Customer Reviews

HP DVD Movie Writer dc3000

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(32)

 

 

I purchased this product with the idea of converting my old camcorder tapes to DVD. This product was promoted as being "the next best thing to sliced bread" and so easy to use. Well I am here to tell you, it was a long and painful process to finally get the project completed and here is why:

The Showbiz software (used for the video editing) is mediocre at best and definitely has room for improvement. There is no instruction manual or resource available to guide you through editing for the first time. You are left to try and figure it out for yourself.

HP support was another huge frustration. In my first attempts to deal with HP support I called and try to trouble shoot the errors by phone. After being redirected to wrong departments (even different countries!) and being on hold for more than 2 hours at a time I decided to try the email method. I had better luck with that and also a way to document my correspondence. After they determined that it was something one of their Quality Customer Care reps would need to handle, I was assured that someone would call me. 3 weeks later and my multiple email reminder messages from me, still no phone call from HP. I was also getting no help (or even a single return phone call) from CompUSA where I originally purchased the product. Talk about feeling frustrated!

In the meantime, I upgraded my PC to USB2.0 and upgraded to 512MB RAM. I wanted to be sure my system wasn't causing the program (Showbiz) to fail. This didn't change anything...program still failed.

After 7 weeks and hours and hours of time spent trying to get this product to work, the problem was resolved by simply unchecking a box within the ShowBiz software. This setting is under Options / DVD Quality - uncheck the box that says ShowBiz Smart Rendering. Unfortunately, this box came checked by default (go figure!) when loading the software.

If this information can help anyone having the same headaches and frustrations I had in getting this product to work, I will be happy. This is really my goal in publishing my review of the Movie Writer. Once you get the DVD Movie Writer and software all figured out, it does work and accomplish what it set out to do. Since I am not a beginner with computers I was not expecting to endure the pain and suffering I experienced. However, I did learn that I will think twice before buying another HP product as well as buying anything from CompUSA (products are great, service stinks) in the future.

One more bit of info I wanted to pass along...HP has an updated driver available from their FTP site. I believe it is dated 10/31/03. This could help if you are using the prepackaged version and having trouble.

Good luck!!

I am a very satisfied customer of HP's. And this is a pretty good product; but not a great one.

Why is it good?
---------------
Well, obviously, it can be used to record, transfer and burn movies into DVDs. It substitutes for the costly DVD Recorders from Philips; but ofcourse, you need a PC with lots of HardDisk space and RAM to do the same job. Please note that in dc3000 the burning of the DVD and the capture are two separate process in time. This is not a real-time or a standalone recorder and always needs a PC. I guess that it is still value for the money.
Ofcourse, you would also be able to convert your VHS tapes into the DVDs. You might have to play a few tricks on some VHS tapes (read movies) to get them burnt into the DVD. Remember that it does not have many ways finding that a material is copyrighted. I don't want to dwell deep into this.
The ShowBiz2 software packaged is pretty powerful; but is also resource hungry. Remember we are dealing with files of Gigabytes in size. So, if you want to edit the movie into a DVD using the software, pump in more memory > 512MB (may be 1GB). The 384MB in my machine was definitely insufficient. To create a DVD, it would need 13-14GB of free hard-disk space just like any other DVD authoring software.
The QuickDVD option is pretty neat with just the minimum steps to create a DVD.

Why is it incomplete?
---------------------
1. Lack of firewire/i.Link/1394 port.
2. Support for an external USB storage device like a "portable USB hard-disk" which can be used to store the MPEG2 file instead of the need for the PC. This would make the system pretty much a standalone recorder. The R&D and manufacturing cost should not increase beyond a few dollars for this I guess; but I bet any company would charge $50-$100 more for this feature.
3. Though not designed for this purpose, it would have been nicer if HP also included a timed DVD recording software or a feature in their software package.

Value for money? : I would think so.

I bought myself a DC3000 as a birthday present and instead got hours of frustration from a product that does not work. The drive is simply "not recognized" by my brand new Dell with USB 2.0 and oceans of RAM memory and disk space. Having read other reviews before purchasing, I was ready to accept that not all the high-tech editing functions worked smoothly, but at least (I thought) I will be able to copy home videos to DVD. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I am persistent and reasonably knowledgable about installation and debugging. I followed every piece of advice, restarted my machine "clean" with no background softwate to interfere, tried and re-tried the HP-recommended steps with the help of a tech. I can only conclude that that there is a bug in the installation software. After several tedious debugging routines, the HP tech finally conceded that there was a defect, but he couldn't solve the problem. This is not yet consumer-ready -- if you want something that works out of the box, look elsewhere.

I had hoped to use the dc3000 to finally transfer my aging VHS collection onto more stable and long-lasting media. Simply, I wanted to keep on watching my old movies (which in some cases, are not even available on DVD) without having to worry that I was degrading the quality of the video.

Well, I must have been day-dreaming when I bought this product, or maybe I'm just niave - since I have no intention of starting my own pirate DVD production shop, using just this one DVD-writing product, to cheat Hollywood out of billions of their just-deserved royalties. I really only wanted to put my VHS tapes (including movies I have already paid for) onto the DVD format...

The set-up and configuration of this product was a breeze, the software suite installed without any issues, and the hardware literally just plugs in (just make sure you have a USB2.0 input though). Unfortunately, when I actually tried to backup one of my VHS movies, the HP Video Transfer Wizard told me "The source video is copyright protected; video capture will not resume."

Well, even though the U.S. courts say I can make backups of movies I already own, HP apparently doesn't agree. So, if updating your aging VHS movie collection is one of your primary reasons for buying a product like this, you should just take the dc3000 out of your basket and move on (if you can find something else without this draconian copy-prevention).

Aside from HP, I'd also like to thank George Lucas for this disappointing experience. Being the geek that I am, one of the main reasons I purchased this the dc3000 was to finally have a copy of the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD, since my friend George has yet to do so himself. And here I just wanted to keep from having to buy a new set of videos every 6 months, as that's about how long it takes for VHS tape to begin degrading, and I'm that big of a fan.

Lastly, I'd like to give special thanks to the RIAA. Even though 99.9% of us just want to make our own copies of our own media for our own internal use, the RIAA would rather do everything possible to prevent us from doing so, treating ALL of us like criminals. Sorry RIAA, but that's only going to hurt your business even more in the long run than any piracy possibly could.

So... back to the HP dc3000. Yes, if you want to copy your own home movies and non-copyrighted materials... I'd give it a thumbs-up (4 stars, only because the software is a resource-hog). But if you thought you might be able to make legal copies of copyrighted materials you have already purchased, think again. The dc3000 won't let you do it, even though the law still says that you can.

I purchased the HP DVD Movie Writer with every intention of retiring my VHS collection once and for all. Boy was I in for a surprise.

I'll agree that the HP DVD Movie Writer was easy to setup and use. HP has made that part of the experience quite painless. The capture process is fantastic and seems to work just perfectly. The problem, however, lies in the consistency of the burn process.

So far I have successfully burned about 8 VHS tapes to DVD and I have had to use up about 24 DVD's to get there. When I first begain having issues with burning DVD's I thought the problem was media related, so I set aside the 25-pack spindle of Fuji DVD+R's and got a 10-pack of HP DVD+R's. Well, I went through all 10 HP DVD+R's and I have 3 successful burns to show for it. So much for media being the problem. Next I thought it was a speed problem, so I ran out and purchased the only USB 2.0 PCI adapter card I could find, a D-Link DFB-A5. Well, needless to say, that didn't work either. Although the USB 2.0 card seems to recognize the DVD Movie Writer, it refuses to burn the captured video to a DVD. So, I am back to using USB 1.1. Oh the shame.

I have ran into the frustration of not being able to burn copies of my copyrighted VHS tapes, and although I am a bit peeved about that, I have found that many of my VHS tapes are not copyrighted and, theoretically at least, should be able to be captured then burned to DVD. I have a handful of .mpg files sitting around that didn't get the honor of being burned to DVD as the burn process, I am sad to say, hung. And forget about pulling those mpg files in through ArcSoft Showbiz 2.0 and burning them to DVD as is, that won't work either.

I gave the product 3 stars because I have seen the results of what it can do when it works, the problem lies in its consistency. If you meet the minimum requirements laid down in the documentation, you should expect reliability regardless of how slow the process might be.

I suppose I will simply have to suffer along with USB 1.1 and a 33% chance for a successful burn. I am on that 3rd try right now, so someone wish me luck.

I have had my dc3000 for three weeks, burned over 40 DVDs, transferred video, made photo slide shows and made data disks all flawlessly. What I wanted to share with readers was what I have learned from reading all the problems that people are having, as reported at this site. The site is operated by one of the HP design engineers.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hpdc3000

Here are the three biggest problems,

1. People did not read what the system requirements were before buying the unit. Typically they did not have USB 2 ports, or enough memory, or big enough hard drive or fast enough processor.

2. They are new to computers and thought they were purchasing something simple, like plug & play.

3. There have been some genuine equipment problems, so do not buy one of these units over the internet. If you get a bad one you will want to return it easily so shop at a local store.

I posted comments before and I said READ READ READ and I am saying that again. There is no excuse for being disappointed because the unit does not have FireWire, or is DVD+R only. You should know these things before you buy. And if you do buy I hope things go well for you, I love mine.

I purchased this product with the idea of converting my old camcorder tapes to DVD. This product was promoted as being "the next best thing to sliced bread" and so easy to use. Well I am here to tell you, it was a long and painful process to finally get the project completed and here is why:

The Showbiz software (used for the video editing) is mediocre at best and definitely has room for improvement. There is no instruction manual or resource available to guide you through editing for the first time. You are left to try and figure it out for yourself.

HP support was another huge frustration. In my first attempts to deal with HP support I called to try and troubleshoot the errors by phone. After being redirected to wrong departments (even different countries!) and being on hold for more than 2 hours at a time, I decided to try the email method. I had better luck with that and also had a way to document my correspondence. After they determined that it was something one of their Quality Customer Care Reps would need to handle, I was assured that someone would call me. 3 weeks later and multiple email reminder messages from me, I still received no phone call from HP. I was also getting no help (or even a single return phone call) from CompUSA where I originally purchased the product. Talk about feeling frustrated!

In the meantime, I upgraded my PC to USB2.0 and increates my RAM to 512MB. I wanted to be sure my system wasn't causing the program (Showbiz) to fail. This didn't change anything...program still failed.

After 7 weeks and hours and hours of time spent trying to get this product to work, the problem was resolved by simply unchecking a box within the ShowBiz software. This setting is under Options / DVD Quality - uncheck the box that says ShowBiz Smart Rendering. Unfortunately, this box came checked by default (go figure!) when loading the software.

If this information can help anyone having the same headaches and frustrations I had in getting this product to work, I will be happy. This is really my goal in publishing my review of the Movie Writer. Once you get the DVD Movie Writer and software all figured out, it does work and accomplish what it set out to do. Since I am not a beginner with computers I was not expecting to endure the pain and suffering I experienced. However, I did learn that I will think twice before buying another HP product as well as buying anything from CompUSA (products are great, service stinks) in the future.

One more bit of info I wanted to pass along...HP has an updated driver available from their FTP site. I believe it is dated 10/31/03. This could help if you are using the prepackaged version and having trouble.

Good luck!!

I purchased the DVD Movie Writer because I thought it would be easy for other people to use in my household. However, the item arrived on Wednesday and was promptly repacked and mailed back to Amazon on Thursday after two very lengthy calls to HP Customer Support in India. The dc3000 was installed on a Dell Desktop and a Dell Laptop. Each running @ 2.3ghz and 512MB of RAM. Each system had the same problem - I could see the video preview and audio preview, however, when I went to record no video source was recognized. Further, the drivers for the video capture card appear to limit it's use with third part capture and authoring software. I had high expectations, and I was severally let down. So now I am off to the store to find a seperate capture device and a DVD +/- Recorder. I suppose now upon reflection, I should have done this the first time. If you are considering this product, wait until april witht he dc4000(?) is out, which will use Firewire and may have some of these bugs fixed. Whil I was waiting for shipping, I did more investigation, so I anticipated some of these problems, as they probably account for 50% or more of nagative posts concerning this product. It appears HP is selling a flawed device. I don't recommend rewarding overall poor corporate behavior.

HP DVD Movie Writer dc3000
True to HP's reputation for making top quailty products, the HP Movie writer delivers all the functionality it promises and works flawlessly. Excellent software and hardware integration. It comes with analog-capture and MPEG-2 encoding capabilities. The only reason I gave 4 stars is because this unit does not come with FireWire or 1394EEE connection. It only has USB2.0. I wonder why HP did this, cosidering that most of us have FireWire but not USB 2.0. Many computers built before 2002 have USB 1.1 ports, limiting them to 12 Mbps.

Installation is pretty easy, if you follow the steps mentioned in the documentation. I like draw your attention to one important point before you buy this product. Your Desktop or Notebook should have a USB 2.0 for this product to work. Most of us have laptops with USB 1.1. Only new laptops purchased in the last one year have USB 2.0 delivered. To enable your laptop to have USB 2.0, read my special notes at the end of this review. I had to spend an additional $75 to make my notebook USB 2.0 compatible. I recommend that before you buy this product, makesure your computer has USB 2.0 else first buy the card I mentioned below and install it. Only after your USB 2.0 card works you buy this product.
Following are the steps I recommend.

1) First install the software on your computer using your computer's CD drive. ( After installing the software, you should see a "HP DVD" icon on your desktop.

2) Then connect the delivered power cord to the Movie writer( The system lights up). Connect USB cable to the USB port on your computer. Windows XP immediately recognizes the new hardware and comes with a hardware compatibility wizard. Just select automatic installation and everthing is done.

3) To see the drive on your computer, Right click on "Start" and select explore. You will now see the DVD-CD- R/W listed.

4) Connect your camcoder or VCR to your HP DVD Writer. Turn on your VCR. Insert the Tape. Position the tape at the section you want to start.

5) Double Click the "HP DVD" icon on your desktop and after the sofware is launched click the "ArcSoft ShowBiz 2". Slect the capture Vedio Button. Then press the record button to start your recording.

Note : USB 2.0

USB 2.0, a successor to the popular USB 1.1 standard, which started appearing in mid-2001 and is now being built into almost all new personal computers.USB 2.0 offers greater bandwidth and a data transfer rate of up to 480 megabits per second -- 40 times faster than the 12 Mbps maximum of USB 1.1.But USB 2.0 doesn't always mean "40x faster."
The creators of USB 2.0 -- a team made up of Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Hewlett Packard Co., the former Compaq Computer Corp., Agere Systems, NEC Corp. and Royal Philips Electronics -- made the standard fully backward compatible so it would work with the gadgets people already own.

That's why USB 2.0 actually encompasses three speeds: the original USB speed of 1.5 Mbps, aka "low-speed USB"; 12 Mbps, aka "full-speed USB" or USB 1.1; and 480 Mbps, aka "hi-speed USB."

There's an additional consideration in buying USB 2.0 products. Your computer needs to have a USB 2.0 port to take advantage of the faster data transmission. Many computers built before 2002 have USB 1.1 ports, limiting them to 12 Mbps.

I bought the Adaptec USB 2 connect for noteboods ( USB 2.0 Card bus adapter) , which costed about $75. It has 2 ports. Do not buy cheap products, as they do not work as promised. Most of the Card Bus come with a power adapter, which adds another wire to your already mess of wires. Adaptec USB 2.0 does not come with the power adapter, becuase for 90% to the noteboods it works without power. I inserted the CardBus into the PCMCIA slot, and windowsXP immediately ditected new hardware found, and promted a dialogue box with an option to install the driver software automatically. When computer was not connected to the internet and it could not find the driver files. I connected to the internet and again inserted the CardBus into the PCMCIA slot and I select the install driver software automatically option. This time it worked. ( My NoteBook is HP Pavillion and it works great. HP makes outstanding products.)

I have created a FAQ for this product where you can get help directly from HP. If you search Google with my name, you'll find a website and a link to the FAQ and user group that can help you overcome any difficulties you might experience with this product.

Walt Mossberg wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "The DVD Movie Writer is the best external video-conversion device I've tested."

We want to continue to live up to that claim and so if you're having any difficulties, please share them with the user group and we'll do our best to help you solve them.

Lee Devlin