Recording devices - Line In

[ngjackie]

I'm now using Windows Vista. To view the recording devices, I right-click on the speaker icon on the tray and select Recording Devices. A window appears then. The default recording device on my machine is Microphone. Another available recording device is Line In. But I am unable to set it as default recording device and the message is Line In is not plugged in. Why? What is exactly Line In? How to make it possible to choose? Thanks in advance.

[dglienna]

Have you right clicked on the Sounds, Recording screen and selected both show disabled devices and show disconnected devices?

[ngjackie]

Yes, I did. It shows Line In and Stereo Mix. Line In has been enabled but it cannot be used because it is not plugged in. Stereo Mix is disabled as the default settings. Why? What is Stereo Mix and Line In?

[PeejAvery]

Line In is a set volume jack. It is optimized for recording from another device to your computer. For example, if you had a tape player that you wanted to use to convert tapes to MP3s, you would use Line In on the computer, and regulate the volume on the tape player.

As to what Stereo Mix is, I have never seen that control before. It might be specific to your sound card model.

[ngjackie]

Thanks for your reply. On my old PC, it was possible to select the type of input such as Line In, Stereo and so on for Roxio Easy Audio Capture without having to plug in any wires. Now, the drop-down list of the input is disabled on my new PC. Maybe it is something to do with the sound card on my new PC. It's really annoying. Anyway, thanks for your reply.

[PeejAvery]

Sound cards come in two main types: powered and unpowered. If they are unpowered, the speakers must be powered. The reason I say this is because if it is unpowered, there would be no possible way to detect any cables.

However, I do not believe that many powered sound cards detect the presence or absence of a cable. This would all depend on the sound card, so you would have to test that for yourself.

My question is...Why exactly would you want to use any jack if there is nothing plugged in to it? :confused:

[ngjackie]

Sorry, I made a mistake. Actually, I want to capture audio directly form the sound card. I assumed that the function was something to do with Line In. Moreover, the ways of operation between my old computer and my new computer is different. Therefore, it confused me more. This morning, I enabled Stereo Mix device and found that I could choose either Microphone or Stereo Mix as the recording device in the list of Roxio Easy Audio Capture. Sorry to make a mistake. Anyway, thanks for sharing your knowledge with me. Otherwise, I might be unable to solve this problem until now.

[PeejAvery]

So problem solved?

[ngjackie]

Yes. Thanks for sharing your knowledge anyway.

[Craig Gemmill]

FYI: Stereo Mix (Wav Mix, etc..) usually is a channel that mixes down all of the other inputs in to one channel. So your MIC, INPUT, whatever would all be mixed down to the Stereo Mix channel.

[ngjackie]

Hi! Craig Gemmill. Thanks for you reply.