Customer Reviews

ADS Video Xpress

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I purchased Video Xpress because I wanted to convert all my parents' home movies from VHS to DVD. When I first received this product, the device wouldn't work on any of the computers in the house. After emailing the technical help people and getting no response after a week, I called them. Even though it was during business hours, I was prompted to leave a message on a machine. Because I wasn't going to get much help right away, I exchanged the item for a new one through Amazon. The second one worked great.

PROS:
Very small (space-wise) programs allow you to capture video and even screen shots.
A ticker shows you how much space you have left to work with while capturing video.
Capture video in multiple formats.
Nearly anything that can be shown on a TV can be captured using this product (TV shows, movies, video games)
Resulting clarity nearly as good as original.
Really, a great product for what it does and how much it costs.

CONS:
Poor customer service (if you happen to need help) and very short instructions cause you to "wing it" when it comes to learning the software.
Sometimes the video and audio are not together in the end product (seconds off from each other), but I hear that happens with most products occasionally.

You may as well pitch the instructions because they're worthless (and the only reason I'm not giving a 5-star rating for the ADS Tech Video Xpress). I was about ready to pitch the product as well, after losing two evenings trying to figure out how to get it to work. Ultimately, I gave up on relying solely on the program it came with, and I instead opted to try it on my Windows Movie Maker. Yahoo! Perseverance paid off! Once I switched to Movie Maker, this tool worked great!

To date, I've converted about a dozen videos of content to computer files that I was able to burn to DVDs. I just leave my Xpress hooked up to the back of my television so I don't have to try to remember later how to hook it up again. Doing that, I can connect my laptop to the Xpress and start the video converting process within 3-4 minutes. My Movie Maker program takes over the entire process.

The ADS Tech Video Xpress has been especially useful for me because I teach a college telecourse and often show edited video clips to my students. Before purchasing Xpress, I had crudely edited videos that I was reluctant to use; my videos had lots of amateur stop/start points. Using Movie Maker with Xpress, I was able to download these videos to my laptop, then easily edit them so transitions between stop and start points became smooth and seamless.

Pretty cool. I'm glad I took a chance on this product!

Below are hook-up and program instructions I've written to myself for easy reference later. Hopefully they'll be of more help to you than the instructions that come with this product:

First, hook up the Video Xpress equipment as follows:
1. S-cable (buy one, since it doesn't come with the VideoXpress) goes from the back of your television to the VideoXpress.
2. Use red/white/yellow cords running into the back of the VCR/DVD that is hooked up to your televion as follows:
- all three plug into the "video out" column
- all three plug into the VideoXpress tool at the other end.
3. The USB plug for the VideoXpress tool plugs into the back of the computer.

Next, open the Instant Video Xpress program and verify the settings are as follows:
- "NTSC M" for the video standard setting
- "640 x 480" and "60 FPS (VGA)" for video format
- "DVD, VCR, TV" for video source
- "Video composite" for video input

Under the program advanced settings:
- Low motion (TV, VCD, DVD)
- CPU support: "SSE3"
- Stereo system: "MTS"
- Video decoder: "video standard: NTSC_M"

Under properties within the program advanced settings:
- Stream format: Video format: "NTSC_M"
- Frame rate: "59.940"
- Color space/compression: "YUY2"
- Outputs size: "640x480"

Finally, CLOSE the Instant Video Xpress program. (Windows Movie Maker can't access the video until this program is closed. And yes, it's silly to have to open it, make those setting changes, then close it, but Video Xpress won't work correctly unless you follow those setting steps.)

In case you need this information for Windows Movie Maker, the steps (in order) are as follows:
Under "File," click on "capture video."

Use the following settings:
- audio device set at: "USB2.0 Analog Audio Device"
- Video input source set at: "Composite"
Under Configure Video Capture Device:
- Video format: Video standard: "NTSC_M"
Frame rate: "29.970"
Color space/compression: "YUY2"
Output size: "640x480"

Under Camera settings:
- Deinterlace method: "Low motion (TV, VCD, DVD)"
- CPU support: "SSE3"
- Stereosystem: "MTS"

Under Video decoder: Video standard: "MTSC_M"
Signal detected: "1"
Lines detected: "525"
Then...

Give the file a name and indicate where to save it

Set it for "best quality" for playback.

Then "Start Capture."

If the Video Xpress is hooked up and running correctly, you should see on your computer monitor the video image of whatever is showing on television, but you will NOT hear the sound. When you finish capturing and play it back, THEN you'll hear the sound.

I know, I know -- clear as mud. But hey, it's better than the Xpress instructions! :-)

I have been using plug-in card to transfer VHS to DVD for couple of years.
I am trying to find an USB-based VHS-to-DVD conversion device. I have tried several devices from other vendors (eg. Pinnacle) but they all have problems. Most of them will hang my XP system. The ADS Video Xpress is easy to use and it does not hang my XP system. But there is at least 4 second delay between video and audio. I can still use ADS for video transfer, and use a seperate audio plug-in card to capture the audio part to get away from this vidoe-audio out-of-sync problem. The captured video from ADS Instant Xpress is so-so. I am in the process of returnning the ADS Video Xpress to try other low-cost USB-based VHS-to-DVD conversion device.

My intentions in purchasing this item were to use it for a video project. I filmed an event with multiple camcorders and transferred the video through the video Xpress onto my computer for editing. I switched between different camera angles, added an audio overlay track and some music and even a title and end credits. IT WORKED GREAT! This item when compared to much more expensive ones is a really great bargain. Everything I have done so far with it has been on my laptop. I would like to address several comments made by other reviews. First, there are several file formats that you can save video into including AVI, MPEG, and DVD. Some are VERY large files (1GB +) and others are very small. It all depends on what you intend to do with the captured material. MPEG is great for sharing online and DVD is for creating DVD projects. Quality is affected by how you setup your capture options. This also includes comments made concerning video and audio not matching. If you set your quality to 100%, they will match perfect. Now please bear in mind that you do need a newer computer with a fast processor and lots of memory. I have a 2.1 Ghz processor, 512 DDR, and 60 GB HD and it works fine. The program included (ULead VideoStudio 9) is Great. It is one of those programs that you just have to play with and it takes no time to learn. It is very simplified and creates end results that look like Hollywood magic. Since my original project, I have transferred several old VHS tapes onto DVD and even made photo slideshows into DVD. I highly recommend to anyone wanting an inexpensive way to preserve old tapes or create amateur video projects to purchase this item. I have reviewed many other similar devices that have price tags of >$200 and this one will work just as well. GREAT BUY!

This little gadget really does work, transfers same quality from my VCR tapes and Hi8 analog camcorder to CD (windows moviemaker) or DVD (Sonic My DVD). If you don't see your movie in the preview windows of your movie editing programs be sure to CONFIGURE correctly: In Windows Moviemaker-->Capture from Video Device-->highlight "instant video express",--->Video Input Source choose "COMPOSITE". Nobody tells you these things when you buy this stuff...My computer is a Compaq Presario SR1920NX, 512 mb RAM, 200 GB hardrive, 2.20 ghz.

While there are more expensive adapters to choose from, I went with this one because of the cheap price & very good reviews & I am definitely glad I did. It works perfectly well & it was extremely easy to use. If you have windows xp, you just plug it into the vcr or whatever you're recording from, plug it into your computer, & a wizard will pop up & do the rest for you. It came with software, but I haven't used that yet, since I was using windows movie maker before & it works perfectly well with this device. I would definitely recommend this product.

We've used it to move all of our VHS tapes to DVD with no problems. The cost was good & I'd recommend it to anyone.

i bought this to film gameplay for halo2 on xbox live, the video quailty is great! the audio goes perfect with the picture, this is what i was looking for, and its great! im glad i bought the product!


Pros: works really good, its almost perfect in everyway however...

Cons: the unlead studios its comes with to record, saves files really big, 1.3gb for 2mins of footage, im still trying to figure out how to reduce file size, use with newer computers, some old ones dont work all to well...


other than that GREAT BUY! GO AHEAD AND GET IT!

I primarily ordered this product to help me play PS2 in my Laptop. From the pictures given, I assumed it to be a big bulky one but it turned out to be small, about half the size of a regular PS/2 mouse.

The only glitch I found in this package is the installation. Initially, I played the CD that accompanies hoping to install the driver myself and then work on this but I could not.

The interface in the CD software instructed me to install all the softwares in the CD, which for me are useless considering the primary purpose. I did not want to install the other products that came with this. I just wanted the damn driver.

I installed the first software (Ulead video editing) and then gave up and plugged in the product to my Laptop. On connecting to the USB, Windows Xp, said that corresponding drivers need to be in place to work with the new hardware and then copied the drivers from CD to its own folder on my permission. After that it worked.

I wish the installation is less ambigious. Other than that a fine product.

This was my first converter device that I've used, so I can't compare it to anything else. I needed something relatively cheap to allow me to record my home videos from VHS into digital format.

Installation was no sweat. I used it to interface the composite out from my VCR to my PC's USB input. All cabling that I needed was included.

The software that comes with this unit is junk. It has no useful configuration options, and when I used it to digitize my home videos, they came in very dark. I had to start over using an alternate software package that did a much better job. I had found a deal on Magix CD on Dvd that was free after rebate, so I didn't end up spending extra.

If you can't or don't want to purchase separate software, I would not buy this unit. If you already have software to use, you should be ok with this unit.