Canopus ADVC-100 Advanced Digital Video Converter, Analog / DV Review

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(More customer reviews)Following my order of the ADVC-100 I found many disturbing things on the internet. Most users had difficulties capturing analog to MPEG2 for burning onto DVD. Don't let yourself be scared off. Fear mongers stating that the converter captures DV files which then have to be converted to MPEG2 aren't using the right interface software. The ADVC-100 is a stand alone external unit without a software suite of its own and relies on whatever captures software you choose. I could just be lucky but both My WinProducer and my Nero Burning software detect the device instantly and allow choices of AVI, DV or MPEG2 format for file capture.
Granted, having an external device may not be as convenient as a VIVO internal card, but compared to other external capture boxes the ADVC-100 is tiny and unobtrusive. Better yet, it's IEEE Firewire compliant as opposed to the 1.0 and 2.0 USB connections that for the most part fall short with frame droppings and miss-synced audio during capture.
If you're looking for a straight forward plug and play unit this is it. Just make sure that you have a capture card with Firewire input capabilities such as the Sound Blaster Audigy series before purchasing this product.

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CANOPUS ADVC-100 - This advanced A/D converter bridge the Analog / Digital gap in realtime. Easily convert S-Video and Composite Analog Video sources to DV - and back again! In addition to using Canopus' award-winning DV codec technology, the ADVC-100 supports locked audio, works with NTSC and PAL video, and is compatible with both Windows and Mac OS.Front and back analog video inputsSupports locked audio during A/D conversion, assuring perfect synchronizationColor bar output functionPackage includes 4-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable, AC adapter & S-Video / Composite Video cableSize -1.07H x 5.74W x 4.72D Three year limited warranty

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Pinnacle Dazzle DVC 100 DVD Recorder Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have both Mac and PC, and have tried this recorder in both systems.
With Windows (in my case, a fresh install of Windows Vista) it recorded a few things and then started freezing after about 5 minutes. I also got Blue Screens of Death in Windows. One star for working in Windows. It just didn't work, period.
Then I discovered that there was some third-party software (VideoGlide) that would work with Mac OS X. I tried that, and it has been AWESOME!!! The software (which is Mac-only) supports this device and gives me lots of options for settings. I have been capturing lots and lots of hours of footage with it.
A caveat with using this device with Mac OS X and the reason it gets four stars instead of five: I found that if I kept the Dazzle plugged in to a USB port for a long time, that sometimes my recordings would lose audio (no audio) or the audio would be out of sync. I must always check and make sure the audio is showing up (in the software's preview window) before starting to record something. As long as I do that, the recordings all seem to be successful. (And another tip for anyone who is interested: I use H.264 for video compression, at 50% quality--that is more than good enough--and IMA for audio. I wish they had a more compressed audio codec available, but it still works okay. An hour of footage at 640x480 is about 2.5 GB in size.)
The other reason it gets a four star is because I had to buy software to get it to work. But then again, this device never promised to work with the Mac. It is ironic I suppose that it basically fails in its chosen supported platform (Windows) but is quite successful in a platform it does not support (Macintosh). Ah well.

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