Canopus ADVC100 vs Xcapture with Directv??

[reubenray]

I am currently using the Xcapture and capture via s-video from Directv. After trying just about every type of capture software I am starting to think the capture card itself is the problem not the software. I can get captures with no problem, but the PQ sucks. Every capture software I have tried has a shimmering effect.

So now I am thinking again about the ADVC100. Is there anyone out there that has this working with a Directv receiver being connected via s-video? Also has anyone used the Xcapture and then switched to the ADVC100? If so how much better is the PQ? Just what is the firewire connection for and where does it connect to and from? This is the one part that has me confused about the ADVC100.


Thanks,

p.s.

My goal is to use the capture card similiar to a VCR, but with better PQ.
At some point I will transfer some of these captures to DVD. I have read that with the ADVC100 it is a bugger to transfer to DVD. Is this correct?

[DVWannaB]

Well I am going to make some guesses, since you didnt say it. The picture quality (I asssume that is what PQ stands for) is good to great on your TV set, but sucks on your computer screen after capture to*.AVI.

I have never used Xcapture (I will assume it is a stand-alone unit outside your PC), but do own an ADVC-100 and love it. Before buying any other device, you may want to check your connections to ensure proper tight fit and proper in/out connections. Make sure your Xcapture is plugged into the same power outlet as your DirectTV unit. Make sure the Xcapture has no interference from other wires touching its connections and ensure the unit itself is not sitting on any other electronic equipment or anything that is a conductor of electricity.

Just some thoughts.

[gf]

Could the "shimmering effect" be that the captured video is interlaced and when viewed on a computer it looks crapy? How does it look when that video is viewed on the T.V. or if you play back the video with something like WinDVD?

[i_am_dave]

Since my computer is on a different floor than my DirecTV receiver, I use the RF output from my DirecTV.
This RF output runs through an amplifier, a couple of splitters, then to the VCR on my computer desk. From there is goes via RCA compsite to the ADVC-100.

I have had some flicker in the past, but it was due to my picking up noise on my RCA cables from the monitor.

I agree with the others, check your cables and look for possible sources of interference.

[reubenray]

Maybe I can clear up some confusion. I should have stated that I am watching and capturing to my 60" GWII (HDTV). The entire setup is for my HDTV.

I have the s-video coming from my Directv to the Xcapture card. The capture/recording is being fed to my HDTV via DVI from my Radeon 9500 Pro.

[reubenray]

The Xcapture is an internal PCI card and all I have to input to it is the s-video signal. The audio is going into my Maudio DiO sound card from my satellite receiver. The video is then outputted from my Radeon 9500 Pro to my TV set and the audio is outputted to my A/V receiver.

With the Canopus ADVC will have to input the audio into it and also output it to my receiver? Also will have to input the video into it and output it to my TV? Will I still be able to output audio to my sound card and video to my video card?

This is what I am the most concerned about this card. If I have to input and output everything to the Canopus and then to my sound card what type of connection will it be? My sound card will only accept either toslink or coaxial inputs. Also will I have to output from the Canopus directly to my TV and can it go through the Radeon 9500? My Radeon is connected to my TV via DVI, so I would think the PQ would be better than s-video.

Thanks,

[CUBANAZO]

reubenray:

I have an ADVC-100 connected to a DirecTV box using S-video (get a good cable...like a monster). I'm super happy with the quality of my captures, mostly Formula 1 races. After trying different capture cards I decided to go with Canopus and what a difference!!....you won't regret it.
Perfect video quality....perfect audio sync....
I would recomend you to get an additional receiver (if you can afford it of course) and connected to the ADVC. That way you avoid the cable mess that you are going thru....you can watch one thing and record another one....or....like in my case, you could be watching sports in your PC monitor and your wife "Friends" in the Big TV....after all a second receiver is like $5 extra a month......

hope it helps...
Cubanazo

[reubenray]

reubenray:

I have an ADVC-100 connected to a DirecTV box using S-video (get a good cable...like a monster). I'm super happy with the quality of my captures, mostly Formula 1 races. After trying different capture cards I decided to go with Canopus and what a difference!!....you won't regret it.
Perfect video quality....perfect audio sync....
I would recomend you to get an additional receiver (if you can afford it of course) and connected to the ADVC. That way you avoid the cable mess that you are going thru....you can watch one thing and record another one....or....like in my case, you could be watching sports in your PC monitor and your wife "Friends" in the Big TV....after all a second receiver is like $5 extra a month......

hope it helps...

Cubanazo

[reubenray]

Lets try this again. I replied with you quote, but it did not work. Just how do you have the audio hooked up? Would I have to output from the receiver to the Canopus input, then output from the Canopus to my A/V receiver? I was hoping to use my sound card for the audio which connects to my A/V receiver via toslink.

[CUBANAZO]

Your main question was about video quality and I tried to sell you a product that works excellent....just look at the reviews in this site....
now.....If you use your sound card to capture the audio you will be wasting one of the best features that the ADVC-100 has: perfect audio and video sync.
I simply go from my DirecTV box to the ADVC-100 inputs and from there to the firewire port in my PC....no more, no less. I do not re-route any audio thru my receiver.
BTW...I'm curious about your setup: Does your DirecTV box has a toslink output?....if not, then why use the toslink when you are coming out of it with regular RCA plugs?....Once you degrade the audio signal you can pretty much forget about it.....

Cubanazo

[reubenray]

Your main question was about video quality and I tried to sell you a product that works excellent....just look at the reviews in this site....
now.....If you use your sound card to capture the audio you will be wasting one of the best features that the ADVC-100 has: perfect audio and video sync.
I simply go from my DirecTV box to the ADVC-100 inputs and from there to the firewire port in my PC....no more, no less. I do not re-route any audio thru my receiver.
BTW...I'm curious about your setup: Does your DirecTV box has a toslink output?....if not, then why use the toslink when you are coming out of it with regular RCA plugs?....Once you degrade the audio signal you can pretty much forget about it.....

Cubanazo

Yes my receiver has toslink output. It is the HD-200. Now it does have L/R audio out also. So I guess I could route the L/R audio from my HD-200 into the Canopus then route the L/R audio from it to my A/V receiver.

The picture quality that this has is the main reason I am looking so hard at this product.

I appreciate the help you have given me and hope you will walk me through this. Do you have any audio going to a A/V receiver?

[reubenray]

Bump

[FulciLives]

The Xcapture card is well known for having interference problems which can cause "shimmering" effects in the video ... especially noticeable when there is a large solid color or on dark/black parts of the video signal. This is a problem with the Xcapture card.

You might want to try another capture card.

I don't have one but I've heard very good things about the LifeView FlyVideo capture cards. Over at the AVS FORUM many people dropped the Xcapture card in favor of the FlyVideo as it supposedly produces a very clear clean image free of shimmering effects etc.

I've heard though that the included software is poor and that the card doesn't work well with VirtualDub but from the posts I've read it seems most users have luck using iuVCR, AVIIO or DVIO. I forget which was the favorite now (been a while since I've read these posts) but it was one of those three.

Here is a link to an on-line store that carries the LifeView FlyVideo brand of TV tuner capture cards:
http://store.yahoo.com/lifeview-usa/pcitvvidcapc.html

This is the official website of LifeView:
http://www.lifeview.com/

I use a stand alone DVD recorder to "capture" analog video ... then rip the DVD to edit and then create a custom DVD on the computer.

BUT if I wanted to TV tuner type capture card I would buy the FlyVideo.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
The FlyVideo cards work with DSCALER

[reubenray]

I have been looking at this card also at the AVSForum. The problem is the same as with the Canopus. Which is what type of audio input and output connections are being used. My sound card only accepts either coaxial or toslink inputs and has coaxial, toslink and L/R audio outputs.
With the Xcapture I do not have to connect any audio inputs or outputs.

[FulciLives]

Hello reubenray

I need a detailed explanation of how your system is hooked up.
Correct if me wrong but it sounds like you are doing the following:

CABLE BOX SOUND OUTPUT --> STEREO RECEIVER
STEREO RECEIVER OUTPUT --> AUDIO CARD IN COMPUTER

CABLE BOX VIDEO OUTPUT --> COMPUTER CAPTURE CARD
COMPUTER RADEON DVI OUTPUT --> TV DISPLAY

Now why are you doing this?
Specifically the routing of the video.
What type of display device do you have? Plasma? Front Projection? Etc.
There is NO reason to route the video through the computer JUST so you can use the DVI output on your computer unless you are doing something special such as using DSCALER or running PowerStrip (to scale your output to the native resolution of your display device).

Do you see where I'm going with this?

The FlyVideo card can use DSCALER but the Canopus ADVC-100 cannot. In fact I see NO advantage WHAT-SO-EVER in using the Canopus ADVC-100 to input analog video and then output it to your display through the DVI output of the video card. The only reason to use the CANOPUS ADVC-100 is to capture. End of story. If you are trying to improve image quality and that is the main reason you are running the video through the computer then you don't want the CANOPUS ADVC-100 since it can't use DSCALER. So if you can't use DSCALER on a video input then ... in short ... there is no reason to input the video into the computer just to output it again UNLESS you want to capture.

Am what I am saying making sense? I hope so

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

The CANOPUS acceps S-Video and composite video and your normal L/R Stereo RCA audio jacks. It also has a DV input that will work with a DV camcorder for instance. The device then uses a HARDWARE chip to then encode the analog video and audio into the DV codec and sends it to the computer via the FireWire (IEEE 1394) port. Basically doing the same thing as if your footage was on a DV camcorder and you were transferring it to the HDD. It is then saved on your HDD as a DV AVI and then it is up to you to convert it to mpeg-2 for DVD or whatever format you want to use. Please note that the DV AVI file it creates is VERY large. So if you want to keep any captures you WILL have to convert it to another format.

[reubenray]

Hello reubenray

I need a detailed explanation of how your system is hooked up.
Correct if me wrong but it sounds like you are doing the following:

CABLE BOX SOUND OUTPUT --> STEREO RECEIVER
STEREO RECEIVER OUTPUT --> AUDIO CARD IN COMPUTER

CABLE BOX VIDEO OUTPUT --> COMPUTER CAPTURE CARD
COMPUTER RADEON DVI OUTPUT --> TV DISPLAY

Now why are you doing this?
Specifically the routing of the video.
What type of display device do you have? Plasma? Front Projection? Etc.
There is NO reason to route the video through the computer JUST so you can use the DVI output on your computer unless you are doing something special such as using DSCALER or running PowerStrip (to scale your output to the native resolution of your display device).

Do you see where I'm going with this?

The FlyVideo card can use DSCALER but the Canopus ADVC-100 cannot. In fact I see NO advantage WHAT-SO-EVER in using the Canopus ADVC-100 to input analog video and then output it to your display through the DVI output of the video card. The only reason to use the CANOPUS ADVC-100 is to capture. End of story. If you are trying to improve image quality and that is the main reason you are running the video through the computer then you don't want the CANOPUS ADVC-100 since it can't use DSCALER. So if you can't use DSCALER on a video input then ... in short ... there is no reason to input the video into the computer just to output it again UNLESS you want to capture.

Am what I am saying making sense? I hope so

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

The CANOPUS acceps S-Video and composite video and your normal L/R Stereo RCA audio jacks. It also has a DV input that will work with a DV camcorder for instance. The device then uses a HARDWARE chip to then encode the analog video and audio into the DV codec and sends it to the computer via the FireWire (IEEE 1394) port. Basically doing the same thing as if your footage was on a DV camcorder and you were transferring it to the HDD. It is then saved on your HDD as a DV AVI and then it is up to you to convert it to mpeg-2 for DVD or whatever format you want to use. Please note that the DV AVI file it creates is VERY large. So if you want to keep any captures you WILL have to convert it to another format.

What I am trying to do is use a capture card similiar to a VCR for later playback. Was hoping to have better PQ than my VCR.

Right now with the Xcapture I have the s-video running from my satellite receiver to the s-video input of the card. The audio is running from my satellite receiver (via toslink) to my sound card. Then I have the audio running from my sound card to my A/V receiver (via toslink). The video from the capture is running from my Radeon 9500 Pro (via DVI) to my 60" GWII LCD HDTV. I am not trying to capture HD, just SD.

Again this is not for watching live TV, but for recording to watch later. I have separate hookups for watching live TV. I am hoping to improve the PQ of the captures by going with a different card. I have a 120 GB hard drive just for this use.

Running the video into any of the cards is no problem (even though the PQ sucks). Running the audio is the problem. I can run L/R audio into the Canopus with no problem. The problem is how to get the audio from the Canopus to my sound card. My sound card will not accept anything but RCA style plugs or toslink connections. Does this not send the audio to the hard drive also when doing the capture. If so it might not be a problem.

Hope this clears this up a little bit.

Thanks,

[FulciLives]

Right now with the Xcapture I have the s-video running from my satellite receiver to the s-video input of the card. The audio is running from my satellite receiver (via toslink) to my sound card. Then I have the audio running from my sound card to my A/V receiver (via toslink). The video from the capture is running from my Radeon 9500 Pro (via DVI) to my 60" GWII LCD HDTV. I am not trying to capture HD, just SD.

Well to use the CANOPUS ADVC-100 properly you need to input both the video (in the form of S-Video or composite) and the audio (in the form of standard stereo RCA jacks). It is that simple. You cannot use the CANOPUS just for video and then use your soundcard to input the audio. Both sources MUST be connected to the CANOPUS.

Once the file (your capture) is on your computer you can play it back using any media viewer software (such as Windows Media Player) to then play it back on the desktop ... this of course means that you would then output the video (through your video card's DVI output) and the audio (through your sound card). You do NOT have to use the CANOPUS to output your A/V source.

So basically you want to take your cable box outputs and split it (if it only has one set of outputs) and connect one set to your receiver/tv for when you watch TV live and then the other set goes into the CANOPUS for when you want to capture. You could take the cable box output and go straight to your receiver then using your receiver outputs send the video and audio out to the CANOPUS ... your receiver should have two sets out outputs so one goes to the CANOPUS (both audio and video) and the other out goes to your TV (just video since I'm sure you are using the receiver for sound hence no reason to pump sound into the TV).

Then you have your video card output going to the receiver as an input along with the audio output of your sound card. Your receiver should have at least two sets of inputs and outputs.

Hope this makes sense

The other method, suggested by someone else, is to get a second cable box so one goes only to the CANOPUS (for capture) and one goes to your receiver/TV ... this would allow you to watch TV while recording at the same time and of course you could record any channel while watching any channel. You can either rent another cable box from the cable company or you can buy one which would be cheaper in the long run as long as you don't see yourself moving or changing cable for the next 2 to 3 years otherwise it would be cheaper to rent most likely.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
JVC makes some really nice A/V switcher boxes that have multiple inputs and have 2 (or more depeding on the model) outputs. This could be used with one cable box to split the output into two. This way one output goes straight to the CANOPUS and one goes to the Receiver/TV but then you can only "capture" what you are watching whereas having two cable boxes frees you of that and the need for a switcher box (or using the receiver to switch sources).

[reubenray]

Now we are getting somewhere. I am not worried about watching one channel while recording another. I have another TV and satellite receiver than I can watch while the HTPC is recording something. My main satellite receiver has plenty of audio and video outputs so I do not need to do any additional splitting.

From you last message all I have to do is run the audio (s-video) and the L/R (rca plug type) to the Canopus. If I understand you correctly that is all I have to do. When I play a capture back from the hard drive it will automatically go out through my video and sound card. What was confusing me so much was the audio and video outputs. What are these for (besides confusing me )

Thanks for your patience and help. If this is the case all I need to do now is order it.

Thanks again,

Raymond

[FulciLives]

Raymond ...

You are correct

You simply feed the video (either composite RCA type or S-Video type) and the stereo audio (L/R stereo RCA type) directly into the CANPOPUS ACVC-100 from your source (in this case your satellite receiver) and that is it!

After you capture you then play back your video on the computer using any decent media player (such as the Windows MEDIA PLAYER) and output the video through your video card DVI out and the audio goes out through your sound card.

It is THAT simple

Since your satellite receiver has more than one set of outputs just connect one set to the CANOPUS (for capture) and one set to your TV display and Stereo (or the TV if you use that for sound as well).

Please note that the analog OUTPUTS on the CANOPUS are only for the following situation:

You have a video on the computer in the DV AVI format. You play that out through the FireWire port to the CANOPUS which then converts it to standard analog video and audio. So you COULD use this to play back your captures but only if you leave them in the DV AVI format. This is something you don't want to do unless you are just time shifting (and even then you can still play the captured DV AVI out the standard video card/sound card method). Otherwise you should convert your captures (which use the DV AVI format) to your format of choice. For instance you can use TMPGEnc to convert to mpeg-2 with mp2 sound for the creation of a DVD-R or DVD+R disc. You can even convert the audio to AC-3 if you use an AC-3 encoder (such as BeSweet).

One final word ... I do not know if the CANOPUS ADVC-100 can be used on a timer. I think I read a couple of threads on this and I seem to recall a few people say they got it to work but a few also said they were having trouble doing this. The manuel clearly states that the unit cannot be remote controlled from SOFTWARE and that all captures must be started and stopped by the user using the switches on the unit itself.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I don't have a CANOPUS ADVC-100 but I was considering buying one not too long ago so I read everything I could about it including many user comments as well as the manuel (in PDF form) from the CANOPUS website. All information I have provided is correct to the best of my knowledge. The only thing I am somewhat "vague" about is the ability to use software to capture unattended.

[Greg12]

To me DV out beats TV out

[finny]

Raymond ...


One final word ... I do not know if the CANOPUS ADVC-100 can be used on a timer. I think I read a couple of threads on this and I seem to recall a few people say they got it to work but a few also said they were having trouble doing this. The manuel clearly states that the unit cannot be remote controlled from SOFTWARE and that all captures must be started and stopped by the user using the switches on the unit itself.

DAMN! Then whats the point if you cant have Un-attended capture?
The only reason why i wanted to get this setup was because so that I could record most of my programs on CABLE while I'm at work, so I dont miss anything!

[geek rock]

One final word ... I do not know if the CANOPUS ADVC-100 can be used on a timer. I think I read a couple of threads on this and I seem to recall a few people say they got it to work but a few also said they were having trouble doing this. The manuel clearly states that the unit cannot be remote controlled from SOFTWARE and that all captures must be started and stopped by the user using the switches on the unit itself.

that isn't true... there is no switch to "start capturing" or "stop capturing" on the unit itself. the controls to start and stop capturing are done with whatever program you use to capture the video, so if there's a program out there that can capture timed recordings with it, it'll work fine.

[FulciLives]

Hello

According to another THREAD on the CANOPUS ADVC-100 there is a software program that can control the ADVC-100 on a timer for unattended recordings.

Check out this THREAD for the info:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=157412&highlight=

Good Luck

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I recently did a search on PRICEGRABBER.COM for the CANOPUS ADVC-100 and the cheapest price was about $50 less than the $299.00 MSRP ... I'm still thinking of maybe getting one for myself ...

[reubenray]

Now that I know about Scenalyzer I will be getting a DV device. I downloaded Scenalyzer just to check how the timer works. Now I have been leaning more toward the Datavideo DAC100 (can get it for $180 from Ebay) or the Canopus at roughly $250. I know the Canopus has a support forum, but I e-mailed question to Datavision and received answers with 15 minutes.

I have checked these forums about both of them and they both appear to work great. The scenalyzer will also work with the DAC100 (I emailed them to check).

Now comes the hard part of deciding which one to get.

[TBoneit]

Canopus Locked Audio so it is always in Sync, Macrovision bypass.

My vote & Money went to the Canopus....

Don't forget you'll need a firewire por for either of the two devices you mentioned.

If you can get it for $50 off retail, that's my wholsale cost if I order it form one of our wholesalers. So good price, Beware of S&H charges tho.

Good Luck

[reubenray]

I have the Asus A7N8X Deluxe and it has firewire with it. So this should work.

[FulciLives]

The only thing that worries me about getting the DataVideo DAC-100 over the CANOPUS ADVC-100 is that many people have had problems with their ADVC-100 just dying on them for no real reason BUT when they contacted CANOPUS they always seemed to handle the situation very well with a replacement unit or fixing it or whatever. It sounded like they were really on the ball with that stuff. My only reason for not getting the DataVideo DAC-100 (or at least being concerned about getting it) would be ... are they gonna be as nice and quick as CANOPUS if the same thing happens to their DAC-100?

Food for thought !

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[SHS]

reubenray
Canopus ADVC100 is best use with analog tape and few other add things that are pain neck to get good capture from like bad tape, degrade tape, etc, etc where you have got thur it and clean it up, keep mind you be eat more space and spent more time re-render you clip I recommend the Canopus for pain neck stuff VHS tape, VHS-C tape, SVHS-C tape, Hi8 tape, 8mm tape.
For DirecTV receiver recording I recommend that you take look at SageTV and WinTV-PVR 250/350 this way you can do lot more like and get really good quality and do Direct MPEG recording from satellite receivers s-video as long as signel dosen't flake out on you which we all know can happing dring a bad storm.
I have DishNetwork and WinTV-PVR 250.
Timeshift television
Pause Live TV
Instant Replay
Instantly skip through commercials
Recording and Scheduling
Multiple Tuner Support
IR Blaster Channel Change with a Actisys ACT IR-200L or if you have rigth satellite receivers you can use Tuner Plugin with DirecTV Serial Control Utility for Direct serial control with some DirecTV satellite receivers.

[FulciLives]

reubenray
Canopus ADVC100 is best use with analog tape and few other add things that are pain neck to get good capture from like bad tape, degrade tape, etc, etc where you have got thur it and clean it up, keep mind you be eat more space and spent more time re-render you clip I recommend the Canopus for pain neck stuff VHS tape, VHS-C tape, SVHS-C tape, Hi8 tape, 8mm tape.
For DirecTV receiver recording I recommend that you take look at SageTV and WinTV-PVR 250/350 this way you can do lot more like and get really good quality and do Direct MPEG recording from satellite receivers s-video as long as signel dosen't flake out on you which we all know can happing dring a bad storm.
I have DishNetwork and WinTV-PVR 250.
Timeshift television
Pause Live TV
Instant Replay
Instantly skip through commercials
Recording and Scheduling
Multiple Tuner Support
IR Blaster Channel Change with a Actisys ACT IR-200L or if you have rigth satellite receivers you can use Tuner Plugin with DirecTV Serial Control Utility for Direct serial control with some DirecTV satellite receivers.

I was under the impression that the WinTV-PVR 250/350 had some sort of "audio" issues. I seem to recall something about audio synch problems or corrupted audio especially when trying to edit your capture. What exactly is the audio issue(s) and have it (they) been solved?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[SHS]

The only people that have audio issue if there use NanoCosmos MPEG Editor which NanoCosmos dosen't seem to want fix how ever good editor like Womble MPEG2VCR dosen't have a problem like this I have edit min video like Babylon 5, Stargate SG-1, etc, etc.
Most clip that I have look at had some kind signel loss or soem other forum signel problem, which end with bad clips heck even I have gotting that sometime there nothing that can really done that.