I just did a clean install of opensuse 11.3. Pretty much everything is working great. However, I tried to record a video of a youtube stream and the sound didn’t record while using xvidcap. I’m using all default settings. Anyone know a fix for this? I’m a newbie when it comes to linux audio.
What are your mixer settings?
kmix: visible channels include master, surround, center, lfe, pcm, cd. All channels are unmuted and set to about 50% volume. I noticed several non-modifiable channels including “video” and “capture”. Sound card is nvidia CK804.
xvidcap settings: codec = mp3, channels = 2.0, input device = /dev/dsp
My experience is xvidcap records sound at very low levels.
I confess I’m not able to check your mixer settings based on what you posted. Can you instead with your PC connected to the Internet run the diagnostic script:
/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh
and select the SHARE/UPLOAD setting, and then post here the website URL/address it provides where your PC audio settings are located.
If you do not find that website URL/address, then run it with the no-upload option and pastebin it, … ie
/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh --no-upload
and copy the contents of file /tmp/alsa-info.txt to pastebin - collaborative debugging tool and press submit and post here the website URL/address where that pasted file contents are located
The first option didn’t work, so I’ve pasted the results of the second. I only pasted half of the message because the entire is too long to post.
upload=true&script=true&cardinfo=
!!################################
!!ALSA Information Script v 0.4.58
!!################################
!!Script ran on: Wed Jul 21 02:13:48 UTC 2010
!!Linux Distribution
!!------------------
Welcome to openSUSE 11.3 “Teal” - Kernel \r (\l). openSUSE 11.3 (i586)
!!DMI Information
!!---------------
Manufacturer:
Product Name:
!!Kernel Information
!!------------------
Kernel release: 2.6.34-12-desktop
Operating System: GNU/Linux
Architecture: i686
Processor: athlon
SMP Enabled: Yes
!!ALSA Version
!!------------
Driver version: 1.0.22.1
Library version:
Utilities version: 1.0.23
!!Loaded ALSA modules
!!-------------------
snd_intel8x0
!!Sound Servers on this system
!!----------------------------
ESound Daemon:
Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/esd)
Running - No
aRts:
Installed - Yes (/opt/kde3/bin/artsd)
Running - No
!!Soundcards recognised by ALSA
!!-----------------------------
0 [CK804 ]: NFORCE - NVidia CK804
NVidia CK804 with ALC850 at irq 22
!!PCI Soundcards installed in the system
!!--------------------------------------
00:04.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 AC’97 Audio Controller (rev a2)
!!Advanced information - PCI Vendor/Device/Susbsystem ID’s
!!--------------------------------------------------------
00:04.0 0401: 10de:0059 (rev a2)
Subsystem: 1458:ae03
!!Loaded sound module options
!!--------------------------
!!Module: snd_intel8x0
ac97_clock : 0
ac97_quirk : (null)
buggy_irq : Y
buggy_semaphore : N
enable : N
id : (null)
index : -1
joystick : 0
spdif_aclink : 0
xbox : N
!!AC97 Codec information
!!---------------------------
–startcollapse–
0-0/0: Realtek ALC850 rev 0
PCI Subsys Vendor: 0x1458
PCI Subsys Device: 0xae03
Flags: 80020
Revision : 0x00
Compat. Class : 0x00
Subsys. Vendor ID: 0xffff
Subsys. ID : 0xffff
Capabilities :
DAC resolution : 16-bit
ADC resolution : 16-bit
3D enhancement : No 3D Stereo Enhancement
Current setup
Mic gain : +0dB +0dB]
POP path : pre 3D
Sim. stereo : off
3D enhancement : off
Loudness : off
Mono output : MIX
Mic select : Mic1
ADC/DAC loopback : off
Double rate slots: 7/8
Extended ID : codec=0 rev=2 LDAC SDAC CDAC DSA=0 SPDIF DRA
Extended status : SPCV LDAC SDAC CDAC SPDIF=10/11
SPDIF Control : Consumer PCM Category=0x2 Generation=1 Rate=48kHz
0:00 = 0000
0:02 = 1818
0:04 = 0000
0:06 = 0008
0:08 = 0000
0:0a = 801e
0:0c = 801f
0:0e = 801f
0:10 = 9f1f
0:12 = 0d0d
0:14 = 0000
0:16 = 9f1f
0:18 = 1212
0:1a = 0000
0:1c = 0808
0:1e = 0000
0:20 = 0400
0:22 = 0000
0:24 = 0000
0:26 = 000f
0:28 = 09c6
0:2a = 05f0
0:2c = bb80
0:2e = bb80
0:30 = bb80
0:32 = bb80
0:34 = 0000
0:36 = 1310
0:38 = 1212
0:3a = 2824
0:3c = 0000
0:3e = 0000
0:40 = 0000
0:42 = 0000
0:44 = 0000
0:46 = 0000
0:48 = 0000
0:4a = 0000
0:4c = 0000
0:4e = 0000
0:50 = 0000
0:52 = 0000
0:54 = 0000
0:56 = 0000
0:58 = 0000
0:5a = 0000
0:5c = 0000
0:5e = 0000
0:60 = 0000
0:62 = 0000
0:64 = 0808
0:66 = 0808
0:68 = 0a0a
0:6a = 8400
0:6c = 0000
0:6e = 0017
0:70 = c5a0
0:72 = 00c0
0:74 = 8388
0:76 = aad0
0:78 = 148e
0:7a = 10e2
0:7c = 414c
0:7e = 4790
–endcollapse–
!!ALSA Device nodes
!!-----------------
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 7 Jul 20 06:41 /dev/snd/controlC0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 6 Jul 20 06:41 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 5 Jul 20 18:09 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 4 Jul 20 06:41 /dev/snd/pcmC0D1c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 3 Jul 20 06:41 /dev/snd/pcmC0D2p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 8 Jul 20 06:42 /dev/snd/seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 2 Jul 20 06:41 /dev/snd/timer
/dev/snd/by-path:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 60 Jul 20 06:41 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 200 Jul 20 06:42 …
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 12 Jul 20 06:41 pci-0000:00:04.0 → …/controlC0
!!Aplay/Arecord output
!!------------
APLAY
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 0: Intel ICH [NVidia CK804]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 2: Intel ICH - IEC958 [NVidia CK804 - IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
ARECORD
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 0: Intel ICH [NVidia CK804]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 1: Intel ICH - MIC ADC [NVidia CK804 - MIC ADC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
!!Amixer output
!!-------------
!!-------Mixer controls for card 0 [CK804]
Card hw:0 ‘CK804’/‘NVidia CK804 with ALC850 at irq 22’
Mixer name : ‘Realtek ALC850 rev 0’
Components : ‘AC97a:414c4790’
Controls : 42
Simple ctrls : 27
Simple mixer control ‘Master’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 7 [23%] -36.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 7 [23%] -36.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Master Mono’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 23 [74%] -12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘PCM’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 13 [42%] -15.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 13 [42%] -15.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Surround’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 13 [42%] -27.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 13 [42%] -27.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Surround Jack Mode’,0
Capabilities: enum
Items: ‘Shared’ ‘Independent’
Item0: ‘Shared’
Simple mixer control ‘Center’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 15 [48%] -24.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘LFE’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 12 [39%] -28.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Line’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control ‘CD’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 18 [58%] -7.50dB] [on] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 18 [58%] -7.50dB] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control ‘Mic’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [off]
Front Left: Capture [on]
Front Right: Capture [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Mic Boost (+20dB)’,0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control ‘Mic Front Input’,0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control ‘Mic Select’,0
Capabilities: enum
Items: ‘Mic1’ ‘Mic2’
Item0: ‘Mic1’
Simple mixer control ‘Video’,0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control ‘Phone’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [off]
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control ‘IEC958’,0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control ‘IEC958 Playback AC97-SPSA’,0
Capabilities: volume volume-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Mono
Limits: 0 - 3
Mono: 3 [100%]
Simple mixer control ‘IEC958 Playback Source’,0
Capabilities: enum
Items: ‘PCM’ ‘Analog In’ ‘IEC958 In’
Item0: ‘PCM’
Simple mixer control ‘Beep’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 15
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] -45.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control ‘Aux’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control ‘Mono Output Select’,0
Capabilities: enum
Items: ‘Mix’ ‘Mic’
Item0: ‘Mix’
Simple mixer control ‘Capture’,0
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined penum
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 15
Front Left: Capture 8 [53%] [12.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Capture 8 [53%] [12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Mix’,0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control ‘Mix Mono’,0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control ‘Channel Mode’,0
Capabilities: enum
Items: ‘2ch’ ‘4ch’ ‘6ch’ ‘8ch’
Item0: ‘6ch’
Simple mixer control ‘Duplicate Front’,0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control ‘External Amplifier’,0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
!!Alsactl output
!!-------------
–startcollapse–
state.CK804 {
control.1 {
comment.access ‘read write’
comment.type BOOLEAN
comment.count 1
iface MIXER
name ‘Master Playback Switch’
value true
}
control.2 {
comment.access ‘read write’
comment.type INTEGER
comment.count 2
comment.range ‘0 - 31’
comment.dbmin -4650
comment.dbmax 0
iface MIXER
name ‘Master Playback Volume’
value.0 7
value.1 7
}
I have a REAL DIFFICULT time reading that. I wish you would have followed my request instead of innovating and I will not waste my time pointing things out specifically as a result because by posting above it is SIGNIFICANTLY harder for me due to the way you replied. I know, it makes no difference to you, but as someone trying to provide support, ignoring the specifics of my request makes this hard for me. If you had put this on a paste bin site it is MUCH easier on my PC to read (as opposed to reading in a forum post). … apologies for that, but I don’t know what to say here.
Anyway, a quick glance shows your capture for you mic is switched OFF guaranteeing you will capture no sound. You need to fix that.
IF you post this on a pastebin site, I’ll point out the specific settings, but its too difficult for me to do so now given how you copied and pasted this into a post.
Sorry for not following your instructions the first time. The pastebin url is below.
pastebin - collaborative debugging tool
You’re help is appreciated.
I note this in your mixer:
#ARECORD
#**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
#card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 0: Intel ICH [NVidia CK804]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
#card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 1: Intel ICH - MIC ADC [NVidia CK804 - MIC ADC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
#!!Amixer output
#!!-------------
#!!-------Mixer controls for card 0 [CK804]
#Card hw:0 ‘CK804’/‘NVidia CK804 with ALC850 at irq 22’
Mixer name : ‘Realtek ALC850 rev 0’
**Simple mixer control ‘Line’,0
**# Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Playback 0 0%] -34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 0 0%] -34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
**#Simple mixer control ‘Mic’,0
**# Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Mono: Playback 0 0%] -34.50dB] [off]
Front Left: Capture [on]
Front Right: Capture [on]
#Simple mixer control ‘Mic Boost (+20dB)’,0
Mono: Playback [off]
#Simple mixer control ‘Mic Front Input’,0
Mono: Playback [off]
#Simple mixer control ‘Mic Select’,0
Items: ‘Mic1’ ‘Mic2’
Item0: ‘Mic1’
#Simple mixer control ‘Video’,0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture off]
Front Right: Capture off]
#Simple mixer control ‘Phone’,0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Mono: Playback 0 0%] -34.50dB] off]
Front Left: Capture off]
Front Right: Capture off]
#Simple mixer control ‘IEC958’,0
Mono: Playback [off] Capture off]
#Simple mixer control ‘Aux’,0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [off] Capture off]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [off] Capture off]
#Simple mixer control ‘Mono Output Select’,0
Items: ‘Mix’ ‘Mic’
Item0: ‘Mix’
#Simple mixer control ‘Capture’,0
Front Left: Capture 8 53%] [12.00dB] on]
Front Right: Capture 8 53%] [12.00dB] on]
#Simple mixer control ‘Mix’,0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture off]
Front Right: Capture off]
#Simple mixer control ‘Mix Mono’,0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture off]
Front Right: Capture off]
#Simple mixer control ‘Channel Mode’,0
Items: ‘2ch’ ‘4ch’ ‘6ch’ ‘8ch’
Item0: ‘6ch’
Practically everywhere I look in your mixer, the capture is switched OFF.
I’m assuming also this is an external mic, as I see you have digital capture switched OFF (ie I’m assuming its not wired on your PC).
I think you need to unmute the capture. Also, 53% capture is low for initial testing. Jack it up higher, and once this is working, then lower it significantly to get rid of noise. And you should switch the mic boost on.
I recommend you practise with the program ‘arecord’ . Hence when testing your mic, I recommend you use a terminal with this command:
arecord -vv -fdat foo.wav
“foo.wav” is an arbitrary name I made up. Instead you could call it whatapain.wav or whichwaythewindblows.wav or aaarrrrggggg.wav or anything …
Once you get that working, you can then start using the mic with xvidcap.
Thanks OldCPU! It finally works after a lot of playing with the settings. I didn’t realize at first that I could just drag and drop available channels to the display channels window in kmix settings. I set the capture setting to on and the mic capture setting to off. I then set mix 0 to capture. That did the trick.
Thanks again for your help.
Well done.
I confess find the mixer settings for a mic to record can be very confusing.
I recommend you do a screen print of the settings that work, so that you that you have a guide to help you restore them again to the identical functional settings. That approach has saved me major heartburn on more than a few occasions.
Unfortunately i’ve this issue with xvidcap and nosound too. But arecord record sound and aplay is plays.
I try to record online presentation from windows in virtual box, but xvidcap say me, that:
xvidcap --audio_in /dev/dsp
[mpeg4 @ 0x8caba0]removing common factors from framerate
/dev/dsp: Устройство или ресурс занято (eng: device is busy)
xtoffmpeg.c add_audio_stream(): error opening input file /dev/dsp: -5
could you help?
Thank you
my alsa-info:
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=8f0354081650b3ae2336776bf59cfa6e646f600c
nb:~ # lsof |grep dsp
lsof: WARNING: can’t stat() fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon file system /home/user/.gvfs
Output information may be incomplete.
nb:~ #
The 1st thing I noted is your audio capture levels are set very low. My experience is that xvid cap needs high capture settings to work:
**Simple mixer control 'Front Mic Boost',0**
Front Left: 1 **[33%]**
Front Right: 1 **[33%]**
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',0**
Front Left: Capture 10 **[22%]** -7.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Capture 10 **[22%]** -7.00dB] [on]
so you could try moving the boost up to 66% and move the capture from 22% to 80%.
But having stated that, I truely do not know what the problem you have might be. I have some speculative possibilities that you could consider, with my speculating based upon the error message “error opening input file /dev/dsp” that you reported :
- according to xvidcap’s FAQ page (which is part of the documentation you should check) I note that "On-line encoding is done through FFMPEG and also allows for audio grabbing on OSS compatible systems.
" which suggests me to you should** confirm you have the Packman packaged ffmpeg installed**, and it also points to use of OSS. More on that in the next speculative point of mine:
. - in the case of the alsa sound driver, compatibility with applications that use OSS is provided by an OSS emulation layer, which means you need alsa-oss installed
and it means you need your desktop properly tuned so as to use OSS. That comment by OSS was also noted in a Ubuntu support thread where it was noted “wasn’t /dev/dsp the old OSS sound device? OSS and ALSA are different kernel sound subsystems. check if you’re using ALSA and make sure you’ve configured the OSS compatibility layer properly.” . In my case with KDE, I typically have the Packman packaged libxine1 installed and also the packman packaged front end to xine called xine-ui installed. Then under KMENU > Configure Desktop > Multimedia > backend I have “xine” selected as the sound engine. Then by running ‘xine’ in a terminal (which uses the xine front end) with permissions in xine previously set to ‘master of the known universe’ I change the audio output mode to OSS. Hence xine is properly configured for OSS as is my KDE desktop
. - if a file can not be opened that should be opened, there is always the risk this is a permissions problem, and in the case of audio it may be solvable by adding one’s user to the group ‘audio’ (per guidance in step-6 here), restart one’s PC and test
. - I read of a case on a Ubuntu thread where this was claimed to be " … an old linux c++ error and said “Some programs might try to free a space through delete that has already been unallocated. That command suppresses the error by switching off checks for this activity.” with the following purported work around when run from a terminal:
export MALLOC_CHECK_=0
xvidcap
But truthfully, I tend to be rather skeptical of Ubuntu solutions, so caution there and don’t expect too much.
So apologies, I have no solutions, only speculative possibilities for you to try.
On my PC’s “this just works”.