-Richard Bae richardbae.com On 11 May 2004, at 23.32, Thomas Baker wrote:
Thanks for the info, Richard. I have seen good reviews of earlier versions
(2002) of the Canopus ADVC 100 converter, but no current ones. It's
probably even better now, I bet. With the $20 rebate now being offered to
buyers of the Miglia Director's Cut 2, the cost of the two video converters
is exactly the same.
Seems to me, however, that the Miglia Director's Cut 2 has the Canopus beat
on several counts: the Canopus needs an external power source, while the
Miglia can take its power off the Mac's Firewire port. The Miglia also has
all its connections on the back, which leaves the front clean, it has dual
output ports so you can use one for a TV monitor, and along with the
converter you get a full set of every kind of cable you might need, whereas
Canopus buyers complain that they only get a single cable.
With all other features being apparently equal, so far as I can tell, I'm
still leaning toward the Miglia converter.
Thanks though,
Tom
At 11:04 PM -0600 5/11/2004, Richard Bae wrote:Sorry if this was mentioned earlier but check out the canopus ADVC 100 http://www.canopus.us/US/products/ADVC-100/pm_advc-100.asp
I use this and the ADVC 300 in my small business I run of video
transfers. The 100 is perfect I think for you what you need as long as
you have a firewire port. The quality is just about as good as it can
get for a product under $300. It also works perfectly with iMovie or
FCP since it shows up as a DV device. The cheapest place right now for
the 100 is here for $246
http://www.shopharmony.com/product.asp?file=PRICEGRABBER&i=CNP72100
-Richard Bae richardbae.com On 11 May 2004, at 18.53, Thomas Baker wrote:
Since I have the luxury of being in no hurry to convert all my Hi-8
home
movies to Digital Video, so that I can edit it and then export it from
my
Mac to DVD or videotape, I've been leisurely wandering around the Net
looking at reviews of the various analog-to-digital-video converters
that
are available, before I buy one. What I have discovered is that there
are
wide variations in the quality of the converted video. The cheaper
converters such as the Pyro AV Link can produce Digital Video with bad
colors, digital artifacts, and other problems.
A review in MacWorld June 2004 compares the Pyro A/V Link with the Miglia Director's Cut converter box with the following comments:
ADS Technologies Pyro A/V Link, rating: 3-1/2 Mice
Pros: Strong audio import, component video in.
Cons: Colors and blacks looked washed out; firmware glitch prevents previewing in color; reliability problems; external power supply needed; tech support wasn't helpful.
Director's Cut 2 converter, rating: 4-1/2 Mice
Pros: Excellent video quality; FireWire powered; two sets of outputs;
all
plugs in back; rugged metal case; K & Lock support; headphone jack.
Cons: No U. S. telephone tech support.
Another review of this Miglia Director's Cut 2 converter are at http://reviews.macnn.com/review.php?id=41
and yet another favorable review of the Miglia at http://www.it-enquirer.com/publishing/3D/miglia.html gives further observations about cheap video converters like the Pyro:
"What most people don't know is that many of these readily sold
converters
are not capable of providing a good quality conversion. A Dazzle and a
Formac are best compared to toys: they are inexpensive but useless to
the
serious amateur and certainly to the semi-pro or pro. The quality of a
conversion with these devices is poor in every respect: colour
accuracy,
artifacts, inability to maintain a decent frame speed, etc."
Concerning the "Instant DVD USB for Mac" device from OWC that we've
been
discussing:
<http://eshop.macsales.com/Item_MailList.cfm?
ID=5448&Item=ADSMACAV1750>, to
me it sounds similar to the Pyro or Dazzle, but I don't know for sure
because I haven't been able to find an objective review of it yet
(anybody
know of one?). My main worry would be that its USB connection would be
much
slower than a FireWire link, and people have told me repeatedly that
digital video work is already painfully slow.
Every review I've seen so far of Miglia's Director's Cut 2 converter http://miglia.com/products/video/director2/index.html has been favorable so far, and although it costs about double the price of the Pyro or Dazzle, it looks like the results it gives might make it worth it.
Tom
Art website at http://www.ThomasBakerPaintings.com Archaeology website at http://www.nmia.com/~jaybird/AANewsletter/
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