help with bridge

masmedia wrote on 11/29/2007, 5:06 PM
I know I've done this before... I want to use my Sony vx2100 as a bridge into my laptop to record some stereo audio. I have my audio hooked into my camera via the rca inputs, and have the firewire going from the camera into my laptop w/Vegas. I tried just running it, running it in vcr mode in rec/pause, in vcr mode while recording, and in camera mode (which feeds back). What am I missing? Is there a capture setting in Vegas I need to change? It's been awhile, but I know for sure this has worked before.

Thanks!

Comments

pwppch wrote on 11/29/2007, 8:05 PM
You are trying to record audio on a track? That is you add a track, arm it for record, and then hit the record button?

I don't see how this could work unless the Sony vx2100 has audio drivers that Vegas can see.

Is this the case?

Peter


richard-courtney wrote on 11/29/2007, 8:46 PM
Set to VCR mode.

My PD170 has a menu option A/V->OUT that when turned
ON passes the input jacks to firewire.
farss wrote on 11/29/2007, 9:29 PM
You just capture the video via Vidcap, gives you the audio as well.
Most likely as you've noted will not work if you tried to record it as audio.

Bob.
masmedia wrote on 12/1/2007, 5:15 PM
no, I'm not trying to record audio straight to a track, just via the capture tool.
masmedia wrote on 12/1/2007, 5:16 PM
my camera is set to VCR mode.
masmedia wrote on 12/1/2007, 5:17 PM
this is what I just tried again, and I have "capture audio" selected to capture along with video, but will just bring in what's on the tape. I also tried it without a tape, but the capture tool tells me to insert tape.
farss wrote on 12/1/2007, 5:26 PM
If Vidcap is telling you to insert a tape then you have Device Control enabled. Turn that off in Vidcap's options.

Bob.
masmedia wrote on 12/1/2007, 5:37 PM
Bob,

Thanks. I'm getting closer to success! Now it doesn't ask me for a tape. It may be a camera issue after all, as I'm not hearing my audio thought my camera. I'm just playing a CD into my camera, wanting to use that as a bridge, to get it into my Vegas/PC via firewire. I know I've done this before, and can't figure out what changed.

thanks for your advice,

mas
richard-courtney wrote on 12/1/2007, 5:58 PM
I just recorded a cd bridged with my camera.
Did you find the option on your camera for A/V -> DV OUT?

I am hearing the audio on my camera's built-in speaker.
masmedia wrote on 12/1/2007, 6:06 PM
I did... tried it both ways (off and on) and still nothing. Perhaps it's something simple I'm missing. Hope you guys don't think I'm retarded! I can't hardly believe it's not working because I'm sure I did this with a cassette tape about 4 months ago.

thanks for you help,

mas
PeterWright wrote on 12/1/2007, 7:27 PM
If it's an audio CD, the easiest way is to put it in your PC's CD drive, open Vegas, double click the required CD track in Vegas Explorer, tell it where you want it saved, and it will be captured to the timeline.
masmedia wrote on 12/1/2007, 7:38 PM
thanks, Peter. I didn't know you could do that. That's the heck of it in this situation, though, and why I'm trying to bridge it: my PC CD drive won't play this particular disc, but another CD player will. I should still be able to bridge it with my camera, but now I'm thinking it's a camera issue because I should be hearing the CD in the camera and am not.
farss wrote on 12/1/2007, 7:56 PM
The CD drive doesn't need to 'play' the disk for Vegas to be able to extract the audio. Vegas reads the data from the disk, faster than real time too. So give the Vegas Import CD track method a go, might save a you a lot of grief and as it's digital all the way you get perfect quality.

Bob.
TGS wrote on 12/1/2007, 8:30 PM
Yes, extract the audio.
When you have Vegas open, look to the bottom left corner and select the "Project Media" tab. Above the windows of this tab, you'll see some Icons, just above and to the left of those windows. One of them, by hovering you mouse above it, will say "Extract Audio from a CD"
Click on it and another window will open. In the "Action" window of this new window, you can "Read entire disc", "Read by Track" and "Read by Range"
"Read entire disc" will extract the entire disc
"Read by Track" will let you extract the song you choose
"Read by Range" will let you choose the in point and out point anywhere on the CD
It works incredibly easy.
Once you make your decision, choose "OK" and it will bring it in.
masmedia wrote on 12/2/2007, 6:27 AM
hey, that's a neato little trick! thanks. However, my PC just doesn't like that disc, and still won't bring it in via the cd drive.

I still wish I could figure out how I did this using my camera as a bridge. I know I did it before, because at that time the music was on tape and had a tape deck running though my camera.
Probably time I bought (or, Santa: are you reading this?!) a proper bridge anyway.

thanks for the tips, everyone

mas
masmedia wrote on 12/2/2007, 6:29 AM
hey, that's a neato little trick! thanks. However, my PC just doesn't like that disc, and still won't bring it in via the cd drive.

I still wish I could figure out how I did this using my camera as a bridge. I know I did it before, because at that time the music was on tape and had a tape deck running though my camera.
Probably time I bought (or, Santa: are you reading this?!) a proper bridge anyway.

thanks for the tips, everyone

mas
PeterWright wrote on 12/2/2007, 2:24 PM
You could also connect the line outs from the cassette player to the line in on your sound card - you may need an rca/minijack adapter - then you could record into an audio track in Vegas.
masmedia wrote on 12/2/2007, 3:48 PM
yeah, that would be ideal, and that's the big downfall of my laptop: no line in! Don't believe I'll ever be without one again, as that's the basis for much of my troubles.

Anyway, still not one to give up, I'm trying this again, and I do get my audio into my camera, but not into Vegas. I have the firewire hooked up of course, and if I have it unplugged, I hear my audio in my camera, but don't as soon as I attach my firewire.

A nice line in would avoid all this hassle, I know, but thought I'd resurrect this topic to see if there are any other insights.

thanks,

mas
richard-courtney wrote on 12/2/2007, 4:57 PM
With the firewire unplugged you hear the audio in the camera?

Can you record the audio on a DV tape?

If so, save your ulcer and rewind the tape and capture from the tape.
Remember Sony does make improvements to internal firmware in cameras
and perhaps you simply received a model that does not pass to the firewire.


Good luck
masmedia wrote on 12/8/2007, 5:44 PM
yes, that would work, but would defeat the purpose. I spent about 1 1/2 hours with Sony tech support for my camera, and it took nearly that long to just get them to understand what I was trying to do! Although I know I tried this last week, it turned out the video jack had to be hooked up (terminated).

In summary: (part of this is what I wrote to the camera tech support when asked again what I was trying to do)

analog/digital bridge

Many cameras are able to "pass through" anyway, that's what I've heard it called in several places including the Sony forums. This is when you can have an analog line in to the camera, and an iLink (1394, firewire) digital output, and the signal will pass through the camera. This way, people like me that do not have an analog line in on their computer like I really should, can use their camera as an analog/digital bridge, receiving the analog line in signal, and passing it though the camera into the iLink/firewire digital out. That way, if you have a computer with an iLink connection, you can use your camera as your line in with an analog source connected to it.

For this to work, you must have all 3 RCA jacks connected. If you just want audio, you still need to terminate the video jack, even if just by plugging in a RCA video cord unattached to anything else.

Evidently, this isn't a very common procedure. This is what I get for not buying a PC with a line in!

thanks for the tips,

mas