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Jay Bee · Dec 14, 2001, 08:17 AM

If anyone is thinking about purchasing a Digital Converter I just purchased the Canopus ADVC-100. It does the same thing as the Sony DVMC-DA2 and the Formac Studio Pro. The price on it is much better. $ 299.00 Three year warrenty. It does not have a built in TV tuner.
I captured about 45 minutes of a digital stream and exported it back to VHS. Quality was great. No problems whatsoever. This is not a Macintosh company but the converter only has to do one thing...convert analog to digital and vice versa. It worked great for me and I am pleased. The specs on it can be seen at www.justedit.com/products/advc100.php3
Jay Bee

TheBum · Dec 14, 2001, 10:40 AM

I'm still debating whether to get one of these or use those funds toward the purchase of a DV camcorder. I hate to spend the extra money to get both and my 8mm camcorder is nearly 9 years old, which makes me lean toward the camcorder purchase. On the other hand, I could save up the pennies for the Canopus in much less time and would definitely consider purchasing one if I find that it does a better job of DV conversion than, say, a Canon ZR20.

Boy I hate decisions!

Jay Bee · Dec 14, 2001, 12:14 PM

Originally posted by TheBum:
I'm still debating whether to get one of these or use those funds toward the purchase of a DV camcorder. I hate to spend the extra money to get both and my 8mm camcorder is nearly 9 years old, which makes me lean toward the camcorder purchase. On the other hand, I could save up the pennies for the Canopus in much less time and would definitely consider purchasing one if I find that it does a better job of DV conversion than, say, a Canon ZR20.

Boy I hate decisions!

The cheapest DV camcorder that will allow analog to DV pass through is around $1000.00. I myself just have a lot of VHS tapes that are already taken. It is great to be able to edit them in iMovie now!
If you figure you have a lot more video to take I guess the DV camcorder is the way to go. I do not think that quality would be the issue here. Analog is analog. New digital camcorders do take video that is of better quality. But in my VHS situation I cannot reverse time. I am very happy with the converter and being able to edit. By no means am I a professional. I hope to create VCD's and play them in DVD players soon. As soon as I figure out what the heck I am doing. So far just putting them back on VHS tape works great! I am getting closer and closer every day! Mabey in a few years when camcorders come down I will buy a digital one.
My Panasonic VHS camcorder cost me $799. just a few years ago. Now you can buy one for $399.
Good Luck

TheBum · Dec 15, 2001, 02:39 PM

Originally posted by Jay Bee:


The cheapest DV camcorder that will allow analog to DV pass through is around $1000.00.

That may be true, but the cheaper ones (Canon ZR20, for example) will convert analog video to DV and record it to tape. Then its just a matter of importing the DV from the tape. I think I could put up with the inconvenience of the additional step

Jay Bee · Dec 15, 2001, 10:54 PM

Originally posted by TheBum:


That may be true, but the cheaper ones (Canon ZR20, for example) will convert analog video to DV and record it to tape. Then its just a matter of importing the DV from the tape. I think I could put up with the inconvenience of the additional step

You probably should go for the camcorder. If you do not mind recording to tape first it will do the same thing for you that the converter will. Plus all future video you shoot will be digital.
Good Luck

NeoMac · Dec 16, 2001, 10:52 AM

He doesn't need to record to tape first. Some camcorders have 'pass-thru' ability, where it converts to DV directly to the hard drive. I know the Sony DCR-TRV17 camcorder can do this.

Jay Bee · Dec 16, 2001, 10:45 PM

Originally posted by NeoMac:
He doesn't need to record to tape first. Some camcorders have 'pass-thru' ability, where it converts to DV directly to the hard drive. I know the Sony DCR-TRV17 camcorder can do this.

He was the one who said he needed to record to tape. He is using a Canon not a Sony. I know the Sony is capable of pass through but some digital camcorders won't allow it and you must record it first. How cheap can you get the Sony DCR-TRV17 for? Last I saw they were around $1000.00.

Jay Bee · Dec 21, 2001, 10:39 PM

Originally posted by Jay Bee:
If anyone is thinking about purchasing a Digital Converter I just purchased the Canopus ADVC-100. It does the same thing as the Sony DVMC-DA2 and the Formac Studio Pro. The price on it is much better. $ 299.00 Three year warrenty. It does not have a built in TV tuner.
I captured about 45 minutes of a digital stream and exported it back to VHS. Quality was great. No problems whatsoever. This is not a Macintosh company but the converter only has to do one thing...convert analog to digital and vice versa. It worked great for me and I am pleased. The specs on it can be seen at www.justedit.com/products/advc100.php3
Jay Bee

If anyone is intrested in a Canopus DV converter I just purchased one and have been using it over a week. I have well over an hour of Analog to iMovie in one pass. Converter works great. Input/Output no sound sync problems. Has more than enough outputs to connect a stand alone moniter.
This converter $300. + Toast 5 $ 75. = Video CD's They look pretty darn good for Analog!

jbr · Jul 10, 2002, 08:35 AM

I cannot get my G4 to recognize the canopus ADVC-100 at all. Apple profiler states there's nothing on the firewire bus it's hooked to and iMovie doesn't recognize any "cameras" as connected. Shouldn't it just be plug and play or am I missing something? G4, 450 mHz, 1.5 GB RAM, OS 10.1.5.

TIA

Jbr

Jay Bee · Jul 10, 2002, 08:49 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by jbr:
I cannot get my G4 to recognize the canopus ADVC-100 at all. Apple profiler states there's nothing on the firewire bus it's hooked to and iMovie doesn't recognize any "cameras" as connected. Shouldn't it just be plug and play or am I missing something? G4, 450 mHz, 1.5 GB RAM, OS 10.1.5.

TIA

Jbr<hr /></blockquote>Try unplugging and plugging in the firewire cable and see if that helps. Every once and a while only in OS X I have a problem you describe. With iMovie open I just unplug the firewire cable and plug it back in and it starts.
I just used this converter in OS X last week and created a 20 minute movie with it.
I prefer to use OS 9.2.2 for iMovie as OS X still seems sluggish to me. OS X does render much faster than 9. But it still seems like it needs some fine tuning.

jbr · Jul 11, 2002, 07:16 AM

Thanks for your reply Jay Bee. Unfortunately I had no joy from trying to unplug and replug the firewire. I did, however, finally hear from Canopus tech support. Nothing worked with their first suggestions so they then emailed me several tests which I need to run to check the box. Hopefully I'll get this thing figured out because I really want to start playing with video!

Jay Bee · Jul 11, 2002, 08:02 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by jbr:
Thanks for your reply Jay Bee. Unfortunately I had no joy from trying to unplug and replug the firewire. I did, however, finally hear from Canopus tech support. Nothing worked with their first suggestions so they then emailed me several tests which I need to run to check the box. Hopefully I'll get this thing figured out because I really want to start playing with video!<hr /></blockquote>Sorry to hear that you are still having problems. There are a series of dip switches on the underside of the converter. Also there is one switch on top. (analog in/digital in) One allows you to capture and the other position allows you to playback. That has to be set right for it to work. A switch on the bottom controls the default startup for the mode I just mentioned.
I have had no problem with mine so I really do not know that much about troubleshooting them. It just works each and every time. Post back here when you have fixed it......Jay Bee

Boonie · Jul 12, 2002, 08:04 AM

The Canon ZR40 has analog->DV passthrough capabilities. You can buy it for $450.

jbr · Jul 18, 2002, 07:59 AM

After running through some trouble shooting with canopus tech support it turns out I have a bad box and will need to send it back. It'll be a couple of weeks but hopefully my next one will work as advertised. I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

Jay Bee · Jul 18, 2002, 08:12 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by jbr:
After running through some trouble shooting with canopus tech support it turns out I have a bad box and will need to send it back. It'll be a couple of weeks but hopefully my next one will work as advertised. I'll keep you posted on the outcome.<hr /></blockquote>I know it takes up your time troubleshooting but when you get the new one it should work just fine. You will like it.

jbr · Aug 22, 2002, 09:33 AM

Originally posted by Jay Bee:
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by jbr:
After running through some trouble shooting with canopus tech support it turns out I have a bad box and will need to send it back. It'll be a couple of weeks but hopefully my next one will work as advertised. I'll keep you posted on the outcome.<hr /></blockquote>I know it takes up your time troubleshooting but when you get the new one it should work just fine. You will like it.

I finally got my Canopus ADVC - 100 back, plugged everything in and it worked right out of the box! iMovie recognized it as a "camera" and my old VHS movies played on my desktop. Now I get to start making movies. As an aside, I also added a firewire PCI card in order to get more firewire ports which also worked perfectly (I've got 4 firewire "devices" now, 2 HDs, my CD burner and the Canopus converter). I plan to capture video to my 2nd internal HD.

Jay Bee · Aug 22, 2002, 10:01 AM

Glad to hear that your problems with the ADVC-100 are worked out. You will like that little box. I use it all the time with my analog video camera. I have made several movies, edited them with iMovie and put them on video tape and video cd's.
Yes, a generation loss is evident but it really is great. Not as bad as everyone would have you believe.
Now just connect that box to a vcr and you can also watch TV on your screen. Or whatever else........Good Luck with your moviemaking.

saru boy · Aug 25, 2002, 10:45 AM

The ADVC-100 doesn't remove macrovision from video streams...does anyone know if the Formac converters are the same in this respect?

jbr · Jan 19, 2003, 10:41 PM

Finally getting back into using my canopus digital converter. Capturing video well from old VHS tapes but I'm getting a buzzing sound overlaying the audio. Problem with the grounding? Any thoughts?