Customer Reviews

Pinnacle DVD Maker Plus Quickly Transfer Vhs Tapes To Dvd

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

As someone who owns a lot of video tapes of TV shows and home movies from over the years, I can easily say it was time to put a lot of these things onto DVD and get myself updated to the latest media formats before time does a number on all of the tapes I have laying around. I didn't own anything but a video capture card and a lot of tapes to convert so once I started my search I saw there were many options out there much to my surprise. But most were less then great to put it lightly.

I searched and tried out a lot of other programs that promised to convert VHS --> DVD easily and all claiming that the process was easy to do and with little trouble. Yeah right. If only... I went through various programs and devices all with very sub par results. Some programs wouldn't even work with the capture card I had, some were just down right confusing and another just had no options at all to alter the video you are putting into the program. It was quite frustrating and annoying going through all of these would be programs with very little meeting for satisfying results.

Finally I decided to try something that sounded too good to be true. Using the USB port and a hub that would allow you to plug in the video and audio ports from a VCR into it and convert it for you simply in real time onto a disk. I really couldn't believe it would be that easy. Other programs which were much more expensive promised an easy process and weren't able to do it. But I figured it was my last chance to get rid of all of these tapes I have and to give it a try.

Well, finally I found the real deal. This not only makes putting VHS onto DVD a breeze, it does it with no middle steps. While the video is playing on the screen it is loading onto a DVD processing at the same time. So while you have the data you want transfered playing it is already being burned on the disk.

And the quality is at your control too. If you want to fit more of the tape on you can lower the quality a bit but even at the lowest quality setting the picture is very clear and accurate. There are also custom menu selection screens you can add and music options to add into the menu's before you even process the disk. Everything is already set up and fine tuned before you push that final process button. It couldn't be easier.

Finally something that is the real deal. If you have a lot of tapes or a video camera that has tapes just waiting to be put onto DVD this is the device to get. The price is reasonable and the ease of use is better then anything I have ever experienced. Never would I have imagined that using the USB port would give such an in sync processed DVD.

The only drawbacks I can see is that you pretty much have to pre scan your tapes and know how long the moments you want will be and have everything ready to go before you start the process. There is a point of no return policy in place here that once you start the program and put the DVD in, you are commited to using that DVD to finish the movie. So if you make a mistake and didn't have all you wanted on the disk or tape then you pretty much have to start over with a brand new DVD making the processed one worthless. This is all real time so what you see and process is what you will have. No pausing and no editing after the process starts. So have the tape sorted through before time so you have an idea of what and how much will be going onto the DVD you are making. The moment you stop the process or the time limit you set ends that is it. The DVD will be made exactly like that. So there is a draw back to the real time method that you will have to work around if you are used to editing things and having time to make changes to the mpg before final process.

Overall I have been very pleased with this product. It makes the transfer situation I had to deal with a joy and already I have gone through a dozen tapes to DVD with out a problem with any of them. This truly is the simplest and easiest way to get your video libraries onto DVD or to get those 2 year old camcorder tapes processed once and for all. Pinnacle has produced a fine product here and I thank them for making it so easy and affordable to do.

Say good bye to those VHS tapes now thanks to this easy to use product. This is 5 stars all the way easily.

This Pinnacle product is not worth your time. First computer I installed the software on would lock up the computer,requiring a reboot. I never did get it to operate on that computer. Tried to install the software on another computer and got it to work. I tried to copy some video with it but the picture was choppy. Also the longer the recording went,the sound started to run behind the picture. I sent this item back to Amazon. I did try Pinnacle support and they were very tough to get in touch with and not much help. Both installations were on computers running XP Pro. This product is a great idea too bad it does not work properly.

I don't have anything to compare this too, but I'm into hour 4 and still not one video has been transferred. Extremely disappointed. I've had to download mutliple patches, and I think that the equipment may be defective. I've spent hours pooring over the "support" web page. I'm hesitant to use up my ONE free support phone call. I will be charged for any subsequent calls.

If I can keep one person from purchasing this POS, it will be worth writing the review. I have purchased hundreds if not thousands of computer software and hardware products and this is the first time I have been compelled to give a review. This experience brings back memories of clumps of hair in my hands from the last pinnacle product I bought many years ago, apparently, nothing has changed.

First:
2 out of the 3 CDs will not mount. Unreadable. Checksum errors, etc. Tried on 3 different machines, 4 different DVD ROM Drives.

Then I go to their web site to download the product:
What a losing proposition this is. I can't even find the name of the product on their web site "Pinnacle DVD Maker Deluxe"

I finally find the product that was on one of the two bad disks and I downloaded it. 1.3GB Download, whew.

Then I install it, it asks me for the serial #, I put it in.... (BUZZER SOUNDS) Bad serial number. Checked it 10 times.

Another 30 minutes on google, finds me a support article on Pinnacle's site... If your serial number isn't working for version 10, contact us and we'll get you a new one. Ooops their tech support is closed. So much for that.

Try the hardware on another machine:
All I bought this thing for was to capture video, so I thought I could use the USB device on a 6 day old XP machine. Wrong. Doesn't work with Vegas or Windows Movie Maker, altough both try. Time out error. Updated to latest XP drivers. No go.

So I try to use the one application off the CD that did install on my Vista machine. Instant DVD maker or something like that.

This thing is really buggy. Lock ups, garbled video, etc.

Downloaded latest Vista hardware drivers and the program itself, no change.

I'll be returning it first thing tommorrow. Hopefully they will take it back, if not, I will be taking a match to it and pretending its a $50 bill, pretending I have money to burn so I'll feel better.

Later.

I really needed to create a DVD and this software seemed like it would be ideal. Don't waste your time or money. It froze up 2 computers, and the program itself wouldn't even record the DVD, it stopped at the very first step each time and locked up.

The tech support is terrible. You cannot reply to any e-mails and the product DOES NOT WORK. Total rip off.

I recently transferred all my VHS tapes to my laptop to burn. It was great and a whole lot cheaper than paying [...] bucks per cassette.

When I first got it, I had trouble getting the driver off the website (I have Windows 7 BTW). But I just called the support number that was on a card that came in the box and the guy walked me through setting it up. He also emailed me the link to the driver for Windows 7 since I had trouble finding it on the site.

After that, it was smooth sailing. I inserted the cassettes into my VHS player on the TV and connected my Dazzle thing to the TV on one end and USB to laptop on the other. Then I played the VHS tapes and hit "record" on the laptop and just let the whole video play. I did this for all my VHS tapes. I also had some footage on those camcorder tapes so I connected the dazzle to the video camera and recorded from there as well as the mini tapes played.

The process was really easy for me. The annoying part of the process didn't even have to do with anything related to the product. editing on Windows Movie maker was annoying and saving as DVD took forever. Actually burning to the DVD (I used Windows software for this as well) took even longer. But now that I'm all done converting, I'll let all my friends use it for their tapes and such and then see if I can sell it.

I would definitely recommend this product! I went around looking for quotes to get my DVDs made by sending them out and the prices were ridiculous. This process took a long time (Around 2 days per cassette if I really sat down and worked on it), but I saved a lot of money. Just remember the DVDs will look just like the cassettes did, the quality will not get better.

FYI I bought this at OfficeMax. I had a card that was $15 off a purchase of $[...] and this cost $49.99, so I got it at about 35 bucks plus tax

Here is link to driver for Windows 7: [...]

Nothing but trouble with horrible picture quality when it does manage to function correctly. Don't waste your time or money on this product.

We purchased a 'high end' Pinnacle product at my company many years ago. The product was a combination of hardware and software and the 'features' were described in a way that were very misleading and even confusing to the representatives at the company itself. We never could get 'analog' video converted as we desired with audio and the documentation included seemed to be 'chatting' along without regard to the actual abilities of the product.

I haven't used any Pinnacle products since, but I have seen 'DiVX' and other devices on the shelf at Walmart & BestBuy. I would consider doing a lot of research on these other options.

In the end, definitely buy from Amazon if you can!!

This is a great seller. We had a problem with the DVD Maker that he sent, so he shipped us a second one immediately. It turned out to be a problem with our computer. We have returned one and happy with the other.