ADVC100 - Pre-purchase questions

[prefect_47]

I'm hoping somebody with a ADVC100 can help me out. I'm considering purchasing one of these, but have a few questions:

-Can you capture data to an uncompressed AVI?
-What is the data rate when capturing uncompressed?
-Is there a maximum capture file size (I'm using NTFS, so I assume not)?
-Does the Audio remain in sync with the video even on long captures (2+ hours)?

Thanks,

Chris

[Solarjetman]

1) You capture as a DV avi over a firewire connection (in fact, Windows treats it as a Digital Video Camera). For all intentive purposes, you can consider that uncompressed.

2) The data rate of a DV file is about 3.7MB a second (13GB an hour)

3) The only file size limit is your hard drive.

4) I have never had an audio sync error with it. The longest capture I have done was 2 hours 15 minutes and have left it on for over 10 hours straight and it did not get out of sync when I captured.

In short, if you want a no trouble, good quality capture solution, go with the ADVC-100. You will not be disapointed.

hope that helps

[IJM]

Hi,

Can you capture data to an uncompressed AVI?

You cannot capture uncompressed. The ADVC-100 contains a hardware codec. It converts your analogue signal into a video data stream compressed in the DV25 format. It's similar to MPEG, but composed entirely of I-frames, meaning that there is only compression within each frame. DV was designed to facilitate editing. The captured video is in standard D1 format, i.e. 720x480 NTSC or 720x576 PAL. Despite being a slightly lossy compression method you should not concern yourself that this detracts from the quality. On the contrary, the quality of the captures using an ADVC-100 is very high indeed. The audio component is uncompressed 16-bit Stereo sampled at 48Khz.

What is the data rate when capturing uncompressed?

As stated you cannot capture uncompressed, however a DV file will take up 13Gb per hour of footage.

Is there a maximum capture file size (I'm using NTFS, so I assume not)?

You are only limited by the maximum filesize that NTFS allows. I don't know what that is, but I do know that even with today's disk sizes, you'd run out of space first.

Does the Audio remain in sync with the video even on long captures (2+ hours)?

Oh yes. The audio lock feature is one of the main selling points of the ADVC-100 and it does work.

The only drawback of the ADVC-100 is the lack of control compared to a more conventional analogue capture. You can only capture in one resolution (as stated above) and you can't tweak contrast, brightness, saturation etc. Any such problems have to be sorted out in post-processing instead. Having said that, I find that the ADVC-100 does such a good job anyway, even with poor quality sources, that this drawback is pretty much a non-issue.

The ADVC-100 isn't just a quick, convenient, hassle-free method of capturing. The quality of the captures is very high too. I am happy I bought mine.

I hope this is of some help.

Ian.

[bmiller]

It would be nice if you can try one out before your buy.I bought the ads instant dvd 2.0,and i find capturing with vdub with huffyuv,or picvideo codecs better quality.The ads is sitting in the box.A lot of money wasted.
Brad

[i_am_dave]

Here is another vote for the ADVC-100. In addition to what everyone has already said, I have found that it can capture from some really bad source material.
I've had some old VHS tapes recorded in EP mode that had jumpy frames, tracking noise, and other problems. The ADVC-100 had no problems with it. Never even lost sync.
My record recording time is 3 1/3 hours, without a dropped frame.
Great piece of hardware.

[stevedore]

I'm relatively happy with mine. I had a Datavideo DAC-100 for a while, but when it encountered bad or weak areas of a tape, it would completely lose it & never recover. The ADVC-100 seems to recover immediately & continue the capture. The resulting capture will have some frames & audio missing, however.

In my case, I'm trying to capture from VHS tapes which seem very good when I watch them on TV from the VCR, yet I get the dropouts described above. From reading on this forum, I'm guessing that a time base corrector may help.

I have done a couple of transfers of commercial VHS movies using the ADVC-100, and the results were great.

www.4videoequipment.com has the ADVC-100 for $250 now; nice place to deal with, that's where I bought mine. The price is less if you qualify for their educational discount.

[Metaluna]

Regarding audio sync...Lately I've been capturing VHS-EP tapes in a single 6-hour pass. This gives me a gigantic 80+ GB file on my hard drive, but has the advantage that I don't have to put excess wear and tear on these old tapes by winding and rewinding any more than I need to. Audio sync is perfect all the way to the end of the tape. This is a wonderful little device. I only wish it could power itself from the Firewire bus. Then it would be nearly perfect.

[arcorob]

I am a little confused about IJM's post. Calling DV AVI lossey is a stretch. Lossey indicates that subsequent passes in the same format lose quality which simply isnt so with DV AVI codec.

As to adjustments, you DONT want any. It is not a software tool, it is hardware, similar to a firewire card which will maintain the color, clarity, etc of the material.

It does LOCK the audio and I have actually passed data 6 hours long through the device. EXCELLENT.

Basically, you are getting a very versitile breakout box that partners with firewire to make bi-directional access a breeze.

If you have data on the pc and you want it out to tape(vhs) you can use print to tape. It treats the device as a camcoder which then forwards to your vhs recorder. Same with input.

I also use it to act as an external monitor. When editting in vegas, I have the external monitor option. I let the signal go out digital, it goes to ADVC, from ADVC to a VCR and VCR to a TV (it could go direct to tv but this particular one setup has a use for me).

All in all it is a 10 !!!

[IJM]

I am a little confused about IJM's post. Calling DV AVI lossey is a stretch. Lossey indicates that subsequent passes in the same format lose quality which simply isnt so with DV AVI codec.

"Lossy" simply means that data is permanently removed while preserving as much significant information as possible in order to achieve a very high compression ratio.

What you've described is "generational degradation", which you are quite correct in saying that this is something that DV does not generally suffer from. That is what makes DV a popular format for both consumers and the broadcast industry. Though generational degradation is not unheard of, I have read that the Mainconcept DV codec can be quite bad for it.

As to adjustments, you DONT want any. It is not a software tool, it is hardware, similar to a firewire card which will maintain the color, clarity, etc of the material.

You do occasionally get poor material: oversaturated, too bright, white balance off etc. The 100 will just capture what it sees. You do not get the opportunity to optimise the capture to maximise the captured information. I believe that the ADVC-100's bigger brother, the ADVC-500 does have features to correct these sort of things during capture. But that is why it's much more expensive.

Ian.

[prefect_47]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I've been doing analog captures for a few years now, but DV is new to me, so all of your feeback has helped me understand things a little better.

I have one follow up question on the DV compression. How does it affect the image when encoding to MPEG-2? Is there noticible loss in quality?

My plan is to convert my old Hi-8 videos to DVD, and I want to make sure they look as good as possible. In the past I've tried capturing using MJPEG compression, and the results when going from MJPEG to MPEG-2 were not the greatest. I had much better luck with Huffyuv.

Thanks again for the great responses.

-Chris

[dwill123]

I own a ADVC-100 and I love it. There is one thing you should be aware of (maybe others have an answer to this). I have not been able to open my ADVC-100 captured AVI files in Virtualdub. I have searched and this seems to be the norm with this device. I capture and edit using MediaStudio Pro 6.5.

[arcorob]

Thank you for the clarification !!! I think I was equating the two ...

As to Prefect ..You really will like the ADVC as it is a simple and effective way to get analog information to and from the computer. Much better than my ATI card as it takes advantage of DV AVI. Better 1.3 gig an hour than 1.2 gig a minute doing analog captures say with Virtualdub....Thats what I used to do..Talk about DRIVE hogs....LOL

Thanks

[Solarjetman]

I have not been able to open my ADVC-100 captured AVI files in Virtualdub.

You need to install a DV codec such as the Panasonic DV Codec or the Mainconcept DV Codec. I use Virtual Dub to edit my captures all the time.

But you are not able to actually capture using Virtual Dub.

[i_am_dave]

I've never been able to capture using Virtualdub, but I am also running XP.
There are several free programs out there, including Amcap that do a great job.
Personally, I use Ulead Video Studio to do all my capturing.

[Mrdogno8]

Can only echo all the good stuff above. However, the only problem I have encountered is that when using a S-video cable I only get a B+W picture. Any suggestions? I've tried changing the cable but still the same problem.

[Metaluna]

Can only echo all the good stuff above. However, the only problem I have encountered is that when using a S-video cable I only get a B+W picture. Any suggestions? I've tried changing the cable but still the same problem.

Have you tried both of the S-Video input jacks? (Front and back) You might have a bad connector on the ADVC-100. I use S-Video exclusively and have no problem getting a color picture. No special setup required. Also check the switch settings on the bottom of the unit and make sure they are at factory default. I don't remember if any of them affect the s-video ports or color, but it's worth a look.

[Solarjetman]

The S-Video port on the back is output, not input.

Do you still have the composite video plugged in? If you do, try unplugging that before using the S-Video.

[Towncrier]

I had planned to use my ATI All-In-Wonder 128 Pro to do VHS video capture, but I ran into all sorts of difficulties, the most serious being the audio sync problems. Initially, I purchased a Sima Video Color Corrector in the hopes that it would improve the video signal enough to make capture possible. No such luck. So I ended up buying the ADVC-100. It is a wonderful device. And now I have the best of both worlds. I can use the Sima VCC to adjust brightness/contrast/sharpness/balance and then feed that signal into the ADVC-100 for capture.

My audio sync problems are gone and the quality of the video is as good as the original VHS tape.

[dwill123]

I have not been able to open my ADVC-100 captured AVI files in Virtualdub.

You need to install a DV codec such as the Panasonic DV Codec or the Mainconcept DV Codec.

Solarjetman, thanks for the advice.

[vhelp]

Hi guys,

@ dwill123...

I own a ADVC-100 and I love it. There is one thing you should be aware of (maybe others have an answer to this). I have not been able to open my ADVC-100 captured AVI files in Virtualdub. I have searched and this seems to be the norm with this device. I capture and edit using MediaStudio Pro 6.5.

That's probably because inside your DV app, (the one you used w/ the ADVC
to bring in the video with) is saving as a Type 1 (T1) format !!

You need to re-configure your DV app to save as Type 2, (T2) then vdub
will open w/out warnings or issues. Note, vdub can still use T1 format, but
after the warning issue, just click {OK} button and it will continue opening
up the T1 file. Only, the audio will not be their. But, you can strip it out w/
TMPG. Open your T1 source, and inside the Audio box, select the Audio
only, and save as a wav file. ( or is it, File menu/Output to file.. ) and save
as WAV file

Good luck,
-vhelp

[Metaluna]

The S-Video port on the back is output, not input.

Do you still have the composite video plugged in? If you do, try unplugging that before using the S-Video.

Actually there's both an S-Video input _and_ output on the back. The input is a combo connector...you can plug their composite adapter into it and get an RCA jack, but an S-Video cable plugs right in as well. I'm looking at it right now as I type this...it's the one right next to the firewire port.

[Solarjetman]

Actually there's both an S-Video input _and_ output on the back.

Opps, you are right. I looked at mine. I guess I should have checked before posting

But TECHNICALLY, I am correct, its not a S-Video plug. LOL

[SLICK RICK]

Metaluna wrote:
Actually there's both an S-Video input _and_ output on the back.

Opps, you are right. I looked at mine. I guess I should have checked before posting

But TECHNICALLY, I am correct, its not a S-Video plug. LOL

[stevedore]

You need to re-configure your DV app to save as Type 2, (T2) then vdub
will open w/out warnings or issues.

Ulead has a free download for a DV Type 1 to Type 2 converter; would that accomplish the same thing, or is it better to re-capture as Type 2?

[vhelp]

hi stevedore,

You need to re-configure your DV app to save as Type 2, (T2) then vdub
will open w/out warnings or issues.

Ulead has a free download for a DV Type 1 to Type 2 converter; would that accomplish the same thing, or is it better to re-capture as Type 2?

Well, if it were the kind that would "re-stream" it on the fly, I would say,
yeah, use it, but these don't. And, they require:

* have to re-create an NEW .avi source file, and
* take LOTS longer to process.

Wouldn't it be better if the app would:

* open the source
* re parse the .avi contents within the source file, and
* close down the source

..all w/out having to re-write another .avi file. But, this is just a pipe-dream

-vhelp

[housepig]

glad to see this thread - I am considering jumping up to the ADVC-100.

question to users - what firewire card do you recommend, or does it come with one?

[dwill123]

To all who commented - thank you.

[vhelp]

hi housepig,

glad to see this thread - I am considering jumping up to the ADVC-100.

question to users - what firewire card do you recommend, or does it come with one?

Glad to see you finally interested. ..heard price is down to $250 now, if you
shop around, that is. Anyways...

Yeah, using just about any FW card should be no problem.. so long as it's
OHCI compliant and all.

In my setup, I'm using the one that came w/ my PYRO BasicDV kit.
..the one in the hard plastic-rap.

Setup for me, was almost too simple (though us Windows 98 users have to
wrestle a tadd ta get it working) but it was still basically easy to get up and
running on my OS. So, your XP setup (per your computer details) should
be an easy one

Good luck w/ yours, should you finally get one. I know, I know, .."I should've
gotten this a long time ago". That's how I felt, and many others here too !!

-vhelp

[Solarjetman]

question to users - what firewire card do you recommend, or does it come with one?

Like vhelp said, it really does not matter. Personally, I picked the third cheapest card I could find. I would have picked the second cheapest, but the one I got came with Ulead VideoStudio basic and was only $10 more. I figured the software was worth it. Even though I never use VideoStudio

[makkar]

Hi
I have aquestion to those who are using DDVC 100, the mpeg file captured by this device can be authored by TMPGenc DVD Author, because I dont want to use any other authoring software
Thanks for any help
Mac