Calling alll Canopus ADVC-100 Owners

[tweakfreak]

I have just bought this card and Im wondering if any of you have captured TV shows. Thats the main reason I purchased this. I have digitial cable and want to capture my favorite shows, edit out any commercials and burn to dvds that I can watch in my stand alone player. Have any of you done this? If so is it hard? I am planning to use premiere version 6.5 to do the captures. Thank you all for any input.

[flaninacupboard]

i have the advc-50, which is the same as the 100 just no analogue output. yes capping tv shows is easy. it's no different from capping material from any other DV source. by all means use premiere for capture, however check out scenalyzer on the tools page. it's highly reccomended because it makes a guess when there's a new scene, so useful for adds "yep, that scene is ads. cut!" but a different encoder is best for DVD output. try TMPGenc (30 day trial, around $40 for the full version) or cinema craft encoder (lite version is $60 or so, pro version is $2500, but there is no end of pirate copies of this program!) for the best quality. oh, and read the guides.

[txpharoah]

but there is no end of pirate copies of this program!)

Please don't support piracy. Against the rules of the forums.

[flaninacupboard]

i wasn't, it was merely a jab at the fact they charge such a high price. i.e. i have never seen a pirate version of TMPGenc because it's fantastic value and always being developed, but loads of CCE because it's over priced and under supprted.

[nickerous]

I have the ADVC-100 and mainly use it for tv shows. I take a recorded show (in SP on an 8 hour tape, off satellite) and capture it using scenalzer and then encode with TMPGEnc Plus. Outstanding results using this method.

I have also captured live video off of cable. It turns out pretty good too. Old VHS tapes turn out better than the original footage by using noise reduction settings in TMPGEnc. There is a way to disable macrovision protection too on newer tapes. Course, I'm sure that nobody ever uses this feature

All in all, the absolute best capture device I've ever used. Forget about the price. It's worth every penny

[TBoneit]

CCE Basic is inexpensive too.

I capture in Scenalyzer Live, and Convert with CCE Basic, 2 pass VBR, after using the bitrate calculator available here.

Results are great. I use the pause button in scenelyzer a lot too, saves disk space.

Total software cost including CCE Basic, SC Live, TmpGenc over $100 but not bad considering the results. Under $100 if you drop the CCE Basic, But I use it for speed. My time has a worth too. Then feed the CCE output into Ulead MF2 and burn that DVD.

FWIW I don't have digital Cable I have Sat Tv (Digital on all channels) and a PVR so that I can do easy edits when capturing using the pause in SC Live. I don't mind that brief bit of commercials (maybe 1 second) before I hit pause, then I 30 second skip to the next segment to record.

YMMV, But it works for me.
Roger T

[GreyDeath]

The ADVC-100 is pretty good, it does the encoding and sends it off to the computer so you don't have any dropped frames (unless you're trying to capture a really old crappy tape, then it drops like mad. I think it's something with the audio on the tape that messes it up. But for what you're using it for, it's great).

I've been recording shows using this thing for almost a year now, or close to it, and the only thing I notice is that my Canopus captures kinda dark, favors the reds a bit more and reduces the sound. It actually looks fine on the computer, but outputting to DVD I need to boost the gamma, brightness and reduce the red when I encode to mpg using TMPGEnc. I also increase the sound by %140. Some people don't have a problem with the capture, so maybe I got a bad batch. But all in all, simple to hook up, love the audio lock, and a great little box with lots of connections (I have it hooked up to my satellite pvr permanently and use the front connectors for when I capture from my LD player.)

One other note, you may notice alot of block noise from your capture of sat tv, it's not the Canopus box, it's the sat company compressing the signal waaay too much. With sat you deal with a different kind of video noise, but it beats the heck out of cable IMO. :P