Canopus ADVC-100 vs. ADVC1394

[zoothorn]

I've been on an exhaustive seach for about the last two weeks on what to acquire to capture/edit/burn DVD from DV and analog. I've narrowed the hardware down to Canopus. Without a firewire card on my PC I'd either have to get the 100 and a firewire card or, just get the 1394 to do the job of both. Is there any difference between those two solutions other than I don't get analog out and MV handling on the 1394?? I don't think I need either of those and it looks like I can save about $50.

I spent a long time looking at MPEG2 cards but discovered that if I capture right to MPEG my editing is going to be a mess. Best solution for quality appears to be capture to AVI, edit, then do a software conversion to MPEG and burn to DVD. Let me know if I'm off track there.

I've read a ton here, what a great resource!

Thanks.

Zoot.

[marylandmike]

Zoot,

I bought the canopus 1394 pci card a few months ago and I am very happy with the results I am getting. I am currently using Ulead Studio 7 for capture, editing, and final burn to dvd. The results are very good and I have no audio synch problems like I had with the ati aiw card.

There was a problem with the 1394 and winxp with capture but canopus has come up with a fix that seems to have solved that. The problem might exist on the 100, I am not sure.

Anyway the canopus forums are pretty good. I am transfering mainly vhs and tv programs to dvd and some vcd. I have a computer set up to just do video editing and transfer. The only advantage I can see of the 100 is that you can use it between different computers. But I like the hassle free problem of the pci setup better.

Michael

[grayart]

on this page at Canopus they put what you have asked in a tablet
http://www.canopus.com/US/Products/ADVC_selection_guide/pm_advc_selection.asp

one thing that they don't write there is that only ADVC-100 has a function to remove MacroVision ...
as far as i know there is macrovision only in bought DVDs and to record those i use dvdrip not signal capture...

about VHS with MV i don't know neither about MV in SAT or CABLE - TV

[FulciLives]

Factory made VHS videos (often called pre-records) can have macrovision and other forms of copy protection. Some do and some do not. To the best of my knowledge broadcast television (including cable and SAT) is free of copy protection.

I would consider getting the ADVC-100 for the copy protection issue if nothing else. Not to mention it is external and conects via the FireWire port. This makes it a breeze to "install" and use with any computer without the need of opening up your computer and using a PCI slot.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman