Computer Times
May 2006

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Review by: Angie Kibiloski

Instant DVD + MP3 (Retail $229), from ADS Tech, is a similar product to the DVD Express, from the same company, that won the Computer Times Editor's Choice last year, but with more capabilities. Not only does this product allow you to capture and convert your video from your camcorders and television/VCR sets, but also provides you with a means to convert your old audio cassette tapes and LPs to MP3 or WAV files. With the capture device, cable assortment and capture/edit software, you can convert, edit, and preserve all of your audio and visual media, from any source.

Capturing data is easy. Just load in the Capture Wizard software that comes with the device, hook the device up to your tape deck, television, DVD player, or whatever other playback device you want as your source, hit Play and Record, and there you have it. Your music or videos are on their way to being stored on your computer, ready for editing, viewing, or burning to CD/DVD.

There are a couple different ways that you can capture your data in Capture Wizard. First and foremost, you choose which format you will be recording, for CD or for DVD, and what quality you wish the file to be. When you begin to record, you can either press Record, and let the device capture continuously until the end of the movie/record/etc, or you can edit while you record. This means, you can Pause and Record several times during playback, and avoid recording the chunks of information from the original source that will be unwanted in the final copy. This method will save time in the editing studio, and also allow you to have several bundles of recorded information in the same file, rather than stopping and starting the recording, and having multiple files to work with.

If you just want to play back your converted files without editing further, you can either view them on your computer, play them back on your television, or record directly through your VCR or DVD burner. If you wish to edit your audio or video, you can use the included software packages, or a seperate editing package that you prefer. Bundled in the Instant DVD + MP3 box, are Video Studio 9, from ULead, and SoundTrax and Wave Editor from Nero, both of which should suit your basic personal recording needs. These applications allow you to chop, splice, tweak, and perfect all of your audio and video files, and ready them for final viewing and preservation.

I enjoyed using ADS Tech's DVD Express, and awarding it the Editor's Choice last year, but the Instant DVD + MP3 allowed me the chance to convert media from even more sources. Finally, I was able to preserve all of my old tapes and record albums that had begun to deteriorate. Instant DVD +MP3 is easy to use, and definitely a product that you must own, for all of your audio/video capturing and conversion needs.

• Intel® Pentium® III 1GHz or higher or AMD Athlon/Duron CPU
• Microsoft ® Windows® 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP
• 256MB of RAM
• 1.2GB of available hard drive space for program installation
• 4 GB hard drive space for video capture and editing
• Windows® compatible display with at least 1024 x 768 resolution
• Windows® compatible mouse or pointing device
• Windows® compatible sound card
• Available USB 2.0 Port
• CD-Rom drive for software install
• CD-RW or DVD-Recordable drive required for saving movies onto CD or DVD

• 2-channel AC3 hardware encoding
• 16:9 capture from video devices and DV camcorders
• Manipulate audio record and playback levels
• Record audio at up to 16 bit 48 kHz
• Capture Audio Only into MP3 or WAV formats
• Capture directly to DivX Video format
• Capture from any analog or digital video source: VCR, DVD Player or DV Camcorder via RCA (Composite), S-Video or DV
• USB 2.0 connection to the PC, backward compatible to USB 1.1
• Capture audio and video via the USB port with "Audio-Lock" technology for perfect lip synch
• Use temporal and spatial video pre-processing filters to help remove noise from old VHS tapes
• Supports MPEG1 Layer 2 or AC-3 (2-channel) compressed Audio
• Capture video in MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video formats including VCD, SVCD and DVD format
• Capture DVD video format at video bit rates from 2Mb/sec. up to 15 Mb/sec.
• 9 bit video digitizer with 2x oversampling and 4 line comb filter
• Brightness, Contrast, Chroma, Saturation, Sharpness and Hue controls
• Capture and burn to disc in one simple step
• Preview edited videos on TV before burning to disc
• Export edited video to VCR for recording to tape
• Capture Audio from any analog audio source into MP3 and WAVE formats
• Capture Wizard Software
• Ulead Video Studio 9 SE DVD Software
• Nero SoundTrax and Wave Editor Software

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