[G4] DAC100 vs Canopus

[Perry The Cynic]

--On February 9, 2006 3:25:49 PM -0500 SLarsonIH at aol.com wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> It's time to order an analog to digital converter. I've heard great
> things  about both the DAC 100 and the Canopus (model 100 also, I
> believe). Has anyone  used both? Bad comments on either? Any advantage of
> one over the other? Does it  just come down to personal preference? Where
> do I get the Canopus? I can get  the DAC 100 for around $180 new. What's
> the Canopus price? This is the last  step to ordering one. Thanks for
> your patience and any advice you can share.

I picked between these two a year ago, and ended up buying the Canopus 
ADVC-110. They were fairly evenly matched. I liked the ADVC-110 a bit 
better (see below).

The Canopus has a reputation for having a somewhat better codec. I can't 
give first-hand testimony, not having done a side-by-side comparison. I can 
confirm that the ADVC-110 produces very nice video; I'm quite happy with it.

What's the difference between the ADVC-100 and -110? Almost nothing, 
actually. However, the -110 has firewire-100 (100Mbps mode), while the -100 
has firewire-200. (Yes, firewire has slower modes; devices negotiate the 
slower speed.) And that's actually GOOD: DV has a bandwidth of just about 
30Mbps, so either speed is plenty fast enough. But Firewire-100 lets you 
run a firewire cable much farther than -200; I've got mine running >50ft 
halfway around a big room (from my computers to my AV system, where the 
ADVC sits with really short S-VGA cables). At firewire-200, that would be 
out of spec. (At firewire-400, you'd be limited to 15 feet max.)

Single and only peeve: the ADVC-110 has a button that switches it between 
A->D and D->A operation. (There's enough sockets-of-every-kind on the thing 
that you can leave both inputs and outputs attached permanently. Handy.) 
For some reason, when you capture DV with iMovie and you *stop* capturing, 
the ADVC-110 notices and switches from A->D to D->A operation. You have to 
press the button to switch it back before resuming capture. (Which, for me, 
means walking across the room. :-) Still, I consider that a very mild 
annoyance. Doesn't happen to Final Cut Pro, just iMovie. Weird.

So, I can recommend the Canopus ADVC-110. I can't say for sure whether the 
DAC-100 would be even better. I know that a year ago, after two weeks of 
research, I didn't think so. :-)

Cheers
  -- perry
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Perry The Cynic                                             perry at cynic.org
To a blind optimist, an optimistic realist must seem like an Accursed Cynic.
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