Where to buy Vidac VMagic

[ItsMe]

I noticed that somebody posted a question in the Capture Card list asking where to by the VMagic.

You can only buy the card online as far as I know.

Heres how:

Fill in the online order form and send it. If you need a translation use http://babel.altavista.com
YOu should get a mail message back with instuctions. You must pay for the card before they send it out.

or:

Write to Vidac (Englsih is ok) at sales@vidac.de telling them you want to buy one of there products stating which one. They will write back with instructions.

I received my card after about two weeks after payment was made. Note that there is as yet, no English documentation.

Support takes usually two days to reply to questions but they do reply!

I have the latest VMagic TV Plus card which does have NTSC support as far as I can tell (I am in a PAL region). Check with Vidac before purchasing to verify this if you use NTSC.

Last but not least, this card is amazing!

[SHS]

Did ever change the apps to allow for englsih if not junk it.
What they still have not yet done any english documentation manual after 2yrs, jee talk about lazy.

[ItsMe]

The app has an option that displays the interface in English. Apart from that there's nothing. Even the forums I have found are German, although there are people on them kind enough to reply in English.

The card is the best one I've used though, it beats the WinPVR 250 hands down as you can use the mpeg hardware to trancode, including VOB's. I recently transcoded a 218 minute DVD, the resulting file was about 3.5Gb with very good qaulity. The TV picture quality is also better. Another great feature is the ' snoop' mode which minimizes the recorder to the toolbar when doing timed recordings. The toolbar icon's border flashes when recording is actually taking place, very inobtrusive. You can even set the app to put your PC in sleep mode and have it wake up a few minutes before recording starts.

I can live without the documentation for the moment, although an explaination of some of the settings would be nice. At least Vidac's support do always reply to questions.

[SHS]

Not at cost of all must $600 USD it not.

[prom3theus]

I am now curious about this card. I have only ever used ati AIW cards because they double as video card. But, I am usually disappointed with ATIs drivers. What kind of quality does this card give, and does it really cost $600 USD ? The poster is right... if it does cost more than $100 US it should very well have an English PDF manual at least. They could pay a student to translate for less than the cost of one card..

[SHS]

On C'T web site it saying 550 marks plus you add in S/H that a round $50 USD best guest.

That intell I found web with Euro EUR number
Vidac VMagic Movie - Digital VideoStudio, PCI - without TV-Tuner 275.00
Vidac VMagic Movie Plus - Digital VideoStudio, PCI - without TV-Tuner 359.00
Vidac VMagic Movie Plus - inclusive Premiere Plugin 389.00
Vidac VMagic Movie Plus - inclusive SDK (software Developement kit), PCI - without TV-Tuner 395.00
Vidac VMagic Plus - Premiere Plugin 30.00
Vidac VMagic Slotblech with SVideo/Cinch sockets 30.00
Vidac VMagic TV - Digital Video Recorder, PCI 275.00
Vidac VMagic TV Plus - Digital Video Recorder, PCI 386.00
Vidac VMagic TV Plus - inclusive Premiere Plugin 416.00

[ItsMe]

I paid about 148 Euro's more for the VMagic TV Plus than I paid for the Hauppage WinPVR 250 that I sent back. This was including shipping and handling. The total price I paid for the VMagic was 408,- Euro's.

I agree with prom3theus, there should be at least a English PDF in the CD. In fact the card came well packed in a plain brown box, and no manual at all, just a CD with drivers, software & German PDF.
I still think the card is worth the extra cost compaired to the WinPVR 250 though as it does doe exactly what I want and does it rather well.

I can now create good quality mpegs from my DV footage faster than real time.
Some other things the card can hanlde include:
Hardware transcoding, this also works in the cutter program.
Record TV transmissions straight to mpeg.
Hardware transcode VOB's for backing up DVD's. You can then fit dual layer DVD's onto single layer DVD+R(W). You just rip the film to one VOB using your favorite tool and the let the transcoder app. loose on it. The built in bitrate calculator is very handy.
Cut out commercials etc.
The software lets you choose between creating a system stream or separate video & audio streams.
All this without loosing audio sync.

Having said this, the software does have a some what dated appearance, also the video cutter is a bit strange but it does work. So don't expect tens of megabytes of software with a glossy interface. The software takes up less than 5MB of space.

Also the softwares ability to use the internet for programming TV recording is useless unless you live in Germany. This isn't a problem as you can use the software to do normal timed recordings.