Canopus ADVC 100

[ferries]

I intend to buy the Canopus ADVC 100. I t seems I have to have a firewire card in my computer to attach it too. As I do not have one(I don't think I do anyway) can any one tell me what sort of firewire card is best and compatible with the ADVC 100 please?
Also, is my computer powerful enough to use the ADVC?
I have; HP 1.2 Ghz AMD Athlon processor
128 MB SDRAM memory
30 GB ultra DMA hard drive
Can I also use the ADVC to transfer my DV tapes onto the computer as I have a Sony digital camera?
Any help is appreciated as I am just starting out to learn to capture video and decided to buy the ADVC from the comments in this forum.

[dilligaf]

If you have a Sony DV camera, you should be able to use it to capture your DV & analog sources (via the Sony input) to your PC. You will still need a firewire card to attach the camera to the PC, I would try this first before getting the advc 100. I'm using a cheap generic firewire card with my advc (it has an amd chip on it)

[monoxide77]

just don't buy one with a TI chipset. i use a card with an NEC chipset and it works beautifully with the ADVC-100 (which has some NEC guts in it also). here's a link to a nice cheap one that includes Ulead Video Studio 5.

[ferries]

If I use my Sony camera to capture VHS, what is the best software for this? Will Tmpgenc and Virtualbud do the trick? What is the better firewire card as I don't understand all this stuff about "chips" in the card. (there was no link monoxide77)I thought the ADVC 100 would be good for me as I know little about capturing and need something that is pretty straight forward and easy to use. I will need to edit the movie, such as cut out unwanted sections, but nothing to complex. (the prices of the firewire cards and ADVC is around double the price for me in Australia compared to US) Can anyone tell me if my computer is powerful enough, please.

[ZippyP.]

You need more ram, 512 Mb is good. Also a second hard disk as yours will fill up pretty quickly! Get one of 80 Gb or more.

[ferries]

Can I get an external second hard drive? Any recommendations of what sort please. Thanks.

[Bondiablo]

A DV cam with analog pass thru performs basically the same function as the ADVC so definitely check that first. Even if your cam doesn't have analog pass through you can still use it to transfer your DV tapes if it has a firewire port. Regardless of which method you end up using I'd suggest getting Scenalyzer Live ($33) to do the capture/transfer and use TMPGEnc to convert to MPEG.

Any firewire card will do fine. There was an issue with a certain combination with an older TI chipset but it's highly unlikely you would encounter that. The only reason to spend more than about $15 US on a firewire card is if you want a better software package to be included. In that case take a look at the ADS Pyro 1394 line, they have quite a few different packages available.

Probably the only hardware you'd really NEED to upgrade would be add another hard drive. The captured/transferred files will be DV AVI at about 12GB per hour so maybe a 120GB 7200rpm drive. I wouldn't use an external drive if you can avoid it, if you can't maybe get a drive that connects by firewire rather than USB.

[ZippyP.]

Yes, an external drive would be OK for your purposes, keep it defragmented and dedicated for your video files. For data transfer speed purposes, make sure it is either USB 2.0 or Firewire. I understand that a combination USB-Firewire card is available. (USB 2.0 I'm told is faster than FireWire.)

The Firewire card does not really "capture" the video, it is only a data port for your PC. The DV video is transferred from the camera to your PC via the Firewire port. If your camera has a video input then your camera can do analog (VHS) to DV conversion and you don't need an ADVC 100 (like dilligaf said).

Virtualdub will not work to "capture" your DV from your camera. Here's a link you might want to read: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=150321 DVIO is a program recommended by some people. Virtualdub (free) can be used to edit and filter your video once it is on your computer, but there lots of other programs that do more (special effects etc.). I believe Ulead comes packaged with some Firewire cards and there are higher end programs like Adobe Premier.

TMPGEnc is an Mpeg encoding program and is a great choice if you intend to create DVD's or video CD's (VCD or SVCD). There are guides in the Convert section about DV to MPEG1 (VCD) or DV to MPEG2 (SVCD or DVD). Also, if you do a search of the Forums you will find lots of tips from other users on the topic of DV capture and editting.

Hope that helped! 8)

[monoxide77]

(there was no link monoxide77)

sorry about that
http://www.dealsonic.com/iopfnecchip3.html

[dilligaf]

As you are in Oz, here is a link to a suitable firewire card at EYO ($AU55,based in Sydney). This card comes bundled with the capture software I use, Ulead Video Studio.

http://www.eyo.com.au/details_I-sl-1394.html

[ferries]

I just want to thank you all for your help and suggestions. I will now buy a firewire card and try capturing my VHS and DV movies this way instead of buying the ADVC 100 (much, much cheaper this way too) I'm
sure I'll be back for more help once I get started. Thanks heaps.

[VCD GURU]

just don't buy one with a TI chipset

I have a Canopus ADVC 50 wich i use together with my pinnacle firewire card (Texas inst. chipset). Works great!

I dont understand why you say that he should not use a board with TI chipset on it.

Can you explain why you have a bad experience with it?

All the ADVC units should work without problems as long you are connecting the advc unbit to a native 1394 board.

Take it easy [/quote]

[TheSeven7hSon]

Some firewire cards are not compatible with the ADVC-100. The ones with a TI LV23 chipset do not work. The DLinks used them. The newer DLinks may be using a newer one now but to make sure you can look up their toll free number on their web site and give them a call. Pyros use the TI LV26. They work. Or you can go with the one monoxide77 suggested.

Seven

[ferries]

I have decided to use my sony cam to capture my VHS and DV movies. I believe my camera has "pasthrough". I assume from "Bondiablo" that my transferd files will be DV AVI. Does this mean I will have to convert them to MPEG2 to be able to watch them on any DVD player? If so, what is the best software for this conversion? Also, what is the best software to capture my movies? Thank you all again.

[yg1968]

Your DVD burner will usually come with the necessary software to create a DVD but the software provided isn't that great.

For DVD authoring, I personnally like Dazzle DVD complete (they have a trial version). However, I prefer to use TMPGEnc for encoding DV avi files to mpeg-2. I don't use the DVD complete encoder.

[ferries]

I don't have a DVD burner, I only want to make VCD copies of my VHS and digital movies. So I assume that I do have to encode DV AVI files to MPEG files to be able to watch the movies on my stand alone DVD player?

[Bondiablo]

If so, what is the best software for this conversion? Also, what is the best software to capture my movies?

Already answered above.

In addition, get VCD Easy from the Tools section here for authoring your MPEGs to VCD.