Capture Audio Only ?

KO

Newbie Location: / Joined: Feb 17, 2010 19:00 Messages: 2 Offline

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Feb 17, 2010 19:57

Is there a way to capture audio only with PD8?

I used to record analog audio onto S-VHS tape because back in the 80's that was a great way to get high quality audio tape recordings!!

I used PD8 to capture this audio only (NO video) recording on S-VHS tape.
THe file size after capture was 17M.
Then (Since, I assume, PD8 is also trying to capture video that's not there) I'm thinking I have extra data I don't want . . . sooo, I extracted the audio using the "extract audio" option. To my amazement this turned my 17M file into a 38M file ! SO what's up with that ?? /

CharlesF

Member Location: Everett, Washington. U.S.A. Joined: Apr 16, 2009 20:49 Messages: 57 Offline

Feb 17, 2010 20:17

The extract audio feature extracts audio to the highest quality format, a .wav file. Those are, by nature, larger than compressed files like mpg because they are high quality.

You can find many free utilities out there to compress the finished .wav files into .mp3 files if the final .wav file is too big for your liking.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=convert+wav+to+mp3+free&aq=f&aqi=g10&oq=&fp=7bb90598241b844f

Note: the original media file you are extracting from is probably already a compressed format and when you extract audio, you are un-compressing it and storing it as raw .wav file data, which is larger.

Hope that answers your question.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Feb 17. 2010 20:18

KO

Newbie Location: / Joined: Feb 17, 2010 19:00 Messages: 2 Offline

Feb 17, 2010 20:49

Thanx so much for great answer - that makes perfect sense.
But, that raises a new question. or maybe the original one - since (I think) compression & decompression causes data loss then Im thinking I should look for a feature on PD8 that records the audio track only AND in .WAV in the first place. Or is my premise wrong about data loss (therefore sound quality) thru com/decom ? /

James Dotson

Senior Contributor Location: Tennessee Joined: Aug 24, 2009 20:40 Messages: 3066 Offline

Feb 17, 2010 20:56

I don't think the loss would be very noticeable, but if it is a problem, then PD will capture audio only if the source device has an audio output that can be run to the computer's line in or mic port. __________________________________
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