Can't hear line-in in Win XP

July 7, 2005 8:13 PM

Windows XP: Unable to hear sounds from the line-in jack on my soundcard:

I just bought a nifty new TV tuner card and have connected to line out from the TV tuner the the line in on my soundcard. If I go to sound recorder, I can record the sound from the TV, so I know that the sound is coming out of the tuner and is received on the soundcard.

In the volume control dialog, I have enabled the line-in for playback. The volume for this device is at the max and the mute box is not checked. Shouldn't I be able to hear the sound coming in with Windows set up this way?

posted by MotorNeuron to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

Have you got any extra, aftermarket media software (I'm thinking specifically of the software that might have accompanied your new TV card) insalled? Or, any outboard audio equipment connected? I would first close up everything running with any connection to audio at all, and get the system down to as bare-bones a state as normal (preferably after a reboot), then see where you're at.
posted by electric_counterpoint at 12:28 AM on July 8, 2005

What brand is the tuner card? I have an ATI TV Wonder and it took some fiddling to get the sound working. During the setup, there is a step where you configure the audio and there is a drop down with several choices. ("What You Hear" is the one that ended up working for me.) You should be able to hear the audio during that setup step. Also, again if this is an ATI card, check your model on the site. I believe the newest models don't need the cable hookup between the TV Card and the Sound card anymore, even though the manual shipped with the card says otherwise.
posted by Otis at 5:14 AM on July 8, 2005

My line in is configurable as a line out for 6 speaker sound, doesn't sound like your problem, but I thought I'd throw it out. I have also run into problems with multiple mutes (master and program specific), also, master volume and wave ? volume (go to advanced sound properties, should be multiple sliders).
posted by 445supermag at 8:06 AM on July 8, 2005