Disappointed with Canopus ADVC100.. can someone help?

[lifeisgood03]

I just received the Canopus ADVC100 yesterday after reading so many great reviews about it.

I have serveral comments and questions. Please help.

1. What capturing software can I use and which software capturing software is best with Canopus ADVC100.

2. Yesterday, as I was trying to capture something on DirecTV Satellite and on video tape from my VCR, I used Windows Movie Maker and Ulead Video Studio 6. The video shows up but the video that is shown on the computer has all these blocks on it. When I capture it and play back it, the blocks show up and the audio really sucks and there's a lot of dropped frames.

What's wrong? I'm using the Red & White for Audio IN and the yellow wire for Video IN.

I'm also using my laptop to capture it. HP Pavilion 1.3 Intel Celeron.

Can anyone help?

[housepig]

lifeisgood -

I'm not sure the problem is your capture card - it might be your laptop.

Capturing video, even if the capture card is doing the brunt of the work, still requires a lot of data to move quickly through your computer.

I see two roadblocks that may be causing your problems - the Celeron processor and the notebook's hard drive.

Celeron processors are notorious for being problematic on audio and video because they are hobbled. What makes them Celeron (instead of straight Pentium) chips is that while you might have a Pentium 1.3Ghz chip and a Celeron 1.3Ghz chip doing the same things, the Pentium has 4 times the amount of I/O capability to get data in and out of the processor (512 vs. 128 for the Celeron). That's the corner they cut for price.

So they'll process the data just as fast as each other... but the data flows in and out of the Pentium much faster, while the Celeron can experience hitches and bottlenecks. That doesn't make a difference on a spreadsheet, but on continuous data streams like audio and video, those hitches hurt.

The other problem is that the data has to go on and off the hard drive quickly. Laptop hard drives are not generally made for speed - they are made to fit into a laptop case. So if the video data is coming in too fast for the hard drive to keep up, you are going to have problems.

If you have a desktop computer you can use the Canopus with, I would suggest you try it out and see how it performs capturing the same material. I have a feeling that it will do a lot better. If it doesn't, it's the capture card.

If it does, you're going to need a beefier laptop to do your video work.

hope this helps.

- housepig

[LanceSteel]

1. What capturing software can I use and which software capturing software is best with Canopus ADVC100.

I use DVIO to capture from my ADVC-100 and virtualdub/avisynth to edit (both are freeware and have low system usage.)

2. Yesterday, as I was trying to capture something on DirecTV Satellite and on video tape from my VCR, I used Windows Movie Maker and Ulead Video Studio 6. The video shows up but the video that is shown on the computer has all these blocks on it. When I capture it and play back it, the blocks show up and the audio really sucks and there's a lot of dropped frames.

There is an issue with the ADVC-100 (or any firewire based cap card) trying to compete with other things on the firewire/USB bus. Make sure you don't have anything else connected up OR any drivers for external devices installed. I had an issue with my ADVC-100 giving me audio pops and pink blocks in the video. After I uninstalled my pocket pc cradle drivers everything worked shweet.

If the above doesn't work... I don't think your processor is the problem it would be the lagging of the transfer rate of your firewire/usb to the HD.

[trillium]

I'm going to agree with LanceSteel on this one.. I really don't think your processor is the problem. I've been capturing flawlessly on an AMD 750.
I've also seen people on the Canopus forums capture with a lesser spec'd laptop without any issues...

I personally use Scenalyzer..until I got the bugs worked out of my system (when I first got the ADVC-100) it was the only thing that captured consistently..I ended up sticking with it despite all other programs working now

Things to check:
Which operating system are you using? There have been posted work arounds for a known issue with the ADVC units and Windows XP SP1 that Canopus acknowledges. This problem doesn't effect EVERYONE, but Canopus (if you check the forums over there) is handling it on a case by case basis. There is also a posted fix.

Firewire : there is also a posted issue with Ti 1394 chipsets. I am uncertain what an HP Pavilion 1.3 Intel Celeron used.

Some other things to try:
Uninstall your firewire and let it reinstall. I had to do this when I first got the ADVC-100 (note previous problem) and all has been well since.

Firewire cable... always a possibility, as I have discovered cat chewed cables do not make for good results...
your a/v cable quality may have something to do with it as well

I recommend checking the Canopus forums as well....

goodluck

[lifeisgood03]

Thanks for all your support you guys.

First of all, I agree with those who said that they don't think it's the processor. Before the ADVC100, I had Dazzle Digital Video Creator and used ULead Video Studio 6 to capture. The video on the computer is great, except, I didn't like the tracking line that shows up at the top all the time so I returned it. Plus, a lot of people have negative reviews about it so I took the chance and bought the ADVC100.

Do you guys think it's the firewire card? I bought my firewire card online at Ebay. Or maybe it's the wiring I'm using. Should I try different wires (the red & white audio & yellow video) because the one I'm using is pretty old.

There are so many possibilities as to why it's like this. I'm using Windows XP, by the way.

[yg1968]

Some Celeron have 256 KB cache memory and some have 128 KB. Some Pentium IV have 256 KB cache and others have 512 KB cache.

http://www.thetechzone.com/prices.php?p=3

[LanceSteel]

Do you guys think it's the firewire card? I bought my firewire card online at Ebay. Or maybe it's the wiring I'm using. Should I try different wires (the red & white audio & yellow video) because the one I'm using is pretty old.

The wires shouldn't be a problem unless they are really crappy. Try this...
Take the ADVC box and run the video into it from your vcr/digsat. Then connect up another video cable and run the video out of it to your tv. Watch the video/audio to see if the picture is bad or the audio bad. This will let you know if the cables or ADVC are bad. If everything is ok then the problem must lie within the computer. Did you see if you had other things installed or connect to your usb or firewire port like I said in a prior post? The problem you are describing seems like that is the culpret.

What type of firewire card are you using? I'm using a really cheap one and it works good.