ADC V-200x/V-300x: Anyone familiar with it? Would Vidicraft be better?

[Milesdrifter]

Hey every/anyone, I am relatively new to this forum, I had a post concerning my Panny AG-5710 a day or to ago here, but My current question pertains to some older video processors I bought a year or more ago on ebay. They are the ADC Video Shaper V-200x(enhancer) and the V-300x(color corrector). I have gone to the trouble of recapping the 200x and am pleased with the results, at least to the fact that it now seems to not add noise to the picture even in bypass mode like before. These are the first processors I have ever owned, and in my reading through some posts came across one concerning an Archer processor, gave me a small laugh, these being old radio shack equip. So my ques. is: has anyone ever heard of/ used these in the past and what is your opinion concerning them? I have a few Vidicraft boxes I am looking at on ebay, and am wondering if these ADC's amount more to the quality of that old Archer, or are they more in line with the vidicraft? I know, I am working with what I can currently afford, this being composite processors, but should I look at the vidicraft, or stick with what I got, opinions would be greatly appreciated, oh, and for the record, the V-200x includes these options: video level, delay(gives split screen adjustable across the screen) noise reduction, and enhancement. it also has bypass button, and stabilizer on/off( this function I leave off, havent found any tapes it helps yet) Thanks for the time, Milesdrifter

[lordsmurf]

Archer = crap. Absolutely useless for digital conversions. It adds noise. It was hidden in the analog-only era. It's good at extreme color tweaking, but that's about it.

Vidicraft boxes, on the other hand, are quite good, however most of them are composite-only models. Vidicraft is the predecessor to SignVideo, who makes the respect PA-100 and PA-200 model proc amps. The newer SignVideo (and Studio1) gear has s-video available, and tends to work nicely on VHS/S-VHS and Video8/Hi8 tape sources.

Unfortunately, I've not used the ADC units, so you'd have to get an Archer or Vidicraft (or both) and compare. They're all cheaper, under $75, sometimes as low as $35-50 because of the composite-only signal inputs and outputs.

[Milesdrifter]

Yeah, That is why seeing your earlier post on Archer gave me a small laugh I think I have only 1 item that was purchased at radio shack under the Archer brand that I still use, it is a TV antenna pre-amp. Last night I found a few thing things out about these, 1: there are 2 processors on ebay right now, the color corrector, and the audio processors(VSP-400/not V-400x) both for round 50$ I do believe that ADC stands for Acoustic Dynamics Corporation, I found a few service manuals to there audio equipment line, they look like they manufactured some pretty good stuff in the eighties including mixers, equalizers, and I think turntables. Funny thing is, I look on the back of the V-300x I own and it states this: ADC Products Division
dbx
71 Chapel Street
Newton MA 02195 USA

Made In Japan
what is funny is the dbx I dont know if this means that it was manufactured by dbx, or if it holds dbx audio circuitry; but I doubt it, it passes the audio even when unplugged(all 5 ADC proc. I have have this printing on them). I think that back then these pieces may have been pretty far up the food chain, but know prob. fall in behind the Vidicraft, but I would think a lot farther ahead of the Archer, I'll keep ya posted...Milesdrifter

[Milesdrifter]

So far, I can say the ADC V-200x video enhancer does help, this was the line-up in order I had before I gave it an A/B comparison.
Panasonic AG-5710, ADC V-200x, Crystal Vision VPS-1, Sony KV-34HS510 HD TV.

Last night I reprogrammed the TV to skip all but 2 inputs so I could do a quick compare back and forth. The ADC has 2 outputs that are buffered from each other, so I used one too the TV and the other through the VPS-1 then S-video to the TV(the ADC only has composite). The VPS-1 is an adaptive digital 2D comb filter,w/ optional enhancement levels, I didnt like the difference between the two outputs, one looked too digitaly processed(even at level 1 enhance) compared to a more grainy/but truer analog, so I took the VPS-1 out of the equation.

The composite out from the AG-5710 compared to its S-video out going straight to my TV had no effect, to my eyes these appeared to be the same input! I though that was kind of ironic, seeing how there must be around a 6-8 year difference in the technology.(must be the 3D digital adaptive kind, I see a criss/cross checkerboard pattern during high motion scene changes/fast motion between 3 or more converging objects)

My final compare was the S-video going straight from the AG-5710 to the TV compared to the composite out from the 5710 passing through the ADC-composite-TV. This one got me, the signal going through the ADC looked not only slightly enhanced(over-doing the enhancement looks REALLY bad) but had more depth, more I'm gonna call it 3D-ness to it! It made the S-video look pastel in a way, more in the flatness of the over-all picture, not the color. Oh, 2 other things. the V-300x color corrector, when I first got it, added less/no noise, but only in bypass, it has problems.

The V-200x, in any mode added noise when it first got through my door. I not only have recapped the entire board, I added an A/C line filter that it had lacked. It has a linear supply, and a discrete/transistor based circuit design, besides one logic IC. after these upgrades/refit I see no added noise to the picture, unless you crank the enhance knob past about 9:30 position. The Noise reduce knob adds noise though, unless it is cranked at least past halfway position. The V-300x has a Mitsubishi color process. IC that I can not find the datasheet to. I do hope to get this one running as well.

[admin]

Interesting.

It's always an adventure when you test equipment to see where it's strong and weak. And sometimes you end up with devices that are unusable because the overall experience is a downgrade, even if 2-3 features of the device was able to improve the quality.

Even existing equipment has to be tested again and again, because wires age, and the internal hardware ages, which effects image and audio quality. It's really a bit of a battle, at times.

[Milesdrifter]

Yeah, this stuff is habit forming! Someone goes and pulls out there tape collection and finds that they can get WAY better playback than what they remember from something than they did 10-15 years ago, but see, they are one of those "techie" types. They just keep thing, "There is something more I can do, I can get this lookin even better!" And next thing you know you got someone with half of an attic floor covered in VHS cassettes, cables, and odd electronic parts of every nature! I want a Canopus ADVC device, so I can stop recapping this stuff, I have found that that is one of the most boring things to do!
P.S. Q: What devices do the studios use to convert their old backlog of analog tapes? Do they use the Canopus capture boxes as well? Thanks for any insight, Milesdrifter

[kpmedia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milesdrifter

but see, they are one of those "techie" types.

Eh, yes and no. I don't know that a video engineer would too often be called a "techie" these days, as that infers computer use, and most analog video work happens in hardware outside of computers. It takes a different skill set than your average techie.

Quote:

I want a Canopus ADVC device, so I can stop recapping this stuff, I have found that that is one of the most boring things to do!

I'll agree that capturing is boring. The tweaking before and after is the fun part.

Quote:

P.S. Q: What devices do the studios use to convert their old backlog of analog tapes?

SDI capture cards and NLE cards from the likes of Canopus (older, discontinued high-end stuff), Matrox, Aja, Avid, Blackmagic, and a few others. Then there's a ton of appliances to choose from, which don't rely on computers at all. There's a big misunderstanding in the home/consumer community regarding high end professional hardware and workflows.

Quote:

Do they use the Canopus capture boxes as well?

Only the ones that don't know any better, and don't care about quality.

[Milesdrifter]

LOL, yeah, I only got one year in on my electrical engineering degree, and in the radio world I live in mostly, I just call myself a "techie" for now. I got a friend or 2 that I call when the computer stuff starts to drown me. I would buy ya a burger kpmedia for the info on the companies names for the actual studio conversion equipment! I just have been wondering what IC's are used in the Canopus boxes, I seen a mention somewhere about a Phillips chip in the 100 or 110, but I dont seem to be able to find the datasheet on it, makes me think it is a little old. I would love to be able to throw together a capture device that would get these tapes put down in a file like one of those Tascam DV-RA1000 sigma-Delta audio recorders does for sound! I got 4 old Sony PCM processors(puts the digital audio to VHS tape). But you are right, the fun is in the hardware!

P.S. I havent looked at the +/- on the capacitance/inductance issues for analog video cable, but I have converted half of my equipment to F conn. They are 75 ohm and RG6 seems like way better of a proposition for video patch cords! Milesdrifter