Plextor's Convert X

[Nocturnal]

Can one take video off a Time Warner DVR box and use the Convert X hardware device to encode the video to DVD format and burn it? Or would I have to hack the DVR in order to get it to work (not planning on doing this).

 

[Booty]

I'm just wondering if this is a good solution for a home user who wants to convert all their VHS home videos to DVD. They already have the DVD burner. I'm just wondering if we should go with this versus some type of video capture card/device. I guess the main concern is that the software be extremely simple... just click and go. Is this the cheapest/easiest solution, or would there be a better way to do it?

 

[JimRaynor]

I tried this thing out and I can say from experience that it pretty much sucks. The software that it comes with is very buggy and from using the interface you can tell that it is poorly made. The problem is that the convertx only works with this crappy proprietary software. IMO you would be much better off with an AIW card or some kind of capture card. Stay away from the convertx.

 

[Booty]

That bad, huh? That's disappointing...

 

[Grit]

Originally posted by: JimRaynor
I tried this thing out and I can say from experience that it pretty much sucks. The software that it comes with is very buggy and from using the interface you can tell that it is poorly made. The problem is that the convertx only works with this crappy proprietary software. IMO you would be much better off with an AIW card or some kind of capture card. Stay away from the convertx.

Ditto to the above quote. Got my ConvertX last week... it's going back this week.

ATI TV Wonder Pro w/remote - software locked up requiring soft reboot

Plextor ConvertX - produced a "stair-stepping" appearance in captured video at highest quality when the camera pans. Creates extra frames when scenes switch where you can see both images; results in annoying flicker each time scene switches.

ADS USB 2.0 DVD - They bundled the wrong software, resulting in the capture software not functioning. Update from the website was corrupt. When I finally got it running, it crashed after 4+ min of video capture.

Pinnicle USB Moviebox - Finally, movie capture seems to work well with smooth playback. I'm not as pleased with the software, Studio 8.0. It seems to function fine, but it's not nearly as user-friendly and seems to have less features as others (Ulead, DVD Producer, WinDVD Creator). In all fairness, I did not read the manual in depth, and I spent most of my time doing capture & burn. The render/burn process seems to take more time than other software, but I always seem to get better results with Studio.

Good luck, and hope this helps.

PS - Here's some reviews, for what they're worth.

http://www.video-editing-software-review.com/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1206569,00.asp