usb instant dvd hardware encoder

[statuspending]

has anyone any experience with this piece?

does hardware encoding for mpeg1/2 on the fly, captures composite/svideo and stereo audio...sends it down the usb yo. check out the specs on the link below yo.

the website for ADS Technologies is http://www.adstech.com

tiger boasted $200 us for this, http://www.pcstop.com has it for $177. any experience? is it really that good?

http://www.adstech.com/products/USB_Instant_DVD/intro/USBInstantDVD.asp?pid=USBAV-700

yo

[norm]

You might find that the audio is not sent down the USB cable. The Audio will probably be captured by the sound card. I can't comment about the ADS but the Provideo PV356 which is a similar product does just that. The PV356 works OK but not as good as a PCI capture card. Wait till you read a review before buying.

[sracer]

Nah, in order to do MPEG via hardware, the device has to process the audio and video together. Most likely is that the bitrate will be at a max of 2000. Since it is a USB device, it is limited by the speed of the USB port.

Seems to me that ADS is simply hyping their device as a DVD capture device. Considering that most consumer devices attached to this unit will be analog camcorders and VCRs, the resulting MPEG files will be as good as the source.

[Anonymous65]

The top speed of USB 1.0 is 12Mbits/sec, and the top rate of DVD video is 9Mb/sec, so there should be no problem capturing at full DVD rate via the USB bus. There are some other issues like lag and slow response time of a USB device. If it uses the sound card for audio capture, then this device is not the one to get..

[statuspending]

thank you for your feedback.

in more depth, i saw that they require a full-duplex sound card. i will hold off for now on buying a "black box" compressor.

sup

[M.I.B.]

on USB. The maximum speed for USB is indeed 12 Mbit / second but ..... that is burst !. Sustained does rarely go over 1.8 Mbit / second ! and that is NOT enough for video transmission. If you use hardware codec outside it can be done.

Get Hollywood DV bridge from dazzle on firewire. tha is DV codec. much higher quality
You can do MPEG coding later on the pc using software codecs.

[zed]

This product sounds very good - I am looking for somthing to encode to DVD on the fly in good quality, I know you are all against the product for various reasons but does anyone out there actually have one so we can get first hand thoughts?

Zed

[statuspending]

are you guys suggesting that since this device requires a full duplex soundcard, that it encodes the video on the fly, records the audio to wave or something, perhaps encodes that on the fly as well, and then the two must later be multiplexed?

that blows if it's true. perhaps they said it requires a sound card for playback?


sup

[DiViNeLeFT]

to me.. boasting a product as a dvd capture device is stupid if it costs $200... why not just buy a pioneer 16x dvd drive for $65 and rip dvds... that is garunteed a perfect copy, where capturing is not.

[therealmikeg]

Bah, why play around with some piece of crap USB garbage? Take your standard dvd player, not a drive, and play your dvd into any of the nice ATI cards. Use svideo and digital audio (into a sblive) and you can encode to svcd format in real-time. Of course, you need to get the patch that removes the copy protection from the ATI drivers, but it works great and takes significantly less time than ripping the dvd.

-Mike

[zed]

Think you may have missed the point of the product as in you can cap from any analogue source which is good for home video editors etc.

Zed

[statuspending]

WORD TO THE MOTHER!!!!

i whole interest in this device is from hoping to somehow record say... movies from cable...or episodes....frequently and burn to cd immediately. i don't have a fast processor, and won't have one till summer time.

sup

[sracer]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-11-13 12:01:53, DiViNeLeFT wrote:
to me.. boasting a product as a dvd capture device is stupid if it costs $200... why not just buy a pioneer 16x dvd drive for $65 and rip dvds... that is garunteed a perfect copy, where capturing is not.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

Ummm, did you actually follow the link and READ IT? They don't advertise this device as capture FROM DVD, but from analog sources in order to CREATE DVDs.

[sracer]

statuspending, why not look into a Dazzle DVC (usb version)? Providing that you use the latest version of the software, capturing is very good. Check out the sample on my homepage... it is an unretouched VideoCD-compliant mpeg captured using the Dazzle DVC.

http://pages.prodigy.net/tcperconti/

[DiViNeLeFT]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-11-13 13:02:01, sracer wrote:
<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-11-13 12:01:53, DiViNeLeFT wrote:
to me.. boasting a product as a dvd capture device is stupid if it costs $200... why not just buy a pioneer 16x dvd drive for $65 and rip dvds... that is garunteed a perfect copy, where capturing is not.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

Ummm, did you actually follow the link and READ IT? They don't advertise this device as capture FROM DVD, but from analog sources in order to CREATE DVDs.

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

uh... no i didnt... i read your responce and you said that it looked like they were hyping it as a dvd capture device.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: divineleft on 2001-11-14 09:07:07 ]</font>

[norm]

The Provideo Pv356 which is similar to the ADS captures the Video, encodes it to Mpeg, sends it down the USB bus and buffers it for about 5 seconds, while the sound is captured by the sound card and software encoded into Mp2 then the video and audio are multiplexed together. No real difference to any other capture card except that it has a longer buffer time to take care of the limited bandwidth of the USB bus, especially when capturing at DVD specs. The audio in on a PCI capture card is not that much different to the line in of a sound card, The software still has to encode it. As long as the picture quality is OK and it can multiplex the two together at the right time then there shouldn't be a problem. The PV356 still has a few bugs in the software, but untill they are fixed I'd buy a PCI capture card.

[vhelp]

statuspending, (WinTV PVR usb)

I have the WinTV PVR (USB), and as far as caping from DVD player,
you can't beat the quality it gives. I konw that the unit only has
settings for 2/4/6 MBits, but I have hacked the .reg file and set it
for 2520 Mbits. When I cap a DVD movies, the quality is near
dvd, though 352x480. Quality is really good! I've done doezens
allready now, and am VERY pleased with this unit.

Brief specs are:
+ MPEG1/2 hardware chip
+ 352x480
+ 2/4/6 mbits (.reg hack is available)
+ sound comes from unit and USB, NOT soundcard (no audio synch prob)
- 20 second init. startup period
- 5 second delay during play/record
- template for VCD and direct VCD Burn to CD
I haven't tried the VCD (above), as I have NO use for VCDs
- will need to deMux/Mux your audio befor SVCD burns.
- at 2000 Mbits settings, there are many noticable blocks
but at 2520, very minimum.
+ capping DVD from your dvd player is perfect IMO.

When I'm lazy, I'll cap satalete at 2520 mbits. Depending on the qality
of the show and my providers signal, blocks are MINimum!! I've done
many Star Trek on SciFi on with this PVR card and am very happy with.

I cut the commercials out with Womble
And, if you use Womble, you don't have to deMux/Mux your audio...
anything else, and you will have to.

[pbnyc]

I bought one of the ADS "Instant DVD" gadgets. Though XP recognizes it properly and installs it (albeit after the "non-signed driver scolding," the included software, MyDVD, doesn't even recognize the device as being installed. The ADS tech support Website might as well not even be there. There is NO troubleshooting info. whatsoever.

I'm taking it back. BTW: I haven't heard of anyone yet with a positive experience with this hardware. BUYER BEWARE!

pbnyc

[statuspending]

thanks!

[statuspending]

thanks!

[ksandbergfl]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
Ummm, did you actually follow the link and READ IT? They don't advertise this device as capture FROM DVD, but from analog sources in order to CREATE DVDs.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

The web page says it can capture from an S-Video port... so you could easily capture from DVD.

If you read "between the lines", the reason they call it a "DVD" encoder is because it can real-time encode MPEG2... that's it. They don't say anything about recording a DVD from a DVD player. I wonder if there is some built-in copy protection to prevent you from doing this?

[ejai]

You can copy straight from a DVD player on the fly, I have one and have done it.

[SHS]

Look you all DON'T buy any USB device like this you be sorry you did unless you need do VCD capture and M.I.B. is 100% USB 1.1 specification suck at true bandwith if this had been USB 2.0 specification or Firewire maybe then it may be worth checking out.
Check Warren review on a DViCO FusionMPEG USB
http://tangentsoft.net/video/mpeg/reviews/fusion.html
This will be pettey much the some problem you run in to with any USB device like this one.
So unless you are Laptop user I wouldn't get one.

[mpack]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-11-21 11:56:18, SHS wrote:
Look you all DON'T buy any USB device like this you be sorry you did ...
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

Seconded!

You others should take advice from people who have been down this road already. Buy a USB capture device and you'll regret it inside a week.

First you'll discover that real time MPEG captures are pretty iffy quality - as they nearly always are unless the bit rate is huge which isn't possible with USB. Then, you might think to buy a bigger hard disk and capture uncompressed (or with Huffyuv) - except that isn't allowed either because USB doesn't have anything *like* the bandwidth needed for lossless captures at (say) VCD resolution.

So, a week or two down the road you'll discover that the only real solution is a new internal capture card - and you might as well have done that from the start, and not wasted your time and money on the USB device.

[ksandbergfl]

[quote]
On 2001-11-21 13:43:43, mpack wrote:
<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-11-21 11:56:18, SHS wrote:
Look you all DON'T buy any USB device like this you be sorry you did ...
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

I completely disagree. I have a Dazzle USB and have no trouble capturing video at 3Mb/s. My audio and video are always in sync, too. The quality is fine... not excellent, but good enough (close to VHS quality).

[Greg12]

Buy a D8 camcorder with video in abilities.

[SHS]

ksandbergfl just becaues your doing a 3MB capture you forgot the hardware encode is compressing it to MPEG format before it go thur USB line and then the Harddisk it not the same as doing ture 3MB raw capture there is a diff bud.

[ksandbergfl]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-11-21 21:50:50, SHS wrote:
ksandbergfl just becaues your doing a 3MB capture you forgot the hardware encode is compressing it to MPEG format before it go thur USB line and then the Harddisk it not the same as doing ture 3MB raw capture there is a diff bud.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>


whatever. i agree that you can get higher quality vidcaps out of PC cards or DV hardware... but my point was that those of you who say USB capture devices don't work or "are crap" are misleading people. USB devices DO work, are easy to use, and have a place in the market for people like me, who don't want/have the time to fiddle on a computer all day.

[Cootie]

I think you are all missing the point of the Instant DVD. It is not meant for people like you (the video fanatics that worry about every little pixel) but for me (a poor schmuck that up to a week or so ago didn't even know what a VCD was). The fact is, I have a large collection of VHS tapes that go all the way back to 1980 that are starting to show their age. I needed a way to get them on to a more permanent form of media. So, I hit the Internet and did my research and the Instant DVD seemed to fit the bill more than any other product. I didn't want to add any more PCI cards and I already had an unused USB port available. There were several other products that used the USB port available but the Instant DVD seemed to come with the best collection of software. I ordered it and received it yesterday. I've only spent about 8 hours with it so I don't feel I can give you all an extensive review yet but if I had to rate it so far I'd give it two thumbs up. It is producing .mpg files (tested out VCD, SVCD and DVD modes) of the same quality of the tapes that I am feeding into it. That's all I'm asking it to do. That's what the product is all about.

[mpack]

Actually, the "poor schmuck" is exactly the kind of person I intended the warning for: the video fanatic will already know better than to buy a USB capture device.

If you are happy with the video quality you get with "live" MPEG capture at a 3mbps then good luck to you - but you are kidding yourself if you think you get anything near VHS quality that way - try viewing the result on a 36" TV and say that.

The hard facts are that live MPEG encoding with todays affordable hardware gives you nothing like the quality you would consider acceptable in a VHS tape or a commercial quality VCD, never mind a DVD. The only way to approach that quality is by lossless capture, following by offline encoding - and you don't have that option with a USB device. In other words, USB binds you into poor quality results and there is nothing you can do about it - except avoid USB.

In any case most of the arguments put in the last couple of messages have been in favour of live MPEG encoding, not arguments for using USB. If you insist on live MPEG encoding then you can do it just as easily with a PCI or AGP card, or with a firewire capture device - all of these at least give you the option if you change your mind in future on the matter of live vs offline encoding.