Great Capture Device...and Great Company
Written: Jul 05 '04 (Updated Jan 10 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use, good quality audio & video, Good manufacturer support, inexpensive
Cons: Limited software, update software IMMEDIATELY, acts as lightning rod (yours may not)
The Bottom Line: Great way to save VHS tapes to DVD. Easy to use, affordable, good quality. Company (ADS tech) stands behind their product.
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| buggman's Full Review: A D S Instant DVD 2.0 (USBAV702) Video Capture |
I recently purchased the ADS Instant DVD 2.0 in hopes of turning my collection of 500 or so VHS tapes into DVD's.
Installation was easy enough: plug in the power & USB 2.0 cables, plug in the audio & video, install the software and I was up & running.
I've been wanting one of this type devices for years... I've looked at the old Dazzle devices, all in wonder video cards, you name it, but all the info I've read scared me away. All of the old devices had conflicts with everything from the video card to printer drivers.
One thing I found out immediately is the software needs to be updated. There are a few bugs that will keep you from getting much work done.
You also need to set your screen resolution to 1024x768 to use the software.
I can capture good quality video & audio that for the most part is in sync. I've had a few times where the audio will lag behind the video, in some cases by several seconds. I haven't found any fixes for this, and I'm still experimenting a bit.
Once the video is captured in .mpg format, you can use the bundled software to edit legnth, combine video clips, add transitions and such. The device came with Ulead's Video Studio 7.
The authoring software (Ulead's Movie Factory) is pretty good if you don't mind being limited to a few options for "scene frames" and "navigation buttons". I've read that there's a plug-in for photoshop that will allow you to create more options, but I don't have photoshop- so it's pretty useless for me.
You can add chapter stops to your video clips, either manually or automatically. I suggest adding them manually, as the automatic option adds thousands of points to try to keep up with. Most DVD's need less than 20 chapters anyway.
I have had some trouble working with .avi files with either piece of software... it seems to take forever (like 60 hours for a 1 hr 30 min video clip) to render and the burned DVDs usually don't play well.
The authoring software has several options for the final product... you can create DVD folders on your hard drive that will allow you to view the finished DVD (with DVD player software) without burning a DVD disc. This has helped me a few times as the first few DVDs I tried had errors that were fixed with the software updates.
You can create an .iso disc image file that can be burned with most popular DVD burning software. I haven't used this feature of the bundled software because I have been using a freeware program that makes .iso disc images from dvd folders that works every time... it it ain't broke, don't fix it.
You can also burn directly to DVD if you're brave enough and confident enough in your production. I've tried the direct to dvd burn & it doesn't seem to want to work with my dvd burners.
There's even a muvee "auto producer" program that I've tried a little, but from my experience, you can only have a maximum 45 minute video clip to produce.
You need LOTS of free hard drive space... preferably on a NTFS formatted drive that will allow you to work with files larger than 4 gb... you WILL need that much free space and more.
A FAST machine is a MUST, I'd say nothing less than 1.8ghz 512mb ram and a fast video card.
I have a 2.6ghz 1gb ram machine and it doesn't have much trouble keeping up.
Be warned, the capture device gets WARM when you're capturing. I solved this by placing some extra computer style fans in front of the unit blowing air across the top. I have mine plugged into it's own power outlet strip that I turn off when not in use to further aid in cooling the unit.
The device will work if you only have USB 1 on your computer, but you will be limited to the quality of video you can capture. USB 2.0 is the way to go.
You can also output your final product back to VHS if you choose. This would come in handy if you wanted to send someone a copy of your production & they don't have a DVD player.
If they only bundled software that would deinterlace & filter video, change brightness & contrast and a few other key editing features, including a method to create custom scene frames, this would be much better.
*** UPDATE ***
After using this device for 31 days, I had a major problem, the unit quit working. I attribute this to a power outage that also damaged my computer. (Both were turned off at the time and it didn't seem to help that I have multiple layers of surge & lightning protection in my house as I still got hit)
Anyways, I got on the phone with ADS Tech support (unfortunately not a toll free #) and explained my dilema. They asked to fax in proof of purchase & they would email me a return # and procedure... which I did. Within a few hours after receiving my fax, I received the RMA email and rushed the unit to the Post Office - to ADS Tech for repair.
ADS had the unit for about a week & I received a UPS package from them a few days later.... it was a NEW unit.
The unit was not able to be repaired and true to their word, they REPLACED the unit.
I can't say how glad I am that this company stands behind their products!
I've noticed that this second unit does not get nearly as hot as my original one did.
*** UPDATE #2 ***
After using the bundled editing software for a while, I've ran into more problems with combined clips... the audio is usually horrible. Sometimes the audio is off by a MINUTE or more. Sometimes combined clips play fine, you never know.
This review is only for the capture device, but I have written a review for the Ulead Video Studio 7.0 software with more details.
***UPDATE #2a***
After much experimenting, I have found a somewhat better way to achieve better quality audio. When you have edited your movie files and want to create a combined project clip, click on the SHARE dropdown, then click CREATE VIDEO FILE, then click SAME AS PROJECT SETTINGS. As long as all of the clips have the same bitrare & settings, I've had MUCH better quality audio sync.
**** UPDATE #3 ****
This may sound crazy, but just about a month after this device was damaged by a power outage (and that unit was replaced by ADS) the exact same thing happened again!!
The power went out, the device (as well as my computer) were dead.
I called ADS with my unbelievable tale of horror and to my surprise, the faxed me another return authorization.
They didn't seem to have a problem that the device was damaged while it was unplugged from the power source (although it was plugged into the PC's usb port as well as connected to the vcr at the time it died again) and quickly let me know they take care of their customers & support their products.
*This leads me to think that there's issues with the rca or usb connection*
I've more than learned my lesson by returning my device TWICE now... if I'm not using this device, it's unplugged from everything: power, usb & vcr.
So far everything has went well while capturing video with the new unit, but I'm still not taking any chances as I unplug the device when it's not in use.
I've also replaced my old hi-end surge protector with a new, even more advanced unit that protects cable tv/internet, modem & all power all in one unit.
The video editing software still has issues that even Ulead doesn't seem to fully understand and they've completely stopped replying to my messages for help.
I haven't had much problems if I only want to trim a long clip & save the trimmed video, but if I trim 2 or more clips & combine them into one large file, the audio still doesn't always match the video... think of a Godzilla or old Kung-Fu movie where the lips move and words come later.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
buggman
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Reviews written: 112
Trusted by: 1 member
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