Hi all

Recently i went a bought an Aver live gamer pro HD capture card (c985) for recording and streaming.
After a bit of mucking around installing it as its the model that sits in a pci slot i hooked it up and began to test record.

The set i have is a gaming pc to a capture pc with the card suppost to be doing the heavy lifting so all i have to do is hit the button and not suffer performance issues

I cant tell you when i first heard it but with no other music or sounds playing out of the headphones i could hear a high pitched whine/hum when the recording software is up. this is also being picked up in the windows volume control as it shows that there is sound coming from the AVer rec center software

after doing the usual stuff like checking for drivers/firmare/reinstalling the card in a different slot/reinstalling the software from the ground up i decided to disconect the capture pc from the gaming pc and put it aside to test it.

with the only cables in the capture pc were power/graphic keyboard/mouse i started up the capture software and EVEN with no video/audio input it still was producing the same whine/hum can be seen in the volume mixer controls and heard though the headphones when connected.

And before i get asked i contacted Aver media to which while quick and helpfull ended up telling me to send it back for a refund but as i bought the card though a group buy with a couple of friends getting him to send it back is proving difficult.

ok time for the nuts and bolts:
in no particular order
Cpu: intel core 2 duo e6420
MB: Gigabyte-945p-s3
Ram:ddr2-4 gig duel ch
Graphics:gtx 9800+
Capture card: aver media live gamer pro HD (c985)

hopefully i covered everything





Is this computer a custom built model or an off the shelf model?

Reason why I am asking is that I have seen issues arise with computers used for audio editing/mixing etc that experience issues like this if they are not properly built with all ground planes tied to chassis ground.

Also if the power supply in the computer is on its way out or low quality it can be giving proper power to the computer to function, but if you looked at the 5 or 12VDC power with an oscilloscope you would see a ripple that shouldnt be present. This could be caused by a failed "filter" capacitor which is suppose to flatten the power output and smooth out the AC/DC conversion. So if you tried everything and the problem isnt going away if you have a spare power supply, I'd swap the power supply and see if the noise problem goes away.

My wife has a set of USB powered speakers that makes all sorts of neat digital noise when nothing is playing through the speakers and the computer is busy PROCESSING stuff because the speakers are picking up on the noise on the USB power port which powers them. If these speakers were better quality and powered off of the USB port they would have filtration to clean up the power before the amplifier circuit to provide clean sound.

If the frequency of the noise is a 60Hz hum or 50 Hz hum depending on which part of the world you live, then I'd see if shutting off florescent lights in the AREA stop the noise problem. If the frequency is greater than 60Hz then its likely caused by a power supply or audio cables too CLOSE to a source that is creating emf's in which the audio cable acts as a secondary.

I had a 60Hz hum on my Roland amp that I diagnosed to a Florescent light in the home 15 feet away when JAMMING on my Ibanez.

Lastly, could it be the card itself has an issue with its audio circuit in which the card should be returned under warranty? If you had a 2nd computer to test this on, you could diagnose if the problem goes away on a different computer or remains.

As far as capturing games, I have had better luck using FRAPS instead of using capture cards. Yes FRAPS does use resources and floods the HDD or SSD with continuous writes of raw video data which quickly turn into say 30GB video files, but with virtual dub you can process the videos and make them 30x smaller in the end if needed. If you have a computer that has plenty of processing power to start with FRAPS and the Games will work side by side with no lag or noticeable performance loss.

If you are recording console gaming using your computer then your stuck with having to use a capture card though with RCA cables etc.Yup have do the local moves.
IMO the best you can do now is send it back and negotiate with them about the refund or replacement. It just might be a production defect and a new card will be alright. Even with very tight QC (quality control) , some new devices can fail after shipment. It happens.
Here is a very general article about the problem manufacturers have with quality control. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve