Capture card is marked inactive under audio mixer

[jack413man]

So a while back, i successfully setup my switch to be recorded via obs and capture card. However i recently got a new desk and i unplugged EVERYTHING so i dont even know where everything went outside the obvious. Anyways, it has been weeks since i used my switch and i didnt check obs to see if everything is working till yesterday.
I noticed that it did go through, video is working, but audio is not. I try to see videos and check setting and then i notice something, the "video capture device" a.k.a my switch, is marked inactive under audio mixer and no idea how to make it active. Today is same thing except the video source isnt detected as i dont see my switch gameplay. I plugged in my capture card and its powered. I plugged in my switch to the input.
However, i only ever played and watched the switch via obs and not through a monitor, so im not sure if or where i plug in my output cable. my capture card is this https://www.amazon.com/Klocaty-Capture-Nintendo-Streaming-Recording/dp/B09MJW32BC as i didnt want to overspend on something if im not gonna stream, only occasionally record my gameplay
Also it is an external as im not sure my pc supports internal and i dont want to go messing with that internal stuff.

 

[TAB-spec]

I am 70% sure this is because the audio input for the capture card is disabled in windows settings. if you go to settings>system>sounds>manage_sound_devices you will see all input and output devices both disabled and enabled. for me it was listed as "digital audio interface" but could be named something different. either way, all you need to do is enable it if its disabled and it should show up in OBS.

as for why the video suddenly disappeared I have absolutely no clue, sorry.

I really hope this is at least somewhat useful as I also had a problem with my audio being inactive and I only recently found out that it was my windows settings, but I did stumble across this post while I was searching for an answer, and I would've felt bad not replying if I had found something that could be useful.

(BTW the HDMI output for your capture card is just for passthrough, where the switch video would go to both OBS and a second monitor in case you wanted to play fullscreen and not have to look at OBS, so it's not required. the USB output is required and needs to be plugged into the computer)

 

[Heavenly4571]

I am 70% sure this is because the audio input for the capture card is disabled in windows settings. if you go to settings>system>sounds>manage_sound_devices you will see all input and output devices both disabled and enabled. for me it was listed as "digital audio interface" but could be named something different. either way, all you need to do is enable it if its disabled and it should show up in OBS.

as for why the video suddenly disappeared I have absolutely no clue, sorry.

I really hope this is at least somewhat useful as I also had a problem with my audio being inactive and I only recently found out that it was my windows settings, but I did stumble across this post while I was searching for an answer, and I would've felt bad not replying if I had found something that could be useful.

(BTW the HDMI output for your capture card is just for passthrough, where the switch video would go to both OBS and a second monitor in case you wanted to play fullscreen and not have to look at OBS, so it's not required. the USB output is required and needs to be plugged into the computer)

How would you go about doing this on a MacBook?

 

[MostFocus23]

I am 70% sure this is because the audio input for the capture card is disabled in windows settings. if you go to settings>system>sounds>manage_sound_devices you will see all input and output devices both disabled and enabled. for me it was listed as "digital audio interface" but could be named something different. either way, all you need to do is enable it if its disabled and it should show up in OBS.

as for why the video suddenly disappeared I have absolutely no clue, sorry.

I really hope this is at least somewhat useful as I also had a problem with my audio being inactive and I only recently found out that it was my windows settings, but I did stumble across this post while I was searching for an answer, and I would've felt bad not replying if I had found something that could be useful.

(BTW the HDMI output for your capture card is just for passthrough, where the switch video would go to both OBS and a second monitor in case you wanted to play fullscreen and not have to look at OBS, so it's not required. the US

B output is required and needs to be plugged into the computer)

Thanks buddy. It was the PC settings that disabled my digital audio which is my OBS audio. Been wrestling with this for 3 weeks

 

[Flyingthedog]

Thanks buddy. It was the PC settings that disabled my digital audio which is my OBS audio. Been wrestling with this for 3 weeks

How do you find "Digital audio"?
OBS says my capture card's audio is inactive

 

[Webster91]

I am 70% sure this is because the audio input for the capture card is disabled in windows settings. if you go to settings>system>sounds>manage_sound_devices you will see all input and output devices both disabled and enabled. for me it was listed as "digital audio interface" but could be named something different. either way, all you need to do is enable it if its disabled and it should show up in OBS.

as for why the video suddenly disappeared I have absolutely no clue, sorry.

I really hope this is at least somewhat useful as I also had a problem with my audio being inactive and I only recently found out that it was my windows settings, but I did stumble across this post while I was searching for an answer, and I would've felt bad not replying if I had found something that could be useful.

(BTW the HDMI output for your capture card is just for passthrough, where the switch video would go to both OBS and a second monitor in case you wanted to play fullscreen and not have to look at OBS, so it's not required. the USB output is required and needs to be plugged into the computer)

GOAT, I was so annoyed why i couldnt get audio, forgot i went and disabled everything abit ago

 

[penFysh]

I came across this cause I'm having the same issues, but my obs still sets it as inactive after closing. My window settings are set for the card but obs still doesn't care and its making me scream. It'll register for mic/aux but for like a second before sound cuts and never come back.

 

[penFysh]

I came across this cause I'm having the same issues, but my obs still sets it as inactive after closing. My window settings are set for the card but obs still doesn't care and its making me scream. It'll register for mic/aux but for like a second before sound cuts and never come back.

After some more fiddeling, Ive got it! (Updated my drivers seemed to help too) and I dont know if this is from an update or always, cause it did seem like it worked one day without this issue but a few days later this was an issue, for me; but it wont "activate" in preview mode (which is where I was having my issues...which is bonkers cause why CANT I preview my sound in preview mode to make sure things work??????) It activates in "program" mode, if youre in studio mode testing things (again which is where I was testing things the entire time) . Newbie user error fr. Its been bugging me for a long few days. (Edit to quote properly....maybe)

 

[whycantijustclickactivate]

This, right here, is preventing me from streaming. No matter what I do, I can not activate "audio input capture". Its not a thing that can be activated. Its not a setting in windows. Its obs. Its active in one scene, where i don't need it, and inactive in another. I shouldn't have to just use the one scene cuz its the one where the thing is active and I can't activate it otherwise.

I SHOULD be able to just click on it and activate it. It SHOULD NOT be deactivated for any reason, as I didn't click that. But, the fact is, its deactivated, and I can't activate it no matter what. And this prevents me from streaming.

Why is it inactive? Why is this even an option? Why are my audio inputs able to be activated and deactivated by something other than me clicking "mute"? What the fk is going on?

This isn't a case of an old man not being able to use tech. This is a case where the tech randomly activates or deactivates itself, and no matter what I do there's nothing to click on anywhere to make OBS not do whatever the hell it did.

This sucks. ANd it makes me hate my life. Every. Single. Time. I try to stream, something like THIS happens. The entire reason I had to create another scene is cuz the desktop audio isn't playing the audio that it should be, so I had to create an entirely new scene to do this. ANd once I did THAT, the thing that the OTHER scene uses for audio is broken now, and doesn't work on any scene except the OG scene.

Why? Why did it do this? I didn't do this. I made the scenes, chose the correct inputs, and made visualizers to use those inputs. But NOW? Now its broken, and nothing fucking works, and I can't stream cuz of it, and I"M not the guy that messed it up. Stuff just isn't working when it should be, or is deactivated, and I can't do anything. And I didn't make the channels/scenes this way, they all fucntioned at one point, but NOW? NOW that I'm trying to stream? NOW the shit just isn't working, and I'm here in a forum trying to find out why the fuck my shit is permanently deactivated in one scene but not another when I didn't fucknig do that at all.