Plextor’s ConvertX PX-M402U

[Manokat]

Quick review:

1. The unit comes with full version of WinDVD Creator 2.0 and WinDVD 5.0
2. It comes with 9V 2A (110-240) power supply, which is usefull if you are on vacations in Europe or Asia and want to send vacation DVD to family.

3. USB, S-VIDEO, RCA-stereo and composite cables are supplied.

4. PX-M402U only support MPEG1 (VCD) /MPEG2 (DVD) /MPEG4 (MS and Divx) It does not capture AVI.

5. Video is program stream @ main profile. Cannot capture video only or audio only. Audio port is only accessible via WinDVD creator 2. So you can not use SoundForge or WabLave to record just the audio. The quality of audio is excellent. Can capture mpeg, lcpm, or Dolby digital 384 khz audio information.

6. All capture presets capture to deinterlaced materials, no interlaced whatsoever. Video capture quality is great both for DVD and DivX, did not try VCD (who is using that still?).

8. Ulead Video Studio, Movie factory 2 or Wokshop 1.2 can not use PX-M402U as a capture device. Even some other Intervideo products can't. The only program that can fully access PX-M402U is Intervideo WinDVD creator.

9. I tried capturing for 4 hours (continously) of high quality D1, the unit does not get warm at all, unlike other USB devices I have tested or heard of.

10. Video and Audio is syncronized at any preset.

This unit is great for those who have Laptops and do not have lots of rendering time. It is a hardware MPEG capture device, so no need to spend time on rendering. It is also great for people who want to transfer their analog materials to CD or DVD discs.

I would give 8 point (1 to 10 scale) for this product.

[Biffarama]

Manokat,

Thanks very much for the review. I've been researching an external converter like this for a bit now and appreciate your input. After doing some reading in the Capturing forum I read that one downside to the ConvertX is that you can't edit the video you capture, you're pretty much stuck with what you have. Is this what you discovered as well, or did I read that wrong? I'm also looking at the ADVC-100 and editing the home movies I'll be capturing is quite important to me.

Thanks,

Biffarama