Canopus ADVC-1394 review

There are a number of ways to convert analogue video to the DV Stream format that can be captured by iMovie and Final Cut Pro.

However, most of these involve an external box that connects to your Mac via FireWire and adds to your desk's clutter. To get around this, Canopus has released the ADVC-1394 PCI card.

The ADVC-1394 slots into any available PCI socket on your Mac and provides a number of input ports. There are two FireWire ports (one six-pin and one four-pin), two RCA-style audio ports, and an S-Video socket. The card also comes with a cable to convert an RCA-style video connection to an S-Video connector.

Inserting the card is simple, and after it was connected with an analogue video source attached, we were able to launch iMovie and start capturing footage immediately. There are no drivers needed, and, if you can install PCI cards, no documentation either. The card also provides you with an extra FireWire port.

In our tests it worked flawlessly. When there was a video source connected to the analogue inputs, iMovie recognised it as 'camera connected'. When we disconnected the analogue source and connected a DV camera to either a FireWire port on our Mac or on the card, quitting and restarting iMovie allowed it to recognise that as the video source.

Despite its simplicity, and the fact that it works well with both iMovie and Final Cut Pro, the ADVC-1394 is definitely geared towards PCs. All the supplied software, for editing footage and converting it to other formats, such as MPEG-2, is PC software. PC users also have the option of a drive bay facia, which connects to the PCI card and is fitted into a spare 5.25in drive bay.

Despite this, the Canopus ADVC-1394 is a very useful Mac accessory. We were impressed with the quality of the output, and this, together with its competitive price, could make it the ideal converter.