Canopus ADVC-100 - Capture cards

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Canopus ADVC-100

DV/Firewire
DV Converter
Analog VideoIn

Win95? Win98 Win2K WinXP
Vista NT4? MAC Linux
*based on user reports.

FireWire

$250

9.6 (9.7)
159 votes

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Description (from the manufacturer site)

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.

> High Quality (original hardware design, co-developed with NEC
> Custom hardware Codec chip (original Canopus algorithm)
> Locked Audio Support (capture long clips w/perfect audio sync)
> 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

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Comments

174 comments, Showing 1 to 25 comments

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Yes the ADVC-100 is an amazing box. but there are a few
problems to keep in mind.

1:/ there is no audio level input control, or level meter.
So you are just guessing if the audio is distorting until
you view your full capture in an audio editor. I had to
purchase a separate external audio mixer (mackie) just to
feed this so i could see and adjust audio level.
Frustrating. (some newer models have control of audio).

2:/ there is no Time Base Corrector in the ADVC-100. This
means that for OLD VHS tapes (say from the 80s) you will
still get avi files that have STICKING AND DROPPING of
frames. ITs very frustrating and i had to purchase an
external timebase corrector box at an extra expense also.
(some newer models have a TBC built-in also now). This box
is still better than most at capturing video without dropped
frames but throw some old tapes at it and you will still get
problems until you put a TBC in the video chain before it.

3:/ many ADVC-100s suffer from "dropping off" the firewire
connection. Its been the bane of users since the product was
launched. What it means is that sometimes after 20 minutes,
or after 2 hours, or after 20 hours, suddenly the ADVC-100
disappears from your PC as an input and you have to turn the
ADVC off and on again for it to be "rediscovered" by XP or
Vista. Happens on macs too. Its random, and when it happens
in the middle of a capture its very frustrating. Many have
said its due to the heat of the unit (they get hot) but
there has been a documented fix and i have done the fix and
it has solved the problem . It involves opening up the unit
and soldering a wire from the firewire external "sheath" or
ground of the plug to the ground in the unit. What happens
is that the static builds up in the unit to eventually
supply a charge to the ground of the firewire lead and your
PC will just drop the firewire port for a few seconds to
discharge the voltage and you lose connection. Beware.

4:/ as stated before, the unit gets HOT. You need to stand
it up on stilts literally so that air can pass underneath
the unit as well or it will just cook and has been said to
be the cause of the dropout firewire problem as well.
Several ppl have strapped fans to the top of the unit. mine
sits on some old headphone pads to keep it 1 inch off the
desk.

Good points ? captures are amazing quality. And the audio is
NEVER OUT OF SYNC...EVER. and no drivers needed.

to summarise, a great unit but these points have rarely been
mentioned in a review so its important to note them.

Cheers,
Blackout

Comments posted by Blackout from Australia, April 09, 2009:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 9 of 10.

I've had a ADVC100 feeding a ADVC1394 for many years with good results. Now I'd like to back up a store bought VCR tape and the "fix" of holding the INPUT SELECT button doesn't disable the macrovison protection. The error led goes off and very soon comes back on. Coding must be across the full length of tape. I changed to an old Mitsubshi HS U65 VCR to see if it would work, and had the same results as my Sony. Need help with ideas or a Canopus mod. Thanks

Comments posted by racer1 from United States, March 26, 2009:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP? Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 8 of 10.

I've been using the ADVC-100 for roughly 2 years now and recently upgraded to Windows Vista 64bit (Ultimate Edition) with a dual boot of XP Pro, just in case I needed it due to software or hardware conflicts.

I am pleased to say that the ADVC-100 Works great on Vista and possibly even better than it did originally on XP. The main problem is that most software vendors have not taken the high road for a professional software editor/encoder - such as Sony Vegas and to date they have no plans on releasing one that works.

If you are serious about your work, then grabbing a 64bit CPU and operating system is the way to go for Post production work or any type of video/image editing.

Comments posted by Bob Bain from United States, March 28, 2007:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

I recently got this little box from Ebay based on the reviews from this site and I am absolutely astounded by the high quality of its captures from my old VHS tapes. My average tape is 15 years old and in fair shape yet the captures look beautiful. I capture with Ulead software and edit with Premiere.

If you want to transfer your old tapes to digital format and want the abilty to improve their quality through editing, then this is the equipment for you!

Comments posted by Tony Garcia from United States, December 23, 2006:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

Ok. It's perfect.

Great product...

Comments posted by Marcio Sell from Brazil, April 11, 2005:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

Just adding my vote of 10 to the mix. I have 0 complaints.

Comments posted by thecoalman from United States, February 13, 2005:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

This is a high quality device. It does the job it advertises, the video and audio are always in sync. A word of warning though. This is apparently a delicate device, susceptible to any kind of spikes. I've had to return mine twice inside of year even though I keep it unplugged unless I'm using it. Canopus stands behind their products and have great warranties.

Comments posted by Craig from United States, November 22, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 7 of 10.

I have used this with Windows Movie Maker and it produces great quality. My 1st week overheated the 2 amp 5 volt AC adapter to the point that it burned out, but Canopus UK quickly supplied me with a new one gratis. The unit sometimes itself does overheat, so I keep a fan handy at all times to keep it cool. I am finding it difficult to locate a really stable DV capture and edit package other than WMM. Pinnacle, Ulead and Scenalyzer all stutter and start and produce odd video artefacts. WMM only seems to adapt itself to my system (Win XP, 1Gb mem, 2.4GHz P4, 149Gb 7,200 spin HDD). Its a shame, as the Scenalyzer has ON/OFF timing; the WMM files get a tad unwieldy, especially if I am recording 4 hours + of TV! Still, cannot beat the thrill of seeing those blue lights come on as the unit fires up ...

Comments posted by Stonechatz from United States, November 02, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 9 of 10.

Got the ADVC-100 device thanks to user advice and rating in this forum.
In European market (France) this device is about twice the price I got it in USA (BH stores).
Thanks to this forum all my old S-VHS and VHS-C (the first JVC S-VHS cam) are already on DVD.
The quality of the output depends a lot more on the quality original tape than on the ADVC device (nice contrasted outdoors are as nice and sharp and colorfull as the originals. Bad original tapes like indoors with low artificial light won't of cours look better)
This stuff is reliable and I'll advice it to anyone.
I use : ASUS mb , Athlon 2600 , Seagate 7200 with 8Mo for DD and 512 DDR with Pinnacle Studio 8.
Tony

Comments posted by Tony from France, August 25, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP? Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

I had the dream of many people here and wanted to put VHS onto DVD. I ummed and arred for quite a while before purchasing this product because it is a lot of money to fork out for the home hobbyist. I have never been as satisfied with a piece of computer hardware as I am with this. I have even started capturing from my XBOX and I am also using my VCR as a TV Tuner to record direct from TV.

A point that I didn't realise was that the ADVC-100, ADVC-50 & ADVC-55 are almost exactly the same. The only difference is that the 100 can input and output as Analog or Digital whereas the 50 and 55 cannot output in Analog. Basically this means that if you do not need to output back to your analog camcorder or VHS, then you probably don't need the 100 and the 50 or 55 would be better for you.

I capture to AVI using ScenalyzerLive and the Canopus DV codec, edit if required with Virtualdub, encode with TMPGEnc Plus, author with TMPGEnc DVD Author, and burn with Nero Express. It is easier than it sounds.

Comments posted by Jim Malenko from Australia, July 18, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

This machine is awesome , it works a lot better than some Dazzle equipment I have used . I hooked up my 8 mm camcorder to the front of it . Then I connected the firewire cable to it , and the other end of the firewire cable into my pc firewire card and windows detected it no problem . In minutes I was capturing my home movies onto my pc hard drive . Then I burned all my home movies onto dvd .I highly recommend this product , I have had it for about a year now and have had no problems at all with it .I can even hook the analog cables red,yellow,white up to my vcr or tv and record tv shows onto my pc , it's great .

Comments posted by Johnny The Bronze from United States, June 25, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

What else can I say...
I have tried MANY forms of capturing from VHS and this has been by far the most reliable and is stacked way up there in terms of capture quality.

If you're new to capturing then take this box seriously. There are cheaper solutions, but with nearly 100 hours of captured VHS with perfect sound sync and 0 frames dropped under my belt I know I've made a good choice.

For what it's worth, I use Scenalizer to capture, Premiere Pro to edit and CCE for video encoding while TMPGEnc Sound Player takes care of the AC3 encoding for DVD.

With the quality of the Canopus output the resulting DVD transfers are superb.

Take a look, you won't be dissapointed.

Comments posted by Lee Whittingham from United Kingdom, May 13, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP? Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

I have used the ADVC-100 for about 8 months now in several configurations.

1. JVC super VHS recorder as tape OR tuner source via svideo to ADVC-100, ADVC-100 via firewire to HP 9870 (P4 1.3), Capture with Scenalyzer (The captured Avi files are about 30mps at 720 x 480 = 4 gigs for 9 min of video, whereas DVD files are about 10mps max.), Process with avi2mpeg2 to about 8mps (9 min of video takes 2 hrs), make chapter stops, menus and burn with Ulead Studio 7.
This setup can remove macrovision with the “silver button trick” on the ADVC-100.

2. DAEWOO 5800 ( hacked to “remove macrovision”, works direct to VCR’s but not to Pioneer DVR-510H dvd recorder. Pioneer STILL sees macrovision traces). Changed configuration to: DAEWOO 5800 via svideo to ADVC-100 with “silver button trick” via firewire to Pioneer DVR-510H. Can burn DVD’s with “always on” subtitle tracks this way, when DVDshrink can not even find the subtitle track. It looks like the ADVC-100 removes ALL traces of macrovision.

Don’t even THINK about using another power source for the ADVC-100. It wants, not 4.5 or 6 volts, but 5 volts at 2.7 amps. The ADVC-100 is not a cheap unit, but for the BEST quality, get the BEST hardware. I have NEVER lost a single frame of video with this unit. If you want to convert VHS tapes ( that are not on DVD ) to your own copy on DVD (for easy access to parts of the video), this is the one for you.

Bought ADVC-100 in 2003 from Macworld in Los Angeles for $250 (includes shipping).

Comments posted by Dennis Rice from United States, May 03, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

It works!
The decesion to purchase ADVC-100 is based on reviews in this forum.(Many, many thanks to all reviewers)

My SONY desktop took a few seconds to recognize it, but it worked flawlessly with my Pinnacle Studio 9, Ulead MF2, and Mainconcept's MPEG encoder.

I noticed the colors look much better than from the pass-through of My Sony D8 Videowalkman GV-D800 which also failed to lock audio in 2-hr's capture.

With this beauty, I finally can confidently start to convert my old home videos!

I purchased it from J&R with UPS 2nd Day shipping for $275.9, which is a price match with B&H photos.

Comments posted by bfrankc from United States, April 30, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

I have tried a couple of Dazzle products before the ADVC-100 (Hollywood DV Bridge and Dazzle DVC) and the ADVC-100 just blows them away in quality. I have had many problems with Dazzle products but the Canopus worked flawlessly right out of the box. I did run into one snag,however. One of the computers that I tried took a very long time to detect the ADVC-100. I later discovered that this product has issues with Texas Instrument chip based firewire cards. All of the other firewire "cards" I have tried do not have this issue. I have tried both VIA and Nvidia chip based firewire "cards" and have no problems.

Comments posted by Dave from United States, April 27, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

This baby works! Just as all these reviews state. In less than 15 minutes I was capturing old beta home movies and burning them to my Sony Drive. No video OR audio problems what so ever. My dad is still fighting his Pinnacle movie box with rendering lockups and dropped audio. He's had to upgrade software twice because of bugs. I am so glad I followed these reviews and spent the extra money forthe Canopus. EBay EDU price was $ 220.00 with Valid ID

Comments posted by Don Hadley from United States, April 13, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

I love this device. I've been using one for almost a year now and never had any problems. I initially bought it to capture old VHS tapes to my Toshiba P4 2.4Ghz laptop. I then realized I could capture directly from cable TV through the VCR. I capture and edit with Vegas 4. Only had a problem with dropped frames once but that was because my Norton virus software began a scheduled scanning during a TV show I was capturing. Other than that, every capture comes out perfect.

Comments posted by oama from United States, March 25, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

The Canopus is Awesome!!!

I've tried a few other capture devices, but the Canopus has them beat hands down. I do agree that the space required for capturing is huge, but the quality more than makes up for it. The audio is locked to the video, so you never have to worry about audio being out of sync. I'm running a pretty new machine (P4HT, 3GHz, 1GB RAM). No dropped frames unless I'm seriously taxing the machine with other programs. If only I had read all of the comments before buying those other devices, which will either stay at the bottom of my desk drawer or get sold on Ebay. The ADVC-100 is worth every penny I paid for it. I'm now wondering if it might be worth it to upgrade to the 300 to take advantage of the cleaning up of old VHS tapes ability.

Comments posted by Dave from United States, March 25, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

The Best equipment Period. This little box is amazing. Use this with TMPG and TDA. You will be satisfied.

Comments posted by vuxphan from United States, March 15, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

The Canopus ADVC-100 works as well as predicted. I was getting cold feet as there were some issues popping up here and on the Canopus forums. But this device worked with my system even though:
1. Dell issue: My PC is a Dell 4600.
2. SP1 issue: My PC was pre-loaded with XP. Have upgraded to SP1 using Windows update.

Used Orangelink+ USB/firewire card to connect ADVC.

Would be 10, but had to use my own software to capture, etc. ( Ulead).

Also, though box said USA version- had to switch to IRE=7.5.

Also, thanks to all contributors to these forums.

Comments posted by dvdtogo from United States, March 08, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 9 of 10.

Finally! The Canopus ADVD-100 is a little, black box of miracles. Tried this that and everything in between and something always went wrong during capture.

Hooked up this little darling to my computer using WinXP, captured with a trial version of ScenalyzerLive (which I'm going to buy) and no dropped frames, everything played back perfect. I haven't compressed and burned or anything, but just getting this far is a huge relief. I'll come back and give it a 10 if it holds up for a couple of months. (I hate to give it a rating before giving it a few months workout).

PS: I captured an old VHS home movie that had seen way better days and this thing didn't drop one frame.

Comments posted by D. Holland from United States, February 28, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: No rating.

Firstly, thanks to this site and those who contributed their reviews. As a newbies, I did not know which cards to choose and all ads in internet says that they have the best products but the true quality reviews only comes from users. I have been successfully converting my bunch of viedo-8 cassettes into high-quality dvd using this card, I mean high-quality in all aspects : no dropped frames, always synchronized, almost no difference between the source in video-8 and the result in form of dvd. For the information, I use my laptop (toshiba satellite) P4 1.8, 30GB HD, 256 RAM, Intervideo WinDVD Creator 2 which works great from capturing/authoring/creating movie (with my limited 30 GB HD, fortunately this software can capture and directly save in MPEG2 file). I have to admit that this card is not cheap, but with this perfect result I get what I paid. Thanks to Canopus.

Comments posted by Freddy from Indonesia, February 20, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

Quality is great. XP recognized device as DV camcorder. I have used several pieces of software to capture with no trouble. There is one drawback, file size. 1 hour = approximately 13GB, DV format (.avi) but with the results, who cares!
I also have an ATI all in wonder 8500. The canopus beats it hands down. The only advantage to the ATI is the various formats it will capture in.

Comments posted by Rob from United States, February 19, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 9 of 10.

Thanks to this great web site I've bought one of these babies, it is brilliant. You can throw the most awful VHS video at it, and it converts/captures without the slightest problem, unlike the Pinnacle DV Box which will just freeze up if you present it with anything other than perfect video.

Comments posted by Anthony Challis from United Kingdom, February 16, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

The best quality ive seen, this is the best and forget the rest, nuff said

Comments posted by Dave from United States, February 12, 2004:
Compatibility: Win95? Win98? Win2K? WinXP Vista? NT4? MAC? Linux? - Rated: 10 of 10.

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Feature
What kind of main capture features it supports
Analog VideoIn = Analog composite or/and SVHS video input
Video Card = If it is a Video Card/Graphic Card
Tv Tuner = Built-In TV-Tuner
Digital TV = Built-In Digital TV-Tuner
DV/Firewire = DV/Firewire/i.Link input
DV Converter = Analog composite or/and SVHS video input and converts to DV video
MPEG1 hardware = Capture directly MPEG1(VCD) video using hardware*
MPEG2 hardware = Capture directly MPEG2(SVCD and DVD) video using hardware*
MJPEG hardware = Capture directly to MJPEG using hardware*
MPEG4 hardware = Capture directly to MPEG4(DivX,Xvid) video using hardware*
* = Most capture cards can capture to this format using software but it usually requires a very fast computer, if it supports realtime capturing it uses the capture cards hardware and it doesn't require a very fast computer and you may get better quality but less options/settings than software capturing.

Compatibility
What Operating System our users have reported that it works on, Win95=Works ~~Win95~~=Does not work Win95?=Not tested This is user based.

Cnx = Connection
What type of connection the capture device has to the computer, PCI, AGP, USB1/1.1/2, DV or PCMCIA.

Price
The price in US dollar.

Rating
The first rating is based on a weighted rank (the true Bayesian), it requires at least 5 votes to get a weighted rating.
The second rating between the ( ) is a normal average rating.

Comment
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