Capture Video Easily With ADS Tech's DVD Xpress

[Neil Enns]

<img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_july4_dvdxpress.jpg" /><br /><br />For those who can't be bothered with the hassle of buying a video capture card and installing it in your computer, ADS Tech has a product designed for you. The DVD Xpress is a magical little box that you connect to your video source (VHS/Tivo/whatever) and then plug into a free USB port on your computer. A quick software installation later and you're ready to capture video.<br /><br />It took me a long time to getting around to play with the DVD Xpress, and I wish I'd done it sooner. This little box is great! While geared towards people who want to convert old VHS home movies to DVD (there's a "direct to DVD" feature in the included software), it's a fantastic way to save content from my DirecTivo. From old episodes of Match Game to incredible beats on the World Poker Tour, this box makes capturing the video dead simple. I plug it into my wife's laptop, whack the record button in the software, and start the show playing on the TiVo. Couldn't be easier!<br /><br />The DVD Xpress can capture from either S-VHS or Composite Video. I've had the best luck with composite, as the audio seemed to skip a bit when using S-VHS. Other than that, no complaints at all. You can find more information at <a href="http://www.adstech.com/products/USBAV_701/intro/usb701intro.asp?pid=USBAV701">ADS Tech</a>, or order one for $79 from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009YUPS/thoughtsmedia-20/">Amazon.com</a>. Highly recommended!

[craigf]

It does what it says -- mostly. I managed to rip several of our aging (and irreplaceable) commercial VHS tapes to MPEG-2 with reasonable quality (although I'd forgotten how crappy regular VCR output is). I was unable to get the DVDXpress to cooperate on a tape with multiple breaks between segments (you know, those short periods of static between content). The stream into my computer via USB2.0 would hang every time the static started and I'd have to close down the app that came with the DVDXpress and start over. Eventually I gave up and used the VIVO function of a new video card I got -- that worked like a champ and IMO produced a better quality rip.

The advantage this has is that it's portable and you can use it on multiple systems. The cons are that the included software is mediocre at best and that the signal falls apart on low-quality content. I'd still look for other solutions, especially a VIVO-equipped video card if you don't need portability.