ADS Technologies Pyro Digital Video 1394 Card

by ADS Tech

Product Details

Product Manual [852kb PDF]

• Item Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004Y2P4
• Item model number: API-1394-PCI
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 12, 2000

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Features and specifications:

• Connect your DV camcorder to the world's best selling OHCI-compliant 1394/FireWire card
• Capture and edit your videos and share them with family and friends
• Produce videos for DVD, CD, tape, email, or the Internet
• Capture MPEG-2 in real time
• Record and preview in real-time
• Add titles, effects, voice-overs and music
• PYRO 1394DV Includes: PYRO 1394DV OHCI-Compliant 3-Port Host card, 1394 to DV cable, CD with software bundle: Ulead VideoStudio 6.0; DVD Movie Factory, DVD PictureShow

PYRO 1394 Board:

• 1394a Open-Host Controller Interface (OHCI) - compliant Isochronous and asynchronous data transfer
• Hot plugging
• 1394 Ports: 3 ports (2 external, 1 internal)
• Connectors: 6 Pin 1394
• Bus Speeds: 100, 200, 400 Mbps
• Bus Interface: PCI 2.1 compliant with Bus Mastering
• Board Size: 5" long x 3.2" high (13 cm x 8 cm high)
• IRQ: An IRQ is required. IRQ can be shared if motherboard provides this capability through PCI steering
• Number of Devices: Connect up to 63 1394 devices to PYRO
• Connect to Digital camcorders, 1394 storage devices (hard drives, CD-ROM, CD-RW), scanners, speakers, etc.

Motion Video Capture:

• NTSC: Type -1 DV video in 720 x 480 resolution in 24-bit color
• PAL: Type -1 DV video in 720 x 576 resolution in 24-bit color
• Data Rate: video is captured at 3.9 Mbps

Motion Video Frame Rate:

• NTSC: 29.97 frames per second
• PAL 25 frames per second

Still image Capture:

• NTSC: 720 x 480 resolution in 24-bit color
• PAL: 720 x 576 resolution in 24-bit color

Video File Specs:

• Data Rate: Video is captured at 3.9 Mbps
• File Size Limit: 4 GB (about 20 minutes of video)

FireWire/1394 Technical Facts

• Serial Bus Speed: 100, 200 and 400 Mbps
• Number of Devices: 63
• Number of hops in a chain: 16
• Distance between devices: 4.5 meters

System requirements:

• Pentium II 333 MHz (or equivalent processor, AMD, CYRIX, etc.)
• Windows 98, 98 SE (WIN 98 SE highly recommended), ME, 2000 or XP
• 64 MB RAM
• AGP video card or PCI w/4 MB RAM
• Sound card
• CD-ROM drive
• 80 MB hard disk space for capture/editing application
• 4 GB hard disk space (20 minutes of raw DV footage)
• Hard Drive Recommendation: Most all Ultra DMA IDE drives that can support sustained transfer rates in excess of 5 Mbps

Product Description

A digital video capture card that connects devices to your PC via the Firewire port Capture still images Supports NTSC & PAL standards Create video greeting cards & video emails 3 IEEE-1394/Firewire at 400Mbit/second Includes - 1394 PCI 3-port host card, 6ft. of 1394 to DV editing cable (6 pin to 4 pin), U-Lead Video Studio 4.0 editing package, & user manual

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great card and software for amateurs., June 19, 2001

By 

Felix Matathias (Manhattan, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: ADS Technologies Pyro Digital Video 1394 Card (Personal Computers)

This is a very nice card. I use it to download video files from my digital camcorder to my computer.My impressions are the following:

1) Installation: Piece of cake. I just had to open the box and slide the card into one of the PCI slots. It fit like a glove. No problems here.

2) Hardware configuration: Windows recognized the card immediately, and in a few seconds I had the drivers of the card installed and going. No errors, no crashes. I use Windows 98 as my operating system.

3) Drivers for the camcorder: I own a JVC GR-DVL-915U digital camcorder. The installer configured it nicely, it found the right driver for it and I was up and going in seconds. All the drivers are contained in the installation CD.

4) Software: 2 main packages are included. Ulead Video Studio which is for the beginner and Media Studio Pro v6.0 for the advanced user. I started with Video Studio. Simple software, it guides you step by step in capturing the video from your camcorder, adding titles and some basic effects, adding music tracks from the cd player and also editing the voice of the video. You cant go wrong with that. It takes you by the hand from the beginning until the end, when you finally create your movie. I also tried the Studio Pro but this one needs some time to get used to due to the steeper learning curve. Overall, Video Studio is a simple software for the beginner. When you learn its capabilities you will have to move to something more sophisticated

5) Internet. After I created my first movie, I saved it as an mpg file and downloaded it to my web site. Everything worked as expected. And all that within a couple of hours from installing the card!

6) Manuals: Very well documented manuals for both software packages and installation steps of the card. There are also some video manuals that show you how to get started with the Media Studio Pro. Both manuals are in pdf form and are complete and comprehensive.I was very satisfied with that.

7) Performance. I have a Pentium III at 600MHz and 128 MB of ram and the Nvidia Geforce Pro graphics card with 32MB of memory. The editing was pretty fast. But at the end, when you combine all the effects in order to render the final movie it takes a few minutes. So, I dont think that you should go for less than Pentium III and at least 128MB of ram.

Overall a nice product, it will keep you busy for weeks, especially the Media Studio Pro. I had no problem with installation of the card or drivers or anything else. I was up and editing in a matter of minutes. I suspect though that more advanced users will not be satisfied with the product. For me it was exactly what I looked for: a card and software that can download video from my camcorder to the computer, edit it and then publish it on the web.

I have made 2 movies so far.P.S. You will also need the Firewire cable that connects your camcorder to the card. Mine was included but I think it was a special deal or something. Make sure that you get the cable too.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great card & software, but this one has older version, July 25, 2001

By 

Colin Gould (SF Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ADS Technologies Pyro Digital Video 1394 Card (Personal Computers)

The card is great, works fine, and the bundled software is very good for this price... however, the current item for sale from amazon includes the OLDER version of Video Studio (4.0), which has some very key features missing vs. the current VS 5.0 (seamless >4G capturing, scene detection, etc.) I do not know of an upgrade path to 5.0 besides paying almost half the price of this package, to ULead.

I would give this 5 stars, if the release was current to what ADS Tech is shipping now.

MediaStudio Pro 6.0 is still current, but is older than VS 5.0 (even the full Pro, not SE version is missing some features vs Video Studio 5.0)

If you need the new features of VS 5.0, like I did, check carefully about which version comes bundled.

Otherwise, this card and the software bundle is great- if you want more software, eg a full version of Media Studio (6.0), and you need a 3D animation program, check out the ADS Pyro ProDV bundle, it includes Hash' Animation Master, and lots of others (spicemaster lite, borisFX, Cool3D, etc.) for an excellent price.

If you don't need the extra software pieces, this 1394DV bundle is still great (esp. if you get VS5.0 though.)

I have a PIII-800, windowsME, 256MB ram, and 40gb hd. Get LOTS of hd!!!

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Software is useless, Card okay, August 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: ADS Technologies Pyro Digital Video 1394 Card (Personal Computers)

The card installed and works fine. The software on the otherhand is useless. I mistakenly believed the reviews I read here and other places, including CNET and even the articles on ADS's site. I'm not sure what sort of editing these people are used to but NLE software should do far more than allow for single track sound editing and confine users to basic cutting tools with very little control of the video clips. Horrible, useless software package. I regret being cheap. Spend the money for a good Firewire card that comes with useful software, like Premiere.