Audio from TV to Computer sounds like in a Fish tank?

[EverclearBoy]

Hi!

 

I have an HP All-in-One currently hooked up via HDMI into my Sony HDTV into one of the HDMI IN ports. The TV itself is hooked to a 2.1 Soundbar system via Optical Audio to the Subwoofer/Reciever piece. The TV has one ARC HDMI port and that is currently connected to a Ps3.

 

I'm trying to get audio from either the TV or the PS3 into my computer to work with in Audacity. But The audio sounds like its in a Fish tank, doesn't sound clear or even in stereo, hard to say. What am I doing wrong to make this work right? Thanks!

[mansr]

How are you receiving audio on the PC?

[EverclearBoy]

The All-in-One is currently hooked up via HDMI into the TV HDMI IN #2 There is only one HDMI port on the back of the All-in-One. So its getting the Fish tank audio from both the TV and Ps3 that way currently.

[mansr]

The All-in-One is currently hooked up via HDMI into the TV HDMI IN #2 There is only one HDMI port on the back of the All-in-One. So its getting the Fish tank audio from both the TV and Ps3 that way currently.

You say the ARC port is connected to the PS3. Moreover, I've never heard of a regular desktop PC supporting audio input over HDMI. These things lead me to believe you're not receiving audio that way. Could it be that you are actually recording it with a (built-in) microphone? That would certainly explain poor quality.

 

The easiest way to get good audio from a TV or PS3 into a computer is with a Toslink capture device. It's unlikely that your PC has this built-in, but you probably find a reasonably priced USB unit.

[EverclearBoy]

Ah dam. Your Right, it was the Microphone off the All-in-One. Doesnt HDMI carry an audio signal though? Is there no way to make that work without external hardware?

[17629]

Try plugging the PS-3 directly into the sound bar and play the same music. Sounds the same, or different? Use an analog connection if you have to. Also, if you have speaker cables that attach to the sound bar, check them to make sure they are not wired out of phase. Its a very common mistake. Your description of the problem sounds like this could easily be the case.

 

I know you said you get the same problem in stereo. Make sure all of your components are set for 2 channel.

[sandyk]

There is likely to be a delay between the audio to the speakers from the TV and digital audio out.

Mine sounds a bit like you describe if I forget to turn the volume to the TV speakers back to Zero before listening via Toslink from my TV to my DAC for serious listening

[mansr]

Ah dam. Your Right, it was the Microphone off the All-in-One. Doesnt HDMI carry an audio signal though? Is there no way to make that work without external hardware?

 

HDMI carries audio (along with video) from a source (PC, Bluray player, PS3, etc.) to a sink (TV, monitor). An AVR works as a repeater, receiving an HDMI signal from a source and passing it on to a sink while extracting the audio and playing it the attached speakers. The ARC (Audio Return Channel) was added to allow a TV (normally a sink) to send audio (e.g. from a received broadcast) in reverse direction over the HDMI cable to an AVR for playback through its speakers which are probably better than the TV built-in ones.

 

To record audio from an HDMI source with a PC you'd need an HDMI input device (sink) rather than the usual output-only graphics card (source). These exist but are very expensive, and you'd have some hell or other with HDCP. I'm not aware of any PC graphics cards even supporting ARC.

 

As I said before, you'll get best results by capturing the digital outputs of your TV and PS3. If you don't have suitable hardware for that, you can of course record the analogue output using the line input of a PC (preferably an external USB sound "card") though this will be considerably noisier. Do not try to use a microphone input as these are intended for very low level signals.

[sandyk]

The ARC (Audio Return Channel) was added to allow a TV (normally a sink) to send audio (e.g. from a received broadcast) in reverse direction over the HDMI cable to an AVR for playback through its speakers which are probably better than the TV built-in ones.

In addition, many TVs also have Optical Out to do the same thing , which means you can play a BluRay movie or DVD-A for example, via a HDMI connection from the media player, and the TV sends the audio back to a DAC. Direct SPDIF Out from the media player to the DAC is of course slightly better due to less processing being involved.