Funky volume problem

[ardklg]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this or not...

I'm using my Sony Digital8 camcorder's pass-through functionality to convert some VHS video to DV, then to DVD.

The video captures fine (using Video Studio 6). When I play back the captured video in Video Studio 6 it sounds fine. But for some reason, when it goes through the process of "Create DVD", and I put the DVD in a DVD player, the audio volume has increased 2-3 times, causing distortion and clipping.

I've tried messing with the recording line-in volume (even taking it all the way to zero) - it makes no difference.

This happens if I create the DVD with Video Studio 6, Ulead DVD Movie Maker 2, and Cyberlink PowerDirector Pro 2.5.

Again, before creating the DVD, viewing the captured video file in VS6 yields normal volume levels.

Anybody have any ideas here? I'm stumped.

One more note...

I also have a Matrox video capture card in this particular machine, to capture TV shows. When I capture from the Matrox card (in MPEG2 format), then bring those files into Video Studio 6 for editing and creating a DVD, the resulting DVDs sound fine - no excessive volume problems at all. So the problem seems to be connected with the DV process specifically.

Thanks for any insights.

[Swan]

When you transfer (via passthrough) video to the HD with Sony Digital8, I assume you use Firewire (IEEE 1395, a.k.a I.LINK)?
Using Firewire to transfer your footage to the hard drive, you have no way to adjust the audio signal. You get what you get from the camera. So "messing with the recording line-in volume" does not have any impact at all.

It's not until you use VideoStudio/Ulead DVD Movie Maker 2/Cyberlink PowerDirector Pro 2.5 that the audio gets distorted...
If I were you, I'd look deeper into what VideoStudio does.
It perhaps normalizes and maximizes the audio and does a bad job?
That's what I'd suspect first.
Is the "audio volume" set to 100% in Videostudio?
If it's set higher, that's your problem.

You are having the audio problems when playing the finished DVD in a standalone DVD player, not the player/burner in the PC, right?

Have you tried outputting a wav from your DV file and looking at it in an audio editor to see if it contains clipping?

I'd test encoding in TMPGEnc, CCE or Main Concept Mpeg Encoder and see if the same thing happens then. Then import the finished Mpeg into Videostudio and burn.
Your problem sounds very odd indeed!