Recomended analog/digital converter?

I have a notebook and I contacted my support and was advised that I would have to purchase a analog/digital converter that I would hook up to my 2.0 USB and the converter would hook up to my high end vcr via the "S" connector or RCA cables.

I went out to several stores today and saw the Dazzle/Pinnacle and read the reviews which were not good and the problems listed were pretty consistent.
So I am not considering that one.

The only others that I have been able to find is the Hauppauge Express and the Diamond.
The problem is that none of the sales reps know anything about them and so i decided to do a post.

Do any members use any of the ones I have listed here?
I would prefer to purchase in the store so that I can return the unit if it does not do a decent job.

I would appreciate all comments.
Thankyou

 

Appa:
I just bought an ADS VIDEO EXPRESS on eBay for $58.00 shipping included. Plugged it in and already converted 2 movies to DV.
The only catch is that some of the movies are too long to put on a DVD.
i.e. The DV movie is 7.6GB and the DVD is only 4.8GB. I think ( I´m still not sure) that a DL (that´s Dual Layer) DVD recorder will do the trick. I have one and will experiment with it.

Good luck
n0v0n

 

Thankyou for the reply, I am just doing a little researching right now.
I really like to buy in the stores as I had a bad experience in buying my burner as the first one was a lemon and having to send it to the USA and the cost of insuring it and the hassle of forms to complete cost me several $ in order for me to get a replacement.
That was not the issue, the warranty was covered it was the cost of sending it back and then waiting again for the replacement.
I hope to hear more from you as perhaps if your model is good I may find a reseller in Canada.
Is it user friendly, since I am new to all of this.
Also is the software that comes with it of good quality. In the reading that I have been doing so far I see that some analog/digital converters recommend purchasing another program and not using the one supplied with the unit and then there are comments about installing different drivers etc. and no support.
Since I am new to this I would like a user friendly unit with good software that I won't have to fool around with and look at the option of buying another like Video Creator.
All i can find in the stores up here as i mentioned earlier are the Hauppauge Express and I can't even find that in my searches; I find a lot of models and the one i think it might be is Hauppage Win TV Go and there was criticism about the software and stereo sound.
There is a lot about the other brand Diamond, however it requires a PCMCIA card to use and I need the PC card in my notebook now for my burner to give me the 2.0 USB capability. So I am a little confused as I can't remove my burner PC card to install the Diamond PC Card for the Capture card to function. Also the majority of the review on Diamond was about watching TV on the PC and recording programs from the TV onto DVD and that is not what I want to do. I want the unit to primarily clone my VHS collection onto DVD Media.
How does your unit connect, via USB 2.0???
I hope that you can reply to this.
Again thanks for advising of your experiences.
And I look forward to your comments!
Cheers

Thankyou

 

Hi:
First...I am guessing that you are somewhere overseas.
My best advice is to buy locally, due to all the NTSC-PAL issues, etc.
WhAt U R trying to accomplish is to make your laptop an editing machine for VHS to DVD. Am I correct?
I use standalone PCs. My laptop I only use to see DVDs. In my opinion they are too slow to do all the editing.
If you are copying and burning your homemade VHS tapes they are not locked, the commercial ones are.
You can always buy USB external hookups, no problem there. With one hookup of 2, 4, 5, 6 you can attach a lot of stuff.
The catch is...how fast is your laptop?
Even on my PCs I use a lot of external add-on to take the work off the internal hardware. All USB or FIREWIRE.
Let me know if the info helped you.

Where are U actually located?

Regards

n0v0n
every rule has an exception...

 

n0v0n, if you'd read, you'd see the user is in Canada.

Appa, take a look at http://www.ncix.com (in Vancouver) for the Hauppauge PVR USB-2. It will do exactly what you need, and comes with some basic software that works fairly well.
It also includes a TV tuner, should you wish to record or timeshift live TV.
Do a search for it on http://www.pricenetwork.ca to see if you can get a better price, although ncix will pricematch.

It's the only USB device I'd recommend.

 

Thankyou for the response re: nix and the Hauppauge. I believe that I mentioned earlier that the Future Shop here locally carries this product.
i have read several reviews on the WinTV-USB and found comments regarding issues that some users had with the program that comes with the unit, they ranged from issues with sound, that it was in mono and some comments about the drivers and some converting to btwincap driver, and settings of 640 X 480, YUY2,MJPEG Quality 18 and a need to convert to using Virtual Dub and TMP Genc.
The bulk of the issues were with the software that is included, and that the BT 8X8 generic driver being poor and dscaler not good.
The other product that is carried at the Future Shop is the "Diamond Xtreme 600" and that is the model that they recommend because of the software.
This is the website for that model:
http://diamondmm.com/PVR600RC.php

I wondered if anyone has experience with this particular converter or has any comments after reading this site.
I don't really know if the software can be changed, however it does sound like the software is quite diverse in what it can do.
The store indicated that there have been returns on the Hauppauge mostly with the customers being dissatisfied with the Sound and frames skipping and out of sync voice and mouth.

Just thought that I would post this to see if the previous poster or any other member has experience with this Diamond unit.
I would appreciate any and all responses as both the Hauppauge moedl and this unit are in the same ball park price wise and as I said earlier I would purchase from a store for the return situation if I needed to do that.
I was unable to find any store here in Vancouver that carries the
ADS Video Express, even our Office Depot up here does not carry it yet it is carried by that outlet in the USA.
It seems that what is physically available is very limited.

I look forward to comments, thankyou.
I respect the competency of users here at this forum and for a Noob like me I rely on comments that are packed with experience and I am a purchaser that goes out to the stores and reads mags and surfs before I buy and especially take the advice of users in forums very seriously.
Again Cheers with Regards.

 

Does your notebook have a firewire connector that is the way to go much faster. If it has one use that and buy a Canopus capture device no dropt frames unlike the USB 2 method. there is a distibutor for them in Vancouver.

 

I'm not talking about the WinTVGO USB, I'm talking about the Hauppauge PVR-USB-2. It has no need for BTwincap drivers, and there are some exceptionally good bits of software that will work with it, right out of the box, even free.
Look here: http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvrusb2.html

If you go for a firewire device, then you have to add the price of a good encoder, and between 3 and 40 hours per 2 hour video to encode it. Quality is comparable to the device above.

If you're going to get a USB device, this is the ONLY one worth looking at...unless you WANT a TBC, and the encoding time etc...

 

rebootjim:
I know he´s in Canada...did not know where...
I lived in SEATTLE for many years.

QUESTION: Give me some advice on TBCs.
I don´t want to spend a lot of cash, just want a good TBC if that´s the way to go, so that I can remove all those funny things that show up when you transfer VHS to DVD. In other words...take those stupid lines out. ADS VIDEO XPRESS doesn´t do the trick.

n0v0n
every rule has an exception...

 

Sounds like a very decent unit rebootjim, didn't mean to contradict you or your recommendations. The methods I use with my Canopus capture card and software are all methods suggested by Minion whom I figure is the resident expert here at AD. Yes it is time consuming but it does give excellent results. A 2hr. movie takes my comp about 3hrs. to encode, how do you figure 3 to 40hrs. I think that is streching things just a bit. I think we have all offered good advice to appa and given him a few choices, now he should decide which way to go. When he makes his wise decision he can always come back for more help.

 

I was just making sure that Appa didn't go and buy some cheap "soft" capture card, and I can't say anything about the Diamond, except that I don't know anyone that's ever used one.

The Canopus solution does yield excellent results, no bashing from me. I have an ADVC-110, and use it frequently.

The time estimate is based on the users computer speed, and settings in their encoder. I know that's a generalization, but a 1ghz Athlon with tmpgenc's highest quality settings, will result in about a 40 hour encode. Of course a faser encoder, with a faster computer will result in much faster encodes.

Many users manage to get superb DV-AVI's from their cams, and then whine about the DVD quality they get from these files.
99% of the time, this is user error. They don't know what settings to use in their encoder (or use a 1-click-wonder app), and ruin the quality through ignorance or impatience (or both).

Those "stupid lines" are probably interlacing (correct me if I'm wrong), and only appear on computer monitors. They do not transfer during encoding to a finished DVD. TV's play interlaced material properly. Computer monitors do not.

If you're talking about macrovision, there are various ways around that too. The Hauppauge device I mention above simply ignores it. A Canopus TBC needs a hack. There are other inexpensive devices that get around it as well. YMMV

A 2 hour movie on my computer takes about 1 hour to encode, and I can play Doom3 at the same time...but I'm not using tmpgenc, nor is it a slow computer

 

Thankyou for the comments, I have looked into the Hauppauge PVR USB 2 and for the price up here in Vancouver $150 seems to be ok.
It is actually on sale from $200.

I have to emphasize that I believe the quality and the operation of this unit will very well suit my needs.

There are just a couple of final questions.
My music concert VHS tapes are at the most in looking at all of them 80 mins.
What I was wondering is when I put them into my high end sony vcr and they go to my HDD does it take approx 80 minutes with this unit ?? And then approx. how many minutes to burn with a 1.9 ghz and 1024 RAM?? Just an estimate, as i am simply trying to understand this process.
I realize that there is probably better quality with the Canopus, however there is more to the process and the quality i likely would find acceptable is from the Hauppauge. The time to process being one of my considerations.
I have looked at reviews and comments on both models.

The last question is whether there is audio lock on the Hauppauge?? I see that is the issue on many of the capture products. I don't want out of lip sync with my music vhs tapes as that is what i will be burning. I am looking at burning these VHS as my only option as I have checked with numerous retail outlets and online and most of them are not available in dvd format nor likely will be.

I guess, in closing is the quality reasonable? I know the "Principle" Garbage in Garbage out!!!
So I guess what I am asking is if there is a fair resemblance of the end DVD to the VHS that was the Source??
I also wanted to say that i won't be doing any editing as well and so all i really need is a good quality analog to digital dvd cloner.
It looks like all of the comments so far have pointed me to this brand and model and i simply have these last questions before i take the plunge!!! (Forgot also to ask, since i am a Noob do I have to watch out for protection to be removed from my VHS source tapes, or are they that ancient that nobody worried about that process in that era. LOL!!!

I look forward to comments, thankyou.

 

Yes. Capture is realtime. An 80 minute tape takes 80 minutes to capture.

It will then have to be authored and burned. This can take between 20 minutes to several hours, depending on the complexity of your menu structure, the software you choose to author it with, and the speed of your burner.

Although hauppauge doesn't specifically offer something called "audio lock", nobody I have ever known has had audio problems with any Hauppauge product (other than the earliest PVR-150 drivers, now fixed, and their "WinTV Go" cards, which do not have a hardware mpeg-2 encoder.

One can actually improve the "look" of the video, if not it's quality. Your recording will be as close to the original as is possible, and I doubt your eyes will tell the difference.

There are cheaper methods of cloning a tape, but I doubt you'll find a faster method than this.
The Hauppauge simply ignores macrovision, if it's even on the tapes. Something that many other cards don't do.

 

Hi Appa,

I am also very new to video editing, but one thing you have to remeber is that if a product does not work for you then simply take it back to the shop and try another one of the products reccomended here (as long as they accept returns).

FYI,
I have the Hauppauge pvr 250 (pci version) and its quality is very good and i have no problems with the audio.

Don't mean to confuse you, but if you just want to copy VHS to dvd can't you get a dvd recorder console that can do this direct? therefore no need for a pc? Can anyone help to clarify this?

Thanks

 

Thankyou again for the replies, i called the Hauppauge support in New York this morning and asked about the audio lock and they confirmed that the unit does not have it however that they have never had real complaints regarding that aspect.
They asked me the specs of my notebook and said that it should operate fine.
They indicated that this model is one of the most popular that they have.
They indicated the resolution was 720X480 and MPEG 2.

Since I am new to burning having had my BenQ 162I 16X for about 5 months now and burned about 60 backups and no coasters, as i have followed the recommendations of BenQ's support.

i will be going out to get the Hauppauge, but have one question that caused me problems when I was new to burning dvd's period and that was the fact that I ended up with a number of files vobs and vts sitting on my hard drive as i didn't know that i should have removed them when i finished burning.
the only way that i found out was when i tried to do a defrag and and it took so long with my Perfect Disk 7 as I defrag before i do a burn.
Can a member tell me what i search for to make sure that i have removed the vhs that i have sent to my HDD?
I use Clone DVD when I burn backup DVD's and so now I simply search Clone DVD temp files and get rid of whatever is sitting there.
I would appreciate comments on how not to end up with an accumulation of vhs files on my HDD.

Also there was mention of the program that I would be using for authoring and the speed of my burner in terms of the time that the end dvd took to burn.
I am confused about the "authoring" program, as I thought that I would use the program that is included with the Hauppauge PVR USB 2. I look forward to answers on these final questions before I go out and do the purchase.
I really appreciate your patience and persistence with help, as being a Noob and spending close to $200 I don't want to be buying a product that is going to be non-user friendly and also possibly fraught with problems.
My neighbour purchased Pinnacle Studio Movie Box that was on sale for $99 and has had nothing but headaches.
he did not do any research which i encouraged him to do and now he is waiting to see how i make out with my unit.
I have 14 days to try it out and so I would appreciate very much some answers to my closing questions.
Respectful regards with many thankyous for your experienced comments.
Cheers!!!!

 

Does the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-USB2 remove Macrovision? I'm having a terrible time finding anything to properly record a Chemistry video I use to study. DVD pausing is what I need, because I find about every 2 seconds, I have to rewind to get what is skipped when paused and replay!

bb

 

With the device you purchased, you will have one large mpg. That's it.

It comes with Ulead, which is respectable, if limited. A good place to start.

The Hauppauge capture software works, although the scheduler is finicky. It's usually best to use 3rd party software with ANY capture device you buy.
The great thing about owning a Hauppauge product, is the sheer volume of support you can get for it, from all over the internet.
http://www.shspvr.com
http://www.gbpvr.com
http://www.tv-cards.com
http://forum.byopvr.com
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk
to name a few of the better ones.

Yes. All hardware mpeg-2 encoder devices (the PVR-150/250/350/500/USB-2) from Hauppauge do.

 

Well I purchased the unit and have tried a capture on a 40 min vhs tape.
I set it at standard play and found the movements on the preview very jerky. I don't know if this will be the end product once I get to do a burn. The concert music was fine however the body movements were not flowing.
The only time that they were was when I tried a capture with "VCD" and i don't think that is the proper format for a DVD???

Also, I am now in mega problems as I don't know how to operate this Unlead Movie fatory 3 which is an icon on my desk top. I simply can't figure out how to convert this into a DVD, the manual is very scant. I have fiddled with the contents of this icon and can't get anywhere.
I am of course used to simply doing Clone DVD and DVD Shrink and Nero.
This file that I captured is in "Video files" and has Nero underneath it, however I don't seem to be able to burn with Nero.
I am really confused at my current position here.
I apologize for being such a Noob.
Will the jerky motions of the preview be what i see on a dvd when i burn it. I have already defragged before doing this.
I was advised by the sales rep that I can't use other software with this hardware except for what came with it.
i have it for 13 more days before i can't return it if it does not work properly.
i look forward to comments.
Thankyou
BTW my other files with Clone DVD and Shrink were VTS and so that is why i am a little confused as to how i deal with these mpegs and this Ulead DVD Movie Factory of which there is virtually no info on how to proceed.

Respectful regards,

 

Well I purchased the unit and have tried a capture on a 40 min vhs tape.
I set it at standard play and found the movements on the preview very jerky. I don't know if this will be the end product once I get to do a burn. The concert music was fine however the body movements were not flowing.
The only time that they were was when I tried a capture with "VCD" and i don't think that is the proper format for a DVD???

Also, I am now in mega problems as I don't know how to operate this Unlead Movie fatory 3 which is an icon on my desk top. I simply can't figure out how to convert this into a DVD, the manual is very scant. I have fiddled with the contents of this icon and can't get anywhere.
I am of course used to simply doing Clone DVD and DVD Shrink and Nero.
This file that I captured is in "Video files" and has Nero underneath it, however I don't seem to be able to burn with Nero.
I am really confused at my current position here.
I apologize for being such a Noob.
Will the jerky motions of the preview be what i see on a dvd when i burn it. I have already defragged before doing this.
I was advised by the sales rep that I can't use other software with this hardware except for what came with it.
i have it for 13 more days before i can't return it if it does not work properly.
i look forward to comments.
Thankyou
BTW my other files with Clone DVD and Shrink were VTS and so that is why i am a little confused as to how i deal with these mpegs and this Ulead DVD Movie Factory of which there is virtually no info on how to proceed.

Respectful regards,

 

Hu Appa:

What type of ULEAD program is it?

If you don´t have a manual, go to www.ulead.com and download it.

The steps should be as follows:

1. CAPTURE
2. EDIT
3. SHARE

If you have the manual follow the steps and you should not have any problems.

I wonder why somebody mentioned before that... ULEAD was crap and than sudenly it became something else bersides crap.