Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U
Analog-to-Digital Converter
Plextor is best known as a manufacturer of high-quality internal and external CD/DVD burners. Plextor typically leads the pack when it comes to issuing the next generation of fast burners, and its products are renown for their wide compatibility and high reliability.
In the last year, Plextor has endeavored to expand its market by introducing a range of digital video solutions. One such product is the ConvertX PX-M402U ($159), an inexpensive analog-to-digital video converter.
The defining feature of this converter is its onboard, hardware-based encoding for compressing the video directly to one of several popular file formats. This allows the real-time conversion of analog video into a format than can be used directly in DVD, VCD or other delivery-oriented projects without any additional time-consuming processing.
Features
The trade paperback book-sized ConvertX is housed in a sleek perforated aluminum case with a Plexiglas front panel. The unit is powered by an included 9-Volt DC wall adapter; also included in the package is a set of RCA cables and a USB cable.
The hardware conversion in the ConvertX supports direct encoding to the MPEG-1 (VCD), MPEG-2 (DVD), MPEG-4 and DivX file formats. NTSC and PAL/SECAM standards are supported, as are several different resolution sizes and bit rates for each output file format.
To maintain maximum throughput for high-qualityMPEG-2 video-plus-audio capture, the Plextor ConvertX requires the use of a USB 2.0 connection. Though it rumored to work at lower-quality capture settings, Plextor does not support USB 1.1 on the ConvertX.
Apart from the power and USB jacks, the only other connectors on the ConvertX are the front-panel audio/video inputs. These consist of a S-Video input, and the familiar yellow, white and red RCA connectors for composite video and stereo audio input. There are two LED indicators on the front panel: one to indicate power status and the other to indicate record status.
The ConvertX PX-M402U is compatible with computers running Windows 2000 or XP. Minimum system requirements are a Pentium III 800 MHz CPU (though a Pentium IV 1.6 or above is suggested), 256 MB of RAM, a graphics card with 24-bit resolution and Direct-X support, a sound card that supports 48 kHz playback, USB 2.0 interface and, of course, a CD or DVD burner. In short, ConvertX should work just fine with most PC desktop and laptop computers made in the last two years.
The retail package comes bundled with InterVideo's WinDVD Creator 2 and WinDVD 5 DVD player. An additional streamlined capture utility called GoCap is available on the Plextor website.
Using the GoCap application, the ConvertX can capture to the aforementioned output file formats in 720x480, 640x480, 480x480, 352x480 and 320x240 resolutions. When capturing to the MPEG-4 format, a drop down box allows you further specify DivX or Microsoft compatibility.
In Use
While consumer-oriented, "capture your home movies"-type products do not usually garner much interest for professional use, the fact that the Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U had hardware compression caught my eye.
As advertised, the ConvertX can capture any composite or S-Video source (live or otherwise) and render it in real time to a number of delivery-oriented formats. It is also able to simultaneously write the output video stream to an internal or external DVD burner.
For routine archiving and transferring duties, the ConvertX is a $159 ($140 street) dream come true. The cost of the unit can be made up in the first one or two hours you don't spend converting captured analog video to a delivery format.
As mentioned earlier, the ConvertX can capture and compress to MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and DivX file formats. For each of these formats, various capture options are available, depending on which application is used.
It appears that the only supported capture applications are the included WinDVD Creator 2 software and the downloadable Plextor GoCap utility. Though I was surprised to be able to bring up the ConvertX device (and its setting options) in other video applications, an error was produced upon capture start. The error was not unexpected, however, since the ConvertX is streaming compressed video.
The GoCap utility is a bare bones yet well-designed little app that presents the capture settings and formats in an intuitive and straightforward manner. For most uses, I recommend using this utility. Here, you can quickly name the target file, set the appropriate video input, video standard, compression format, frame rate, resolution and the target and maximum bit rates. The live video stream can be monitored, and capture is initiated to by hitting (what else?) the big red record button.
Delving into WinDVD Creator's wizard-and-icon driven interface is only necessary when you want the ConvertX to perform a few special tricks above and beyond its hardware encoding features.
For instance, WinDVD Creatoris required to write the incoming stream directly to a DVD. Basic start/end frame trim functions (with visual feedback) are also easily accomplished on any of the compressed file formats – a very useful function for quickly tightening up newly captured or existing compressed MPEG or DivX files you may have.
WinDVD Creatoralso affords some simple creative adjustments for affecting the incoming video. Sliders are provided for adjusting brightness, contrast, hue, saturation and sharpness – with live feedback of the adjustments shown in the integrated preview window.
The capture can be set to automatically end after a selectable period of time (in minutes), and can also be set to terminate capture upon "bad" video. In my tests, bad video meant when it encounters a break in the continuous video track (i.e., unrecorded tape). This last feature proved to be very useful for effecting the timely end of unattended archival transfers.
WinDVD Creatoralso provides more audio encoding options than GoCap, allowing captured audio to be directly encoded to PCM, MPEG or even two-channel Dolby Digital (using its built-in software encoder). The program also functions as a basic DVD authoring program, though it is more useful by far for its ability to edit already-compressed file formats and record live captures directly to DVD.
In rudimentary quality comparison tests, the ConvertX performed extremely well, exceeding my expectations for a device at this price point. In general, discrete color separation and sharpness were excellent. In almost all of the test cases, however, the overall brightness was slightly diminished. The result was a bit more dulled picture when compared to the source test files (from a DVD test disk).
Though it is true that the source had to go from digital to analog (DVD player S-Video out) before inputting into the ConvertX, I encountered the same result using two different DVD players. The difference was far less noticeable on typical material captured from analog tape sources. In most cases, I was able to compensate for the disparity using WinDVD Creator's brightness control. In other cases, I was able to markedly improve upon the quality of sub-standard video sources using the full range of controls available in the software.
Summary
While it is easy to dismiss such a low-priced item as the Plextor PX-M402U for professional use, it only takes a few hours of playing with the ConvertX and included software to realize its many potential uses.
In my shop, this little wonder has paid for itself several times over for the many hours it has already saved me not going through the mind-numbing capture-edit-convert-and-burn routine to make archival DVDs of the countless VHS, SVHS, Hi-8 and standard 8mm tapes piled everywhere.
Enterprising engineers could easily put the ConvertX to a variety of uses (simultaneous live-to-web use using DivX, for instance), or use it simply for that which it is marketed – transferring home movies to discs.
Stephen Murphy, contributing editor of Pro Audio Review magazine, has over 20 years experience in audio/visual and broadcast production. He can be reached at www.smurphco.com.
Key Features:
Analog-to-digital video and audio converter; real time hardware encoding to MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and DivX file formats; real time capture-to-DVD writer; composite and S-Video inputs; USB 2.0 interface; WinDVD Creatorand player software; 1-year warranty.
Price: $159
Contact: www.plextor.com