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| Review: Miglia Director's Cut Take 2 |
| You have so-called legacy footage on analogue tape formats like VHS, S-VHS, Video-8 and Hi-8 that you want to get onto DV or DVD but don't wish to use a camcorder. Here's Miglia's AV-DV solution. |
 From 2001, and for a couple of years, the infamous Canopus ADVC-100 was a firm favourite among users of analogue video formats such as VHS, S-VHS, Video8, Hi8, Betcam-SP, and so on who wish to convert their footage to digital and input it to a computer via FireWire for editing and onward export. In our own review at the time, we stated that the ADVC-100 was a very, very good product and "the best of the bunch". In our subjective tests it beat the major competition hands down thanks to a superior quality Digital Signal Processor (DSP) chipset from market-leader Canopus Corporation, known for high quality conversion. It wasn't long after seeing the now-discontinued ADVC-100 that we received the Miglia product for review.
UK company Miglia Technology came up with an impressive array of products designed to make life easier for desktop video editors. The most notable of these is the Director's Cut Take 2 unit, which is designed to facilate conversion from analogue to digital and back in digital video applications where analogue assets - footage shot on Video 8, Hi-8, VHS, S-VHS, Betacam, Betacam-SP, 3/4" U-Matic, etc., - can be converted to a DV datastream and fed to an editing or recording device via IEEE1394 FireWire connection.
Stylish appearance
The Director's Cut (top right) is attractively designed, even if somewhat larger than the Canopus, product that sits well on top of a PC tower or desktop. Its sleek design is now standard for other products in a Miglia range that now includes its MediaBank external disk storage systems. Unlike the Canopus, whose connection sockets appear on both the front and rear of the unit, the connections to the Director's Cut are all made on the rear, with the front panel reserved for the Power On button, the Input/Output selector and the input video standard selector (NTSC or PAL). In practice, only the AC Power On switch will be used on a day-to-day basis, as the unit has the ability to intelligently control the other functions automatically.
The unit is considerably larger than the ADVC-100 (pictured with the Miglia, below), it has to be said. However, it does mean that all cables run to the rear and after permanent connection to input and output devices the unit can be left alone to get on with the job. This is not the case with the Canopus, whose front and rear connections are rather more difficult to accomodate on a shelf or PC tower due to the obtrusive cabling. Like the Canopus, connections can be made on a once-only basis, with a built-in priority status check being made when in use. This is doubly useful, as it negates the need to be connecting and disconnecting according to the job in hand.
 Inputs and Outputs
The Director's Cut provides for one set of analogue inputs and two sets of analogue outputs in addition to the single bi-directional IEEE1394 6-pin FireWire socket. The latter differs from the ADVC-100's dual FireWire sockets, a 4-pin connector on the front panel and a 6-pin socket on the rear. Canopus users have found this a useful aid to fast and easy connection of a camcorder to a computer without having to fumble for a computer's FireWire card on the back of a computer, and Miglia would do well to note this useful facility. Each input and output connection provides for either RCA Phono plugs (Composite Video, L and R stereo audio and S-Video) in each case, and the unit will automatically detect which is connected and process accordingly. The provision of two output socket sets is very useful, and facilitates the connection of a VHS or other analogue recorder in addition to an external TV monitor. It's also useful for making two simultaneous VHS copies after editing. A triple-phono-to-SCART connector is included in the kit for TV monitor connection as well as a 3-way phono-set and S-Video cable are provided, in addition to a 6-pin to a one metre 6-pin FireWire cable.
Getting Connected 1: Apple Mac
We fed the Miglia DCT2 composite video and audio outputs from a Nicam Stereo VHS machine using the Yellow, White and Red cable set provided. The output from the Miglia was sent to an Apple Mac G4 via the 6-pin FireWire cable (also provided). iMovie was used for capture and editing. Pressing the Play icon in the program's Preview window brought up the tell-tale blue standby screen of the Sony. Clicking Record enabled us to capture immediately, with a new clip icon being added to the capture shelf as the tape started to roll. On clicking the stop button and flipping the function button to "edit", the Director's Cut automatically followed the change of function and switched to show the timeline's output on the TV monitor. We were instantly impressed at how the input/output status light on the front panel reflected this change of mode. Playing back quickly edited material direct from iMovie's timeline displayed picture and sound quality that was indistinguishable from the practice of connecting the camcorder directly to the monitor and playing back analogue footage.
Getting Connected 2: Windows XP PC
Connection to a Sony Vaio PC running Windows XP SP2 via 6-pin FireWire produced equivalent results to the Mac. For the purposes of evaluation, we were careful to capture an identical sequence from a single camcorder using each of the two converters. The test video sequence features a jet-ski event in which the action is fast, ever-changing and visually demanding. As a test for an analogue converter it is an excellent choice of material, and was therefore chosen as the basis for comparison here. The quality of capture exceeded our expectations (see below).
No external power supply required
One significant advantage of the Miglia unit over the Canopus is that no external power supply is required to operate the unit, as it draws its power direct from the host computer's FireWire bus. This is something the unit shares with the Formac Studio A-D converter, and one which could be seen as sadly lacking on the Canopus. Should the unit be required as a means of providing in-line conversion in situations where it is not connected to a computer (such as feeding a live vision mixer with analogue signals from a FireWire source) then an optional AC Power Supply can be obtained.
Conclusion
We are very impressed with the Miglia Director's Cut. With the standard having been set by Canopus for several months (at the time of review) we were very surprised to find that the Miglia came up to standard and - in some cases - actually exceeds it. The Director's Cut does everything intended of it and more, and we're confident that it will establish a strong foothold in this growing market. Although slightly more expensive than the Canopus, the Director's Cut provides excellent value and won't disappoint those wishing to bring their analogue legacy footage into the digital world. Highly recommend.
Footnote: We were so impressed with the product here at SimplyDV Towers that we even bought one!
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| Points for: |
Stylish, robust design, all connections rear-mounted, compehensive connectiviy, excellent quality conversion in both directions. |
| Points against: |
Nothing worth mentioning
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| Conclusion: |
Excellent unit, does everything promised of it, great value. |
| Rating 1-5: |
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| More Information: |
www.miglia.com
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