ADS Pyro A/V Link

[dun4cheap]

Well, I got into an argument with ADS a while back, because my box said it came with VS7, and it has VS6SE. They sent me a new CD the 1.5 with VS7SE so I called them back and told them my box shows the full V7 not SE like others had. When I get time I will post the scan of my box that I had showing VS7.

I used to use VS5 but I have since moved on to Studio 8,9 with HFX pro. I also liked the ARC Soft showbiz! It had quite a few options but the final video was always problematic. Kind of like Studio 8 and 9 hehe. I also have been using Vegas.

[Roundabout]

d4c,

What was the outcome of that argument? Did they send you the full version of UVS7?

Betcha they went out and reprinted all the boxes after you pointed that out

They should have been clearer on the box itself exactly what was included. It also would have been nice, once they decided to have updated/revised units inside, to have included that information on the outside of the box so you'd know what you're getting (Rev A, B, or C).

[Tommyknocker]

d4c,

What was the outcome of that argument? Did they send you the full version of UVS7?

Betcha they went out and reprinted all the boxes after you pointed that out

They should have been clearer on the box itself exactly what was included. It also would have been nice, once they decided to have updated/revised units inside, to have included that information on the outside of the box so you'd know what you're getting (Rev A, B, or C).

I remember when the big sale went on, they were getting a lot of requests for Version 7. The customer service conversatiom went something like,

"I just bought my Pyro A/V..."

"Let me guess, it came with Version 6, and you want Version 7."

"Yes."

"One moment, let me get your address."

[NightWing]

My box has a sticker stating V7.

Been having good luck with AVI_IO as the capture program!

[dun4cheap]

Well funny enough, I did not get the full VS7, and shortly after I noticed stickers on them stating VS7SE... Here is the scanned image I used to get the 1.5 disc. By the way mine was version B. I suspect that the hardware is only different from version a, and version B and C just had a different FW chip only. But I have not confirmed this, but it is what I suspect. I am certainly glad I took back by first one and exchanged it for a B version.

ADS Pyro box showing Visual Studio V7

[Roundabout]

I think the Rev A units are different, because the DIP switch settings are different, no locked audio switch (instead it has the audio sampling 32/48 Khz IIRC). You're stuck with audio sampling at 48 on the B and C units.

However, they added the lock/unlock audio sync switch on the B and C units, but I can't imagine why anyone would want the audio unlocked and out of sync. Yeah, switch it off so there's no sync, good idea

According to the e-mail I got from their tech support, and I mentioned earlier, the Rev B units have the wrong crystal installed for PAL, though they said some of the Rev B's had the correct one and were O.K. They corrected this in the Rev C, making this the best one to have and most up to date for world wide use.

I remember on my original box with Rev A, it said it had UVS6 DVD Edition (nothing about SE) inside, but it had the SE version. When I returned it and got the Rev B unit later, it has UVS7SE, though the box says DVD Edition also, like yours. I don't know if DVD Edition is a full version of the program, though. Since they finally caught the mistake, they probably won't get any more complaints about this.

Tommyknocker,

When you ordered your unit, was it from the USA or overseas? Did you have to make a long distance call to get them to send you the newer version? Have you already had the F/W upgrade done to yours, and does it work well?

[Tommyknocker]

I ordered it from the States, and received Rev "C". I think it came with UVS 7 SE, but I cannot recall, as I had already upgraded to full version 7 when I bought it. I also emailed them about the firmware upgrade to receive an RMA number, and am still waiting on them to return my unit (I sent it in this week).

[Roundabout]

Tommyknocker,

They are pretty fast on the turnaround. I got mine in just over 2 days, but I live within about 40 miles of their headquarters.

Did you ask them about the possibility of sending it to their HQ in Ireland? You might have gotten it back faster, assuming they are equipped to do the upgrade.

[Tommyknocker]

Tommyknocker,

They are pretty fast on the turnaround. I got mine in just over 2 days, but I live within about 40 miles of their headquarters.

Did you ask them about the possibility of sending it to their HQ in Ireland? You might have gotten it back faster, assuming they are equipped to do the upgrade.

No, I didn't. Fortunately, I found a Sony camcorder on sale that has pass through. Never thought my better half would let me keep it, until she found out it was on sale. Go figure.

[Roundabout]

I almost bought a TRV-22 for the pass-thru ability, but it was more money than I wanted to spend. I decided to wait due to my budget (very limited $$$). The ADS was affordable and fairly simple.

This coming week, I'll be able to finish my new PC, Intel is lowering prices on CPU's on Aug. 22 (Tomorrow or Today, depending on where you live). The Northwood 3.0 Ghz P4 that I want is going down in price to about $175, prior to now it was about $220. I'll take the $45 price break and use it to buy a DVD burner.

[NightWing]

Came up for air from the testing.

Simple question. What do you all use for the OS to run this stuff.... Its the 4gb limit thing so to speak.

PS: Pliminary test look like it will even capture scrambled { no clear video } ok. There is no true sync just what ever left of the signal that close to a sync.

[dun4cheap]

I use Studio 9 which I believe it has a work around for the 4gig limit in win98 or ME or non ntfs2 setup. I personally use WinXP pro with NTFS2. You are correct, I took a really trashed up video and converted it and had 0 frames lost. Same video I tried using pass through on my Canon Optura 20 and it dropped frames all over.

[Roundabout]

I wonder what they did to make it be able to capture this well, and why didn't someone in the company suggest this before releasing the product?

So what both of you seem to be saying, there shouldn't be any need for a TBC at this point, right? Hmmm, maybe they added in a TBC chip into the unit during the firmware upgrade? That would probably cost less than replacing all the units out there. Sony did stuff like that, when a customer brought in units with some known flaw, we'd replace the chip with a modified one to correct the problem, though Sony would never admit there was a problem in the first place, to avoid an avalanche of units being returned.

Now it'd be interesting to see a side by side comparison between the three devices:
A/V Link, Canopus ADVC and the Datavision. Maybe someone will be able to do this if they have at least two of these units.

[NightWing]

Still working on the test. Just swampt on stuff right now but getting some items done. And seeing some strange items.

Have a question to other users. Do you get a strange effect like a shimmer but not a shimmer? Kind of like a crawl on some solid color backgrounds with the Pyro? Kind of like mostly green or blue. Either a solid like the "day" that appears telling you which date is it on Monster House?

Not sure if artifacts from the compression. The DC10 at 2600 rate does not have this.

[Tommyknocker]

Still waiting on my updated Pyro Link. I got impatient after not hearing anything for a few days, so I emailed them asking what was the hold up. This was their response:

hi mark
i apologize for the delay in getting back to you.

we have been experiencing some difficulty in updating these units and we are currently backed up. some new issues that came up after the dropped frame issue have caused us to have to work with 2 chipset manufacturers to try and resolve this. so far we have had some promising progress but a total solution remains tentative. we are hoping for a quick resolution as this has already set the process back considerably.

your unit was logged in here 08/24/04

i will flag your message for followup and keep you posted on the situation. hopefully we can get back on track and get your unit back to you.

Any thoughts?

[Tommyknocker]

Just received this email today. Looks like all the bugs have been worked out:

to all of you waiting for your AVLink fixes

we apologize for all the delays. many of you are aware that we ran into some problems with the PYRO AVLink upgrades. the approach taken to reduce the frame-drop problem caused a new issue to come up that caused DV files to be captured with severe artifacts in the picture. as it occurred randomly, this problem was not seen until the weeks following the release of the firmware update. given enough time, this issue would affect most if not all users.

our engineers have been working with the engineers from the chip designers whose chips our units incorporate on a solution that did not cause this issue. we are glad to say that after over a month of delay (which has caused many of you major setbacks in your projects) a better solution has been found.

we have been able to greatly reduce the occurrence of dropped-frame clusters. this means that now scenes that previously had signal errors causing the unit to interrupt conversion can now be captured without error. in cases where a cluster of dropped frames do occur, the offending section can be recaptured and spliced into your project using your video editing software.

i would like to personally thank everyone for all the patience you have shown. you have been more than gracious and i am grateful that the vast majority of the pressure we have felt during this time has come from ourselves, the manufacturers, not you, the customers.

we are returning to the units that have been waiting and most of them will be done in the order they were received. the process of actually reflashing the units should go fairly quickly (we reflash the chip then do some quick tests on your unit to make sure everything went well.)

anyone that would like a UPS tracking number when we ship your unit need only reply to this message requesting that. i will send those as they are available. as this will be done manually by myself only, please continue to be patient.

Adam Glover
Quality Control Services
ADS Technologies
12627 Hidden Creek Way
Cerritos, CA 90703
fax to (562) 802-7848
rma@adstech.com
www.adstech.com

[8trackkid]

Hey everyone,

Lets have a round of applause for a company that actually stands behind their products!!!!

The recall and fix must of cost them some big $$$.

[dun4cheap]

Yes, it has taken time but they have stood behind it. I have emailed them asking if those of us who had our fw updated to 3.0 already need to send it back to them again.

I will let everyone know the answer when I find out.

[Roundabout]

d4c,

I hope not. They were supposed to have this all fixed before they updated the units. I've talked to Adam (at ADS) before I got my unit back just over a month ago, he assured me that the problems had all been fixed. Had I known there were more possible problems, I would have told him to keep the unit there until it's all ready.

The e-mail TK got doesn't make sense to me:

we have been able to greatly reduce the occurrence of dropped-frame clusters. this means that now scenes that previously had signal errors causing the unit to interrupt conversion can now be captured without error.

Isn't that what F/W 3.0 was supposed to fix? And if it's capturing without error like he states, why does he say this:

in cases where a cluster of dropped frames do occur, the offending section can be recaptured and spliced into your project using your video editing software.

How is that fixing the problem? How do you go about recapturing the frames without errors, if they appear in the first place, they would probably appear again when you try to recapture them. And, if you have to recapture and splice in, the problem isn't fixed IMO. That is, if I'm understanding the message properly. Any one else have any idea?

[jg0001]

I bought mine a LONG time ago (6 months +) and it was one of the later revisions (B or C? is there a C?) with the audio lock ability. I think version A didn't offer it at all (not that there just wasn't a switch for it). I did not play with the DIP switches at all, as there was no need for me to do so.

I use it with Scenalyzer Live and PS9 to import TV from my cable box. Two things: (1) after hooking everything up AND turning on the device, make sure you push the button on the front of the box so that it is in 'analog' mode (red light) (analog->DV), (2) in scenalyzer, there is an option to 'turn off DV controls' or somesuch that is used for working with these types of devices (those are controls such as play/rewind, etc, that are used for cameras, but not for devices such as this); make sure this is selected or it can knock the Pyro back into DV mode and then you won't get the AV-DV conversion. If it is setup properly, the preview window will show video (just play something while you are setting it up). You may hear audio that appears to be a little out of sync while previewing, but it will record it perfectly.

It does a great job. I've captured 6 straight hours of TV (MTV overnight) without a single frame drop and without any audio sync issues. AVI editting is a breeze using Studio 9 (I didn't bother with the included software).

I've also used it to ouput DV video to my TV via S-Video.. it does a good job with this. I don't use that function for anything important though.

[jg0001]

What are the details of the firmware upgrade? Mine is easily 6 months old (pretty sure I have RevC). Is it a free upgrade? How do I get it started?

[Roundabout]

jg0001,

Yes, there is a Rev. C of this unit (read the rest of this thread! :P ). The Rev. A did have audio lock, it just didn't have an option to turn it off (not that you'd want to, anyway). The Rev. A units had selectable 32/48KHz sampling, which was removed from the Rev. B and C units. Certain production models of the Rev. B units may not work in PAL format properly. The firmware issue was to resolve frame drops while using certain analog sources, mostly it was an issue with VHS sources more than LD or other.

This is the official info about the firmware upgrade from ADS:

>>>PYRO A/V Link Firmware Update
Revision: 3.0
Platform: PYRO A/V Link hardware versions B and C
Release Notes:

Version 3.0 of the A/V Link firmware primarily addresses the issue of possible dropped frames of video during capture when the analog video source is an old VHS tape or of low quality.

Version 3.0 resolves:

Dropped frames - the internal error that occurred when a poor video signal was detected and now properly handles the video without dropping frames.

No color on TV monitor pass-through - Now pass-through video is in color on the TV preview monitor even if the source is a poor quality VHS or analog tape.

Version 3.0 Adds:

Color Bars - when the A/V Link is in an idle mode (no video passing through) the output on a TV preview monitor will be displayed as color bars. The color bar output is generated by the Philips SAA7128 video output chip. This is a feature of the chip that has now been enabled.

General:
Firmware version 3.0 has been extensively tested with a variety of Windows and Apple operating systems and video editing software and we have found that this firmware is very responsive and stable for all systems.<<<

Yes, the upgrade is free, you'll have to send the unit in to ADS in California and wait a little, while they upgrade it. The only cost you incur is postage to get it to them (they will pay return postage back to you). Contact them at rma@adstech.com and they will issue you an RMA to return it.

This issue we are talking about here now is that there may be an problem with the most recent firmware revision (3.0). Until someone from ADS answers the question, it is unknown if the firmware resolved the original problem yet caused another, and has now been straightened out - meaning we may have to send the units back yet again for another upgrade.

[trock]

I have a Rev C version 3 and while the quality when going back from PC to VCR is excellent, the quality going from an analog VCR (via TBC) to the PC is really poor when compared with the other capture devices that I have (analog and DV passthrough). I'm getting rid of it.

[vhelp]

Actualy not that much programming. Mostly do calls to the os so to speak.

Its a nitch item. After reading the thread last night went looking and it seems people have cracked the VCRPlus coding to a point. So one of those old remotes taking the place of the remove could do just that.

I use AVI_IO to do time and capture with the DC 10 card and remember it supostly does DV I think. When I make the desision on which to go for be intersting to see if it can capture the DV data.

This may help. Long story. Back wehn the TI Speak&Spell pop out. To control it I hung reed relays off of the button with a parallel interface connecting to a SWTP computer. Worked quite well. The same concept could be used on a remote to one of these boxes. One even tell you what I did with a 6144 B&W grafics board.

.
.

I use AVI_IO to do time capturing with the DC 10 card and remember it supostly does DV. When I make the desision on which "box" to go for. Be intersting to see if it can capture the DV data.

.
.
from page 4.

Yes, it does do DV

I somehow was able to re-establish my old trueth (through hacking) that
avi_io can capture DV through Firewire cables. I don't have a receipe yet,
but I'm slowly working on it. There hasn't ben any interests drawn from my
post(s) for such.., even though I've posted about my finding/success in two
topics.. do a search for avi_io and firewire :P
.
I love it.., especially for my VHS projects. Now I can capture in one sitting,
thanks to segmented captures of avi_io. But, I haven't ever used the timer
features

On another level ...

Some many months ago, I bought the DVD Xpress box. This one
has on bottom back-plate, USBAV - 701 Rev.2
.
Anybody have this toy laying around and put to good use ??
.
I'm wondering if this box puts out the same quality level as you're guys
are's I'm just curious. ..as I've said, I love experimenting w/ new
toys and things. I would love to see how this brand/model stacks up
against my:

* ADVC-100
* TRV22

..in turms of quality.

-vhelp

[vhelp]

@ NightWing (or anyone else) ...

How do you use such a toy w/ respect to your idea (on page 4) ??
I have a RS near by.., and @ $8 bucks, cant' go wrong.. At least I could use
it for my VCR captures ?? Anyways. I'm bored, and just hanging around,
reading lots of old posts. That's what this great forum is about (too)



-vhelp

[NightWing]

The combo would be to use that device to switch channels at a certain time on a vcr or a RF Converter box. Else could use a vcr but would need to put in a tape to record on so it could flip channels.

After the last post have found out by doing test ona DVDR04 that the RS box is mono even though it has LR jacks on it.

[vhelp]

@ NightWing..

Thanks for your response.

Cheers,
-vhelp

[Tommyknocker]

Could we get back on topic, please?

[dunamis]

I bought the ADS Pyro A/V Link. I hooked it up to my system and it appeared to work very well, in fact I was delighted with the quality I obtained.

The second day I was using it to capture from a satellite feed I noticed the video suddenly switched to reverse colors. I stopped the capture and tried to find out what was going on. I checked all my connections. Everything was fine. I have a dedicated, defragmented drive for video capture.

I was able to get the unit to work properly again either by switching it off and on again or by pressing the analog/digital select button twice. I began to capture again. I tried capturing from a variety of different sources but each time I tried the same problem occured, somewhere between 20-40 minutes into the capture. I went through all the usual approaches like rebooting my computer, powering the ADS unit down and back on again, switching off Norton AntiVirus, switching off my ZoneAlarm firewall, etc. etc. etc. but the problem persisted.

I contacted ADS tech support and received a very quick reply making suggestions concerning some of the things I had alread tried earlier. I followed all their suggestions carefully but still the problem persisted. I contacted tech support again but after waiting days and not hearing from them I decided to return the unit to the retailer from whom I bought it. When I took in to the customer service desk the person on duty told me they were receiving a lot of complaints about these units, slapped a pre-prepared "Return to Vendor" sticker on it and refunded my money cheerfully.

It appears that there is an instability problem with some of these units. This is a real shame because otherwise it as an excellent unit with great promise. As my profile indicates, the Canopus unit has not suffered from any of these problems. My intention is not to "Knock" ADS products, merely to report my personal experience with this particular unit.

[trock]

I reported earlier being very unhappy with the quality of the Pyro. Well, one day it stopped being able to be recognized by the PC so I sent it back to ADS and they sent me another one (same rev, same firmware). Strange thing is that the quality of the replacement is MUCH better.