Wednesday, June 8, 2005
Pyro A/V Link from ADS Technologies
Posted by Jason Dunn in "HARDWARE" @ 01:00 PM
The premise of the Pyro A/V Link is simple: provide a multitude of input and output ports, enough to satisfy almost any combination. One of the most popular tasks people are now doing is moving video from VHS tapes to a digital format, and the A/V Link is more than up to the task. The back of the unit includes, from left to right: 6-pin Firewire, composite audio output, composite video output, S-Video output, and component output. It would have been great to have an optical audio out port here, but in most cases the quality of the input wouldn't warrant it. And speaking of inputs, on the front we have S-Video, component video/audio, and Firewire.
Using the Pyro A/V is quite simple: I connected my VCR to the front composite ports, and ran the Firewire cable out the back into the port on my PC. My video editing app saw the video source and after I press play on the VCR I was able to capture the video without a problem. The quality was decent (VHS doesn't have a lot of quality to begin with) and it worked without a fuss capturing video at 720 x 480 and 30 fps. When I tried to go from my Firewire camera to my VCR, using the Pyro A/V Link as the intermediary, things were more complex. No matter what I tried (there are jumpers on the back to alter the settings), I was unable to get more than squiggly lines on the receiving end. I ended up just connecting my camera to the VCR directly, which is what most of us would do anyway. The box does promise the ability to go from a MiniDV camera to a VCR, so it fails to impress on that count. Even after exchanging a few emails with tech support, I was unable to get it to work - it was likely some sort of obscure incompatibility between my Canon GL2 video camera and the A/V Link.
The bundle I have included Ulead's Video Studio 7 SE software, which I didn't bother to install because I found it a poor tool in the past. Also included are composite cables and both 6-pin and 4-pin Firewire cables. The latest bundle of the Pyro A/V Link now includes Premiere Elements instead of the Ulead software, which is a much better package. In fact, given that Premiere Elements costs around $90, this bundle is a good way to get the software and a useful piece of hardware to boot. It's worth noting that the Pyro A/V Link is also compatible with Macs, though there's no Mac-compatible software included. You can get it for as low as $149, though you'll want to make sure the version you get is the latest which includes Premiere Elements.
Using the Pyro A/V is quite simple: I connected my VCR to the front composite ports, and ran the Firewire cable out the back into the port on my PC. My video editing app saw the video source and after I press play on the VCR I was able to capture the video without a problem. The quality was decent (VHS doesn't have a lot of quality to begin with) and it worked without a fuss capturing video at 720 x 480 and 30 fps. When I tried to go from my Firewire camera to my VCR, using the Pyro A/V Link as the intermediary, things were more complex. No matter what I tried (there are jumpers on the back to alter the settings), I was unable to get more than squiggly lines on the receiving end. I ended up just connecting my camera to the VCR directly, which is what most of us would do anyway. The box does promise the ability to go from a MiniDV camera to a VCR, so it fails to impress on that count. Even after exchanging a few emails with tech support, I was unable to get it to work - it was likely some sort of obscure incompatibility between my Canon GL2 video camera and the A/V Link.
The bundle I have included Ulead's Video Studio 7 SE software, which I didn't bother to install because I found it a poor tool in the past. Also included are composite cables and both 6-pin and 4-pin Firewire cables. The latest bundle of the Pyro A/V Link now includes Premiere Elements instead of the Ulead software, which is a much better package. In fact, given that Premiere Elements costs around $90, this bundle is a good way to get the software and a useful piece of hardware to boot. It's worth noting that the Pyro A/V Link is also compatible with Macs, though there's no Mac-compatible software included. You can get it for as low as $149, though you'll want to make sure the version you get is the latest which includes Premiere Elements.
