Experiences with the ADVC-50

[Cole]

Experiences with the ADVC-50

I just wanted to share this as some of the below could be useful.



Over the last couple of months my Video PC has had a few changes and with these changes, my Canopus ADVC-50 has started behaving differently than before; it seems to have become more reliable…

Originally, my VCD/xVCDs were made on a Athlon 1.4GHz PC, with a (aprox. 10 year old) Panasonic VCR connected to the ADVC-50. Then I upgraded the PC to a P4 2.8GHz and started making DVDs, but the average behaviour of the ADVC remained the same on two main fronts:

The Black Screen Bug
Note: capture programs used: DVapp, Edit Studio 3, Windows Movie Maker 1 and 2 and laterly WinDV. At the worst times (applicable to both PCs), six/seven times out of ten, the system would not recognise that I had a VCR signal transmitting to it through the ADVC-50; just get a black screen.

This got a bit frustrating, but a reboot or pulling the Firewire plug out, leaving a few minutes and putting it back sometimes worked, but it would usually take three of four goes.

I understood at the time that there was a driver problem with Firewire and having read somewhere that XP’s Service Pack 2 (already had SP1) would cure this issue I [misguidedly] installed the said pack. Indeed the problem did seem to go away and the Canopus was recognised nearly every time I opened a capture program.

Trouble was, SP2 ruined my PC’s ability to burn DVDs properly and my Video PC became a coaster factory.

I uninstalled SP2 and the DVDs were perfect again (fingers crossed), but oddly, the ADVC-50’s black screen bug so far has not manifested itself again. This could be in conjunction with the findings regarding…

White Noise
If I record a VHS to my PC, I don’t usually sit and watch it at the same time. Many times, when I go back to my PC to stop recording, the film has finished and the tape is playing white noise.

What I would get was this…



…accompanied with loud bursts of static. If left to long (and sometimes only for seconds), this would bring on the black screen bug. On one occasion after this had happened, I couldn’t get the ADVC working again no matter how many times I rebooted or pulled out the Firewire cable. Eventually I got some success by removing the ADVC-50 from the PCI slot it inhabited and installing it in one of the CD-Rom bays at the front.

The issue with white noise ended when I upgraded my VCR to a JVC HR-S7965 as white noise now comes through as exactly that, bog standard white noise which doesn’t cause any issues at all.

===

I can only assume from the above that the signal that the JVC is putting out is a very strong one and seems to be solving the two main issues that the ADVC-50 has.

At the moment my Video PC is running XP with NO service packs installed and doesn’t seem to be giving me any issues at all. Still plenty of time for things to go wrong again.

I would welcome any comments on this – does this ring true or is this pure flook?

[pippas]

I've been running my ADVC50, in a bay mount configuration, on my P4 for nearly 2 years now, using XP with SP1 (haven't dared risk SP2 yet!).

Of course, I get the black screen bug --- but have always, 100%, been able to clear it by powering down to 'standby', leave for 10 seconds, and then move the mouse to power up again.

One thing I have found though -- if I capture using Premiere, I have to disconnect the firewire to allow the Premiere preview window to work smoothly.

If I capture using WinDV, and import the file to Premiere for editing - no need to disconnect the firewire ---- I have no idea why

So, WinDV for capture it is then!!

[Cole]

I have to admit that I am wondering if installing SP2 and then uninstalling it has helped at all i.e. has it left behind some system fixes?

However, for the trouble it has caused me, I would certainly advise that you keep away from SP2.