[joe]

I'm considering the ADS Instant DVD USB converter to use with a new 1.25Ghz G4 PowerBook. The hardware MPEG2 compression seems like a major timesaver and drive spacesaver - especially for a notebook computer. I stopped by ADS site and downloaded the specs but they don't list any dimensions. Does anyone have the physical dimensions (W*L*H) along with the power draw (watts)? I'm planning to lug this around in a notebook bag.

Also, I'd appreciate some feedback for video quality at the highest settings. I plan to import stored CCTV video (color and B&W) from S-VHS and hard drive storage via S-video (preferably) or composite. I'd like to retain as much video quality as possible. Will it take advantage of the higher USB 2.0 bandwidth of the latest Macs? Any comments on the included software? How accurate can you make video edits. Is the DVD software similar to iDVD (menus, sub-menus, text, etc)? Can you burn VideoCDs and/or SuperVideoCDs? Can you add text to a VideoCD/SuperVideoCD? What about dumping the finished video back to tape instead of CD/DVD? I realize I'm asking for quite a lot of info but would very much appreciate anything extra you may want to add as well. Thanx in advance......joe

[tr]

let me see...(gets out tape measure)...8" L x 4 5/8" W x 1 3/4"H.

the included AC adapter outputs 5V at 2.4A, so an estimated power draw (using those numbers...although a full 2.4A is probably unrealistic) would be about 12 W.

this is only a USB 1.0 device, so i don't think it will run at 2.0 speeds.

the included software is by Pixela (http://www.pixela.co.jp/): CaptyDVD and PixeDv. it works well, although i don't use the CaptyDVD app that much (it's the authoring app). PixeDV is the capture app. the CaptyDVD is like the slightly weirder foreign cousin of iDVD: it has menus, backgrounds, and such, but the themes are kinda weird (there's one that features fruit ) i've only authored one disc using the software, and it worked fine.

the PixeDV app works well, you can change your capture settings, organize your clips into different groups, etc. you can also edit the mpg's that you capture using the mpeg editor. it works rather well for what you are asking: editing muxed mpegs. it has a resolution of about 1/10 of a second, which is plenty for editing commercials and such.

mpeg-2 captures look great, and i'm only using the low setting. capturing via S-video, i don't think you'll notice much of a quality difference. the adage holds "it'll only look as good as your source". i've output to video, and that works well too; you use the PixeDV app to do this.

like i said, i'm not too familiar with the authoring of DVD's and VCD's using the software. i think it's just that i'm too lazy to set up buttons and such. :
D what i've been doing lately is just dropping the files in Toast 6, and let Toast make the menus and put in chapter markers. it's an easy way for lazy people like me to make DVD's of stuff i capture.

tr

[joe]

Originally posted by tr:
let me see...(gets out tape measure)...8" L x 4 5/8" W x 1 3/4"H.

Thanx for taking the time It seems small enough to fit in a notebook case.

it works rather well for what you are asking: editing muxed mpegs. it has a resolution of about 1/10 of a second

1/10 second is more than enough for what I need. Does it do basic effects like fade in/out? Can you add a few seconds of text between scenes?

i've output to video, and that works well too; you use the PixeDV app to do this.

So if you're just editing to and from tape, you can do everything in PixeDV (import / edit / export)?

i'm not too familiar with the authoring of DVD's and VCD's using the software. i think it's just that i'm too lazy to set up buttons and such.

Do you happen to know if CaptyDVD supports VCDs and SuperVCDs - or is it DVD-only?

what i've been doing lately is just dropping the files in Toast 6, and let Toast make the menus and put in chapter markers. it's an easy way for lazy people like me to make DVD's of stuff i capture.

I didn't realize Toast could author DVDs. Have you made many DVDs using Toast 6 and Instant DVD video? Does Toast 6 work drectly with the MPEG1/2 Instant DVD video capture? Have you made any VCDs or SVCDs from Instant DVD video and Toast 6?

A couple of Qs that I didn't think of before. Can you see what you're capturing on the Mac screen in real time? Are any of the unused video inputs/outputs on the Instant DVD able to monitor what's going on (IE can you hook up a TV to see what is going into the Mac or from the input side)? Also, have you ever captured B&W video?

Sincere thanx for putting up with all these Qs But the ADS Instant DVD is at the top of my list right now and I'm looking for as much info as possible. Any other observations would be appreciated as well (stability, reliability, support, etc). regards......joe

[vmpaul]

Originally posted by joe:
I didn't realize Toast could author DVDs. Have you made many DVDs using Toast 6 and Instant DVD video? Does Toast 6 work drectly with the MPEG1/2 Instant DVD video capture? Have you made any VCDs or SVCDs from Instant DVD video and Toast 6?

Joe, I have made DVD's from MPEG-1 clips and Toast 6. The quality is good (i guess that's relative). The convenience is fantastic. It'll take your clips and up-sample the audio to 48khz and then burn to disk. I've been using it with EyeTV clips. Since the DVD spec handles MPEG-1, I'm not sure if Toast is converting the video to MPEG-2 or not. In my case it is certainly converting it into a larger (720x480) format. I've made no VCD or SVCD's.

My questions regarding the ADS is (and I guess this is for you tr):

1) Can you set the recording quality level in bitrate? Or is it only a Low and High setting? Or something like that? I'd want to have incremental control of the bitrate.

2) Can anyone tell me the difference between this:
Instant DVD 2.0 $185.87

and this:

USB INSTANT DVD FOR MAC $444.45

The boxes seem to be exactly the same. The specification for the box is the same but the price for the Mac version is TWICE as much! It can't be for the software alone, can it? Or is it because if they put 'Mac' on it they know we'll pay extra? Sort of the way women pay more for clothes than men.

I wish I knew because you can find the boxes for pretty cheap on eBay. But if they come with PC software they're no good to me.

I'm really debating with myself on whether to go with the ADS Instant DVD (MPEG-2) or with something that captures DV streams without the compression. I'm wondering if there is a quality difference between the two. Either would be better than my current EyeTV, I think, but maybe not.

[joe]

Originally posted by vmpaul:
2) Can anyone tell me the difference between this:
Instant DVD 2.0 $185.87

and this:

USB INSTANT DVD FOR MAC $444.45

First, if you're going to buy the Mac version, you can buy it for nearly half that price here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_It...m=ADSMACAV1750

Second, you might want to read through the comments here:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/...t_DVD_Mac.html
Especially interesting is the 3rd quoted paragraph where the Mac version of the ADS Instant USB DVD is observed to have a "vastly superior hardware encoder compared to the Windows version." That may very well be part of the reason for the higher price of the Mac version. I don't know personally. But from everything I've read including (and ESPECIALLY) owner comments like tr above - this is an exceptional product.

FWIW I've encoded a lot of video from DV using iMovie, iDVD, and Formac Devideon. I can't express just how much time it takes to convert DV to MPEG2 even with a G4 (by comparison). I'd usually let it "cook" overnight and then burn it the next day. Yet the Instant DVD does that on the fly! And that's not counting the hard drive space savings. For reference, I still have a 1.5 hour DV file on my hard drive - it's an unedited NIN concert (DirecTV FreeView) that I imported with my Formac Studio a while back. The DV file is 19.04GB (yeah - gigs). I'm not sure what that amounts to in MPEG2. But the resulting video DVD that Devideon created wasn't full. So I'm guessing maybe 3.5GB. By comparison the ADS Instant DVD USB would've captured it in real time as 3.5GB and at high quality - saving a major amount of DV->MPEG2 encoding time and at least 15-16gigs in hard drive space. I'm almost certain I'll be buying one to use with my G4 PowerBook. About the only change I wish I could make to it is the ability to run bus powered like my Formac Studio. I'm not sure if that's possible with USB though. Hmmm... ADS Instant DVD Firewire??? Maybe if they made something like that it could run bus powered? At least the USB version is here now - and by accounts works very well......joe

[tr]

okay, let's see what i can answer

1) Can you set the recording quality level in bitrate? Or is it only a Low and High setting?

yes...sort of. there are normal, high, and best settings, and those correspond to 4, 5, and 6 Mbits/sec mpeg-2 (or 1.15, 1.5, 2 for mpeg-1). but, you can also do a custom, which will give you a choice of 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, and 6 Mbits/sec.

So if you're just editing to and from tape, you can do everything in PixeDV (import / edit / export)?

yeah, PixeDV is the main app that you will do most things in. Capty is mainly just for authoring.

Do you happen to know if CaptyDVD supports VCDs and SuperVCDs - or is it DVD-only?

never made one, but you can do VCD's (don't know about SVCD's). the only thing is, you can't burn it using CaptyDVD; you'll need another app like Toast. Capty only has the ability to burn DVD's from within the program. from the manual:
For VCD movies, CaptyDVD can make VCD volumes, which means you can author a VCD disk, but NOT actually burn it. You can simply make and save the VCD volume to your drive. You can then drag that volume into Roxio's latest Toast software for burning VCD's on the Mac.

Have you made many DVDs using Toast 6 and Instant DVD video? Does Toast 6 work drectly with the MPEG1/2 Instant DVD video capture? Have you made any VCDs or SVCDs from Instant DVD video and Toast 6?

again, i haven't made any VCD's, but i'm sure it works. as vmpaul stated, it is really convenient using toast with these muxed mpegs. i haven't done a DVD with mpeg-1s, but i have made DVD's using InstantDVD captured mpeg-2 clips. i drop them into Toast 6, and Toast automatically bumps the audio to 48kHz; no re-encoding of the video is neccessary. and then Toast also puts in menu buttons, and chapter marks, and burns. i don't have to do anything! my workflow is like this: capture using ADS InstantDVD, edit using Mpeg Cutter in PixeDV, drop edited clips in Toast, and let it do the rest.

and joe is right about the mac box being superior. i've read that not only is the video better, but in the PC box, i think you need to plug into the soundcard to capture audio...i remember reading that somewhere, and that people had some sync issues. and you can find the ADS mac box a lot cheaper if ou shop around. i've seen it for as low $250. i got mine here: http://www.esbuy.com/newfromadsus.html

joe, i've use a analog-DV box at work to capture (Canopus ADVC-100, an excellent box, by the way), and i was almost thinking of getting one for home, to convert stuff i tape or watch on TV to DVD. but the storage needed for DV, plus the time i would need to encode the video to mpeg-2 (i have a lowly G4 450), it would just be too much. with this box, i'm converting, on the fly, to mpeg-2 via hardware (so no processing time on my G4). all i have to do is edit it down, and drop it in Toast. where i spend the most time is in editing the video; then, i just wait for Toast to convert the audio, and then burn the disc, no waiting for hours for iDVD to encode (like i would have with a DV converter). at one point, i was worried about it being a USB device, but if you think about it, USB is well within spec to transfer mpeg-2. even the highest bit rate mpeg-2 available on this box will not exceed USB 1.0 bandwidth.

tr

[vmpaul]

Wow, great information. Thanks for the links as well.

So, here's my synopsis:

If you're making DVD's the main consideration, other than encoding time & HD space, is encoding quality. That's my main concern and question.

For the final burn to disk the video needs to be in MPEG-2 (or MPEG-1) format.

If you use a DV capture device, you need a software encoder (Compressor, Cleaner, ffmpegx, or iDVD) for conversion. All of those listed will allow you to incrementally control bitrate(and therefore quality) except iDVD (I think). You then also need to be concerned with encoding time and HD space.

If you use the ADS box as the capture, you can edit but also incrementally determine bitrate (as you capture) and therefore control the quality of the conversion. There is no encoding time consideration and file space will be at the minimum needed to burn.

Seems like a slam dunk to me.

[BWSchultz]

I read on the website that USB Instant DVD can be used with TiVo. Has anyone tried this with the Series2 models? I'm guessing it would have to be done in real time but it sounds like an effective way to get video from TiVo to my Mac.

Thoughts? For the record, I don't have TiVo or ADS at this time but am currently in Phase 1: Ridiculous Amount of Research. Thanks for your help.