Canapus ADVC-100 or ADVC-50

[Ducatti20]

Hey all,
I'm planning on converting family VHS to DVD. I'm looking for advice on picking my capture unit. I've ordered a Sony DRU-500A Burner, have the hard drive space (see specs). Been reading a-lot of posts, like the ADVC-100, but am wondering if the -50 will suit my needs. I only will be using the card to capture home movies, so could care less about macrovision support. Worries are loss of video quality, and dropped audio sync. Any help would be appreciated.

[Bondiablo]

The significant difference between the ADVC-100 and the ADVC-50 is the 100 supports both analog and digital in and out, the 50 only supports analog in and digital out. Also there seems to be no macrovision work around for the 50. The video quality should be the same and both support locked audio.

[ncgoldwinger]

Ducatti..

I don't own either but am only passing on what I understand about the two units. I was researching the two mentioned units a few months ago to accomplish the same as you mentioned but also wanted a mini DV camcorder so I ended up buying the Sony TRV27 that has the analog to digital pass through that accomplishes the same as the Canopus units.
The only difference that I know of between the two are the macrovision bypass that you already mentioned and that you can't send output back out of the 50 model like the 100 allows. If analog to digital input is all you are after the 50 should fit the bill for you in my opinion.
Because the audio and video are both fed into and combined at the units and then fed thru the firewire port audio sync will always be intact. Also because the converted signal will be a digital one you will be using only 13GB per hour verses 1 GB per minute in analog uncompressed AVI capture so your chances of frame loss are very low if you have a fairly fast system. (you do need a drive formatted in NTFS for capture over the 4GB limit of FAT32 just in case you don't know that)
Back when I was looking at both units the 50 would have suited my needs, but if I had bought one, I would have probably bought the 100 since I try to look ahead and think that I might just need the extra features "just in case" later down the road... but that's just me..
From all I have read about both of the Canopus units either one gets a big thumbs up from all of the owners..

Regards
Rick

[thebigguy]

Ducatti20

I bought the 50 and couldn't be happier. After fighting with all the other products (I wish I would have found this sight $200 earlier)works like a charm right out of the box. The only problem I've had is with Studio 8 not recognizing the 50, but all my other programs work fine with it. No dropped frames, audio in synch. I use it for the reasons you stated, convert family vhs tapes. I thought about the 100, but the 50 suits my needs as I don't plan on outputting back to tape.

Good luck, keep us posted

Dave

[Luthorcrow]

Hi thebigguy,

I had the same question as above. Thanks for answering. I had spent this weekend researching various USB devices (from $40 to $300), video capture cards, and TV cards and came to the conclusion that all of them had serious problems for the under $300 set. The two options mentioned in this thread were the only that sounded promising (pass through on a digital cam) and the ADVC-50/ADVC-100. My last question was what was the big difference between the two and like you it sounds like the 50 is the one that would work for me.

[thebigguy]

From what I've seen and read stay away from USB, too slow. Firewire connections are the only way right now and the ADVC 50 and 100 are connected that way. The only other thing I was thinking about is the firewire pass through on both cards, you can't control a DV camera from your capturing software (although that's not how I use my 50, I hook my DV right to the firewire). I don't usually cheer for products, but like I said, after many frustrating months the ADVC product is the way to go for VHS or in my case Hi-8 tapes. If you can get output from your camcorder or tape player, you can capture with no losses which was the best part. Good luck!

[petec]

I have both the ADVC-100 and the DV-Raptor card and currently burn both DV and analog captures from DTV to DVD and I have no issues with sound sync etc. For custom burning DVDs I use a combo of Soft Encode (AC3), Infoedit, SpruceUp, TMPGEnc, DVDXcopy (for archiving purposes) and Nero. No issues to date.

I do also own the USB ADS(?) product as I purchased it when it first came out. For MPEG1 captures I was not impressed. For MPEG2 it was better (at least video was) but sound syncing was always kind of bad. Haven't hooked it up in over six months now so I don't know if the software interface is better but it was pretty bad a while ago. I would tend to lean towards the Canopus setup. I opted though to purchase the Pioneer instead of the Sony (changed my mind after I had already purchased the Sony). I have not made any coasters yet with the Pioneer using cheap media.

In the past (still own) I have used Winnov (my second choice for analog capturing) and AIW (2 cards-my third choice for capturing). I am currently still using the Winnov cards for WEB camera servers.

[frogster]

I am also interested in these models. I'd go with the advc 50 but I'm concerned about the lack of a macrovision work around. It's not that I'd be copying copyprotected material, but macrovision enabled capture cards that I have owned have often misinterpreted my home videos as being macrovision protected.

Also, any recommendations about where to purchase these products from?

Also, does the 2gig file limit cause a problem with these devices?

[petec]

Purchased Canopus directly from Canopus and DV-Raptor on Ebay...