Content overview

Hardware questions

• Supported audio hardware
  
• Recommended settings

General questions

• Recording format
• Noisy/bad audio recording
• Error message - audio device
• Audio drops using Matrox DualHead
  
• Audio drops using Logitech webcams

Question:

Which audio hardware is supported?

For the recording, basically any Windows-compatible soundcard is supported. Naturally, soundcards of higher quality provide better recordings. The microphone is also of high importance for the quality of the recording.

Question:

Which settings are recommended?

For the best possible sound we recommend an audio recording with a sample size of 16 Bits (presetting) and 22.050 kHz sample rate (presetting, see also Fig. 2 below).

Question:

In which format does LECTURNITY record the audio?

LECTURNITY records the audio in a special "LECTURNITY Audio Document" format.

Question:

My recording is very noisy or bad, what can I do about it?

Solution:

Please check the following settings:

• Sample size set on 8 Bits? If the sample width is set on 8 Bits, it may lead to a very strong noise and "cracking" during the audio recording although high-quality hardware is used. Generally, we recommend to record the audio with 16 Bits.
• Recording level too low? If the audio signal is too weak, it might happen that the replay is noisy since the sound during replay has to be amplified. Therefore, it is important that the sound level is set correctly for recording. For this purpose, the LECTURNITY Assistant provides an audio control (see Fig. 1) which displays the current recording level. Have a look on the level before recording: at a regular volume, it should deflect right below the red marking. If the recording level stays far below that line, then the volume should be increased (see Fig. 2).
• Recording level too high? The recording level is too high when the sound is noisy and blurred. This is especially true when the speaker raises his voice. Therefore, please always check the level before recording (see Fig. 1). If it keeps deflecting in the red area at a normal voice, please turn down the recording volume (see Fig. 2).

Figure 1: Display of audio recording level

Figure 2: Project-settings: Index "Audio". The volume level for recording is marked red.

You may find further help in the How-To "Live recording".

Question:

Why does the following error message sometimes appear when I start the LECTURNITY Assistant?

Figure 3: Error initializing audio hardware

The most likely reason for this error message is that the LECTURNITY Assistant is already opened. Several LECTURNITY Assistants may be active at the same time, but only with the first one a recording can be made. This problem does not occur on Windows XP.

Question:

In the audio of my LECTURNITY recording there are many short audio drops, approximately one every second. I am using the "DualHead Zoom" function of my Matrox G450/550 graphics adapter. Why does this occur?

In combination with computers using the VIA chip set and a Soundblaster audio card, such problems may occur. They are due to a timing problem in the PCI bus. This causes the described problem during both recording and replay.

Solution:

Install the latest drivers for your motherboard, graphics adapter and sound card. Alternatively do not use the "DualHead Zoom" function of the graphics adapter.

Question:

In the audio of my LECTURNITY recording there are many short audio drops, approximately one every second. The microphone of the Logitech webcam is used as audio source. Why does this occur?

These audio drops can be caused by some settings of the Logitech drivers, especially by the options "Cancel Echo" and "Suppress Background Noise".

Solution:

Deactivate the options "Cancel Echo" and "Suppress Background Noise" in the settings of the Logitech drivers.