New divX "ConvertX"

[jimmyjojo]

I know this is hot-off the press (I just found out about this now), but divX has just released this new hardware; http://www.divx.com/hardware/detail.php?id=67.

Just wondering what anyone thinks of this? It seems like it could be worth the investment, especially if it saves the hours of time w/ encoding that it claims.

Question though, does anyone think (or know) how good the mpeg2 audio quality would be if captured straight from camcorder?

[teegee420]

I think audio quality is the least of your concern. This new device looks interesting. I tend to stay away from USB capture devices based on past experience but the fact that Plextor is releasing one sounds very promising. I'm looking forward to reading the comments from this device's owners.

[jimmyjojo]

Why do you avoid USB? Just curious...

Also, the input for this device is Composite audio/video and S video. I usually just connect my DV camcorder via Firewire to the computer. I wonder how the composite a/v connection compares in quality to the firewire connection. In other words, does the quality decrease?

Hmmm. I need to research this thing more.

[teegee420]

DV through firewire will look better than composite output from your cam without a doubt. The reasons why I don't care for USB is because the devices I used had more dropped frames than I would have liked. Not so much with the USB 2.0 one, but even that one didn't capture to mpeg-2 as well as I thought it would. I ended up returning both of them and got myself an ATI All-In-Wonder and never looked back.

[jdjbuffalo]

Yeah, this new DivX device from Plextor looks pretty cool. I want to get one to see how well it performs.

I currently have an AVDC100 from Canopus. But since most of my captures end up being DivX files when I'm done with them I think this could save me a lot of time.

I've already found a website that is selling them :
http://www.cscolo.com/Accessories/Products.php?sku=PLXTR-PX-M402UXXXDIVX

Jon

[BrianK]

So if it is only has s-video or composite input, then it won't convert raw DV files from a camcorder, correct?

If that is the case, I really have no use for it at this point. I like to convert my home DV movies to DVD and Divx, but if this won't take the raw DV file, I won't use it. I don't want the picture degradation of s-video.

[teegee420]

So if it is only has s-video or composite input, then it won't convert raw DV files from a camcorder, correct?

Correct. Unless they come out with a model that has a firewire input.

[jdjbuffalo]

I don't really see the no firewire thing as a big issue.

If your moving stuff over from DV then you probably have to do a bunch of stuff (Editing, Transitions, etc.) to it before you can encode the file. And I don't think a hardware solution like this would work for you in almost any case.

But for most people who (like me) record a bunch of stuff off of TV it would work really well.

[jimmyjojo]

So from what I gather, the bottomline is:

if you're looking to capture Digital footage (ie DV camcorder) best not use this machine... but if you're looking to capture analog anyway (ie VCR) then this is for you (?)

PS - I find it mind boggling that they didn't release this w/ a firewire or USB 2.0 input connection.

[teegee420]

So from what I gather, the bottomline is:

if you're looking to capture Digital footage (ie DV camcorder) best not use this machine... but if you're looking to capture analog anyway (ie VCR) then this is for you (?)

That pretty much covers it, yes.

I find it mind boggling that they didn't release this w/ a firewire or USB 2.0 input connection.

I think the reason why they didn't is because they realize that those with DV cams don't need a capture device at all. All they need is a firewire connection. I would think that there would have to be some quality loss as a result of converting DV to mpeg-2(or other) on-the-fly. Maybe someone with a Canopus device could disprove this.