video capture and editing devices

I had great hopes for the Plextor PX-M402U Digital Video Converter - after all, I have three Plextor CD and DVD burners that still work flawlessly. Unfortunately, the only software that works with this device is InterVideo WinDVD Creator. When I open this software and try to do anything, I receive the fatal message "Windows has encountered an error and needs to shut down. Send error report" After sending the error report, there are no suggestions whatsoever, just back to the desktop!

I emailed both Plextor and InterVideo. No response from InterVideo after 3 days, and Plextor sent me a troubleshooting document. My PC is a P4, 2.0Ghz, Windows XP sp1 with all critical updates loaded, Direct X 9.0b, and I downloaded both the latest driver from Plextor and the software patch from InterVideo. Now, after all this, I still get the same exact error message! This one's going back.

I'm looking into the ADS Tech Instant DVD 2.0 or the Canopus ADVC-100 as alternatives, though neither offer DivX. The ADS Tech is bundled with more "robust" software, and the Canopus is a hardware-only device that requires all compression be done with the software. In my opinion, digital video conversion is not quite ready for prime time - maybe I'll just wait!

I had great expectations for this product, but am highly disappointed. After creating a few test videos which would not play, I contacted Tech Support. I was quite surprised they did not guarantee MPEG output compatibility with any software except the WinDVD player that came with the unit.

It's hitting the trash can....

After four days with this unit, I have to say that I feel like a beta tester. Yes, the hardware works. But the software support is so buggy, feature-deprived and aggravating that the unit is unusable.

In transferring a video tape, the audio and video were massively out of synch. WinDVD Creator pops out of record mode at the smallest glitch in the tape. Yes, I searched the registry and changed the value of "Warn when no video" to zero. The next time I booted, the value was back to 1.

This would not be a problem if I could use the unit with my Pinnacle Studio 8 software, but the Plextor driver is so unlike any other capture hardware's driver that other programs 1) do not even recognize it or 2) crash when the Plextor device is selected.

WinDVD Creator is unstable, buggy, and lacking even basic features. One cannot add a fade-out to the end of a file! They are only allowed between clips!

Who woulda thunk a Plextor product could be bad??

This has been a very disappointing experience for me. I hope Plextor reworks the driver and make it compatible with real-world video editing programs. Vegas? Pinnacle? Sonic? Adobe?