people posting here who know a lot more about capture than me,
and who may also be more familiar with your sound chip.

As far as your IRQ sharing is concerned, that shouldn't be a problem.
Newer OSs like W2K and XP have little problem with sharing IRQs, often
putting a number of devices on the same IRQ. Even in older OSs,
soundcards and USB drivers somehow often seem to wind up on the same
IRQ without it being a problem. If you don't have anything showing as
forced or problem hardware, you should be Ok.


patrickp

(e-mail address removed) - take five to email me
 
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