Advice on ADVC-100

[rgombine]

I am giving up on my Dazzle USB DVC! From what I've read in this forum, the ADVC-100 is highly thought of. Canopus is offering a bundle which includes Canopus EZDV SE, ADVC-100, and DVD Workshop SE software for $399.00. My question is, do I need the EZDV card and software?

I already have a firewire card installed (Belkin) which came w/ videowave SE software (not exactly roundly praised in the one post I saw on this package). I also have Roxio Videowave movie creatorl, as well as my Dazzle software (moviestar 4.25).

Could I get away with just the ADVC-100 and use my existing firewire/software, or should i get the package?

My system is Windows XP sp1, P4 2.66, 120GB hard drive and 1000MB RAM.

Thanks!

Ross

[pb]

You can use any OHCI 1394 compliant firewire card, but some early cards had TI chipsets that cause problems with connecting to the ADVC100. I use a generic card and Vegas Video 3 to capture DV and analogue.

I have tried nearly all the NLE software out there (Ulead VS5,6, Videowave, Pinnacle), they all work, just that I found Vegas or Video Factory better.

The EZDV card allows for auto sensing and switching of the ADVC100 from analogue in to DV in etc, as its a Canopus product. Any other firewire card requires you toggle the input selector, no big deal.

I don't know if the EZDV card is OHCI as I thought it might be proprietry, so check with Canopus (good web site), and other Video editing NLE software may not recognise it. The card is supposed to be very good, and comes with Canopus' own oftware editor or Adobe Premier (depending on cost).

Your PC is fine, I would suggest getting the package if it is what you really want or need, maybe research it a bit more, then try your existing software. You can then figure out what you want to do within the limits of your hardware etc.

[rgombine]

Thanks for your reply. Now, the air my ignorance.

1. Is there a way I can determine what chip set this Belkin card is based on (that's the firewire card)

2. Does that mean that some firewire cards are not OHCI?

3. What IS OHCI? -- is it just the protocol used for video capture?

4. Any opinions on how Canopus DVD Workshop SE stacks up against other programs, or is it just a matter of what you get used to?

Again, many thanks for your response, insight into this.

Ross

[pb]

1. Not sure, try Sisoft Sandra, or look at the card and read the chip labelling.

2. Some cards are not OHCI, they are proprietry, that is they work with the softare they came with (Matrox, Canopus, Pinnacle), some also work with Adobe Premier, but are still not completely OHCI compliant. Some cards work with all software, even though they have proprietry software. Just look for a basic firewire card, that says that its OHCI compliant (I believe ADS make good cards).

3. Open Host Controller Interface (I think), a standard.

4. DVD Workshop is a Ulead product, not Canopus', check the Ulead website for details, the SE means special edition and usually means limited in features compared to the full version. I have used the trial, and it could be very good but it is a little unstable, do a search for DVD Workshop in these forums for opinions. It is more complicated than Ulead DVD Movie Factory, and Ver 2 is out now of DVD Movie Factor, but it does allow for a lot of customisation etc, but I generally find Uleads programs unintuitive (except thier entry level stuff). If you get this package, it could work well for you. I am still waiting on a DVD burner, so I cannot comment, but I liked DVD Moviefactory, and used the trial of Dazzle DVD Complete.

Hope this helps, your best bet is to search these forums and check out web sites for product info/user comments and experiences.

[rgombine]

txs!