canopus advc 100 expectations??

[efiste2]

i am on the verge of spending 200 odd pounds on a canopus advc 100 and just before i take the plunge what sort of quality can i expect from capturing VHS VIDEO, the source is qood quality and the aim ist to transfer my VHS collection onto DVD, but dont want the final DVD to be blocky and pixelated, obviousley i intend on using a firewire connection and CLICK to DVD to do the conversion and write to DVD, Any info or experience would be mos appreciated!!!!

[DaveS]

the advc-100 will give you an AVI file which is (relatively) uncompressed. When you compress it to mpeg2, that's where your blockiness or lack thereof will come in. That will depend more on bitrate, encoding process, encoder you use, etc. It also depends on how much noise etc. is in your source (b/c that will steal bits from encoding the file) so it's not totally removed from the capture proc. but more so the blockiness relates to the 'pure' encoding.

What you will get from the advc100 is an avi file w/ certain 'properties' based on using the canopus codec on the chip to convert analog to digital. There was a post doing some comparisons sometime in the past 2-3 weeks here (e.g. is canopus truer to the colors, etc.). Most people who use it like it alot, I think (but that's also a bit self-fulfilling). The other thing you will get is audio locked to the video so it doesn't drift - this is key.

The other major camp will be reflected on www.lordsmurf.com, a proponent of AIW cards, for example. And, there have been some lively chats here about the advc-100 e.g. if everyone likes it so much, what does it give you that you don't get w/ a different card/box, etc..

All that being said, I have an ADVC100 and like it alot (as a sample size of 1).

I'd suggest you surf around on this site and read up a little on the existing posts (as there are many) before buying since it's not an inexpensive device.

[pompoi]

Also look at the dac 100 very similar,have been setting this up for a friend abroad.From my limited exp. the quality of vhs player & of the origional tape have a lot to do with the final result.

[Metaluna]

The major artifact I've seen with my ADVC-100 (and it should happen with any DV capture device) is a sort of blockiness/stair-step pattern in very bright reds and blues. I believe this is due to color space conversion problems between the 4:1:1 sampling of NTSC DV, and, I think, 4:2:2 for DVD. There is an Avisynth filter called ReInterpolate411() that mostly takes care of this though.

I have tried going the AIW route after reading some critiques of the color rendering of the ADVC-100 and DV devices in general, but no matter what I try I just can't seem to keep the audio synced. Maybe it's my sound card or something, but I always end up going back to the ADVC-100. Like a friend of mine is fond of saying, "It just works". IMHO, for VHS sources, which aren't that great to begin with, the flaws of the DV format will be subtle at worst, and easily dealt with for simple filters. If you were capturing from a high-quality source then maybe it would be a different story but I have had mostly great luck using it for VHS.

[lordsmurf]

Expect a DV device.
Don't expect a one-click "make me a DVD" solution.

[efiste2]

thanks for the advice guys nice an easy to understand, think im gonna order one!!!! just want somthing thats easy to use with a good quality result thanks again chaps

[cthomas]

How does the Canopus ADVC100 compare with Pinnacle Studio MovieBox USB version 9? Especially when captureing from VHS.

Carl

[Cole]

I have the Canopus ADVC-50 and it may be worth pointing out that Virtualdub does not seem to recognise Canopus devices.

How does the Canopus ADVC100 compare with Pinnacle Studio MovieBox USB version 9? Especially when captureing from VHS.

Carl, in my experience, USB cature devices were not that good. Mind you this was on USB 1.0. I had a Dazzle VCD maker and the capured files were very grainy.

[cthomas]

So you think the Canopus ADVC100 would do a better job? Does it come with it's own capture software or would I have to get something?

Carl

[Poppa_Meth]

I thought I saw a post where someone said VDub doesn't support any Firewire devices. could be wrong though I haven't tested it myself yet.

[petar]

So you think the Canopus ADVC100 would do a better job? Does it come with it's own capture software or would I have to get something?

Carl

Comes with no software whatsoever. Nada, zero. That's the only complain I have about the ADVC100. For the price they could have included something. Otherwise great hardware. But there are free tools for capturing DV - WinDV, DVIO... DV is dead easy to capture. All you do is transfer the DV from the ADVC to your PC.

[petar]

thanks for the advice guys nice an easy to understand, think im gonna order one!!!! just want somthing thats easy to use with a good quality result thanks again chaps

ADVC100 has good quality but it's not a "CLICK to DVD" (as you put it in the beginning). If that's what you want, for the price of the ADVC100 you can probably get a DVD recorder. That is click to DVD.

[redwudz]

I've been using a ADVC-100 for several months now, no problems. Didn't see it mentioned, but it also disables Macrovision.
Should come with a small adapter that you should use to input video through the back input; this seems to work better.
The manual mine came with has almost no information about usage of the device. The setup I have been using is to transfer to the computer using WinDV, mainly because it has a preview window. I use type 2. Install the Panasonic DV codec for viewing and also permits you to open and process the DV with Virtualdub. Most of my VHS conversions don't need editing, so I dump them into TMPGEnc then into TMPGEnc DVD Author and burn to DVD. Playing with the encoding settings and filtering is the most important part of getting a good DVD.
I have also been working with Mainconcept encoder, inputing directly and encoding on the fly. Works well, but the quality is better with seperate encoding.

[NightWing]

Well there is Primiere 6x. Expensive but nice. Just stay away from 5x.

Else look in the tool section here for a program called DVIO. Super basic but noting to install and does work. It leave you with a large AVI file.

Last I think the old AVI IO would handle DV video also. Usualy use it with my DC 10+ card for the last few years. It breakes up what you record to fit the storage media you have.

[Will Hay]

I've had my ADVC-100 a few months now and I have to say it's utterley superb.
I use Pinnacle Studio 8.12 with mine which I love but DVIO is perfectly fine, and free.
I've just followed the advice of another ADVC-100 and run a firewire cable directly from my digital box directly to my ADVC-100 and in turn to my PC and I have to say the quality is awesome.
I thought for my budget I'd reached my peak with my superb ATI Radeon 64mb ViVo but the Canopus box is fantastic.
You won't regret it and superb for my VHS conversions of course.
Will Hay

[cthomas]

I've had my ADVC-100 a few months now and I have to say it's utterley superb.
I use Pinnacle Studio 8.12 with mine which I love but DVIO is perfectly fine, and free.
I've just followed the advice of another ADVC-100 and run a firewire cable directly from my digital box directly to my ADVC-100 and in turn to my PC and I have to say the quality is awesome.
I thought for my budget I'd reached my peak with my superb ATI Radeon 64mb ViVo but the Canopus box is fantastic.
You won't regret it and superb for my VHS conversions of course.
Will Hay

Will could you go into more detail about this "I've just followed the advice of another ADVC-100 and run a firewire cable directly from my digital box directly to my ADVC-100 and in turn to my PC and I have to say the quality is awesome."

What digital box ? "run a firewire cable directly from my digital box".

Carl

[Will Hay]

Hello,

Will could you go into more detail about this "I've just followed the advice of another ADVC-100 and run a firewire cable directly from my digital box directly to my ADVC-100 and in turn to my PC and I have to say the quality is awesome."

What digital box ? "run a firewire cable directly from my digital box".

What I mean is I run a f.cable from my satellite receiver into the canopus and into my PC, therefore effectively using my PC as a VCR but with the added benefit that as I'm running staright from the source the quality is, IMHO, excellent.
I'm in the UK, we call it 'Sky TV'

Will Hay

[flaninacupboard]

why do you run it through your ADVC? just to extend the cable?

didn't realise sky boxes had a firewire output!

[Will Hay]

why do you run it through your ADVC? just to extend the cable?

Erm, I don't know what you mean.
If I don't run the signal through the ADVC-100 I don't transfer the signal to my PC.

didn't realise sky boxes had a firewire output!

They don't, did I say they did somewhere maybe?
I run a lead from my digital box (scart output on one end and composite yellow/red/white on the other) to the ADVC-100 and then a firewire from the back of the ADVC-100 to my PC.
Will


EDIT: You're quite right, my earlier post was badly worded and rushed, the method above is my correct proceedure.

[flaninacupboard]

gotcha, that makes a bit more sense! don't the sky boxes have S-video output as well?

[Will Hay]

...don't the sky boxes have S-video output as well?

I don't think mine does, but if it does, I'll be using it.
No, I'm sure it doesn't, I'd have seen it, but I'll check.
If I don't post again assume it didn't.
Will

[indyram]

In my opinion (I have tried two other USB analog-digital devices)

Canopus is the best. The AV sync is good. The quality of picture should be as good as the original. Yes virtual dub doesn't recognize it
I have had good luck with DVD movie factory using variable
bitrate (4000 max) and quality of 8 . I can capture up to 1 hour and 40 minutes of mpeg2 in under 4.0 gb space

Many people had given a good ratings for this card before I bought it
I guess most of them can't be wrong

I would recommend it over the usb2 cards

[ajc53]

I just got my ADVC 100 last night and within a matter of a few seconds it met my expectations. I threw one of my toughest VHS home movie tapes that my ATI could not handle without a TBC, with satisfactory results.

However, I had not figured out how to get sound thru the PC speakers during the transfer. I briefly tried everything I have learned with my USB and ATI AIW capture devices.

I know the sound is there, because it will play back OK after the transfer, just not during.

Am I missing something, or am I not supposed to review sound as it passes thru the fire wire card?

[flaninacupboard]

what app are you using to capture? i get sound with DVapp

[ajc53]

I started with WinDV, then I tried Pinnacle Studio 7 to see if it was the capture program.

You answered my first question. At least I know I am supposed to be reviewing sound. When I get home I can start looking elsewhere.

I will check ATI's Video Player, which is still my default media player. May be it is blocking my sound card, even when it is not opened.

[flaninacupboard]

well DVapp is no frills capture software, but been 100% reliable for me. if you want something fancier showshifter should do the trick - been a while since i used it but pretty sure i got sound with that too.


Edit:
all the devices i capture from have multiple audio outputs, so i can also listen to the actual device live.