Adaptec FireConnect 2100

Advantages: Yamaha, reliability, tech support, speed - on a PC!
Disadvantages: Speed on a MAC, noisy when reading CD's

...I pruchased the Yamaha CDRW-2100SX, a 40x read, 10x re-write and 16x write external Scsi about 1 months ago. Since then I have burned 400CD's. This writer is called Lightspeed, due to its revolutionary 16x writing capabilities. My previous experience was with a Yamaha CDR a 4100 external Scsi which I had for 5 years. It was developing some problems, but had performed flawlessly, so I decided to purchase Yamaha again. I have tested this cd writer both on my MAC G4 400mhz with Adaptec Scsi card, and on my PC Intel 866mhz with similar Adaptec Scsi card. Using Toast on my Mac and Nero on my PC as burning software. I have been fairly unsuccessful in burning 16x on my mac, I keep getting the error buffer underrun, though my harddisk is defragemented before I attempt to burn. However with my PC I am able to burn 16x no problem plus overburn... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Works well out of box; captures video as MPEG-2 flawlessly
Disadvantages: Stopped working after a Microsoft update - Adaptec will not offer free fix.

...Product served me well for transferring several piles of VHS tapes to my Media Center 2005 machine. Then - Microsoft came out with some software update and product only works for a limited time. Pause it while recording and the PC freezes. restart the PC and it no longer detects the device. Remove device - uninstall drivers and uninstalling WinDVR 3 all temporary fixes - problem reoccurs. Doing the C++ registry hack worked very limited, now does not. Adaptec - with this known problem - can not even be contacted outside of their "pay" support. Adaptec has not updated their searchable database with the "fix" - they apparently demand their customers to pay them before they assist. A sad state of affairs within a once-great company. Shame on you, Adaptec!... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Portable Device,Good for small time duration capturing
Disadvantages: To convert 30 minutes of captured video it takes around two hours

...It Captures the Video in real time mode but drops number of frames.So you donot get the smooth motion of a scene. Same result is observed in the video cd. The manufacturer has set the time limit for capturing to only 600 seconds. After that audio & video goes out of sync The software(sonic My DVD is supplied with the unit is also not user friendly.It is very slow. One major drawback is in preview mode, the source sound gets muted.It becomes difficult to recognise the scene.In video editing mode,after trimming unwanted footege,the audio video synchronisation goes totally out.The resulting vcd projet has very poor quality with lot of pauses and choppy movements.Very Furstrating.other capture devices has got far better quality than this Adaptec AVC-1100.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful