Firstly, I've been told that the Canopus ADVC100 replaces the Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge. Is that correct? Secondly, what is the actual differences between the 100, 55 and 50? Thirdly, am I right that the 100 can overcome Macrovision Copy Protection? Can the 55 and 50? Basically, I want to convert VHS tapes to DV and ultimately to DVD. Got all the s/w I need. Thank for any help you can offer.
The Canopus ADVC-100 is a Much better device than the Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge.... The ADVC-50 is an internal PCI card that you have to hook up to a internal Firewire port ,It only gets Power from the PCI Slot that is why you need to still hook it up to a Firewire Port... You can also Buy a Drive Bay unit that you Install the ADVC-50 into and then it uses a 12v Power connection from your Power supply and that way you have all of the Inputs/Outputs on the Front of your PC.... The ADVC-50 uses the same Hardware DV encoder Chip as the ADVC-100 and uses the Same audio Lock feature that prevents Sync problems... The ADVC-50 does Not have a Macrovision Disable Feature... The ADVC-55 is Just like the ADVC-50 but inside a nicer Drive Bay that uses Power from your 6 pin internal Firewire Port instead of the Power supply.... The ADVC-100 is an external Device that uses a seperate power Source Via a 12v Adapter that you Plug into the Wall...It connects to any firewire Port you have and it does have a trick for disableing Macrovision but I"m not sure all of them have that feature because I have Talked to a few poeple who haven"t been able to Get it to work... You can allways get a Sima Copy Master or a Cheapo Video stabilizer if you are Just doing VHS.... There is also another Device called the "Canopus ACEDVio" which is an Internal PCI card and has most of the same Features of the ADVC-50/55/100, It is also a Firewire Card and uses a Small Breakout Cable for all of the Analogue Inputs..I have seen them for ul to $100 cheaper than the ADVC-100 and everyone I know who has bought one has been very happy with it... All of these Devices Produce the Same Quality Files and all have pretty Much the same Features but some are internal and some External so i guess it is Mostly up to personal preferance.... All of these Devices are Comaptible with most Major editing programs or any Capture program that is meant for Captureing DV, These devices also do not need any Drivers to work.... Cheers _X_X_X_X_X_[small]It"s better to be Pissed Off than Pissed On!!![/small]
Minion, What a superb overview! Thank you very much. Which "cheapo" video stabilizer do you recommend?
Here are a Couple E-bay links to Video Stabilizers that are under $30 and these sellers have more than one For sale... http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50606&item=5715314019&rd=1 or http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3318&item=5715310112&rd=1 Cheers
Are you talking about the Canopus Devices or the Video stabilizers?? Either way it doesn"t Matter.... The Canopus Devices support Both Pal and NTSC sources and the Video Stabilizers work with Both Pal and NTSC Tapes.... _X_X_X_X_X_[small]It"s better to be Pissed Off than Pissed On!!![/small]
I was reading up somewhere that the canopus series uses algorithem that cause problems with the video this is what he says: "I have bought a total of 4 video cards over the past few months until settling on the one that I am currently using which came bundled with Pinnacle Studio software and cost me $99. The card that you are interested is in perfect working condition as far as I can tell. It uses some hardware acceleration algorithms that I didn't like when capturing from my NTSC Hi-8 analog camcorder. ---Matt" He said he must preferred the "Pinnacle Studio AV/DV version 9" Please discuss on this issue as I am not sure now what to buy.
That is Just one Persons Opinion and the Pinnacle Studio AV/DV is just an analoguie Capture device that also has Firewire Inputs But it has No hardware Compression... I believe it usees the Old BT878A Decoder chip for analigue Capture which will not produce nearly the Quality that the ADVC-100 can... It uses the Same Chip that cheap $30 TV Cards use.. I think the Person who didn"t like the ADVC-100 probably just didn"t know how to use it Properly and had no one to help him with any problems he might have had, Were you have us to help you with any problems you run into... I have heard a Lot of Bad things about this Card over the years but mostly Sync Problems.... I actually just went to look for reviews from poeple who have Bought the "Pinnacle Studio AV/DV" and None of them were very Positive but all of the Reviews I found on the ADVC-100 were %90 Positive.. So there are allways going to be a couple poeple in the Bunch that think they got a Bad apple ,But Most everyone who has Used the ADVC-100 thinks it is awesome when used correctly.... Most all Pinnacles Consumer Level Hardware is Crap and you will hear that from a Lot of poeple who have owned them, I haven"t personally owned one because I was warned not to buy it by many poeple.... So Trust me the Canopus ADVC-100 and it"s Little Brothers are Far superior to a Pinnacle Studio AD/DV, I have Owned and used at work lots of different Video editing and Capture Hardware and Software and the ADVC-100 and it"s Bigger Brothers Like the ADVC-300 and the ADVC-500 are what professinal Studios use to Transfer Analogue Video to Digital Video Format ,and any studio wouldn"t be Caught dead useing a Pinnacle Studio AV/DV Card to Transfer analoge to Digital Video.... So I can pretty much Gaurantee that you will Find the Capture Quality far superior than the Pinnacle one... The only thing that Pinnacle has Produces that comes even close to the ADVC-100 is either the DV500 or the Liquid Edition Capture Card which are all close to $1000.... If you have any questions Just ask...Cheers
I was seeing the ADVC100 and the 500 models and they all look cute and practical to have externally, but I was thinking of getting the ACEDVIVO internally, could you tell me what problems can cause having an external one like for example lag? distortion? that the internall doesn't have or the cons for the ACEDVIVO like lack of power and so forth if any?
Well the ACEDVio is Just an internal version of the ADVC-100... It does have a Few advantages like the ACEDVio doesn"t need a Firewire Card to run because it actually is a Firewire card as well...They both have the same DV Compressor Chip and they both have the Same Audio Lock feature....One thing the ACEDVio has that the other don"t have is a Color controll so you can adjust the Brightness and Contrast before captureing the Footage were the ADVC-100 doesn"t have that feature...But for all intensive purposes that are the Same in terms of Quality... Cheers
I'd like to put my $.02 in and suggest that the standalone 100 box is better. When you buy a PCI card, you usually get a driver. As time marches on and OSes evolve, the older product's drivers get less attention. So if you ever intend to migrate the VHS capability in the future, to say Longhorn+1, pay the extra $100 and get the standalone. The standalone box doesn't need a driver, it only needs standard 1394 OS support. Which is why it doesn't come with software. Too bad it seems to prioritize its inputs, it would be easy to write a simple 1394 control app to send commands to switch inputs......Canopus, you listening? Jim
Jim, You talk about the 100. Would the 50 or 55 work just as well IYHO? I'm just trying to justify the price a bit.
Actually Neither the ADVC-100/55 or 50 or even the ACEDVio require any extra Drivers at all to install, they are all Plug and Play devices.... The ACEDVio just uses a genaric Firewire Card Driver that is allready Built into Windows and it"s PCI is Forwards Compatible with the New PCI Express Standard that is going to be used on Most new Systems so you can be sure you will be able to use it for many years to come especially the ADVC-100/55/50 as they are all Connected to any Firewire Port and is also compatible with the new Firewire 1394b Standard which offers a 800mb/sec Bandwidth which is twice as much as regular Firewire and USB 2.0..... Cheers
Minion is correct, after doing further research, it seems no Canopus drivers are required for their PCI cards (or for the standalone box). Only the 1394 OS device drivers are required for the 1394 chip in your system. So from an OS support standpoint, all the Canopus versions should be considered equal. One tip: in Windows 2000, SP1 is required to run OHCI compliant 1394 chips. However, it seems the chips are not all equal. I have had some trouble using the NEC 1394 chip, but the Via chip seems to work fine. I have not tested the TI chip, but strong rumors from sources much more knowledgable than I indicate it works fine too. Jim
