I want to convert VHS video to DVD. The ADVC-55 is attractive, self-powered through the Firewire, compact, portable. I have been unable to find any technical reviews of this converter. It is hard for me to determine what I lose with the -55 over the excellently reviewed and thought of ADVC-100 which is only $40 more. Anyone have any information? I will use the converter with a laptop, but portability would be a plus, not a need. Thanks, anyone who can help.
Well the ADVC-100 has More Features Like More inputs and it has an output which I do not think the ADVC-55 has an Output...The Output is goo because you cann hook up a TC set while you are previewing the Captured Material so you will know what it looks like on an Interlaced TV set as Opposed to a progressive PC Monitor... Also the ADVC-55 is an external device but it is Basicly made to fit in a 5.5in Drive bay and hook up to the Internal Input on a Firewire card but can also be used as a totally external Unit.... You also should make sure that your LapTop has at least ATA-100 Hard drives and a Lot of Drive Space because DV Files can take up quite a Bit of Disk Space, about 15-20GB per hour of Video... At looking at the Features of the ADVC-55 it doesn"t say if it has the Audio Lock feature that the ADVC-100 Has which is needed if you want consistant Audio and Video Sync, and it doesn"t have the DV Outputs for recording back to DV Camera or for outputting to a VCR to record the Video..So for the $50 It is worth all of the extra Features that come with the ADVC-100 pluss there is Supposedly a way to disable the Macrovision Detection on the ADVC-100 so you will not need a Video Stabilizer when recording from Retail VHS Tapes, that is if you can figure out the trick for disableing the Copy Protection detection.....Well Good Luck....Cheers PS: I think I am going to get the Canopus ACEDVio sometime this summer because it is an Internal PCI card that has all of the Features of the ADVC-100 but can be found for as low as $169 US....Cheers
Thanks for the info. It seems like the -100 is worth the extra. I have a 120Gb Firewire external hard drive that I can use, it is 90% empty. I also have a 60Gb in my laptop, it has a 16Mb buffer and has about 48Gb free. Sounds like the ADVC-100 is the way to go! Appreciate the information.
