Video Projects: ADS DVD Xpress

Here are some results of my borderline-working (but has since died, see below) ADS DVD Xpress capture device. At $100, it is an unbelievable value for archiving VHS tapes. Unfortunately, mine poops out when hot.

At first I thought the problem was software and / or diver related. I spent literally days removing unused software, updating drivers, and analyzing my BIOS and registry for clues; I tried all of the applicable hints found in the ADS forum. Learned a lot, but I wasn't really seeking out that type of learning experience with this product.

The typical scenario for me is after 20 min or so of capture using Capwiz, the capture gets into a funny state where the green capture light stops flickering and the same short video sequence is displayed (and unfortunately recorded) over and over. If I keep the box powered-up after one of these repeating frame bad captures, I hear intermittent USB connect / disconnect "ba-bump" sounds from Windows, even after I shut down all capture software.

Curious, I removed the DVD Xpress cover and then felt the ICs while it was doing a capture. The two voltage regulators became quite hot, as did the DSP and the Cypress chips. The voltage regulators appear to be affixed to copper areas on the PWB, which may not be adequate in terms of heat dissipation.

The definitive test for me came December 7, 2003 when I placed a small house fan (set to low) over the opened unit, and captured Parker Posey's "Party Girl" at high quality (MPEG2 CBR 9mbs) for ~100 minutes without a hitch!

My current working theory is that one of the voltage regulators goes into thermal shutdown, and then comes back up after it sufficiently cools.

Figure 1. Disassembled ADS DVD Xpress. Remove the rubber feet and then the four phillips head screws.

Figure 2. Close-up of PWB.

Figure 3. About to measure operating current with Fluke DMM.

Figure 4. Measuring Cypress chip temp with low-mass thermocouple. Room is ~23 Celsius.

Figure 5. Measuring DSP chip temp.

Figure 6. Sipex (U16) linear regulator looks pretty hot!

Figure 7. Fixing thermocouple to U16.

Figure 8. U16 case reaches 100 degrees C after ~1/2 hour of video capture with case closed. Max junction temp for this device is 125 Celsius. Time to boil water and make some tea!

Figure 9. How I am (temporarily) cooling my overheated ADS DVD Xpress capture card.

Figure 10. Custom cooling close-up.

ADS Forum post: Excerpt of heat issue discussed by ADS rep and myself

SUBJECT: Re: 99% sure of serious DVD Xpress heat issue (god is cruel?)

Hello Mike,

Thanks for the reply. Please allow me to respond to your post somewhat out of order:

> ADS does realize that the DVD Xpress runs a bit hot,
> but not excessively hot or hot enough to cause damage
> to the product.

I'm not trying to be a smarty-pants here, but do I think that 100 C case temperature of 1.8V regulator U16 is "excessively hot". This is what I measure after ~30 min of video capture. As stated in the data sheet, the maximum junction temperature for the controller section of this regulator is 125 C. Granted, the part has a thermal shutdown feature, but the Sypex SPX1587AU data sheet states:

"Although the SPX1587 offers some limiting circuitry
for overload conditions, it is necessary not to exceed
the maximum junction temperature, and therefore to be
careful about thermal resistance."

So, are the Sypex regulators fully protect against over thermal or not? I would think not, given their wording above. If that is the case, then the heat could possibly cause damage to the DVD Xpress product.

> We have not seen heat cause capture problems or any decrease
> in video quality.

Even if you haven't seen this with your own eyes, don't you think my experiment was rather definitive: can't capture for more than ~30 min (and often less than ~5 min if the unit has been previously capturing video) unless fan cooling is provided, whereupon the only successful 100 min capture is performed by my unit without a hitch?

And even if the issue isn't 100% thermal, thermal issues often unmask other problems with a design. I see this all the time at work.

> If you feel that your unit does get excessively hot,
> then we recommend you do a warranty exchange with the
> ADS customer service dept.

I really don't want another unit if they all get as hot as mine but aren't failing. And I don't think ADS gains any insight into my (and their) problem if I just return or exchange the unit.

When the company I work for (a large telecom equipment manufacturer) has a field failure that seems unusual, the unit is returned to the design engineer (me, often) for diagnosis. If my DVD Xpress unit is so unusual - and you certainly seem to be saying so Mike - then I would think ADS would be anxious to get their hands on it to see what is wrong with it. It is still behaving the same as it always has, and I haven't soldered any wires to it or otherwise modified it in any way.

What I would like from ADS in exchange would be a populated and functioning PWB, but without the cases of U15 and U16 stuck to the board. Then I could easily heatsink these regulators. I would gladly swap my unit for that. (This isn't just an idle request from some yo-yo, I have an MSEE and do full-time hardware and firmware design.)

In lieu of that, I will probably keep my DVD Xpress and come up with some way of heatsinking the regulators and / or cooling the entire PWB. Or I may snip the regulator leads and install new ones.

My sympathy to any other customers who are experiencing intermittent heat issues with this product, but don't have the technical expertise to deal with them.

Thanks,

EDW

Update: 2003-12-11

I wanted to make sure the box would work before I tried to debug the USB dropout problem with it. But Capwiz complained that it could not init the box. I opened it up and the voltage from the 1.8V hot regulator U16 looked OK. Who knows what the root issue was, but heat was definitely aggravating it. Look at the reviews on the Circuit City web page for the DVD Xpress - everyone there is having a heat problem. The Instant DVD 2.0 rates pretty high though, FWIW.

So I took the dead unit back to the store today and forked over an extra $70 in exchange for the ADS USB Instant DVD 2.0. I wanted Ulead Movie Factory 2.0 which normally goes for $50 but comes bundled with the new unit (highly desirous of the timed auto chapter insertion in MF2) so if you think about it I got video out for an extra $20. I own MF1 and it is a breeze to use, but it doesn't insert chapters based on a time increment.

I'll stick with ADS and Ulead if possible because I really don't want to use any Pinnacle hardware or software ever again. Their software MPEG encoder is a totally slow dog, and their GUIs are shakey (a classic example of product management via feature lists, IMHO). It was a beautiful day when I removed the DC+10 card from my computer and wiped Pinnacle Studio 7 from my HD!

Here's hoping I have better luck with the ADS Instant DVD 2.0 hardware platform. RIP DVD Xpress.