I have had problems with audio levels using both the Canopus and ATI AIW products. I must admit that the reason that I have the Canopus ADVC100 is that I got tired of tweaking/configuring to get a good video capture using the AIW. I am converting old 8mm video tapes, and I want full resolution capture of all of my old videos. I would have thought that a 1.8 Ghz machine with a 7200rpm HD would do the job, but my machine was just dropping too many frames. My wife is a teacher, and I found the ADVC at a decent price, and the educator discount saved me a few more bucks. I am now capturing perfectly, using both WinDV and Pinnacle Studio 8.10.

Back to point at hand, my audio levels were WAY too low using either product. I have lots of RCA type cables from a couple of decades of hooking up various pieces of audio equipment to stereos, Commodore Amigas, Apples, etc. I happened to have a Y-cable (Radio Shack) with a male RCA on one end, and two female RCAs on the other end. I connect the male RCA to the (single) audio output on my Sony CCD-V1 (still works, but I don't use it for recording), and the female RCAs are attached to a standard stereo patch cable. The other end of the patch cable I connect to the Left and Right Audio inputs in front of the Canopus (or AIW).

Voila! When you have audio input signals coming into both the left and right jacks on the Canopus or AIW unit, you will find your captured audio levels are fine.

People copying VHS or other materials will probably never notice a problem. They are probably using full stereo input from their VCR anyway. The people most likely to encounter problems are those copying from mono devices into any Capture Device (probably).