How's your experience with ADS USB Instant DVD?

[tamgiao]

Hi,

My sister is considering buying ADS USB Instant DVD to transfer her tapes to VCD.

The only capture card I've used is Dazzle DVC II, so I know absolutely nothing about ADS USB Instant DVD, except that it uses USB 1.0.

If you currently own or have used or have tested this USB MPEG capture device, I'd love to hear about your experience with it and your opinion about it. If you have a sample clip, that would be great too.

If this is a FAQ, I apologize in advance. I only ask because I could not find any review in the Capture Card List (http://www.vcdhelp.com/capturecards.php)

Thanks.

[tazzila]

I almost purchased one intill I found out the audio has to be captured thru your sound card not thru the capture device. I bought the canopus advc-100 it does both analog and digital capture note you need a firewire card and editing software. I've been using studio dv7 the two together work great. hope this helps. the cost 300.00 for the advc-100 and the studio dv7 100.00

[WildStyle]

tazzila,

How is the quality of the analog video captured with the advc-100? How does it compare with a DV source? Also, what DV codec are using to capture? Did the unit come with Canopus' DV codec?

Thanks.

WS

[karen0302]

WS,

I also bought a Canopus ADVC-100. As a matter of fact, it arrived today and I have already finished capturing my first tape. I am extremely pleased with the device especially with the ability to disable macrovision detection.

To answer your previous question, all encoding is done externally to your system. You feed video in on one side of the box and you get DV Type 1 out the other side. All you have to do on your system is to receive and record the DV stream through a IEEE-1394 FireWire card. For that purpose I use the capture program that comes with Media Studio Pro 6.5. Your CPU does none of the encoding nor does your sound card enter into the process.

Once you have the DV video stream on disc you will of course have to encode it into a DVD acceptable format (MPEG-2) and then burn the DVD.

Before buying thr ADVC-100, I looked at the ADS Instant DVD but decided against it because I wanted more control over the final MPEG-2 video that I put on DVD. Often I need to apply a video filter to fix up an old tape and MPEG-2 is not the best format for editing hence my choice of the ADVC which output DV Type 1.

All in all, I am very satisfied with the box. Hope this helps!

Karen

[loudanddeep]

Does the Canopus ADVC-100 creat mpg files, or do you have to do conversion before you can burn to VCD/DVD etc?

I just got my usb instant dvd, and well, DO NOT LET POWER DVD adjust your DMA settings for your CD ROM DRIVES!!!!!

I could not even fix it in safe mode....


dp

[karen0302]

The ADVC-100 outputs DV Type 1 video. In order to burn a DVD you would have to re-encode this to MPEG-2 format.

Karen

[TheInformer]

The ADVC-100 only outputs Type 1 DV? Interesting.

DVIO, when used with my Sony DVMC-DA1 media converter, allows me to capture in either Type 1 or 2 DV format. Both formats contain the same data, it's just organized differently. It seems more programs can accept Type 2 format though.

The negative in regards to the ADVC-100 (and the DVMC-DA1 too) is that the resulting file has to be encoded to MPEG-2 format, whereas the Instant DVD box outputs in MPEG-2 format.

Me? At present I prefer going the DV route. If I had a lot of tapes though the Instant DVD would probably be a better solution due to the time saved by not having to encode DV --> MPEG-2.

[fishfly]

Did anyone ever compare the quality of the Instant DVD Mpeg2 to the quality of TMPG Mpeg2?
Also, how much time it takes for both of these to produce a Mpeg2.

Thanks

[Valnar]

I think the quality of the ADS Instant DVD is top notch. I'd put it as good as TMPGEnc in the 4 or 5mb MPEG2 range. For lower speeds, TMPGEnc may take the lead.

As for your second question, well that's easy. One is realtime. The other takes hours depending on your CPU.

Robert

[WildStyle]

karen0302,

Thanks for the info. Looks like something that could certainly take over for the pass thru function of the camera i've been using.


WS

[dood]

The ADVC-100 only outputs Type 1 DV? Interesting.

DVIO, when used with my Sony DVMC-DA1 media converter, allows me to capture in either Type 1 or 2 DV format. Both formats contain the same data, it's just organized differently. It seems more programs can accept Type 2 format though.

TheInformer,

I've got a Sony DVMC-DA2. I'm only able to capture Type 1. What is DVIO??

Thanks.

[ejai]

I've owned the ADS Instant DVD for about 2 months now, and I love it. It's quality rivals anything on the market today within $200-$1000 price range.

I owned the Dazzle DVC II $300 and The Broadway $800 video capture devices and found that this $200 Instant DVD product was the best. I saw in the earlier post that someone had an issue about recording using your sound card. Well this product does more than that, you first plug the sound into the USB Instant DVD and then into the sound card. I also noticed that I had relatively no audio sync problems. Almost every thing I use had problems with audio sync and this device works like a champ.

The SVCD looks almost as good as the DVD when making a copy, the image is really sharp and the color is brillant. My only gripe is that when using VCD the noise around non-moving objects was a distraction. The quality of the VCD was great, but if they figure out how to lessen the artifacts around sharp and non-moving objects then this product will be the best thing since color TV.

My only regrets is that I spent so much money on other devices that ended up being crap.

[Valnar]

One of the benefits of the ADS unit is it bypasses Macrovision and allows you to backup your retail VHS tapes. Does the Canopus do this?

Thanks,
Robert

[magicmycote]

Does anyone have any samples of (S)VCD captures with the ADS, or know of where some are? IMO, the best quality I've seen so far with realtime cards is the PV series.

[Valnar]

Where can you buy the PV series cards? Does it also bypass Macrovision? Any major software or functional bugs?

Robert

[watup]

I've got vcd svcd and DVD samples of USB IDVD. If someone suggests a good host site for ~40MB, I'll post them there! 8)

[MrJiggy]

Can u cut a 1-2mb file and email it to me? dlovet125@yahoo.com

[watup]

check out http://www.geocities.com/adsidvd
I dont know the data transfer limit at yahoo, but I already exceeded checking out the page
What format did you want to see? I'll leave it up to you and anyone else to choose.

Just want to note, the source was DVD through composite RCA jack. I was feeling too lazy to plug in s-video. Also, DVD is at 5 Mbps but can be pushed higher.

I choose Fast And Furious due to its exceptional plot and acting ability. Enjoy.[/url]

[tazzila]

check out http://www.geocities.com/adsidvd
I dont know the data transfer limit at yahoo, but I already exceeded checking out the page
What format did you want to see? I'll leave it up to you and anyone else to choose.

Just want to note, the source was DVD through composite RCA jack. I was feeling too lazy to plug in s-video. Also, DVD is at 5 Mbps but can be pushed higher.

I choose Fast And Furious due to its exceptional plot and acting ability. Enjoy.[/url]

i just watched your vcd clip I found it to be fussy and some what digital I am now going to view the dvd clip

[watup]

I agree. I think my earlier post got deleted when the forum crashed a couple days ago.

My experience has been that IDVD is comparitable to TMPEGEnc for DVD format. SVCD is slightly better in TMPEGEnc at High Quality setting. And VCD is superior in TMPEGEnc.

All my captures are in SVCD format so that is all I care about. I can rip/burn a commercial DVD in 2 hours on my athlon 650. If I tried that using software, I would never have computer time to post messages IDVD cost me $175!

When DVD becomes cheaper, I will start using it. At IDVD setting of 6Mbps I know I will be happy.

[Greg12]

DVIO is a small (really simple) program that can capture in either type 1 or type 2 (you specify)


It has no preview it's freeware

[joed]

OK...I am trying to set my sister up with a computer setup that will capture VHS tapes to SVCD and/or VCD. After reading through the forums (and taking price into consideration), I got a USB Instant DVD. The first one quit working after about 2 days...so I sent it back and about a month later got a replacement (from buy.com, they were out of stock).

I could not get the audio to sync with the video using their capture software. I could capture synchronized in video studio, but then the render times (even if I just captured and saved) were very high. My big complaint is with the manual audio and video delay. They changed with each tape, and I could almost never get the sync perfect. Too much work...so it went back. I guess she will have to spend twice as much for a capture card where the sound does not go through the sound card.

[watup]

check out http://www.wwug.com/forums/ads-tech/index.htm for assistance with audio/video sync.

Once I got the a/v sync adjusted it worked great capturing from a solid analog source. The problem that I sometimes ecounter is that frames are dropped when capturing from a poor analog source. For me that is from a VHS-C with scene changes that occur when I stopped and started the cam corder. You know, the first few frames that the VCR has problems with. The sound card still captures through bad signal and therefore the sync problem occurs. This is a major pain in the a@ss.

I'm hoping that ADS will post a patch or updated S/W to take care of this. Until then, I shorten the captures of home video footage so that any loss in sync will not increase with time.

This issue seems like an obvious one that ADS should have discovered when testing their device (V&V).

[tazzila]

The canopus advc-100 is what I have been using for close to a month now results have been really good. No dropped frames and no audio sync problems :P . The cost was 279.00 at guy graphics in elk grove ca, @ guygraphics.com 8) . As I stated early on I too almost bought the ads unit intill I read all the complaints about audio sync concerns. Spend a little more and your problems will be solved

[watup]

If I'm not mistaken, I thought the ADVC-100 converted analog to DV and had a firewire out to computer. So, why not just pipe analog source through DV camcorder instead and into computer through firewire?

Converting to MPEG is still left up to CPU.

I dont want to give the wrong impression about my experience with ADS, I would buy the unit again if given the choice.

[tazzila]

Well you could go thru a dv camcorder but you would loose the canopus codex and also the ability to lock the audio and video together to prevent any audio sync problems. I guess I just am after a better final result. Everone has their own opinion what matters is that your happy with what you buy. Good luck and happy editing

[bogey2000]

I have had my unit for only 9 days. The first 7 were absolutely great - no problems. Then for no aparent reason, this device began all kinds of problems. I am an A+ certified pc technician so I am no rookie to the optimization of windows pc's. Yes, I have read all post, faq's, forums concerning the IDVD and its querks and capabilities. I know how to edit, capture, compress, author and burn all forms of video formats. I have tried it all. Now, I will be returning my unit and going with my second choice from the beginning (Pinnacle Studio Deluxe - ($299.00)
If anyone has any questions concerning this device just ask me.

Bogey2000

[tom28]

I read the spec on the Studio Deluxe and it seems like this device is nothing more a Studio DV with additional capabilities (Breakout box) for capturing Analog video (SVHS and composite) beside the DV using 1394 Firewire. It appears that it will only capture in their DV format and you still have to encode it using the Studio Version 7. It is more like Studio DV + Analog capture + additional software buddle (Studio 7 and Hollywood FX plus and Pinnacle express) and didn't say it can do real time capture to Mpeg2. I believe it will do real time capture to DV format AVI. Correct me if I am wrong. So it is still not comparable to the ADS iDVD. I returned the iDVD after I had the time sync problem and the overscan at the bottom of the capture.

[ace-tex]

I also wanted to point that I have had very good luck with the IDVD. I've been using it for about a month now. It's not perfect, but it does very good, considering it's price. It's definitely much, much beter that the ATI Radeon AIW card I had been using. Oh, I have an Athlon 1.2 GHz 512MB RAM machine running Windows ME. My VCDs look great. I did have some problems with the initial installation, but after I reinstalled the software separately, things have worked very well. However, I have just tried SVCDs, making a backup of a VHS tape, and it looks almost as good as a DVD. I have not done any DVD captures yet.

PS. I have noted on other forums that some people have had some problems. Keep in mind that optimizing your computer for video capture still applies. And, perhaps the most important, is the separate disk for video capture.

[ejai]

Been there, done that.

I agree with all the people who have had problems with video artifacts and audio sync problems. This device doesnot live up to it's billing so I will continue to look for something that does.

As stated above I have optimized my PC to no end, and have a 40 gig hd dedicated to video captures only. I still have the same problems....I've come to terms with the fact that this device will fall short and hopefully something else comes along and picks up the slack.

Goodluck