I'm am in the planning stage of procurring equipment and software to convert analog video to digital. It appears that Canopus offers high quality products. I'm just not sure which is the better way to go. The ADVC-100/110 or the ACEDVio. The canopus web site states that: Is this an advantage of using the ACEDVio over the ADVC-100/110? Or can I accomplish the same thing through video editing software? There are still a few ADVC-100's out there for sale. The ADVC-100 offers an Digital Video input/output rate of 200 (Mbps) vs. the ADVC-110 which offers 100 (Mbps). Was this done because the transfer rates were typically under 100 (Mbps)? Am I better off buying a ADVC-100 with the faster transfer rate? Or opt for the ADVC-110 which has the additional benefit of allowing audio capture only? One last question on software. There is a dizzying array of video editing and authoring software packages on the market. Any suggestions on a decent program to use? Different web sites endorse different programs. Does any one program have better utilities for "cleaning up" the converted video? Thanks for any info that can be passed along.
Yes that is one of the Advantages of the ACEDVio ..That can also be done in editing Software But not without Re-rencdering the Captured File which will Take a Long time and Lower the overall Quality... You could also do it when Encodeing the Captured File to Mpeg-2 for DVD.... The ACEDVio also might be more Convenient because it is an Internal PCI card and Not a firewire Device Pluss it is Cheaper than the Other Devices depending on were you Look..I have seen them for as Low as $175 US on e-bay..... One Disadvantage of the ACEDVio is that you will need a Video Stabilizer to remove any Copy Protections when captureing Retail VHS Tapes were the ADVC-100/110 has a Little Trick you can do with it that will Disable the Macrovision Detection.... All 3 of these devices will produce Simular quality and all will Work well with any Editing/Capture program that supports DV Capture.... If you aren"t going to be Doing any Major effects and stuff them you can get away with useing Mostly Freeware Programs for Cleaning up the Image and editing Like the Newest Virtual-Dub supports DV Files and it has a Lot of Good Filters for cleaning up the Image and you can use a Freeware Program to Capture like DVIO or WinDV..And you can use a Mpeg encoder Like "Tmpgenc Xpress" which is High Quality and Has a Lot of Video Filters and it very Cheap...For DVD authoring I like to Use "DVDLab" because it is easy to use and Has Lots of Professinal Features and it is also very reasonable Priced.... The Problems with High end Editing Programs is that they Cost far too much money...A Good editing Package Like "Vegas Video 5" or "Adobe Premier Pro" will Run you about $500 or more...I"m just glad that I work as a video editor in a Big Studio so I never have had to Pay for my editing software because there is No way I could afford it.... Cheers
Thanks for the info Minion. Some of the user reviews on the ADVC-100/110 suggested that the "little trick: had been removed. I even had one vendor reply to me: "The ADVC-110 cannot defeat macrovision". This was a vendor that reviewed the ADVC-100 on their web site and detailed exactly how to disable this function. It would be nice to be able to back up old VHS tapes. That was a side benefit that I would like to have, but not totally necissary. It won't be a deal breaker. Any thoughts on the transfer specifications of the ADVC-100 and the ADVC-110? The freeware listed in your your reply all require encoding the catured file to Mpeg-2 or not? The native file format coming from the ADVC-100/110 is AVI? What format does the captured file have to be in to burn it to a DVD that will play on a typical stand alone DVD player? Thanks again.
Well I just Talked to a Guy in this Forum in another Post who Just Bought a New ADVC-110 and he said that the Disable Macrovision Trick works on his ADVC-110... These Capture device Capture the Video to DV AVI format which is the same Format that Digital Camcorders use and even a Lot of Hollywood Movies are shot in 24fps DV AVI format...It is a Fairly Low Compression High Quality Format and it is the Best Format for editing because you can Repeatedly render in DV AVI format without Quality Loss.... The Format that you Make DVD"s with is Mpeg-2, A lot of the Consumer DVD authoring Programs have Built in Mpeg-2 encoders But the Quality of these Encoders is Not very Good so it is Best to use a Good Quality standalone Mpeg encoder and after encodeing to Mpeg-2 you load the Mpeg-2 file into your DVD authoring program so you can add your menu"s and Chapters and to Burn the DVD.... So you Capture and then you edit if you need to and then encode to Mpeg-2 and then author the DVD.... Cheers
Minion, Any thoughts on which Canopus unit would be the better way to go? The ADVC-100 or ADVC-110? The ADVC-100 has an extra Audio & Video In Port. And a higher Digital Video In/Out Spec (200 Mbps). The ADVC-110 has the ability to capture audio only. But has the lower Digital Video In/Out Spec (100 Mbps). Why would someone want to capture audio only? Is this a feature that is used in the process of capturing analong and converting to digital? I realize that I am being redundant on the question of the Digital Video In/Out specification. The uneducated would deduce that a device with a spec of 200 Mbps is twice as good (or fast) as a device with the spec of 100 Mbps. That looks good on paper, but is this the case in reality? Will it take longer to capture and convert analog video with the newer ADVC-110 model? I am leaning towards the older ADVC-100 model due to the higher rated transfer spec. But the window for purchasing this unit is closing. I need to act soon to get my hands on a ADVC-100 Thanks again.
I want to be sure that I understand everything that you wrote in your last reply: Once the analog video is captured and converted in DV AVI, can the it be viewed on a computer display with some sort of AVI player? Is that what you mean by render? That you can repeatedly edit and view the results? Is rendering and re-encoding the same thing? What type application (software) allows one to render the DV AVI?
I have the Canopus ACEDVio PCI capture card and have copied several commercial VHS tapes to DVD and have never had any problems with Macrovision. Just connect the VCR to the card and capture using NVE and Huffy codec. I now have a redundant Optex stabilizer if anyone is interested.
framit: If you have the ACEDVio then why are you captureing useing the HUFFYuv Codec??? The ACEDVio is a Hardware DV Encoder so when you use an analoge Capture Program to Capture from a DV Device the Incomeing signal is treated as analogue and Compressed useing in your Case the HuffYUV Codec which actually will produce Lower Quality and Much Larger File sizes than if you were to Use a Proper DV Capture program and Capture in the Native DV Format, What your doing totally defeates the Purpose of have a hardware DV encoder as you are treating it as if it were a Cheapo Analogue Capture device and Not a Professinal quality Hardware DV encoder.... I suggest maybe you Try captureing in the Native DV Format useing a Capture Program that is for DV Capture like "WinDV" or "DVIO" which are both Freeware, I"m sure you will Notice the Quality is Better and the File sizes are Much Smaller than HuffYUV Files.... berndu: It doesn"t matter if one device is 200mbs and one is 100mbs because DV Capture only uses between 7mbs to 10mbs so you would never need even the 100mbs Bandwidth much less the 200mbs.... Video capture is in Real time no matter what device you use so a 2 hour movie takes 2 hours to Capture... Yes after you Capture the File you can watch it useing something like Media Player as long as you have a DV Codec installed.... Rendering is Like Re-encodeing ,If you were to edit the File it would need to be Rendered so you can have your edited file...Most DV editing Programs are Pretty expensive but if you are doing VHS transfers then you won"t need to do any real editing so you could just encode the DV AVI file to Mpeg-2 useing something like "Tmpgenc Xpress" and then author it to DVD useing a DVD authoring Program like "DVDLab"..... What Canopus device you get is totally up to you I can"t recomend one over the other as they all Produce simular Quality but have slightly different Features... Cheers
Minnion, Thanks for your words of advice I will most certainly give them a try. I'm still a newbie at this hobby and you, along with this site in general have been tremendous assets in my learning curve. I purchased my Canopus card because of your recommendation. Thankyou once again.
Are You There Minnion, about your software suggestions. I tried DVIO but did not like it because it lacks a preview window. Unable to find anywhere to DL Win DV. Would really like you to provide a link. By the way I tried capturing with NVE 3 and their DV 1 method the results were very good. Would you recommend this method of capturing with the ACEDVio. As a final question what commercial SW package would you suggest to capture in DV format using my particular Canopus Card and preferably easy to use. Thanks for any help
For a Basic DV Capture program with a Preview and many options I suggest "Scenalyzer Live" it works well with Analogue/Digital converters and DV Cameras... Cheers
Thanks Minnion for your reply. I have downloaded the trial version of Scenalyzer Live and will give it a try. do you have any thoughts on using the capture programs DV1 & DV2 that are built into Nero. In my setup Nero Express 3 recognises my Canopus DV Card but only allows me to capture using DV1. The end result on DVD is very good. My whole process consists of capturing in DV1 with Nero, encoding with TMPGEnc, and authouring with TMPGEnc autouring software. Is this giving me reasonable results ? Until you responded to my earlier post I thought I was flying because I was finally capturing using HUFFYuv the very highly rated codec. Then I found out thanks to you that I was doing things wrong. According to my Nero Software the only differece between DV1 and DV2 is the resulting file size DV2 would be bigger and DV2 is not supposed to be compatible with Windows - player I expect, is this true ? Another question is a DV1 file always the same quality weather it is made by Nero or Scenalyzer Live considering the capture methods and equipment is the same. Going by the variations to make an avi file things seem a little daunting at times. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Yes you can use the DV capture in Nero, accept that DV Type 2 is More Compatible with other Windows Based programs and Scenalyzer will Let you Capture in Both DV 1 and DV 2 as long as you have a DV type 2 Codec installed.... If you are getting good results useing Nero to capture to DV 1 and encodeing with Tmpgenc then stay with that method as it is something you are Comfortable with and Quality wize it doesn"t matter what program you are useing to capture DV cuz the Software has Little or No effect on Quality when Captureing to DV Format..... Cheers
Hi there, I am running a dvd player>advc-100>into imac>. I can't seem to get pass the macrovision. I hear there is a secret to bypassing the macrovision. Any help? a
