canopus advc 100

[FulciLives]

As connecting the ADV-100 goes, how do i connect the ADV-100 device to my cable TV? So that i can record from it?

WOULD SOMEONE ANSWER THIS QUESTION?

The CANOPUS ADVC-100 has a composite video input (the standard "yellow" RCA jack) as well as a S-Video input. For audio it has your standard Stereo Left/Right RCA type jacks (white/red) just like on a Hi-Fi Stereo VCR or DVD player. There is no RF cable input. However, most cable boxes these days offer standard RCA type outputs (along with S-Video output) so if your cable box has that then no problem. If all you have is a RF cable for input then you can use any Hi-Fi Stereo VCR as a go between and use the TV tuner in the VCR to select the channel you are recording.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
If you have more basic questions about the CANPUS ADVC-100 then I suggest you visit the CANOPUS website which has info about this unit including a downloaded Adobe PDF file of the manual it comes with.

[finny]

My CABLE BOX receiver has RCA input and output BUT no S-VIDEO

Also I am using Geforce Ti-4200 which has a TV Out connector, would that help in any way?

The reason why im planing on getting the CANOPUS 100 is because everyone is recommending it for tis quality for capturing off of TV or CABLE....

[FulciLives]

My CABLE BOX receiver has RCA input and output BUT no S-VIDEO

Also I am using Geforce Ti-4200 which has a TV Out connector, would that help in any way?

The reason why im planing on getting the CANOPUS 100 is because everyone is recommending it for tis quality for capturing off of TV or CABLE....

Well the CANOPUS ADVC-100 accepts either normal composite video (RCA type jack) or S-Video. So if your cable box ONLY has RCA out video then there is no problem.

Forget using your video card out as that makes no sense! How would you get the video into the computer to begin with?

Just use the RCA video out that your cable box has.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[finny]

Ok so im straight on this. If i get his card then i can directly hook it up with my cable box (eliminating any other hardawre necessary)...

Few questions:

1. Can the Canopus record directly to DVD? (Or does that depend on the software your using?

2. Which is the BEST PVR software to use with the ADVC 100?

(I dont care about price, im willing to blow any amounts for software as i want DVD quality (no compromise), all chanells, and quick channel switching, time recording etc...) as want to record from cable and the end result will be DVD

[NightWing]

Check at Radioshack. They use to stock what they called a Cable converter box from RF to Composit Video/Stereo audio. Was under 100. Its sku was 15-1981.

Emerson also made one with Composit and S-Video out.

Use one to feeding into my DC10+ and should work for Canopus or any one with Composit/Audio in.

[FulciLives]

Ok so im straight on this. If i get his card then i can directly hook it up with my cable box (eliminating any other hardawre necessary)...

Yes. That is correct.

Few questions:

1. Can the Canopus record directly to DVD? (Or does that depend on the software your using?

No this is not possible. The CANOPUS ADVC-100 converts your analog video/audio input to the DV format (same format a Digital camcorder uses) and then transfers that DV format to the computer through the FireWire (IEEE 1394) cable to the computer. The software you use is merely making a "copy" of that data. So when you are finished you will have a DV AVI file. This must then be converted to the format used by DVD which is mpeg-2 (with more than one option for the audio such as MP2 or AC-3 being the two most popular). To do this conversion you can either use an authoring program that does it for you (there are a few such as Ulead's DVD Movie Factory 2) or you can do it yourself using the ever popular TMPGEnc program (or other such programs such as CCE). Then you read the file or files you made (depending on the audio type) into your authoring program to make a menu and chapters and the final DVD file structure to burn. Most authoring software will either do the burning for you or create your DVD in file mode ... you then create an IMG file and then burn (there are freeware tools to do that with). Please note that the DV AVI format uses up a lot of HDD space ... something like 15GB for 1 hour of captured audio/video. It is the conversion process to mpeg-2 that reduces the size to that of a DVD disc. Most people get a second HDD (of 80GB size or bigger) just so they can capture and convert and NOTHING else. In other words, they use the second HDD just for video captures and not for installing programs or saving unrelated data.

2. Which is the BEST PVR software to use with the ADVC 100?

(I dont care about price, im willing to blow any amounts for software as i want DVD quality (no compromise), all chanells, and quick channel switching, time recording etc...) as want to record from cable and the end result will be DVD

I can't really answer that as I don't actually have the CANOPUS ADVC-100 but I do know so much about it because I almost bought one (and still might one of these days). I feel I know just about as much as one could except for this question you ask. I will point out that the CANOPUS website has a PDF manual for the ADVC-100 and it very clearly states that the unit cannot be remote controlled by software and that the user must start and end all captures using the controls on the ADVC-100 which pretty much rules out unattended time recordings.

However, having said that, I do seem to recall reading a thread or two (on this very website) from users who did somehow figure out how to do unattended timer recordings but as I recall it was a tricky thing as some were having difficulty getting it to work.

Good Luck

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[ZenZen]

Go to www.scenalyzer.com and you can download Scenalyzer Live. This is a software capture program which works with the ADVC-100. You can also download their new beta update, which will provide automated Start-Stop unattended recordings (capture sessions). I've tried it and it works perfectly. No fuss, no problems

[finny]

Another question :

Someone told me that the CANOPUS does not have a TV tuner! So how can I record different channels off the CABLE?

DO i need some extra hardware/software in conjuction with the CANOPUS to record different channels? (I dont have a VCR, so i cant use that as a TV tuner!!)

P.s:
You guys must be thinking what am i trying to do, which is:
RECORD TV PROGRAMS OFF OF MY CABLE TO DVD quailty

IF there is any other setup besides getting a CANOPUS card , pls do tell me, as i have to finalize what i will get!

[FulciLives]

Another question :

Someone told me that the CANOPUS does not have a TV tuner! So how can I record different channels off the CABLE?

DO i need some extra hardware/software in conjuction with the CANOPUS to record different channels? (I dont have a VCR, so i cant use that as a TV tuner!!)

P.s:
You guys must be thinking what am i trying to do, which is:
RECORD TV PROGRAMS OFF OF MY CABLE TO DVD quailty

IF there is any other setup besides getting a CANOPUS card , pls do tell me, as i have to finalize what i will get!

You select the channel on the cable box. Then the analog video/audio of the cable box goes into the CANOPUS ADVC-100. I guess with that aforementioned Scenalyzer you can program the ADVC-100 to start and stop according to a timer ... but the cable box must still be ON and SET to the correct channel. These days I think all digital cable boxes have a system where you can program the channel and time for it to turn on and off by itself. So you program the cable box and the Scenalyzer software and off you go.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[DaveS]

you guys have converged w/ the same thread under a different post

fyi, see

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=552896#552896

[sray2k]

Ok,
Someone please help us out here. We just got a advc-100 and have a VCR that has 1 audio and 1 video output. We hooked it up to the front side of the 100 and we use different software proggys such as Windows XP Movie Maker, WinDV, And some others. We just got Pinnacle Studio 8. But, everytime we hit play on the VCR and record on the software, wait a few minutes. Stop everything, save as a file, and NOTHING !!! No Video, ALL black screen, and NO audio. Now, We did not have the DVcodec installed, would that make any difference ?

Or is the VCR NOT powerful enough ? Why is the reason why we cannot see or hear anything ??

Should we try a different VCR?

We have the advc-100 set for NTSC, Locked Audio, and the rest is factory settings...

Thanks,
Scott Ray

[rcb]

cuppla things;

1) chk that advc selector switch at top l/h part of box is set to analog in.

2) open "MY Computer" on desktop and verify that advc unit is recognized by xp when connected thru firewire and turned on.

3) reconnect leads plugged into front of advc into tv and run vcr to see that it is working.

4) depending on capture app used, may be necessary to pre-select inpit device before capturing. Also, most capture apps allow preview of input w/o recording to see that all is working well before starting a recording session.