Anyone has Xpert DVD MAKER USB2.0?

[proxyx99]

I wonder if anyone owns Kworld Xpert DVD MAKER USB2.0, a tiny device mounted on the cable.
If you have any experience using it (good or bad) please post here.
Price and features are just too good to be true so let's find out.
See the picture.



Features


Xpert DVD MAKER USB2.0 provides a highly integrated?/B>
VLSI that provides a cost-effective solution for video capture
application.
Up to 30fps @ 720 x 480 size for video processor and compression?/B>
Proprietary compression algorithm for both still image and
motion-video for USB 1.1
Auto-adjust compression ratio for USB 1.1
USB 1.1 support 30fps @ 320 x 240 resolution
USB 2.0 support 30fps @ 720 x 480 resolution
USB 2.0 Isochronous Video pipe up to 24Mb/sec
USB 2.0 Isochronous Audio CD quality pipe up to 1.4Mb/sec
Video Inputs supported : Composite & S-video
High-quality real-time MPEG Encoding (I-,B-,and P-frames)

Specification


Support USB 1.1 & 2.0 Plug-and-play USB interface
Hardware Encoder chipset
Supports MPEG 1, 2 & 4
NTSC up to 720x480 @30 fps?/PAL up to 720x576 @25 fps
Video input
Video 1 Input: Composite Video Input
Video 2 Input: S-Video Input
Video Output
USB 2.0 & 1.1
Audio input:
Audio Input: From External Audio source
Audio output:
Stereo Audio Output to Speaker

[dvdwally]

i've got the thing, but all i get on my computer is a black and white scrambled screen of whatever i'm trying to input.

[proxyx99]

There has to be a capture guide/manual. Do you have trouble following it and for what reason? What is your setup and what does manuf. recommend?

[dvdwally]

it came with the following 2 manuals:

1. xpert dvd maker user manual, it's only 10 pages and all about installing the software, many of the pages actually have to do with an error you may get if you don't have the latest usb drivers. i didn't get the error, because i have the drivers.

2. dvd plus manual, it's 32 pages, it only tells you the basics of how it works, if you can get it to work. there's NO troubleshooting section, ha.

anyways, i looked online and i can't find ANYTHING for troubleshooting this specific product, not even from the kworld (folks that made the thing) or honestech (software) websites.

[proxyx99]

OK, can you explain the issue you have with this product? Is there a preview window before encoding? Do you get to see the footage be4 or only after? Can you see the picture at the time you encode? I assume that Honestech is the software encoder you use.
What formats (MPEG 1,2,4) and frame sizes have you used? Good idea would be to take it easy and start with MPEG1 352xwhatever and see how it works and then go to the higher frame size (and higher MPEG).

[richie_r1ch]

good topic. I've been wondering about this myself.

But like all Kworld products it's extremely difficult to find any info on them.. let alone reviews on them!

I just did several searches on the device but all I can find is places that sell them. Almost as if nobody has bought one!

[proxyx99]

No wonder. It's not only new but somewhat unusual. If it works as the company claims, then it may be a solution for some (if not all) projects.
Question is what can be reasonably expected from it and under what conditions. I want to see if we can get it to work with this collective effort.

[dvdwally]

ok, i got it to where i can actually view the input on my computer while it's playing via vhs/dvd, copy it onto my computer (mpeg 1) and play the copy on windows media player.

i did this (improvement from my previous posts) by disconnecting everything else (cable, tv, dvd/vcr, etc) from my dvd or vcr.

i tried burning two vcd's but didn't have any luck. just a little (real small) blue screen on the background, but no movie started or played when put into my dvd player (which recognized it as a vcd), hmm.

[proxyx99]

Excellent. That's showing some progress. Now I would suggest to totally ignore burning as it simply proves nothing. Let's keep it as simple as possible and concentrate on capturing, if I may suggest. It suffices that you can capture, encode VCD and view it on your PC. If picture is OK, that's enough proof. Say more about your PC config (speed, memory, HD's etc. I asume you captured 352xXXX, how about performance (any dropped frames, how's the video quality?). If you did that, try increasing to 640x480 and 720x480. Honestech will aloow you to choose format (avi, mpeg1, mpeg2 etc.) try to narrow the type of file that will go smoothly (no dropped frames etc.). Keep your captures short 1-2 min. and test as many combinations as possible (SVCD is also a possibility). Important is to determine your configuration performance threshhold - the point that it starts dropping frames or "choking" for whatever reason.
Keep in mind this is a software oriented device, that means it has no encoding capabilities. What it does is allows to establish a fast pipe between your source (like DVD) and PC. The whole processing of the material is done solely by your computer, better it is in terms of performance, better it will handle this type of load. I would suggest downloading Mainconcept Encoder 1.41 from mainconcept.com. It is well optimized and may appear to be a better match for your system (it is in every way better the Honestech), faster and uses probably less processing power thus allowing you to grab higher resolution video with better chance for success. It can capture to MPEG2 directly (this is your goal I guess). Demo available.
Since you were able to view your VCD's, how's the quality, any artifacting or noise. Please comment.

PS. I wonder if it is not too much to ask but maybe you could post a frame (picture) from your capture (you can grab with PowerDVD to jpg, encode to to not more then 50k, as this is the max file size this site will accept).

[dvdwally]

any screen capture i put up here wouldn't look good, because the original sources are from family vhs or 8mm videos (whether they're on vhs or dvd now). most of the family stuff is on vhs right now, i'm just trying to put it on vcd's, so i don't have to pay to get them done on dvd (already paid to have one done that way, didn't cost much, but i'd just like to be able to do it myself).

i'll keep you posted if i figure out how to get a vcd burn to work though.

[proxyx99]

Fair enough. Can you preview with higher resolution (720x480)?
How about capturing, still having issues? What is the preview quality?, any difference from the source?


More info about the device:

MPEG video and stereo audio recording in sync. (audio recording is processed by software and controlled by sound card in the computer)
Capture/Record TV and other videos from various input sources and store them directly into the computer or instant output to DVD/CD disks..
Snap-shot button to to freeze video image, take a single picture and save the highest quality still image as BMP or JPEG file
Resizable Video Window up to full screen display.
Record, edit, preview and playback your video works before production.
Compact dimensions and low power consumption - ideal for for portability and laptop users.
High-quality real-time MPEG Encoding (I-,B-,and P-frames)
Low CPU utilization at decompression.

Adopts the newest Empia USB 2.0 Video Capture hardware chip for MPEG-2 capture/encoder, not like other comparable products using the software for encoding..

Proprietary compression algorithm for both still image and motion videos:
Support 30fps @ 720 x 480 resolution for USB 2.0 transfer
Support 30fps @ 320 x 240 resolution for USB 1.1 transfer
Auto-adjustment video compression ratio for USB 1.1
High quality video compressor to speed up video frame rate
Universal video compatibility with all DVD/ CD burners of different makers.
Supports high-resolution video captures for both motion pictures and still image.


More on the CHIP:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Santa Clara, California] EMPIA, a world leading USB 2.0 Personal Video Recorder (PVR) controller solution provider, announces the world¡¦s first Bus-Power-certified PVR System on Chip (SoC). Manufactured with LQFP64 sealing, EM2800 is offered with cutting edge USB 2.0 interface at low power consumption and low cost to enhance competitiveness.

EMPIA Announces World¡¦s First Bus Powered USB 2.0 PVR SoC EM2800

EM2800 integrate USB 2.0/1.1 SIE and PHY, a video compression engine and A/V synchronous processor into single chip silicon as SoC. With a wide variety of applications such as USB 2.0 AV Cable Converter, USB 2.0 TV Box, USB 2.0 multi web cam, Multimedia AV Box. Multimedia manufacturers can supply TV/AV box with power provided from USB interface without using additional batteries or power cables. Therefore, it is the best solution for personal video recorder with full applications.

In the shipping volume, EMPIA already shipped 100K chips in first half of 2003. In addition to its leadership in the market, EMPIA has become one of the world leading USB 2.0 PVR controller solution providers. In product certification, EM2800 have passed USB-IF certification, and also compliant with WDM Audio/Video Driver. Moreover, EM2800 Event passed Bus Power certification, which is unique in the world. The world¡¦s first Bus powered USB 2.0 TV Box single chip provider.


According to Empia, the EM2800 compliant with WDM Audio/Video Driver, there is no need Codec in the XP system, which will eliminate the cost of personal video recorder (PVR) market. Bring end user portable, bus power USB device everywhere to make VCR, DV, V8 and Camcorder into notebook computer easier. Manufactured with LQFP64 sealing, EM2800 is offered with leading edge USB 2.0 interface at low power consumption and low cost to enhance competitiveness.
EMPIA is a provider of integrated circuit & SOC design for Embedded Multifunction Peripheral Imaging Appliances. EMPIA is focus on creating semiconductor solutions to power leading edge embedded imaging devices and imaging Internet appliances. With offices in California and Taiwan, EMPIA enjoys access to the majority of companies needing advanced IC designs. EMPIA is committed to building long-term value through continuous innovation, strategic partnership. There are several new USB solutions coming such as USB2.0 MPEG 4 Audio Video Controller, 9 in 1 USB2.0 Storage Card Controller and USB2.0 Flash Disk Controller.

For more information, visit the EMPIA Technology web site at
www.empiatech.com

[proxyx99]

After some additional digging I found out, that to succesfully capture MPEG2 720x480 processor faster then 2GHz is required. For VCD min. 1.4 GHz. The only issue still open is the quality of captures and hopefully someone will be able to shed some light here. There is more devices like that popping up (one of them from AverMedia). Seems that all use the same Empia chip.

[dvdwally]

yeah, my system specs exceed what is needed. i just can't figure out how to play a vcd, ha, once i've burned it.

[proxyx99]

Try it in your PC first or friend's DVD player. It maybe your DVD or the disc. Frankly, I don't know what playing a burned VCD has to do with USB Kworld thing but keep on trying... These are totally unrelated.

Winamp, PowerDVD have VCD playback capability.

[Catalyst Shift]

So I have this unit and setup was pretty simple. Wasn't getting proper signal through, but I was using the Orange Micro USB 2 drivers instead of SP1. Put SP1 on and it was happy. Captured, and noticed a little bit of an issue. Running D1 res through, it looked a little blocky. The source footage was D1 res and looked fine, but capture looked bad even when just streaming. All settings were set to high, the computer is more than capable of handling these settings. So, I guessed about what res it looked like and did a test. Captures at D1 and CIF resolution looked pretty much identical. There were differences, but they were about as noticable as encoding between two similar bitrates. So, it would seem that the D1 res claim this unit has is pretty false, only managing CIF despite settings claiming otherwise. It just blows up CIF res to D1, more pixels but no new information. Anyone else notice anything similar about this?

[proxyx99]

Any other formats you can capture to? I assume that MPEG2 is via Honestech encoder. Pretty good analysys though. How would you rate its usefulness?

[Catalyst Shift]

The capture was in MPEG2 format and via honestech software. I had also tried poking around at it through VirtualDub, but it looked the same. I had emailed the company at one point, but never heard back from them. It's made by Kworld, which is in Taiwan and not the most sociable company ever. Really, if CIF resolution is all you'll ever need, sure. It looked good at CIF res, and it would be just fine for recording T.V. or VHS. VCD stuff is also at CIF resolution, so if VCD is your output, that's great too. Really I wanted something for an analogue alternative to digital video capture. A good analogue capture will clean up the quantization of YUV 4:1:1 in the chrominance channels, much better than doing an axis discreet blur. It's also better to do some basic colour adjustments through analogue. But the lack of resolution just doesn't work for me and I think anyone who gets it should feel pretty ripped off by it limiting them on resolution, despite it's claim to do full D1. At some point I may try playing with it again, I try not to take anything for granted and it is possible that maybe somewhere along the lines I can change something and it will suddenly work. If anyone else has used it and can say for certain it does retain all detail of a D1 source I'd love to hear it. I don't want to think I have a useless product, since I'm not to terribly keen on backing up VHS tapes all the time.

[dvdwally]

what's the difference between d1 and cif and what do they mean?

i'll start playing around with my dvd maker again when i get some longer cables, too much trouble right now with the short cables i have.

[Catalyst Shift]

D1 is 720x480, CIF is 1/4 D1 res 352x240. Just terms we use for different standards in video resolution.

[proxyx99]

What are the capture options (formats and resolution). How about uncompressed or 5:1 DV? SVCD?

[Catalyst Shift]

Here's a screen cap of the settings menu. Kinda hidden by the pulldown menu of resolutions are quality settings, but those are just things like high and low. They control bitrate and encoding speed/accuracy. Mpeg1 and Mpeg2 are the only ones that will let you adjust anything.

[proxyx99]

How's the AVI? Ever tried it? With regard to D1 I have to say I'm puzzled considering these advertised parameters:
Auto-adjust compression ratio for USB 1.1
USB 1.1 support 30fps @ 320 x 240 resolution
USB 2.0 support 30fps @ 720 x 480 resolution
USB 2.0 Isochronous Video pipe up to 24Mb/sec

24Mbps for video only plus 1.4 Mbps audio sounds like 5:1 25Mbps DV AVI which is the most popular DV compression (miniDV).
The artifacting that you get for resolutions higher then 320xXXX may be due to USB auto-sense failure (see above). If you are locked at USB 1.1 resol. range due to the failure to detect USB2 device capabilities on your PC side then you would get exactly what you are getting now. Try the AVI and see if you get the datarate needed. Btw. capturing to DV would be a great asset as well. If I may: try AVI and SVCD. Make sure that it is seen as USB2 device.

As to Kworld support I've heard same story all over. Zero response.
I bought recently a Kworld TV tuner with USB2 capture and it can do DV AVI. Have not tested USB2 capture to MPEG from a clean source as my son is too busy watching TV (that is an external tuner that you hook up to your monitor for PC-less TV watching plus USB2 for capture or wiewing on PC desktop, windowed of full-screen). So far quality is better then expected considering that it comes from an unknown/untested maker. In fact, it can challenge a regular TV. Remote is too small though. Overall pretty damn good. Hardware encoding/capture to: DV AVI, VCD, SVCD, DVD up to 8Mbps full D1. SVCD looks really impressive. Could not test MPEG2 D1 due to USB2 port issues (have VIA on 2 PC's) with drivers that need some upgrade. Tested on a laptop USB 1.1 and I was pleased. This is a preliminary test though and can't speak about the quality yet.

Btw. my capture menu is almost identical looking.

[Catalyst Shift]

The datarate does sound pretty similar, but the AVI was locked at 320x240. And if I remember right, I plugged it into a USB 1.1 port on a different computer and it wouldn't allow anything higher resolution. It is definately being seen as USB 2 on my system. As for 24 MB/s video, AVI is locked at 54 Kbps, Mpeg4 locked at 1040 bps and anything else cannot be set higher that 10 Kbps. I haven't actually use anything other that Mpeg2, but considering what it lets you do the DVD setting is the only other one worth trying and switching from an Mpeg2 setting to a DVD setting just doesn't exactly spell diversity in my book.

[solotario]

Have this item and no problems with it. Burned and recorded dvdrw with Roxio6 6 Platinum. Nice capture device

[Catalyst Shift]

What was your source and what resolution did you capture at? This thing works just fine at CIF, but doesn't like D1 sources.

[solotario]

Source device was toshiba VCR input through V-Stream. Recorded in MPEG2
using Roxio DVD builder. I did notice ac hum from a source that needs to be isolated on first burn. AM not the expert just got this device. Seems device is ok, software makes difference.

[Catalyst Shift]

The VCR is only really outputting CIF res anyway, the device is just fine with that. My problem with it is their claim of doing D1 res. Try using a higher resolution source, see what you think of it then. And the hum, are you reffering to the 60 cycle hum in the audio? You're getting a ground loop if that's the case, which is odd since I wouldn't expect the VCR to be grounded.

[84lion]

Received this product a few days ago.

Install went well. There are two discs of software. One is a no-name software suite that covers capturing video, converting video, editing video, and burning video to DVD. These are treated as four separate functions within the suite.

Capturing video: I want to capture video from a VCR, laserdisc, video camera or other external source via S-Video. I want to capture to DVD-compliant video (720X480). This device will capture video at DVD video specs. Because the source material is not at DVD resolution it is difficult to know if it is actually capturing at DVD quality or something less. Put it this way, I was satisfied with the quality of video playback. Audio is another story. Although the device has a drop-down menu where you can (apparently) set audio capture at 48 KHz, it apparently does not do that. The generated MPEG file will play in WinDVD or similar, but the included software will not properly convert it to a DVD-compliant file, audio wise. What you get is a choppy audio playback. I also captured a file at SVCD quality (480X480), and that seemed to work OK. I haven’t played around with that clip yet.

Converting video: The software says that it will convert various formats. Based on what I’ve seen so far, neither software suite is capable of properly converting video captured with this device to a fully DVD-compliant (i.e. – ready-to-burn) file.

Editing video: Have not tried yet.

Burning video to DVD: The software appears to be capable of taking a DVD-compliant MPEG file (720X480, 48 KHz audio MPEG file) and converting to the proper .iso, .vob, etc. files, and then burning all that to a DVD. You have the capability of changing rudimentary things like menu background and so forth. Based on what I have tried, the software will not properly burn the files. There were a number of issues with my USB DVD recorder (Iomega 2.0 USB DVD) including error messages.

The other software suite is by Cyberlink. It is basically a more user-friendly version of the no-name software. I can’t see why you need both, although the Cyberlink software does allow you to create AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders with included .iso and .vob files, etc. – essentially, you –should- be able to just plop these files into Nero and burn away. I will have to see what I can do with SVCD2DVD or similar…

My hope is to be able to properly capture to SVCD, since my source material (SVHS, laserdisc, or similar) will never be greater than SVCD resolution. I can either (hopefully) burn SVCDs via Nero, or I will try SVCD2DVD to see if I can convert the SVCD files to DVD compliant files that I can burn on DVD with Nero or the software suite.

Overall, I would give this hardware/software an “E” for effort (or perhaps “doesn’t meet expectations/advertised capabilities”). Because I am using laptops only, I have to capture via USB 2.0. This hardware/software is much better than the Pinnacle USB 1.1 Studio PCTV that I was using; I had bought that several computers ago when I was using Windows ME (and I thought watching TV on the computer would be “cool” – at that time, video was such that –any- capture capability was better than none!). Pinnacle is not supporting the USB PCTV anymore, and I was having XP compatibility issues (most notable problem was that the capture software would not recognize when files were deleted from the hard drive, therefore the amount of HDD space for capture kept getting smaller and smaller – software had to be completely de-installed and re-installed to attempt to cure the problem, although recently I had less luck doing this, which is why I bought the Kworld device). I probably would’ve tried another Pinnacle capture product, but their lack of support for the Studio PCTV USB kinda made me leery of them. For less than $50, this product at least appears to be capable of capturing SVCD quality video and doesn’t have the XP compatibility issues the Studio PCTV did. It is also very small, so if you have a CD or DVD burner in your laptop, you can theoretically capture video from your camcorder and burn a SVCD while on the road. However, I think that those who are hoping for a one-shot capture-to-DVD quality solution will be disappointed.

[lynnsabcs]

I'm excited this topic was started today!!

This will be my 2nd weekend working with trying to get this thing to work. I'm off Monday so I hope to make some copies of older VHS car show videos.

Mine came with 2 pieces of software. They're at home and I forget the names, but I find that one will capture if I set it on Composite, and the other works if I set it on the other (forgot the name).

I've concentrated on using the 2nd piece of software, not the Honestech one because the 2nd had a nice Acrobat Reader file with a large user manual and when I couldn't get the preview screen to show my movie, I emailed the seller and he said to use the 2nd software.

I've created chapters, changed number of buttons per page and played around in general. I was disappointed that my final burned output was very choppy. Then I realized the preview was also choppy. The 2nd software allows you to set 3 speeds--60 mins, 120 or 180. I was using the 60 mins speed and my original VHS was recored at the slowest speed.

At 11:45 last night I discovered the slowest speed gives me a nice clean preview and I burned a short segment and it seemed to work. So I assume the capture must be done at the same speed as the original VHS tape.

This software has a nice feature--you can capture the entire movie without sitting there monitoring it. Then you can go back and let it sense the chapter breaks or manually set 6 or 8 or whatever breaks.

The edit function is nice if you want to sit there and manually stop at a likely chapter break and then restart the capture for the next chapters. You can go back and cleanup the start and finish point of the chapter.

I have a car club thing Saturday, but I will report back latter in the weekend with further results, settings and the name of the software package.

LynnsABCs

[lynnsabcs]

The two pieces of software I got with the DVD Maker are Power Producer DE by Cyberlink and DVD Plus by Honestech.

The Power Producer DE I think is very rudimentary in choices. I can select from 3 speeds--High Quality (60 Min), Standard Play (120) or Long Play (180). I've tried a sample capture at all three speeds and each produces a choppy playback.

The screen shot Catalyst Shift posted above of the Property Settings screen is from the DVD Plus Honestech software. That software looks to me to be better in that you have more control over selection--Mpeg, AVI, etc.

My problem is I can get past the first step of capturing and recording from my VHS tape which creates a MPEG file. When I jump to the Burn DVD step and try to load the MPEG file, the software is looking for a different format, a bpi project file or similar.

I have tried the next step listed, using the MPEG Encoder, but the file is already a MPEG file so it shouldn't need encoding should it?

I then went to the Video Editor and tried to create chapters and then hit the red button on the far right bottom of the screen that is the save button, but that puts it through an encoding process too.

When I try to burn that finished project, the Burner area still won't read it and I can't get it to open to burn in Nero.

Anybody know what to do? Help

LynnsABCs