ADVC110 vs 100 and 300

[El Enmascarado]

can someone tell us the real difference pros and cons between these and probably other good caturing devices? I plan to obtain one some of these days and I want to get the best I could afford.

[Mug Funky]

ha! good timing. there's a 110 lying round the office that i've just started some VHS capping on (yeah, i know VHS sucks. thankfully i just need the audio which is alright).

it seems that it drops and inserts audio samples in order to keep sound and vision in sync - if you feed it with a jumpy source with bad tracking, the audio will click madly. this can be alleviated by flipping a jumper on the bottom of the 110 (jumper 4 to "on" position), but it's not completely fixed this way - basically, just make sure you feed it with a good source, rather than a terrible one like what i've got. if your source/VCR is crap, then running a decent de-clicker on the output would suffice i think.

i haven't used the 100, but i'm sure it's pretty similar... maybe there's online docs that explain the difference? i'm sure canopus would like people to know the difference.

[El Enmascarado]

what's so good about the 110 from the 100 or 300? I heard different stories on one having a self encoder while others maybe more cuztomaizable, would anyone refer me to specs and opinions on differents good captures solutions to obtain best possible quality of video from vhs to get the video into the DVD for the future.

[mic]

FWIW, echoing Mug Funky's comments, I've read that these firewire boxes can lose the stream, stop recording if there's a hiccup with your source, which can be a problem if you record from satalite or cable.

They can be good for editing -- you can more often preview on a TV monitor from your NLE. OTOH, you're limited to captureing in DV -- not bad, just kinda nice sometimes to have options.

Myself I've used ATI AIW cards for several years now, and they've always done what I needed, including captures in .wmv, real, avi, mpg2 and so on, & the ATI .vcr format saves the CC data.

[Video Dude]

I don't know what you read, but from someone that actually owns a 100, I can say it is rock solid. I've never had 1 dropped frame or out of sync video even with 20 year old VHS tapes.

I used an AIW before I got the 100 and I can say I will never go back.

[mic]

I don't know what you read, but from someone that actually owns a 100, I can say it is rock solid. I've never had 1 dropped frame or out of sync video even with 20 year old VHS tapes.

Cool! :)

I do a bit of capture from digital cable, & signal dropouts from the cable company are common enough that I always capture a movie twice, so I won't be waiting for something to come on again just to record patches. Doing a bit of googling before I bought my latest AIW this spring, found a number of complaints from *all* firewire capture box users -- a dropped signal often stopped their capture. Shouldn't be a problem capturing from a deck as you've written. :) Easy enough for anyone to google a bit to see what I'm talking about, & check out the posting at the factory site...

I used an AIW before I got the 100 and I can say I will never go back.

I didn't and won't say your 100 isn't nice -- If I could have tried one before buying I would have. :)

As far as the AIWs go, just another choice... It's actually quite an economical solution (less then a video card and a cheap TV card) if you don't mind not having the absolute best gaming card out there. I can capture full frame at DV & near DV bit rates depending on format, or capture into something like wmv at some really decent bit rates too. It's the only thing out there I'm aware of that'll do mpeg2 at bitrate = 20. I capture CC regularly for subs, & record Audigy 2 decoded ac3 at the same time. At one time I envied the boxe's ability to output a video window fullscreen on a TV, but can do that now with the AIW too. I have read some concerns about their color conversion, but when adjusted, matches the orig. on a 600+ line TV monitor just fine, and while it's minimal, don't have to sweat any color losses from the DV format.

[DrP]

I'm a bit surprised to hear that you found people that had their DV bridge stop capturing when their cable service went out. Every single digital STB I've come across will continue to output valid video regardless of signal input. The picture may be mangled / blank / show error, but its still normally formed video, so I can't see why a DV bridge should just stop recording. Heck, many boxes continue to output blank but still correct video even when they are turned off! More than likely the stopped capture issue is a software one, not a fault of the ADVC

Also, using windv or dvio with the appropriate settings, I can even unplug the analogue input to my ADVC100 and then plug it back in and it just continues on its merry way. No synch problems at all (AVC is in locked mode of course).

Not trying to knock your AIW, but I'd bet willing to bet that you haven't taken a good look at what the AIW is actually putting out for video. I have only come across one consumer video card family that actually outputs nearly correct video - ie, correct timing, correct fielding - ie fields are actually kept unto themselves, not mangled / blurred together, and that card was / is the humble Matrox G series. Matrox has their TV out right. ATI and nVidia only dream of getting it right. Having said that, my ADVC outputs better video than my Matrox does, as a result, anything I want to play out to a regular TV gets thrown back up the firewire. FYI I live in PAL land so the colour issues of DV don't really affect me.

[mic]

I'm a bit surprised to hear that you found people that had their DV bridge stop capturing when their cable service went out.

Well then this is good... I think of these posts as a solution database -- I've certainly used them that way -- & perhaps you're dispelling an urban myth sort of thing. As I said, I was concerned reading all these posts, knowing that once I forked over the cash I'd have hassles returning the box. Had I read what you've written here a few months ago, I most likely would have one on my desk now. :thanks:

Also, using windv or dvio with the appropriate settings, I can even unplug the analogue input to my ADVC100 and then plug it back in and it just continues on its merry way. No synch problems at all (AVC is in locked mode of course).

Actually another big :thanks: I was afraid to ask when this occurred to me -- don't like to ask folks to go mucking around with their equipment.

Not trying to knock your AIW, but I'd bet willing to bet that you haven't taken a good look at what the AIW is actually putting out for video.

If you mean the video out, I've got no illusions there, but it works well enough when I want to check colors and such, and the newer driver set up, while a pain RE: .NET, will output a window full screen on my TV monitor. FWIW, I still like my old pro external scan convertor for TV.

I have only come across one consumer video card family ... and that card was / is the humble Matrox G series.

:devil: Back! BACK!! yee Demon Device :devil:

At one time I became quite the matrox expert... Out of necessity, not desire. Sorry for the melodramatics, really, and I won't go into a story that took place over months (would be off topic anyway), but only time I've seen a card destroy 2 monitors (using 3 cards, 2 monitors, 3 PCs).

I still have a problem with this current monitor -- the Holy water I sprinkle on the screen whenever the word Matrox pops up can make quite the mess, but it doesn't actually etch the glass as the crucifix did. :D

FYI I live in PAL land so the colour issues of DV don't really affect me.

Cool - to each their own. :D
DV works exceedingly well, despite the ire of tech types who say it shouldn't, & I wouldn't dream of asking anyone to change their workflow or methods. Still, if you wanted to do a quick record of a TV show (in my case for one of the kids or the wife), how would you go about recording direct to DVD-RW?

:thanks:

[Mug Funky]

an update on the 110 - what i said about dropping and inserting samples only counts in preview mode while it's capturing. it actually sounds pretty good when you get to edit it. however, if you have a badly mastered VHS tape, the audio may clip like crazy - there's no way to set the rec levels, so it seems to just assume the standard 0 VU = -20 dBFS, and peak = -10dB. if a tape is mastered within standards, it will be fine. if the tape is too loud, you'll get a big square chunk where the audio should be.

also, it doesn't appear to drop anything or lose sync even on 10yo 3rd generation dub bootleg NTSC tapes, which is more than can be said for the monitor i was watching.

[mic]

@Mug Funky
Off topic, so I'll keep it quick & short, adding apologies...

Adding an inexpensive mixer between the deck and any capture device can really make a pretty big difference, re: both levels and basic EQ. IMHO it's justified no matter the quality of your tape. I use a smaller Behringer, which also provides pre-amp for decent mic recording.

[DrP]

Still, if you wanted to do a quick record of a TV show (in my case for one of the kids or the wife), how would you go about recording direct to DVD-RW?

:thanks:

I guess if I had to I'd build a graph with graphedit to pull together all the bits that are on a PC that would do it, but I wouldn't have to. Why? Network media player takes care of it all. PC timers records stuff from analogue and digital TV sources using a web site for data source and the media player plays it back. Its a no brainer to operate :D