Customer Reviews

Dazzle Multimedia DM-5400 Digital Video Creator 80

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

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.

I opted to buy the Dazzle 80 because of its ease of installation. After a few weeks of reading web sites about creating VCD's I created an excellent VCD using this product. The only downfall was that it took me a few days to learn the ins and outs of creating VCD's,Compression,Codec's etc.
But it was definately worth taking that extra time rather than throwing away CD's.

I used VirtualDub for the capture with the DivX:Mpg4-low motion Codec, this worked great. I tested different Codecs. (Don't set the compression to high though). I then had to the split the file into segments because of the Windows 4GB AVI limit. I used The Dazzle software for the split. I then converted the 352X240 AVI segments to 720X480 using the Dazzle software, then I converted the 720X480 AVI segments to MPG1 using TMPGEnc. I then re-joined the MPG segments back together using TMPGEnc.

Then I used VCD-Easy to create the DAT file and burn to my CD. The file ran really well even on my DVD player. After much reading and studying about capturing, I thought it was excellent for a first attempt. I also learnt alot from: VCDhelp.com

If your budget is low or are only capturing small home movies and want to add titles or photographs I think this is a good buy. There are better products out their but you have to pay the price for them. If your new to capturing like I was then take the time out first to read up on compression, splitting AVI's & Codecs etc, its well worth the time.
It also worked on my WinXP no problems whatsoever.

The device does a great job of capturing the video. The key is to learn the different formats and understanding how best to work with the included software.

The software is fairly easy to use, but if you don't pay attention you get lower quality output.

The trick is to capture in DVD format ONLY; and adjust some of the quality settings to greater quality. It increases the size of the capture file, but the final product is great.

If writing to Video CD, again, capture in DVD format. Since the software to write the CD is separate from the capture software, the write software converts it again on the fly; quality drops, but starting from DVD quality is key.

Unlike copying VHS tapes to VHS tape; DVD recording is a far more complex enterprise. I recently bought a DVD recorder to transfer my VHS tapes to DVD (a more stable format). After doing some research on DVD ripping, SVCDs, DVD-R, and MPEG vs. AVI formats, I purchased the Dazzle device and bundled software.

Bottom line: Its not perfect but it does a very good job if you are willing to spend some time messing with it.

First off, the software installed without any problems, as did the USB based hardware. I did have a problem with the recessed audio plugs. I had to shave off some of the rubber casing from my audio av plugs so that they would fit into the dazzle device properly. I recommend getting an adapter plug so you can simply use your computer's sound card (not that the sound quality will be any better) and using the S-Video plug on the dazzle for the picture signal.

I used the software to burn a DVD, using the other formats (like SVCD) did not interest me since the finished products would only be viewable on my PC. What good would that do?

The bundled software allows you to save the whole process in a project file. You can then go back and create a menu and chapters or have the program do it automatically, which I think is really cool. You do need a large hard drive (80 Gig or better), a decent DVD recorder (I have a Sony DVD-RW/R+ drive) and a relatively fast PC (2 GHz or better with at least 256MB of physical memory) to make all of this work properly.

How do the resulting DVDs look? Pretty good. The real work involves tweaking the recording settings, which adjusts how much can be saved on a single DVD. A high quality DVD picture will limit you to about 1 hour of recording time on a DVD. I used the medium setting so I can store almost two hours of film on one DVD. The picture was a bit pixilated in spots but the DVD played fine on my stand-alone DVD player.

The whole process produced very acceptable results and I did not have to mess with compression ratios and ripping procedures. I think all the critics of this system were looking for a "fire-and-forget" type of package; dazzle is not it. It takes some work but Dazzle is the most effective DVD authoring system for the price.

I was looking for a shortcut around buying and installing firewire. I had heard good things about Dazzle's interface and it's software.

The picture quality sucked (on the rare times it captured the full scene). I would highly recommend buying yourself firewire and using it to capture video from you DV camcorder, since they both cost about the same. Maybe if you were using this with an analog source, the capture would be smoother, but not for the digital stuff.

This product seems too good to be true....because it is.

I bought the DV 80 to capture video from my camcorder. Sometimes it would capture just fine and other times nada. When it did capture it would only compress in Microsoft Video 1 format. After several hours I simply unistalled the MGI Video Wave program and used Virtual Dub (a free program). Absolutely fixed the problems. I can now capture video and compress in most formats. I drop very few frames now. I rate the dv 80 capture device around 4 stars because of the [poor] software that came with the device.

Taz

I planned to buy this product to convert the analog camcorder video to computer file long time ago. However, after I read all these negative commends in here, I was hesitated to get it. Then one day, I saw this product (Dazzle DVC 80) on sale with 50% discount. I told myself why not give it a try. Then I got it. All I can said is "not bad"! It is very easy to install in my old computer with window 98. Then there is no problem of capturing the analog camcorder video into AVI format. One thing I found out is that there is no sound heard while capturing but the sound will appear in the AVI and the final MPEG files. The editing is also fine. Final step of producing the AVI to MPEG 1 file is a little bit slow but the final product is great. I did not experience any drop of frame.
I don't have a digital camcorder or DVD-RW so I can't commend about it. I think with the price of 35 dollar, this is a very good buy!

I rarely award a product just one star, but for this disappointing offering from the Dazzle company I'll make an exception. In fact, I think they're getting one star more than they deserve.

First, the positives: The hardware itself works OK on my Windows XP machine. The signal comes through the USB port rather than a dedicated video card, so don't expect sharp, brilliant images. It's adequate, nothing more, nothing less. The price is definitely right.

Now, the negatives: The editing software that ships with it (MovieStar 5) is very poor. On the surface, it offers lots of nice features and filters and transitions. But it is slow and erratic. Clips disappear from the storyline, transitions get "lost" without warning, and the labels/captions feature is so poorly designed as to be virtually unusable. (In fairness, this is intended to be basic, inexpensive editing software, not MediaStudio Pro. Still, I don't think it's asking too much for the software to implement its limited set of features properly.)

More software woes: The install program forgot the online help file. I finally found it on Dazzle's web site onloy to learn I wasn't missing much -- it's virtually useless. The AVI codec is just plain awful; I could *draw* better images than the blurs it puts out. Aspect ratios are not preserved in several of the output formats (for example, when saving in MPG format, my teenage daughter's cheerleading squad came out looking like an malnourished basketball team.) And, the S-VCD burning feature stinks -- only the first half of the finished video plays on every DVD player I tried it on.

You'd better like MovieStar, because I was unable to get the DVC80 to record video and audio using XP's Windows Movie Maker. This in turn led me into the unparalleled disaster that is Dazzle tech support. Their phone hotline is a long-distance toll call, and it takes forever to get through to a technician. I spent 20 minutes in the queue one morning and gave up ... After 30 days there is a $15 per-incident fee unless you purchase a support package...ugh!

As for online support, forget it. I submitted a question about the Windows Movie Maker audio recording problem. Their responses took anywhere from three days to two weeks (!), and they were just useless non-sequitors. It seemed as though they just picked a solution at random from their knowledge base each time and mailed it to me.

Honestly folks, the only reason to buy this product is price. If you can afford more, go out and buy a more robust package with a video input card and more usable software.

Sir
The software that came with the capture device is not any good for recording anything over 16 min. You cannot capture a full lenghth movie with this product. My hard drive has about 94 hours of storage space on it. The reason that I bought this product, was to be able to convert my vhs movies to cd/dvds, but this product can't record that long of a movie. The soft ware program that came with it is MGI VIDEO WAVE 4 THIS IS NO GOOD FOR ANY THING. IT STOPS AT 16 MIN AND GIVES AN ERROR MESSAGE THAT THERE IS NOT ENOUGH DISK SPACE. I'AM USING A 60 GIG HARD DRIVE.

WHEN I BOUGHT THIS ITEM I WAS TOTALLY UNAWARE OF HOW IMPORTANT
THAT RESOLUTION WAS. THE RESOLUTION ON THE DVC-80 IS ONLY
320 X 280 THAT IS EQUIVILANT TO A WEB CAM, I HAVE EVEN SEEN WEB
CAMS WITH HIGHER RESOLUTION THAN THAT. IF YOU CAN IMAGINE WHAT
A HOLLYWOOD MOVIE WOULD LOOK LIKE IF IT WAS FILMED WITH A WEB
CAM, THEN YOU CAN IMAGINE THE PICTURE QUALITY. VIDEOS ARE
RECORDED ON THE "AVI" FORMAT. THEN IT HAS TO BE CONVERTED TO
THE MPEG FORMAT, FRAME BY FRAME, USING MOVIESTAR 5. THE "AVI"
TAKES UP A HUGE AMOUNT OF DISC SPACE, APPROXIMATELY 25
GIGABYTES PER HOUR OF RECORDED MATERIAL. A 2 HOUR MOVIE WILL
REQUIRE ABOUT 50 GIGABYTES OF HARD DRIVE DISC SPACE. ONCE
CONVERTED TO MPEG IT COMPRESSES TO FIT THE 4.7 GIGABYTE DVD
DISC. YOU CAN RECORD THE MOVIE ON A DIFFERENT PROGRAM SUCH
AS "MY DVD" AND RECORD DIRECTLY TO THE MPEG FORMAT,BUT THE
RESOLUTION IS SO LOW THAT IT STILL LOOKS LIKE IT WAS
RECORDED WITH A WEB CAM.