Stand Alone DVD Recorder V/S Canopus ADVC-50/100 (updated)

[porigromus]

This is my first post to this forum. First a little background information on myself to help place me in a techie bracket. I thought it may help on deciding on what I could do reasonably easily.

I have an A+ Certification so I am familar with basic computer hardware/software troubleshooting. I have never captured nor edited video in the past. I am not familar with the software/hardware to perform these task as well except for what I have learned browsing through these forums. I am not looking to become a hobbyist in this type of material. Only looking to copy some old VHS/8mm tapes to digital video for preservation. I decided to post my question here because I read alot of what you guys have written and you all seem to be very knowledgable in this field.

I am trying to make the best possible conversions with the simplest methods possible. My price range for components is $200. From what I read the simplest methods with good results will come from either a standalone DVD recorder or the Canopus ADVC-50/100.

I was unable to locate a Canopus ADVC-50 but I did locate a Canopus ADVC-55 and ADVC-100 about a price of $210. I also was looking at the standalone DVD recorders made by JVC that are in the same price range. The hardware encoder built into the ADVC is a plus. The standalone DVD recorders simplicity is also attractive.

I couldn't really find a post comparing the video quality between these type of products, I do apologize if I overlooked one. I am hoping I could get an opinion on the comparison in video quality between the two and/or any other advice you may have. I read through the guides but unfortunately I do not have the time to get too fancy with this project. Thanks in advance for any post.

(If anyone also knows where would be the cheapest place to purchase the Canopus ADVC-50 please let me know, if that is allowed on this forum. Tried Ebay didn't find any.)

PC Specs:

OS: Windows XP Prof
Processor: AMD 64 3200
RAM: DDR 400 2GB
Video Card: Geforce 7800 GT 256 MB w/ VIVO
Motherboard: Asus A8N-E
DVD r/rw: Lite-On Dual Layer

[zoobie]

i think those canopus use the same theater chip
did you just try searching the internet?
keep trying ebay since both those canopus are out of production

[caradoc]

I have been using both a standalone DVD recorder and a Canopus ADVC50 for about 2 years now, although I have found the DVD recorder to be very convenient, I prefer the Canopus. I have converted many different tape formats to DVD. The flexibilty available from the AVI file and a decent NLE and authoring software I feel puts my preference towards using a Canopus and the editing/authoring option. It is abit more time consuming but more controlable, in having said that the results will only be as good as the material you are transfering. Good Luck

[FulciLives]

For TV recording a stand alone DVD recorder (with a built-in HDD being a big plus) is the way to go simply because it's the only way to "keep up" if you record a lot of TV.

The Canopus devices are better suited to pre-records or home videos that are there and can be played back and copied anytime rather than that rare movie on cable that is airing at 3am in the morning or recording "X" number of TV shows a week.

You can get better quality with the Canopus when it comes to lower quality sources such as videotapes. This is because of the ability to capture and then post process using filters and then on to a software MPEG-2 DVD spec encode. That gives you more control and options to clean up the video and audio.

But the Canopus route takes a LOT of time and effert and tweaking etc.

So you have to figure out which is better for you and your needs and time constraints.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[harley2ride]

You can also look into the ADS Pyro AV/Link, which is the same thing as the Canopus stuff, and you can get them for around $160.00 with Adobe Premiere Elements editing software.

[porigromus]

Thank all of you for your advice. I guess I just need to decide now how much time I am willing on spending on this project.

I did attempt one time in the past using my video card's video in feature, but did not have much success with it. It may have been my small amount of knowledge in this matter or the Geforce 7800 GT quality.

Thank you all again.



I was under the impression that ADVC-100/50 used a MPEG2 hardware encoder, was I mistaken? Would I still need to encode with MPEG2 post capture? I apologize for my lack of knowledge. I know how it must feel answering these probably common video questions.

[xxiangg]

If you want to do a lots of editing, ADVC is better. There are some softwares
for MPEG editing. But there are more and cheaper softwares for DV editing.

If you just want to save some TV programs, DVD recorder is much easier.
You can get things done much quicker. It takes much less disk spaces.

Frankly, I always use ADVC flow, editing or not. Because the flow is working
for me. So I need to have big disk space and I let the job running over day
and night.

[xxiangg]

Thank all of you for your advice. I guess I just need to decide now how much time I am willing on spending on this project.

I did attempt one time in the past using my video card's video in feature, but did not have much success with it. It may have been my small amount of knowledge in this matter or the Geforce 7800 GT quality.

Thank you all again.



I was under the impression that ADVC-100/50 used a MPEG2 hardware encoder, was I mistaken? Would I still need to encode with MPEG2 post capture? I apologize for my lack of knowledge. I know how it must feel answering these probably common video questions. :oops:

I do not know that ADVC had MPGE encoder inside. I always need to use software encoder
at the end after editing. Actually, I always used Pinnacle Studio, editing, encoding, and burn
disk. I know the software does not work for everyong. It worked for me.

[pstedman]

The ADVC transfers the video as DV AVI. So you will need to encode to MPEG2 after capture/editing. You'll also need some DVD authoring software to create the disc.

As other posters have mentioned the ADVC is the more time consuming mewthod. Personally, I love my ADVC-100, but I like to tinker with the video after capture.

From the sound of your initial post I'd suggest you lean towards the stand alone DVD recorder. It's about as simple as home DVD creation gets.

[edDV]

I was under the impression that ADVC-100/50 used a MPEG2 hardware encoder, was I mistaken? Would I still need to encode with MPEG2 post capture? I apologize for my lack of knowledge. I know how it must feel answering these probably common video questions.

I would agree with the above that straight dubs work fine to the DVD recorder. You can add hardware to the path to correct timebase errors, reduce noise and correct levels (proc amp).

VHS VCR -> Proc Amp -> TBC/Noise Corrector -> DVD Recorder

If you want to
- apply digital filters
- edit and/or add effects
- use other video enhancement or authoring software

then better to use a ADVC type device to transfer to DV format (pro editing format), then use software, then encode to MPeg2, then author the DVD.

The ADVC-100 is bidirectional. The ADVC 50/55 are one way (input)

VHS VCR -> ADVC (analog to DV) -> IEEE-1394 -> DV.AVI file on HDD

To go the to the full you would add the TBC/Proc amp ahead of the ADVC (or get the ADVC-300)

VHS VCR -> Proc Amp -> TBC/Noise Corrector -> ADVC (analog to DV) -> IEEE-1394 -> DV.AVI file on HDD

[Cole]

I too use a DVD Recorder for off air and the ADVC-50 for VHS capture, but one thing I must point out though, is that if you go for the ADVC-50/100, then you would potentially need to purchase extra software (stating the bleedin' obvious!) for encoding and DVD Aurthoring. I mention this as you say that you have a price range; the ADVC-50 doesn't come with any software of its own and the extra software may push the cost above your budget.

[Cole]

Double post error.

[porigromus]

Thank you all for your informative post. All of you have been very helpful.

[porigromus]

** Double Post **

[porigromus]

I have been thinking about giving it another shot with my Nvidia Geforce 7800 GT before I purchase any additional hardware.

I am curious if anyone has attempted to capture using this card and their opinion on it? I ask because I do not see it listed in the capture cards. I know it probably isn't the ideal card to capture with but this is probably a one time project. When I attempted to before I didn't have this informative website handy, so that will help.


So please stop me now if I am attempting this in vain. :P


*** Highlighted questions/request for ease on the eyes ***

**** Some specs on the Geforce 7800 GT regarding video capturing ****

NVIDIA PureVideo Technology
Dedicated programmable on-chip video processor
MPEG-2 video encode and decode
High Definition MPEG-2 and WMV9 hardware decode acceleration (up to 1080i)
Post Processing Features
Spatial-Temporal De-Interlacing (adaptive)
NTSC 3:2 Pulldown / Bad Edit correction
PAL 2:2 Pulldown correction
High quality 4x5 video scaling and filtering
Microsoft Video Mixing Renderer (VMR)
Integrated HDTV output (with HDCP support)

[harley2ride]

I would say, give it a try with your 7800 and purevideo. From what I've read about purevideo, it's nearly as good as other alternatives. It all boils down to if you are happy with the end quality of your video.

[porigromus]

Thanks for the post Harley2ride, I am going to attempt this project with my current Geforce 7800 GT card.

I am a little confused at the moment, working with codecs/software for video projects seems more difficult than computer IT support. It may just seem this way because it is all foreign at the moment. I have read a few guides on capturing using a graphics card video in, which isn't the best method I know. But here we go, it will be a learning experience!

I will try to explain what is confusing me after reading through guides. From what I have read I assume that my Geforce 7800 GT card will not hardware MPEG2 encode on capture I will have to do it via software. Then from what I have read I will have to encode this an additional time into a format readable by a DVD player. I am not really worried about max compression, I do have alot of space on my harddrive to work with (325 GB free), and plenty of DVD-Rs. I am a little unsure on the process of software encoding the video into MPEG2. I would also like to double check to make sure I assumed correctly, my card does not encode MPEG2 via hardware. Please throw out some software recommendations as well. I was going to use Virtual Dub but I have read it is uncompatible with the nvidia wdm universal driver. I did attempt to capture with the Virtual Dub program and what I read was truth.

I also have the Purevideo MPEG2 Decoder by Nvidia for my graphics card but not sure if this is just to decode or can be used to encode as well.

I am having more trouble with this project than I would care to admit but I am hoping some of you kind individuals can set me straight.