Customer Reviews

SABRENT USB-AVCPT USB 2.0 Audio Video Creator Capture DVD Maker Editor Adapter

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

This is a great product...with a few reservations. But bear some things in mind and read through the other reviews before you purchase. First, you'll find that a lot of people have complained about problems with Vista; I use XP. Second, you'll see that others have complained of the software. So I just ignored it and installed the drivers only. It works fine with various alternate software, Windows Movie Maker, for example, so why bother. (I couldn't get it to work properly with Roxio 9, however; but I blame that on Roxio.) Speaking of drivers, by the way, I'm not sure why so many people have had problems with them (except for Vista users). The ones that came with the unit were identical to those I downloaded from the internet, and both worked (again, for XP). Having said all that, the first unit I purchased was defective -- couldn't get the device to install properly. I decided to take the chance that it was a manufacturer's defect and return it in exchange for another. The second one installed without a glitch and worked perfectly...almost. The primary use was to salvage old VHS tapes. I never experienced any problems with video/audio synch, and the quality was every bit as good as the tapes themselves. I did, however, have a periodic crackle/scritch in the audio. After a lot of research without useful results (people advising you to buy gold wires, etc.), I found a video on YouTube that solved the problem in sixty seconds. This fellow pointed out that if the internal wiring was a bit bunched it would cause the unit to get hot (mine was), causing this problem. I followed his recommendation: popped open the case (with my thumbnail), gently pushed the wiring down a little, closed the case back up...and it worked like a charm. You have to consider the price. After deducting the (admittedly small) manufacturing costs, then the shipping from China, these things are probably being made for a profit margin of about two bucks apiece. Yeah, they're cheap. Which is, after all, a lot of the appeal. I didn't want to spend fifteen times as much for something only slightly better suited to my purposes. Mine works great now, no flaws, no issues. If I use it on an old "factory" tape, the result is perfect. Try one of these to test your set-up (that'll let you know if your VCR is OK, too). Remember, though, some of those old, home-made tapes that were recorded on an EP setting, then stored in the attic for twenty years, may not come out too good, no matter what you do. Hope this helps.

This device works very well, and it did just what I wanted it to do (converting home videos to digital media). I'll give it four stars, though, since it's not simple to set up, and there are virtually no instructions. Here's what I did to make mine work:

First of all, I'm running Windows XP, SP3, so I can't speak to the way this product works on Vista. Also, make sure your computer is fairly powerful if you're going to use this device (mine is 2.20 GHz, with 3.46 GB of RAM and plenty of space on the hard drive). Finally, the device only worked for me when it was plugged directly into the USB port on my computer; the USB extension cord provided rendered it inoperable.

--You may need to download the correct drivers for your device. If this is the case (that is, if the device doesn't work properly with the drivers on the CD-ROM), run a search on Google for drivers for STK1160 (not STK1150 as the product would have you believe). Before I downloaded the correct drivers, the device wouldn't transmit video, but after I found them, everything worked great.

--I didn't install the software included on the CD-ROM. As another reviewer has mentioned, there's no need to do this, especially if, as others report, the software is not user-friendly and slows down the computer. I couldn't get this device to work with Adobe products or VirtualDub, but with the right drivers, it did work with Windows Movie Maker. But there are smaller, easier programs that capture video also: see below.

--For capturing videos, I used a free program called Virtual VCR, which you can download after a Google search. I also looked at AMCap, which is great but has a 15-minute capture limit on the software demo (you could purchase the software, though, which isn't expensive). Virtual VCR saves video as AVI files directly to the computer.

--With Virtual VCR, eventually (after about 30 minutes) the audio goes out of sync a bit--but this is fixable through editing of the files. I was able to get much better results with the audio-video sync by choosing video as the "Master Stream in AVI file" on the "AV Sync" tab under "Settings." Otherwise, I had no problems with the audio from this device--everything sounds fine.

--The uncompressed files on the computer will be very large (about 1 GB per minute of video), so make sure you have lots of free space available. On the program you use for capturing, I recommend selecting a codec to compress the video a bit: Huffyuv (not the beta version, but the last stable version) is a lossless codec you can download from the internet that maintains video quality but reduces file size (a 30-minute video file for me was about 12 GB). I did not compress the audio.

--If the AVI files you capture are still too large for you (I saved many at a time, so this happened to me) and you plan to burn them to DVD, convert them to MPEG-2 (DVD) format with a program. There will be a slight loss in quality, which will most likely happen anyway with your DVD authoring program, but the file sizes will be much smaller and more manageable. I used the free, downloadable program ffmpeg (the GUI) for this process, and it actually helped the audio-video sync issues I was having with the longer files--the converted .mpg files were in better sync than the .avi files. After that, you can simply burn the files to DVD with your favorite authoring program.

This device is not at all self-explanatory, but once you start playing with it (and once you download some small programs), you can achieve some really nice results. I'm happy with the audio and video quality, especially for the price--this is a bargain. And the installation of the product couldn't be easier: you just plug it in and go. All in all, this product is very good.

This is the only product i've ever seen that isnt recognized by its own software! This has crashed my powerful machine 3 times and none of my software (except Windows USB BUS) even sees it. The manual is also in quasi-english so is no help either. This is being returned.

This adapter is a time-suck. You will be spending endless amount of
time trying to install the item and in the end...it still won't work.

First, no product key came anywhere on the DVD, case or package...and I am not the only one who has had this problem. So I tried to use with Roxio software, and received an ear piercing verrrry high pitched noise that had my ears ringing. Wow, talk about a useless product. This is my second review. The first one never made it to the Amazon web site.

The device seems ok, but only works with its own included software (tried Nero and VirtualDub, and both failed to work with it). Included software is horrible, it won't work on a PC with multiple capture devices (crashes), takes a lot of CPU power, and the recording starts skipping frames after a few minutes.

I purchased this cable to hook up my VCR to my PC, but when it arrived, the cable ends (banana jacks and S-Video) were all female. The VCR is all female too, so there was no way to connect them. The product description and picture did not make that clear. I had to then search for and order the male video/audio and the male S-video cable. It took some extra cost and money, but once I received those, I had a complete solution. Be sure to order either or both the male to male audio/video cables and male to male S-video cable if you order this product. The male to male connections are extender cables as well since this product has a very short cable lenght anyway (less than 6 inches).

Driver was not sent with device. I had to call the manufacturer to get driver help. This is what they sent me:

Please download [...] to a location you can easily find later (DESKTOP is a good location so you can delete the folder after installation)



At this point you can update the drivers manually...

1. Right-Click on MY COMPUTER, Select PROPERTIES.

2. Select HARDWARE

3. Select DEVICE MANAGER

4. Scroll down to the USB Video adapter.

5. Right Click on the Device and select UPDATE DRIVER.

6. Do NOT allow Windows to automatically find the drivers.

7. BROWSE to the Folder you created at the beginning and direct it to the correct folder for your operating system. STK1150 should appear.

This device does not do what it says it will do. I contacted support the day after I installed it and was told in an e-Mail, I would have to PAY for support. I wasted my money. Don't buy this. I know alot about computers and this device does not work.

I have Vista 32 and the supplied driver did not work. Wasted a lot of my time. I am returning this product.