Video-Capture Reviews

This is basically the 4300 firewire card plus some extra software.

The card works well, but the software is not up to standard.

Sonic MyDVD crashes when I try to capture more that 10 minutes of movie from my DV camera. ( It runs out of memory, since it can't convert the data fast enough into mpeg2 for the dvd.) Also if you want to put an AVI file on the DVD, it will only allow a maximum of 60 minutes of video.

Also included was ArcSoft ShowBiz for video editing. However when converting from an AVI to MPEG2 using this (to get around the 60 minute video limitation, see above) to video freezes half way through.

After trying a few products I purchased Nero 6 to record the movies onto DVD.

Capture video, audio, images from your camcorder, VCR, or television using a capture card or TV tuner. Produce your video and use the functions to publish your production on tape or CD. Create MPEG or AVI for playback on a PC or the world wide web.

I bought this TV Tuner with the expectation that it would make my computer a good replacement for a TV with a PVR, but it barely comes close. I'm writing this review with an emphasis on its PVR functionality because you can get several significantly cheaper cards (under [$$$]) without that feature.

One necessarily has to use bundled software (WinTV 2000) with this card because the programming interface to the hardware video encoder has been kept proprietary by Hauppauge. These are just some of the annoying quirks with this software.

- if you hit the pause button to pause live TV, the program gets out of fullscreen mode about 10-15 seconds, and then returns to fullscreen mode. I find this quite interruptive.

- if you have muted the sound and you happen to switch between fullscreen and windowed mode (intentionally, or unintentionally for the above reason), the sound gets turned on again for a few moments which can be quite startling if for example you are on the phone.

- if the software crashes for whatever reason while you are in PVR mode, the hard disk keeps being continuously accessed and one has to reboot the computer. At times, the spinning disk prevents the operating system from shutting down within a reasonable length of time.

- hibernation is not supported once you install this card

- unlike a Tivo, this card can not decode digital cable channels. You have to use a cable-TV box and you cannot use the card to change channels. This also means that you cannot record programs unattended (unless you have a single program to record and you leave the cable box tuned to that channel).

- closed captioning does not work in recorded programs or while in PVR mode. Also, the captions appear in big black opaque boxes overlaid on the video and there is no other way to view them.

- color (brightness, contrast etc) adjustment controls do not work while in PVR mode.

- the program does not startup smoothly. You first hear the TV sound for a second, followed by a few seconds silence before you see normal TV again.

- while in PVR mode, the program constantly keeps writing to disk even though you aren't timeshifting the video yet. Thus, they have provided a separate non-PVR mode and, in my opinion, unnecessarily complicated the usage of this device.

I must say that the normal TV tuner features of this card are very satisfactory. However, I find myself using the PVR features quite much less frequently than I would have liked. The extra [$$$] paid for the PVR features does not feel completely worth it.

This item will work with Win 2000, but you need to download the Win 2K driver from Hawking or the Internet before installation. I haven't figured out the MGI software that it came with, and am still having problems with their serial numbers included to install. The actual Hawking unit is simply a device that plugs into your USB on one end, and a single RCA video jack, OR (and this is important) an S-video jack. My older analog camcorder doesn't have S-video jack so I could have bought a cheaper, "RCA jack" only, unit. Overall the resolution through my camcorder is great; much better than just a WebCam.

So far this product has worked out very well for me on my laptop computer. Movie capture for DVD has been fast with no problems in audio going out of sync with Video as was common in Studio 8. Capturing direct to MPEG format for DVD has been a dream and allows me to have HOURS of video captures prior to making a movie.

Pinnacle Studio 9 and the Hollywood F/X programs come with the package. Studio 9 has no real new suprises in it (other than the direct MPEG capture). I've run into a couple of UI-related bugs, that are fairly easy to work around.

One thing to note is how incredibly TOUGH the Moviebox is. Made in Germany out of a cast aluminum shell and VERY high impact plastic, I'm pretty sure even the "pro-sumer" types would be impressed.

Pinnacle's support, however, is terrible. Hopefully you won't have too many questions about the product - if you do, don't expect answers from Pinnacle support - you won't get them. That's part of the reason for the 3-star rating.

If you're looking at the low-end Dazzle products from Pinnacle - don't bother - they're garbage. The Studio products are really the only ones to bother with. And if you have a notebook PC then *this* product really shines.

The picture quality on this is fine, if that's all you care about. It does flicker a lot on startup and such but that seems to be pretty standard for these kinds of things.

The biggest negative is that the picture does not fill the TV screen (i.e. not enough overscanning). It does have vertical size adjustments but they don't fix this problem. I just called the manufacturer and they said that it is a known problem. Buy the TView Silver if you want to avoid this.

This product and the bundled Pinnacle 8 Studio software delivered spotty performance. It generally ptured the video from tape OK, but the interface (and especially the capture format options) was very non-intuitive. The DVD renedering was slow, and results were hit and miss: some were OK, some failed outright and some were rendered with annoying frequent color shifts (about every 3 seconds throughout the entire DVD). This all took place on a new, fast machine with plenty of RAM and disk space. I'm pretty comfortable with new apps, but the Studio 8 is very hard to figure out. Consider the PYRO A/V link from ADS instead.

I was OK with Studio 8 for the first few months I had it, I made simple VCDs and DVDs of my friends, it was amusing.

Then I tried to make some more complicated things, with multi-level menus, and a number of different file types, and fill up the whole DVD. I ended up with about 5 coasters. The pinnacle tech support was no help at all.

Then I found TMPG DVD Author, used to make DVD files which are then burned from within the program or burned with Nero. TMPG has not produced any coasters yet. Now I do all my editing/transitions with Studio 8, render it, and use TMPG to actually make the DVD.

So all in all, I had to spend an extra $90 for a REAL dvd authoring progam to go along with Studio 8.

I saw over 100 consumer reviews ... praising this product and an equal number saying that it is hopelessly buggy or simply does not work.

I am a moderately experienced PC user who bought and installed Studio Deluxe version 8.25.21 in June, 2003. This product is beautifully designed and rich in features, for a consumer video product. I found a number of blatant and frustrating bugs, but in the end was able to create a beautiful 30 minute video.

Here is what I recommend:

1. Go to the Pinnaclesys.com site and spend at least 20 minutes going through their forum postings. Notice that the forum is nicely designed and very active. Notice that there are hundreds of very frustrated users who have spent weeks or even months getting Pinnacle to work the way it's supposed to. Notice that many of the threads have almost no helpful info from Pinnacle staff and are sprinkled with comments like "Hello, Pinnacle... anybody home?" or sad accounts of trying to get phone support. Users list the things they've tried, and eventually somebody comes up with a solution or work-around. Do not buy this product unless you are willing to troubleshoot your problems with other users on the Pinnacle forum and try 7 things before finding the thing that solves your problem.

2. If you make the plunge, buy it from a local retailer with a 14 day return policy (or better) and get right to work.

3. Install this on a late model computer running XP. Follow all their install recommendations (and those on the forum) to the letter, including adding a 2nd hard drive. My PC was a ... Dell 2350, but it was very up-to-date, and it was adequate.

4. If you are working to a deadline, leave lots of time for problem solving and refining your work. No matter what software you use, you will spend a crazy amount of time polishing your video.

5. Complete a small project before starting a large project. You may lose your work and have to start over, or find that you are unable to output your work to DVD.

6. There are bugs in this software, but keep your cool, and don't blame everything on Pinnacle. In my case, 1/3 of the problems were operator error, and 1/3 of the problems were due to a bad DVD burner.

7. If you can, wait 6-18 months. The whole video editing/ DVD burner situation may be ready for prime time by then.

Ok, so how are you supposed to enter a 10digit SN when the one that they provide for you has 11?
Couldn't install the software so couldn't use the product at all. Multiple posts on the Pinnacle user forum on the company's website also went unanswered with this same problem. Bye Bye, back to the store.
If you're not going to let me install your product and you're not going to help me to figure out how to get around the problem you've created then you clearly shouldn't be in business.

After searching and researching for a device to capture old mini-VHS tapes to my PC, I decided to try the DVC80. Although it installs with ease (driver download for XP) and comes with free MGI 4.0 software, the quality of the capture was much less than desireable. Even at 352x240 I was losing 2 out of every 3 frames, which makes the final product not worth watching. Also the sound transference didn't seem to work nearly as well as the video. So, after hours of experimentation, I came up with a work-around that didn't include use of the DVC80. If you are like me and have purchased a DV video camera and want to capture your old VHS for archive or other purposes, record directly from the source to your DV camera (if it has that option). Then capture thru firewire to the PC. Although this requires an extra step, the quality is 1000% better and worth the extra time. I will say this about the product - if you don't have the DV option for video capture, you will not find an easier product to use. Unfortunately there is just too much quality loss going from analog to digital thru this device.

I am writing this to hopefully save others some of the trial-and-error that I went through. This is a great product for the money and I would buy it again! Like others have said, the VideoWave software packaged with the device is not the best for capturing video. But, better software can be had for FREE. For capturing video, I used VirtualDub to capture files as AVIs. I used TMPGEnc to convert the AVIs to VCD compliant MPGs. The Nero software that came with my CD burner was producing horrible results when it had to perform the conversions. I have dubbed DVDs and VHS with very good results. Following the methodology I have listed below, I can produce VCDs with a quality that can be compared to video tape....

1) Capture the video as an AVI file using VirtualDub with 29.97 frame rate, MPEG4 codec V1 video compression, CD quality audio compression.
- Don't use the audio inputs on the Dazzle unit. Instead, directly wire it into the Mic input of the PC with a Y-patch cord.
- Use S-Video cable over RCA cable where possible.
2) Convert the AVI file to an MPG using TMPGEnc with Video CD NTSC setting and motion search precision set to 'highest quality(very slow)'
- TMPGEnc allows you to pull sections out of the source AVI to divide files longer than 70 minutes into two or more MPGs.
- Expect the conversion to take three to four times the time length of the file
3) Burn the CD with Nero in VCD mode using the MPGs from step 2.

PS - the VideoWave software that comes with Dazzle is great for editing home video that has already been captured. When producing the final file to burn on VCD, do not use its VCD settings. Produce it as an uncompressed AVI and follow steps 2 and 3 above.

all i can say is that when i went back to my local bestbuy and noticed that they removed this terrible product from the shelves, i almost cried in joy. When i brought the product back to the store to return it, they took it back no questions asked, because they knew this product sucks.

After having this for over a year I have yet to use it. It will not install properly. It does not detect the hardware. After waiting 3 months to get an answer from tech support (calling is a joke in itself) all tech support gave me was the troubleshooting steps listed on their website that I had already done hundreds of time. They then told me there were conflicts with AMD chips so I waited to get a new PC... well here I am with a brand new PC that far exceeds the requirements for the product along with having a pentium chip and I am still having the same problems. It will not detect the hardware, the PC detects it, the software does not. What a waste of [money]!!!!

I bought Dazzle's DVC about 2 years ago. In my opinion, it worked fine for capturing TV or videos to MPEG or VCD. However, at price about...(remember, I bought it 2 years ago, and the price is still the same now), you would expect it to do more than just capture MPEG-1 videos. ATI's All-in-Wonder Radeon video card has far more functionalities than Dazzle DVC, and yet it cost less(you can find it online for about $150 these days). All-in-Wonder Radeon can capture not only MPEG-1, but also MPEG-2. Dazzle's DVC II also captures MPEG-2, but it has a price tag of...Plus, All-in-Wonder Radeon has a build-in TV tuner, so you don't have to attach an extra VCR for your computer to capture video. The only downside about All-in-Wonder Radeon is that it is also a video card, if your computer already has a high-end video card (i.e. GeForce4, etc.), you wouldn't want to replace your high-end video card with this. If you don't own a high-end video card, and are looking for a video capture device, I would suggest you to buy ATI's All-in-Wonder Radeon, and replace your current video card, because Radeon's 3D performance is about the same with nVidia's GeForce card. It'll cost less than Dazzle's DVC. If you are looking for both a high-end video card and video capture device, then get either All-in-wonder Radeon 7500 or 8500. It got all the video capture functionality plus high performance 3D graphics chip. All-in-Wonder Radeon 8500... video card's 3D performance is equivalent to nVidia's GeForce3; and All-in-Wonder Radeon 7500... performance falls in between Radeon and Radeon 8500. If after reading this review, you still want to buy Dazzle's DVC, then take a look at the used listing for this product. Because I'm selling my Dazzle DVC since I bought a All-in-Wonder Radeon, and the Dazzle DVC is still in very good condition.

The camera does works but is very difficult to set up and administer. Also, Linksys tech support is among the worst I've ever used. I used the camera for about 9 months, but finally threw it out because I just couldn't bear to waste any more time on it.

if you plan to see your kids or your pet or your office on the Web , then DON'T BUY THIS CAMERA !

if you want to see your kids or your pet next room , it is ok .

*Wireless is ok.
*Video Quality is acceptable.
*SoloLink is a mess (linksys ddns service).
*Setting up for http Access is a mess (well, it doesn't work with my linksys router)

if someone has already put this camera on the web , please contact me, xes_traderx@xamnetsal.com (take out the 3 x's), I will appreciate it.

First off, as others pointed out, if you a looking for a professional level camera for a business or real security, this is not it. Among other limitations, it only supports 4 active video connections, no sound, no remote pan/scan movement, no autofocus, limiting software, and most important the picture quality is only so-so.

But for a gadget guy like me who can't resist a stand-alone wireless video camera to play around with, it works great!

The stand-alone part means it has it's own little web server built in, so once you get it up and running, you don't have to leave your PC on. Anybody can connect to it with the limit being needing to use Internet Explorer as the browser.

The installation was pretty painless; I uploaded the latest firmware from the linksys website, and it seems to work ok with minimal fuss.

The only thing I can't seem to get to work correctly (yet) is the sending of the alert e-mail when motion is detected (I think it doesn't like the format of my e-mail address and the name of my smtp server). Going to play around with that a little more before giving up.

The only other issue for me, is the video screen that gets shown in the browser is not customizable - it's basically a big logo for Linksys and Cisco with your video in the middle.

But as a toy/gadget to play around with it works great.