Customer Reviews

Dazzle Digital Video Creator DVC-90 Video Capture Device and Movie Maker

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

I purchased the Dazzle 90 product to convert my 8mm cassettes from an older Sony Camcorder to DVD. I have made about 6 DVDs now, and I am pretty happy with my purchase. The software is fairly simple to use, and the end product looks good. I do not notice any drop in quality. If you simply want to covert your tapes to DVD, with no frills, then I would highly recommend this product. A few notes after using the product...
- It takes alot of disk space. Just installing the software that comes with it took 7 gig (you could probably get by with less by not installing all features?). You can get about 60 minutes of high quality film onto a DVD, and this takes up about 7 gig. Also, the software requires space on your harddriver to burn the movie to the dvd. I kept getting a message that I did not have enough space. It was annoying that it would not tell me exactly how much space it required. So I cleared off space, and did not get the message to go away until I had about 12-14 gig of free space. For this reason, I would suggest doing a defrag before starting.
- One thing to be aware of, there is a mention option to remove a captured video and free up space. But if you have burned the movie(s) to dvd, you can also build up a great deal of space in My Documents/Pinnacle Studios/Auxillary Files. I was running out of space again, after burning numerous movies, until I found this directory and how much space it was eating up. I then found there is a menu option for deleting these too (when you are in the edit option)
- You can create the movies in mpeg rather than avi, and this takes about half as much space. But I did this once, and thought the quality wasn't quite as good as the avi. It was very close, but I am going to go with the avi.
- The software comes with the basic features and some extras. If you want to do more fancy things with the movie you create you need to upgrade your software. If you pick certain features that are not available with the base software, you will get a popup box asking if you want to upgrade.
- This is not a fast process. The movie converts to your PC in real time. So a 60 minute tape will take 60 minutes. Editing the movie does not take any time at all (if you are doing the basics and once you get the hang of it) Then the burning it to DVD takes awhile. I have not checked exactly because I let it run and come back later, but I would guess it takes at least 4 hours for 60 minutes of tape. This time is much shorter when burning mpegs rather than avi.
- I have not had any crashes or major problems. But I have had a couple problems with getting the menu screen to work when editing. But I just start over, and can get it to work the next time. Note. If you don't see images in each of the menu chapters, do not proceed. I made this mistake and waited forever for a movie to burn, before realizing it was stuck trying to make the menu.
- Overall it has proven to be a good product. I have had wanted to get my precious memories off of the tape and onto DVD for a long time. This is MUCH cheaper than having it professionally done,and I did not need anything fancy, just the tape onto dvd.

I purchased the Dazzle 90 with the Studio 9 Quick Start program included, not knowing anything about making DVD's or the programs with a rebate which made the final cost under $50. The cost wasn't nearly as important as the results as long as the price was a reasonable value for what I received. I followed the instructions and everything works as advertised. I found "Studio 9 Quick Start" to be more difficult to use and less user friendly than Roxio's "Easy CD & DVD Creator 6". The unit captures video, sound, and anything else it claims on my system without a glitch. My CPU is a 2.66gb Pentium 4 with a 533 BUS, 512 RAM, 2ea 120 GB Maxtor 7200 sp Hard drives, TDK CD & DVD burners, and I'm using my USB 2 ports because I don't yet have a 1394 port which is recommended. I did find that it was important to dump the DVD material onto a clean (defraged) drive (prior to burning to a DVD) which I have dedicated to the program. I really don't understand why anyone is having any problems with this unit when I'm a novice at this DVD stuff. My first DVD had different chapters and was met with rave reviews from some more computer-savvy friends I felt would "dis" it into oblivion. Instead, they wanted to see the system and programs so they could do the same thing. I heartily recommend this unit to anyone who cannot afford the stuff the "Pro's" use, but want good to excellent results from a non-professional system.

I was looking for a means to convert some of my VHS collection (namely Centennial) to DVD. I had looked in to several systems, and am no complete amateur, as I have done video conversions since my Amiga days over a decade ago. I recently bought a new computer system with a USB2 port and a DVD burner, so I figured now was the time. I read bad things about the other Dazzle systems, but this one had good reviews. They were right. Within minutes of receiving and opening the box I was feeding the video into my computer and ready to burn the DVDs. I have since burned quite a few. It's almost idiot proof. The quality is not exceptional, but it is quite good for home movie conversions for those that are not perfectionists. You must have a USB2 port, and that seems to be adequate speed. You also should specify and remember where you want the output to go, or it tends to hide files on your drive, taking up quite a bit of space. Very simple to use, and fun to play around with. One thing. I use Nero to do the actual DVD burn. The burn function in Pinnacle take forever. No big deal to me, but might be to others. Also, maybe I've had no problems because I have an up-to-date system, with XP SP2, 3.4GB P4 CPU, etc. One more thing...I am stationed in Germany and Amazon would not ship to me! I had to order through J&R, but got it way quicker than I ever have through Amazon, and at a better price. Wonder why they won't ship item to an APO? Okay, maybe should only be 4 stars, but I really do like its ease of use.

I tried 3 different capture devices in one week, and this was by far the easiest to use and the most portable, with good quality images. Set up is simple, install discs, install Pinnacle Studio Version 9, which has a great instruction video for beginners on how to capture,edit and make movies. USB2 device, which I am using in conjunction with a laptop. Captured old analogue video images, and off many monitors at work with images I need to use for presentations. Reasonable price for what you get.

Capture device will not install on my system. Windows XP SP2 refuses to install it with the supplied drivers. I contacted Pinnacle tech support, who suggested using their drivers from their website. No change. My Dell, P4 2.0 GHZ, runs fine. This device appears not to be compatible with XP SP2, as the drivers were released in early 2004. Their tech support is responsive, but their last suggestion was to replace my PC. The DVC 90 is now in the trash can. Don't waste your time or money.

I wish something would work! I bought a high-end computer so I can turn all my Hi 8 tapes into DVDs. Then I learned that I had to buy one of these Digital Video Creators to turn the analog tapes into digital for DVDs. I've had this product about 7 months now & still can't get it to work right. I started out trying to make a fancy DVD with titles, etc. I took my time editing it & was so excited to disperse it to family & friends. Then, when I went to burn to DVD, it told me I had exceeded disk space. Didn't tell me by how much, just that I basically needed to cut down on the space used. So I did. Took me a while to finalize a dvd, but when it did now it won't play on any dvd players or even my computer. I've tried different dvds too - DOESN'T WORK. So, I finally tried the Direct to DVD function which was much easier. This time I just did about a 30 minute movie so I could actually test it this time. It worked a lot better, but when I finally got the end product to DVD, there was no sound. I was told to try switching the white cable into the red input. I'm gonna try that but I don't have much confidence in this product at all. If I weren't so patient & eager to get my precious video time capsules I would've given up a long time ago. The other option I have is to spend another 30 or 40 minutes on a special cable that was not included in the Dazzle. More money & still no final product & no happy customer. I'm in over $3000 if you include the awesome computer capable of hosting all of this plus all this hardware & software. Sheesh! If I weren't afraid to leave my valuable memories in someone else's hands, I'd have it done for me.

The Dazzle DVC 90 comes with Studio 9 Quickstart - a hobbled version of Studio 9. The problem with Quickstart is that it is missing the basic functionality of a video capture program - namely, best quality video and audio. Quickstart does not allow capture from the S-video input and puts non-stereo audio on either the left or right side but not both. By the way, none of the Pinnacle products come with technical support.

If you are expecting a fully-functional plug-and-play experience, avoid the Dazzle 90 at all costs. I followed the (completely inadequate) documentation to the letter, but was unable to perform even the simplest capture. Upon exchanging the unit at the retailer and reinstalling the (hobbled) software from scratch - again, nothing. Right now, the Dazzle 90 is a paperweight until I can return it and buy something that actually works. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

I'd give this item 0 stars if I could. Item does not work. Software does not install properly on Windows XP. This is even worse than the Plextor AX 100 Video Converter - at least that one just froze in the middle of a VHS transfer -- this one won't even let me start! I returned the item and purchased the Avermedia USB 2.0 DVD EZ Maker, and it works seamlessly!

This product is not able to be used with Windows Vista. Beware.