Depth of options for this system are a bit limited, as you are restricted to either NTSC or PAL recording standards, so you won't be able to capture HD or 24P footage with this setup. (You can, however, do things like disabling audio and other elements with a series of dip switches on the bottom of the converter. This is also how you switch between NTSC and PAL if you're in the wrong default.) While the options may be limited, for the intended creation this falls under, it works just fine.
For the OnLocation use we put it to, it worked fine because OnLocation CS5 allows you to use a time sync option. This allowed us to preview what the ADVC 110 was sending us, but sync up the high rez footage from the HVX200 after the fact.
Overall, ADVC 110 worked as expected with no noticeable glitches. If you use it to record footage that's larger than it's intended to record, it'll record it at its maximum size and frame rate, in this case 29.97 drop frame 720 x 480. (As it turned out, even when we used it as a preview solution with the HVX200, we were actually able to put the direct recording ability to good use. In one of the takes, our picture truck couldn't back out of the location it was parked in and all of our crew ran to try to push it out. I hit record on OnLocation with CS5 and recorded the entire hilarious incident for posterity and DVD extras. The lower rez version of the video wasn't a problem for the extra feature purposes we'll use it for.)
As you may imagine from my Ease of Use section, the one performance improvement I'd love to see in a future version would be a battery compartment so you can power the setup with a couple of Eneloops when you're using it with a laptop.
While $200 isn't super cheap, especially if you have to buy the $38 AC power adapter or a comparably priced 6 pin Firewire card, it's a pretty fair value for what it is. It allows you to import footage from older cameras for archiving purposes and documentaries which is hugely beneficial. (If you've priced the cost of having a specialty location do this for you, a few tapes will pay for this adapter!) Additionally, if you want/need to preview your footage in a PC/Mac based firewire solution like OnLocation, it's one of the few ways to accomplish this.
The ADVC 110 is a powerful little adapter that makes acquiring analog footage painless and easy. It's a must own if you are going to need to incorporate footage from older cameras or playback devices that you still have access to. And, if you're creative, there are a number of cutting edge uses you can put the device to.
