Capture Those Fading Memories!
by Gary Woods

I recently got a new computer with 2 huge hard drives so that I could play with Digital Video. To start my trek into DVI Land I got the Turtle Beach Video Advantage USB. This device connects to your computer via USB 2.0 which also supplies power to the unit. In operation it captures and transmits raw video to the computer, which is converted to DV format by the host CPU of your computer. The Video Advantage can capture S-Video, composite video, and stereo audio, and the cool part is that Turtle Beach includes all the necessary cables.

To capture Digital Video you have to use Turtle Beach's own AD-FullCap program, which is unnecessarily technical. Documentation is good however, so most users should be able to make the Analog to Digital transfers smoothly. You can also capture in MPEG-2 format with the bundled CyberLink Power-Director, which happily uses presets for call capture formats.

Other software bundled with Video Advantage includes PowerProducer Express a CD/DVD Burning program which allows you to create a simple DVD from a collection of photos and videos. Also it can edit a rewritable disc to add video without having to erase the full disc of burn a new one.

For sound they've included AudioSurgeon which allows you to edit digital audio files, record your own sounds, view sound as a graphical waveform and add sound effects.

Video Advantage is a very complete package, check it out!

If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910