ADS Simplifies Migration To DVD, VCD Technology

Moving video to DVD technology traditionally has been a multistep process involving capturing the original video, encoding the video and burning the video to optical media. ADS simplifies the process by allowing capture and burn to occur in one step.

CRN Test Center engineers installed USB Instant DVD on a white-box system running Microsoft Windows XP Professional. The white-box system was configured with an Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz processor, 512 Mbytes of RAM and a CENDyne DVR104 DVD RW optical drive.

Installation of USB Instant DVD consisted of little more than plugging the unit into an available USB port and installing the included drivers. The device is designed to operate with USB 1.1. Test Center engineers confirmed ADS' claim that USB 1.1 provides sufficient bandwidth for high-quality video capture.

ADS, Cerritos, Calif., bundles several software packages with the unit, which provide a bevy of features for capturing and burning video. Users looking to quickly create DVDs will appreciate the inclusion of a full version of MyDVD V3.5, which allows for one-step creation of DVDs from any compatible device connected to the USB Instant DVD hardware.

Test Center Engineers used MyDVD V3.5 and USB Instant DVD to create both DVD-R disks and CD-RW-based VCDs. Video was captured from both a VHS-C camcorder and a VHS video player.

Test Center engineers found the video quality of the created disks matched that of the original media, but playback on a DVD player showed a few unexpected pauses and occasional loss of video and audio synchronization. Fine-tuning of the capture settings should eliminate those problems. Users will find MyDVD V3.5 easy to use.

ADS includes its own capture wizard software, which offers a quick, intuitive way to capture video from an external source. Users will be well-served by the simplicity offered by the capture wizard.

Other bundled software includes Ulead Video Studio 6, which creates special effects and transitions during video editing. Test Center engineers found Video Studio 6 somewhat cumbersome, but the product's feature set outweighs any initial difficulties encountered. Video Studio 6 offers several tools that will meet most anyone's need for authoring a DVD.

All things considered, USB Instant DVD does a fine job of providing all the necessary elements to quickly create DVDs and capture video. Pricing is $199.