Customer Reviews

ADS Tech DVD Xpress DX2 Video Converter

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(41)

 

 

The "Audio-Lock technology" they mention on the box apparently only works for about 45 minutes at a time. I ran into audio sync issues multiple times, including one time while capturing direct to DVD and wasting a disc. I have been through six or seven different capture devices and have only come across three that kept the audio and video in sync. Out of those three, only one worked in a way that didn't create files too large, worked consistently, and still looked good. The Pinnacle USB Moviebox B gets good reviews from me, though it does have some drawbacks, as well. Read reviews on it if interested.

To me, this is an average capture device.

Pros: Small file size due to fairly good variable bit rate encoding, 90% of the video looks good, good if only capturing small segments at a time.

Cons: Audio/Video sync issues as discussed above. 10% of video becomes pixelated when switching from a slow motion scene to a fast motion scene because the variable bit rate encoding has a split second delay in realizing the bit rate needs to increase.

A couple years ago I bought a Vaio Media Center PC, in large part to have a simple way of transforming those boxes of VHS bricks into nice small DVDs or (even smaller) video files. Whoa, major error!

For two years I had hassled around with Sony's impossible and irretrievably-buggy video capture software to no avail ("DVD Gate" and "Click to DVD" now play starring roles in my nightmares, right alongside Sheryl Crow and Albert Gore staring menacingly at my toilet paper...) So I'm scouring the "Multimedia" section of Forums dot Techguy dot Org and one of the senior members is recommending an external USB video capture box by ADS. After learning that most, if not all, of the competition have major problems syncing audio and video - Dazzle and Pinnacle spring immediately to mind on that issue - compared with generally rave reviews of ADS's product, I sprung for the DVD Xpress.

Bottom line: I had the thing plugged in, the software installed and my crusty old video footage happily - finally - making the journey to digital immortality, within the space of fifteen minutes flat. It was one of those "Pinch yourself, could it really be this easy?" moments, and the answer is "Yes."

No audio-video sync problems so far, the image quality is lossless, and the CapWiz capture software has impressive configuration flexibility for output formats, bit rates, audio and video resolution, as well as all the usual brightness/contrast/color adjustment controls.

The bundled Ulead Video Studio 9 SE was significantly less impressive. I haven't messed with it in depth, but my attempt to add a simple text title to the beginning of a digitized video of a jam session with the boys was frustrating as hell so I just blew it off. What I've read in other reviews leads me to believe that getting some other second-party editing software is a wiser option - I hear lots of recommendations for Nero but...that name is just a tad creepy, ain't it? (I can just picture the marketing brainstorm session: "'Hitler?' Nahh. How about 'Stalin... 'Che?' Errmm...'Nero' Yeah! Highfive!") But I digress... PC Mag says Roxio VideoWave 8 is a good bet for secondary processing and editing, also top reviews have been nabbed by Cyberlink's PowerDirector 6, ArcSoft's ShowBiz DVD 2.1, and Corel's Video Studio 11.

If you're someone who's long dreamed of burning all of those Cro-Magnon VHS tapes onto your PC's hard drive or DVDs but have struggled with the needlessly incomprehensible mechanisms that came with your computer, trust me: The 80 or so clams you'll spend on the ADS DVD Xpress would be a bargain at twice the price. Why computer manufacturers are apparently incapable of integrating something this simple and user-friendly into the actual PC (! - duh,) will likely remain one of those Great Mysteries to keep techies and future archaeologists scratching their heads for centuries, but no matter. Just get this thing, you'll be glad you did.

Hurrah for ADS Tech. After years of trying they now have a great product for video transfer. I have owned two of the previous model (USBAV-701) and have burned nearly 200 DVDs from VCR tapes. It never was easy and mainly was frustrating with ceaseless crashes and freeze ups. When the newest product was available I hoped against hope it would be better. Boy is it great. For the first time I can start it transfering from a VCR tape and walk away. It doesn't crash! It captures even some of my worst VCR tapes that had been used over and over. A great plus is it is powered by USB and not a separate transformer. Mine runs cooler than the older version. Another great deal is VideoStudio 9 software that comes with it. A very nice upgrade from previous versions. If you have just about given up on transfering your old tapes, there is still hope and DVD Xpress DX2 is it.

I purchased this item to record old VHS tapes that I wanted to copy into digital format before they got any older. The software and hardware worked great without any technical issues. The video quality was very good. Highly recommend to convert VHS tapes to DVD.

The DVD Xpress DX2 does a great job of converting VHS tapes into digital files. I didn't try using a cam corder or anything else. The composite video and audio cords are included. The directions are terrible, they don't show you how to set up anything. But, you put the USB end into your computer, and the 3 cords go from the Audio/Video OUT input on your VCR into the DVD Xpress device. The only bad part was with some of my tapes it would leave messed up crazy lines at the very bottom and the very top, but it was hardly noticeable (maybe about a quarter of an inch at most). However, with some of the other tapes I did, I didn't have this issue. I never experienced sound getting out of sync (and yes, I recorded my high school basketball and baseball games which were well over an hour). The also nice thing that I figured out is that you can use it as a DVR basically. Through my VCR I could feed in live tv and record that which was pretty sweet. As far as quality goes, it's only as good as your tapes. I didn't really notice any degration of quality, but I'm no video expert.

This product worked perfectly transferring to the computer and then using the included software to put several home movies on one DVD. It also worked perfectly to transfer directly from VHSC tapes to DVD without transferring to computer. Very simple set up and instructions. The quality of the transferred videos was excellent! You can also clip out parts of video seamlessly if you transfer to computer first very simply. With the included software, you can do or add just about anything, music, frames, voice, etc. No problems with the box getting hot or malfunctioning after over 4 hours of continuous use.

When I bought this product I did so on the basis of a Vista beta driver posted on their website - dated 5/2007. Incredibly, 4 months have passed since I purchased and the same non-functional beta driver is still the only thing posted. Install this driver and the product will not install every time.

I have emailed the company with no satisfactory response. If you ever intend to go beyond XP avoid this company at all cost. Their other products too because they still list this product as current yet do not support it. A very bad sign for the integrity of a company.

AVOID BEWARE AVOID BEWARE AVOID BEWARE AVOID BEWARE AVOID BEWARE AVOID BEWARE AVOID BEWARE AVOID BEWARE AVOID BEWARE AVOID BEWARE

If I could give this product, and the company that makes it, less than 1 star, I would. I should have been tipped off by the number of reviews that knocked this product for "bugs." I was never able to use it because the installation CD was defective. Customer support is embarrasingly bad. If you call, regardless of time of day, you get an outgoing message saying "we are experiencing a heavy call volume, please leave a detailed message and we'll get back with you within 48 hours." After hearing this repeatedly, all times of the day and evening, over several days, I finally left a detailed message with two different phone numbers for callback (both with voicemail). I never received a callback. I tried downloading what appeared to be the driver and other softward for this product from the ADS Tech website. The software downloaded but would never open and install. I created an account on their website for customer support. I received one response, in the beginning, saying I needed to check and make sure that the driver had loaded from the installation CD. I had made it very clear in my initial contact message that nothing loaded from the CD because it was defective. After making five more submissions requesting a reply and a new (functioning) installation CD from them, I still never received any other responses from their customer service through their website. After many emails to them, I finally received one response saying a new installation CD would be mailed out that day via, UPS. After two weeks I had received nothing. I sent another email asking for the shipping code supplied to them by UPS so I could track the shipment and find out what happened to it (knowing, of course, that they'd never shipped it) - I have never received a response to that email. The company I purchased it from, online, was nice enough to allow me to send it back for a refund (by this time is was up to the 30-day return policy the company has). Avoid this product specifically and any dealings with ADS Tech generally - you're in for a lot of wasted time, frustration and heartache if you do.

This device was made for Windows XP and I have Windows Vista. Initially when I tried to set it up and convert my videos, when I clicked "Record", my computer automatically shut down, and did this repeatedly everytime I tried to start over. So I called up AdTech's support center and the guy told me that he would have to email me instructions to download some sort of program that would make it work with Vista. Well, their downloads do not come with a "Driver Device" for Vista which you need. As it turns out, AdTech has these downloads that allegdely make the device work with Vista, but they don't have a download for a Vista compatible "Driver Device", and they don't know when they will have one........So the whole thing is pointless. So now I'm going to have to return this item since it is completely uncompatible with Vista and find something else.

This thing is just fantastic. First I bought what appeared to be a usb cable adapter type apparatus from an auction site. It had an s-video as well as rca connectors.......please don't waste your money on that item. This is the real deal so pop for the little extra and be happy. I installed it on an XP pro machine. It installed so easily I couldn't believe it. The product itself was very easy to use. I was using it to capture some vhs tapes I borrowed from school of my daughter sports to make a dvd for a coach. It allowed me to capture only the parts I wanted. A note here though, if you want sound this does a good job but if not simply unplug the audio cable and just capture the video. Not sure if it mattered but I used nero 8 to capture and edit........worked like a dream.