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

by Canopus

Product Details

Product Manual [538kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 4.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00007L68E
• Item model number: 770-10072-100
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #22 in Camera & Photo > Accessories > Blank Media > VHS-C
  • #61 in Camera & Photo > Accessories > Blank Media > VHS
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 5, 2002

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Convert your S-VHS, Hi8 and 8mm analog tapes to DV in one simple step using the ADVC-100. The converted DV streams are transferred to your PC or Mac via IEEE 1394 (i.Link, FireWire) and stored on your hard drive where they can be manipulated using your favorite photo or video editing applications. This device is ideal for all OHCI and DV-only capture cards for Macintosh or PC. Proven DV CODEC Technology At the heart of ADVC100 is Canopus's proprietary DV codec chip providing the industry's best picture quality preservation during analog-to-DV and DV-to-analog conversion. Locked Audio Support Other converters can lose audio/video sync when converting longer segments of video. The ADVC-100 is the first inexpensive DV converter that supports locked audio when converting from analog to digital, assuring perfect audio and video synchronization. Key Benefits

• High Quality
• Custom hardware Codec chip
• Locked Audio Support
• Analog output of NTSC color bars for reference signal
• 4-pin DV jack on front; 6-pin FireWire jack on back
• Analog input connector on front
• Analog output connector on back

Product Description

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 inputs Supports locked audio during A/D conversion, assuring perfect synchronization Color bar output function Package includes 4-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable, AC adapter & S-Video / Composite Video cable Size - 1.07H x 5.74W x 4.72D Three year limited warranty

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not as troublesome as some seem to think, January 21, 2004

By 

Rengoresh "morigore" (CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Canopus ADVC-100 Advanced Digital Video Converter, Analog / DV (Electronics)

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.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Digital Converter so far, May 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Canopus ADVC-100 Advanced Digital Video Converter, Analog / DV (Electronics)

This is the Canopus ADVC-100, though it's not listed in www.Amazon.com that way. (They do, however, correctly list the Canopus ADVC-50). The box converts analog signals (VCR, camcorder, etc.) into digital files that can be edited and burned onto videotape, DVD/CD, or emailed via internet. The ADVC-50 has the same digital quality, but only permits one-way routes, from camcorder to computer. In other words, you can't go back from computer to video cassette. That's my understanding, after much research. Also the Canopus has higher rating than Dazzle. No dropped video frames, or unsynced audio. At any rate, I bought it and have worked with the box for a day now. It was incredibly simple to set up. No problem joining camcorder to XP computer. Haven't yet connected the vcr to the computer. The images in AVI format were very good. No dropped frames or lagged audio. My video editing program is clunky but churned out AVI files, WMA files (for email), and Quicktime files. (The Quicktimes were excellent but too large to email). The converter box was simple to work with. My 45-minute analog camcorder tape took 45 minutes to input into the computer. But once there, the Canopus converted liquid fast. Heartily recommend it from www.Amazon.com!... Also bought an Io/gear firewire card (IEEE 1394 3-port PCI Card) GIC 1394. It fit into my XP machine without problem. No hardware wizard ever appeared!... Firewire cards go for less ... But wanted to avoid the saw, `getting what you pay for.'

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, the frustrations are over, April 5, 2004

By 

Aaron Widera (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canopus ADVC-100 Advanced Digital Video Converter, Analog / DV (Electronics)

I bought a new computer recently. A primary reason for doing so was because I learned that I could transfer VHS to DVD with current technology. I purchased an ADS USB Instant DVD, which had all sorts of issues and never captured a second of video. I did my homework, and read all the positive reviews here and on dvdrhelp, and decided to fork over an extra $100 for something that works. And work it does! Minutes after setting the device up, I was capturing video onto my computer. The capture quality is excellent, and usually there are no dropped frames.

I'm giving this device 5 stars for doing what it says it does, which is not a guarantee when trying out these devices. But there are some drawbacks:

1) As someone previously stated, this device captures in DV format. This is probably best if you want to edit your videos, but if you want to only transfer straight to DVD, try to find something that captures straight to MPEG. The conversion process to MPEG is very slow (usually takes longer than the running time of the movie).

2) This device advertises a video-audio lock that keeps the video and audio synched during long playbacks. Having this in the ON position with my VCR caused a distortion of the audio. The manual says when that happens, to turn this feature off. So I'm unable to make use of one of the device's selling points. But so far, the video and audio have stayed in sync anyways.

3) This item does not come with any software.

If you can live with these drawbacks, then this is the video capture device for you.