ADS Technologies USB INSTANT DVD PC ONLY CAPTURE VIDEO IN DVD (ADS Technologies-USBAV700)

• Reviewed by: drice76436

  Strengths: It captures in DVD format, and has all the software needed to edit and create DVD's. Plus all the wires to connect are included. ADS Support is great, always releasing new versions to fix problems.

  Weaknesses: You need a good enough system to capture video.

  Overall: I have a Pentium 4 with 512 ram and 1.8mhz speed. I have an extra 120 G hard drive and a external DVD burner. This unit works great, it captures in DVD format and the editing software is wonderful. I do like Ulead VS6, but now they have VS7, which is even better. I have made a couple DVD's. It is much easier to just use a panasonic DVD recorder, but the this allows editing. I did have some problems with an older and less powerful PC, but once I upgraded, I had no problems.

• Reviewed by: Multimedia-N-More

  Strengths: Captures great quality video, Total hardware and software solution!

  Weaknesses: A lot of cables, but at least they were provided

  Overall: After beating my head into a wall with other solutions, the Instant DVD was a sight for sore eyes. It offered a total solution that actually worked out of the box, without forcing you to "remux" your audio...whatever that means.

• Reviewed by: rachelsample

  Strengths: Cost

  Weaknesses: Operation out of the box weak; misleading details and extra software required to make product do what it promises to do; connections limited

  Overall: The product promises to be a hassle free jaunt into DVD and video CD creation. If you get the product to actually be recognized, you will soon learn that extra software is needed to do everything that is promised. Also, the limitations of inputs make this box seem ultracheap. Do yourself a favor and wait for the next generation of this product.

• Reviewed by: f117b2

  Strengths: Cheap price. bundled software.

  Weaknesses: It is very difficult to get it work. The application is too easy to crash.

  Overall: I bought this thing 1 1/2 months ago. At the beginning I was disappointment about it. I love it now. I guess the company (ADS) just tried to rush out the product to take some market shares without doing good job on testing. This thing does not work with On board video. I found out with my 3 PCs but do not know why. Check you hard disk speed. 1) 5400/7200 rpm? 2) If the HD support Ultra 66/100? You might get a problem like that it seems to you the ADS captured both V/A. But when it is done. You checked the file, it is 0 byte. I believed this is caused by the slow speed of HD. One of my HDs is 7200 rpm with Ultra 66 controller. It works fine. For sound sync problem. You can try the following - Playback setting: Mark Line In from the drop down menu. Do not mark Selected of the Line In Balance in the Volume Control window. Recording setting: Mark Line In from the drop down menu. Mark Selected of the Line In Balance in the Recording Control window. Overall, this is good stuff if you know how to deal with it. All my experiences are based on the (P3/600 w/256 MB Ram, 32 MB Video card, 7200rpm HD w/Ultra66), (P3/650 w/256 MB Ram, on board 8 MB video, 5400rpm HD), and (AMD K6 2 w/128 MB Ram, 8 MB video, 5400 rpm HD). Check out the web site: http://www.vcdhelp.com. You can find any information about the video cd.

• Reviewed by: tdoyle9760

  Strengths: Great paperweigh, but thats about all.

  Weaknesses: Software looks like it would be cool...IF it worked!

  Overall: Ok, So I'm a computer idiot, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't be able to get a simple program to work. That is not the case. The "video Capture drivers" don't seem to be where they should. It takes an act from God to get the little red light to come on...and after all that..I get a blank screen with a nice assortment of error messages. I'm guessing that I'm not the only one. I hope that as little more time is spent in the development and testing stages before the product is released next time. Mine is going back into the box and saved for another day.