DAC-100 or ADVC100

[Liquidant]

What are your thoughts on the DAC-100 Vs ADVC-100

I've been told there pretty much identical apart from the DAC-100 being £55 cheaper.

I want to get a good capture device for both analouge and DV.

I was going to get the ADVC-100 from a local retailer who specialise in Canopus products but he recommended that I get the DAC-100

Which would be better????????????????????????

[zenzen1]

I have both units on different capture computers, and I can say they are identical in output. Quality is excellent with either of them. If anything, the DAC-100 is more user friendly, as it defeats macrovision automatically, whereas with the ADVC-100 you have to hold down the input-select switch for around 30 seconds.
The best software to use with either of them is Scenalyzer. Download a free trial from http://www.scenalyzer.com/

[Liquidant]

Thanks m8 was realy hoping someome might have both or have used both of them.

think i might be swayed more to the DAC-100 especially with the macrovision removal allready to roll

[Goonch]

Would either of these devices be good for capturing from a DV tape, or is going through a firewire port directly a better option?

Thanks!

[Liquidant]

from what i can gather you can capture dv svhsc svhs VHS almost anything that will plug into it and it transfers to the PC via firewire.

you can view it as you capture it on TV so it looks like the perfect option if i get this one i will let you know how i get on

[DVD_Ripper]

What are your thoughts on the DAC-100 Vs ADVC-100

I've been told there pretty much identical apart from the DAC-100 being £55 cheaper.

I want to get a good capture device for both analouge and DV.

I was going to get the ADVC-100 from a local retailer who specialise in Canopus products but he recommended that I get the DAC-100

Which would be better????????????????????????

Did he tell you why he recommended the DAC100 vs the ADVC100

[pbanders]

Would either of these devices be good for capturing from a DV tape, or is going through a firewire port directly a better option?

Thanks!

Firewire is much better. As Lordsmurf says, "it's not a capture!" but rather, a file transfer from the DV tape to your computer via the port.

[Liquidant]

The guy recommended it because he said it's more or less a carbon copy of the ADVC-100 but at a cheaper price.

I got mine yesterday and tried a few small captures just to get used to it and see how it performed.

captured about 4, 5 min clips with perfect picture perfect sound on my old laptop that has taken a serious beating of the years (only because i don't have a firewire card on my main PC)

no dropped frames no sync loss makes me one very happy bunny.

the look of the DAC-100 is pretty smart two light grey with clear perspex front and back inputs on the front S-video composite DV same on the back. came with all leads one firewire cable, one RCA cable, one S-video cable and power supply.

[Ramon]

My pc only has built in sound - is this good enough? having only two pci slots (both used) I'm unable to install a sound card.
Almost had my mind made up to get the ADS Tech Pyro A/V Link, but am now leaning toward the DAC-100

[Liquidant]

all the sound and video run straight through the DAC-100 using firewire so as long as you have a firewire port on your pc you should be ok no need to plug sound directly into your sound card. you can also monitor the output video and sound through your tv or a second monitor

[Ramon]

Thanks Liquidant, I've just checked the prices out here, and the best I could get is from Germany at 209 Euros plus postage (about 20 Euros) That works out at about 151 GBP - is that good? (American keyboard, can't get the pound sign)

[Liquidant]

sounds like you found you box m8 £151 sounds like a deal to me. Mine was £180

[Ramon]

Thanks Liquidant - think I'll give it a try.

[Ramon]

Do the DVD's written autoplay? I don't imagine they do but suppose you simply press play. Perhaps a stupid question.

[Redd]

This is not a recommendation for the Canopus ADVC-100, even though I use one and like it very much. Rather I'm seconding the recommendation for using Scenalyzer for capture. It’s the Best.

[Will Hay]

Would either of these devices be good for capturing from a DV tape, or is going through a firewire port directly a better option?

Thanks!

Firewire is much better. As Lordsmurf says, "it's not a capture!" but rather, a file transfer from the DV tape to your computer via the port.

...this is exactly why there is no 'best' program for transferring the footage to the PC, they all do the same thing so realistically speaking DVIO is far and away the best because it's free (but no preview window).
I have the ADVC-100 via Pinnacle Studio 8 and despite loving my ATI Radeon ViVo wonder how I ever managed to capture analogue.
Will

[alstatr]

This is an interesting post.

I have a few questions regrading the ADVC-100, DAC-100, and ADVC300. I want to capture some old VHS tapes and convert them to DVD. I was thinking about getting the ADVC100 but I'm afraid I will need a TBC which costs extra. So I considered getting the ADVC300 with its built in TBC but that also costs a lot. I took a look at the DAC100 and it looks good especially because of the macrovision thing. My question is this. Should I buy the DAC100 instead of the ADVC100+TBC or the ADVC300? And would the DAC100 need a TBC? I have a 2.4GHZ P4, 1GB, 330GB, ATI 9700 Pro. Thanks guys!

And sorry if I appear to be hijacking the thread, its just this topic was a perfect place for my question.

Kevin

[zenzen1]

...this is exactly why there is no 'best' program for transferring the footage to the PC, they all do the same thing so realistically speaking DVIO is far and away the best because it's free (but no preview window).

Will...They don't "all do the same thing"
If I want to capture something off cable at 2am in the morning, I can set Scenalyzer to Start capture at a certain time, End the capture at a certain time, then switch my PC off. How do I do that with DVIO

Alstatr: Yes you may need a TBC with VHS tape, although it just depends on how bad the quality of the tapes are. I have often transferred VHS tape through both ADVC-100 and DAC-100 (I transfer wedding tapes and home movies as a business) and most times the result is perfect without the TBC. Once captured to an AVI, I encode the file via VirtualDub, and introduce some Noise filters to lift the video noise, a Fill filter to mask the lower few lines of video where you often see the tape tracking distortion, and because vid tapes usually go bland and lose their colour over the years, a hue/saturation/intensity filter to add back a bit of colour. Then I frameserve to MainConcept or CCE (depending on how I feel on the day ). Most times the end result is slightly better than the original. Must be OK..My customers keep coming back

[Liquidant]

Hey Zenzen, what sort of time bracket is all the converting and filtering taking before you end up with a finished product. I'm looking at doing the same as you in good old england. I've been encoding and decodeing video's for a while and started a big project a few weeks ago for my friends wedding. I take it you do this full time?

anyway got my DAC-100 tried a few captures over the weekend and i'm LOVIN IT.

[zenzen1]

>>what sort of time bracket is all the converting and filtering taking before you end up with a finished product.

That depends on how long the tape runs, how much filtering is needed and the horsepower of your computer. Typically, with a 2 hour wedding and normal noise filtering (Eg Smart Smoother in VirtualDub) on my AMD 2100 the processing will take around 7 hours encoding (I use 2 pass). So it is usually an overnight job with the computer working while I sleep Next morning it is ready to burn. With VHS quality you can fit at least 3 hours onto a blank DVD-R. You will not lose PQ because it isn't there to begin with If there is more than one "movie" (Eg Wedding and Reception split or Our Wedding and Our First RugRat) then you can use DVDLAB to produce a very nice menu.
Customers love it

>>I take it you do this full time?

I'm a retired Air Traffic Controller, so it is a part time job. A hobby that brings in a few bucks to pay for my hobby

>>anyway got my DAC-100 tried a few captures over the weekend and i'm LOVIN IT.

Yes they are a nice piece of kit.

[Ramon]

Just ordered a DAC-100 from Germany at 206,40 Euros (about 136GBP) including postage. I'm a little confused still (not difficult for me!) as to what extra software I would need. I simply want to start transferring a couple of VHS tapes to DVD (VCD?) without editing (that can come later).
Any advice welcome - hope it's ok to post here.

[fmctm1sw]

Is the DAC-100 a bi-directional device like the ADVC-100? I believe with the ADVC-100, you can go back to VHS tape. Kind of like the difference between the ADVC-50 and 100. If you have nay need to go back to VHS after you do your work, you might want to make sure of this...

*edit* Guess it does: http://www.datavideo-tek.com/products/dac_100_main_page.htm

[fmctm1sw]

I'm a little confused still (not difficult for me!) as to what extra software I would need. I simply want to start transferring a couple of VHS tapes to DVD (VCD?) without editing (that can come later).
Any advice welcome - hope it's ok to post here.

I'll start by saying I do not own either the DAC-100 or ADVC-100. I imagine you will need a DV transfer app like windv or some of the others mentioned. windv is free. If you have any editing you want to do, you may be able to use virtualdub (I don't know whether that device makes type-1 or type-2 files) but I think you can get a converter anyway. To make MPEG-1 or MPEG-2, you will need an encoder like tmpgenc or cce.

[Liquidant]

few things here i guess. even though i'm no expert but i've done some serious hunting and playing with my new DAC-100 over the weekend.

Q:Is the DAC-100 bidirectional

A: simply yes (it an exact copy of the ADVC-100 but with diffrent hardware in it for legal reasons i guess) transfer to PC, Video or standalone DVD recorder i think you can even transfer it back to digital camera.

Q: What extra software do i need.

A: earlier in this thread it was recomended to use http://www.scenalyzer.com/.
I downloaded the trial version which adds a water mark or little picture on your transfer but it works great. you could also use Windows movie maker, Vegas video alot of software out there that can be used it's just you choice what you want. I'm using scenalyzerlive to transfer and Vegas Video 5 to do all my edititng the using DVD architect to make my DVD and it's working wonders.

thanks to all for your posts and help

[Ramon]

Thanks so much fmctm1sw and liquidant. Think I need to do some serious searching and download a couple of trials.

At least I'm further forward now than I was a few days ago. Appreciate all the help given, and sorry Liquidant for hijacking your thread.

[Bondiablo]

They're not quite exactly the same. The ADVC is more expensive and they have slightly diffirent inputs/outputs. I own an ADVC100 and have tried a DAC100 briefly. The quality of the captured video appears to be about the same, if not identical, but the ADVC seems better able to handle lower quality tapes as well as FFWs and REWs. However, more recent productions of the ADVC may not include the macrovision hack, not sure there's been a definitive answer on that one yet. Also, the DAC can't capture audio only or a true black & white source (which is never likely to come up unless you want to capture security footage) but the ADVC can.

[fmctm1sw]

Also, the DAC can't capture audio only or a true black & white source (which is never likely to come up unless you want to capture security footage) but the ADVC can.

Wow, that is a very interesting piece of information. I'm glad that came up because I have a lot of B & W material (3 Stooges). Boy, would I have been pissed off....

[Bondiablo]

chances are the DAC will be able to capture those. here is the reply i got from datavideo on the subject a while back.

I apologize in advance for probably giving you more information that you want.

It will do fine with a B&W scene in a color movie.
It will do fine with something that has been broadcast.
It will do fine with DVD's.
VHS/SVHS - depends on whether they have color burst (sorry to be a nit picker here).
If they are commercial VHS, chances are they do.
If they are security VHS tapes, chances are they do not.

I guess you can deduce from this reply that we also sell DAC's to security people who want to edit their tapes.

[fmctm1sw]

chances are the DAC will be able to capture those. here is the reply i got from datavideo on the subject a while back.

VHS/SVHS - depends on whether they have color burst (sorry to be a nit picker here).
If they are commercial VHS, chances are they do.
If they are security VHS tapes, chances are they do not.

Hmmm, I don't like the sound of that. I have some commercial ones and some broadcast ones. I guess I'm just making a mountain out of a mole hill though. That is good information to know though. And I like the personal response. Much better than the canned responses I got from Plextor a while back via email.

[Michelle]

Also, the DAC can't capture audio only or a true black & white source (which is never likely to come up unless you want to capture security footage) but the ADVC can.

Wow, that is a very interesting piece of information. I'm glad that came up because I have a lot of B & W material (3 Stooges). Boy, would I have been pissed off....

I've never had a problem capturing B&W with the DAC.