ADVC-1394 Question

[Mythos2002]

Hello,

I couldn't find a better area for this post, so forgive me if it is in the wrong section.

I was wondering if anyone here has tried to use the Canopus ADVC-1394, ADVC-50, or ADVC-100 with a Soyo Dragon Ultra Motherboard with the VIA KT333 chipset. I ask because Canopus doesn't recommend using their cards with the KT333 chipset, but the only board they list that absolutely will not work with their products is the Abit with the KT333 chipset. My board is not listed in the friendly or unfriendly motherboard/chipset list. Even though they don't recommend the KT333, I've read that some with an Asus board with that chipset didn't have any problems. I've searched on the Canopus Forum and on Google and have not found an answer. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.

Mythos

[Solarjetman]

Are you sure that they said you cannot use the ADVC-100 with that chipset? The ADVC-100 connects by firewire and I do not see how it would matter. If that is the case, most video cameras would not work. The ADVC-100 is actually picked up by windows as a generic digital video camera.

I could see how a ADVC-1394 could cause problems though. That is an actually PCI card you insert into the computer.

[vhelp]

Hi Mythos pal..

Yeah, do get the ADVC-100 in the end

Don't waist your times w/ internal firewire stuff. It's not worth it. The external
box (advc-100) is THE unit to get (for the extra $100) plus the MV that it
can disable, as the other two DO NOT allow for this

So, perhaps those issues regarding the KT333 chipset is related to the internal
cards. Just remember, that as for these DV devices, those that are internal
are considered "all-in-one" gizmos, where'as anything external, is not

In any event, if you want to best quality w/ zero issues.. ie, audio sync, and
frame drops and video noise and so on and so forth, do get the ADVC-100.
.
.
As you may already know, I pretty much have all those Analog capture cards
out there (or at least tried most of them)
I still stand by my statement that nothing (DV'wise) will ever beat an video
project done w/ an Analog capture card (provided none of the above listed
issues) but w/ the ADVC, you get the best compremise ever!!

Good luck in your whatever decision you finally make
-vhelp

[Mythos2002]

Unfortunately, they don't specify which of their products has trouble with the KT333. They say that chipset is not recommended at all with their products, but the only board they have confirmed to be problematic with their products is the Abit AT7-MAX KT333.

I don't know if they have a section for this. However, if I were to get an ADVC-50 or 100, what Firewire card do you recommend if I find that the 1394 is the only card that has problems with my motherboard? Thanks.

Mythos

Thanks Vhelp. Your post popped up right as I was sending this post.

[Solarjetman]

In any event, if you want to best quality w/ zero issues.. ie, audio sync, and
frame drops and video noise and so on and so forth, do get the ADVC-100.

Amen to that. I have the ADVC-100. It is problem free. My favorite feature is it can output to tape, or to the TV. So, instead of watching the capture on a little 2 inch square on my computer, I see it on a 32 inch television.

The only difficulty was when I played the DV captures on my computer, they were really dark. But this turned out to be an incorrect setting in my video card and had nothing to do with the actual capture. When played on the TV it did not have that problem. I have since fixed the settings to play well on my computer.

In fact, other than a few people that recieved one of the "bad batch" canopus produced about a year ago, I have not heard any bad reviews.

[Mythos2002]

Thanks for the information. I may go with the ADVC-100. What firewire card do you recommend? Thanks.

Mythos

[vhelp]

Hi Mythos,

The best recommend I can give you on a fwire card is like this..

Just pick up a few 2 or 3, since they are very cheap anyways. This way, if
you have an issue w/ trying to get one working, you can always just pop
out the one in quesiton and insert another one (right away) w/out having to
resort to running back to the store and so on and so forth, only to get another
cheap one to try out again. Save yourself the trip(s) and just get 2 or 3 and
see which one works. Those that don't work, can be returned later.

That's ben my experience w/ a number of items I've purchased and tested
out in the past

-vhelp

[Solarjetman]

I put absolutely no thought in picking my firewire card (unlike my ADVC-100 which was based on three days of research). In fact, my desicion was actually based completely on price and what came with the card.

I finally settled on the third cheepest one. I ruled out the cheepest just because it gave me a "bad vibe". I ruled out the second cheepest only because the one I bought came with a copy of Ulead VideoStudio 6 basic. And I figured the $10 was worth it for the software (though I don't use it much, its nice to have just in case)

[Mythos2002]

Thanks for all of the information. I received some good news from Canopus. They said the ADVC series cards do not have any troubles with chipsets. It's only their realtime editing cards like the DVStorm2, DVRaptorRT2, DVRexRT Pro that have problems with certain chipsets.

I have one other question. What do you capture with when you have an ADVC card? I heard you can't capture with Virtual Dub and one of those cards. I heard editing with Virtual Dub is not a problem though.

Thanks
Mythos

[Solarjetman]

I heard you can't capture with Virtual Dub and one of those cards. I heard editing with Virtual Dub is not a problem though.

You are correct. I capture with Pinnacle Studio 8, but there are lots of free alternatives. You can capture with DVIO or even Windows Movie Maker that comes with Windows.

And the only thing you need to edit with VirtualDub, is a DV codec for the computer.

[redwudz]

You don't capture, you just record the DV stream. There are several programs that work well. I use WinDV just because you can monitor the video in a window. Under the 'Tools' header on the left there are several good programs under 'Capture'. I encode with TMPGenc Plus and author with TMPGenc Author. You can convert the audio to MP2 and save some space. Take the result and burn to DVD or whatever. You can also edit in TMPGenc. Plenty of options, easy to use and cheap.

[Metaluna]

The trick to getting VirtualDub to work with DV files is to make sure that your capture program is set to save to "Type 2" AVI files. It will not work with Type 1 AVIs. Then you need a compatible DV codec (Mainconcept, Panasonic, ...) so that VDub knows how to decode the DV-encoded video stored in the AVI file. After that you're good to go.