Video Capture for Mac USB2 Video Capture Hardware

by Pinnacle

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 2.8 inches ; 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000WR4BBU
• Item model number: 8230-10021-01
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,219 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

Pinnacle Video Capture for Mac provides a fast, simple way to transfer analogue video in an iPod-native format from a camcorder or any other source to your Mac. You can record video from any analogue source, including a camcorder, set-top box, game console or VCR. Videos are added automatically to iTunes, ready to sync with an iPod or Apple TV.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars works just fine, but there are some annoyances, December 6, 2007

By 

race_of_doom (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Video Capture for Mac USB2 Video Capture Hardware (Personal Computers)

Pinnacle's Video Capture for Mac is essentially their earlier Dazzle capture unit but for the Mac instead of the PC. And that's it.

There are no frills whatsoever. You don't even get standard RCA cables in the box -- just the unit itself, which is nicely small and lightweight, and some almost non-existant, uninteresting reading material (the "manual" is a single page with no troubleshooting sections).

It works just fine, for the most part. I did not have nearly the same trouble with my audio as the previous reviewer -- in fact, I haven't had any. It sounds fine. If you already have abnormal volume quality with your material, you should probably expect subpar results as per the previous review.

Visually, it looks just fine. For this price I couldn't ask for any better. It's a lot better than television recorded from a VCR, for example.

I have a few gripes, though.

#1 -- There is (an incredibly small) lag between the visuals and the audio. It's not that bad, and in fact if I were not paying such close attention I would not notice. But for those who know their videotapes forwards and backwards and then some, it will be apparent and it will certainly be annoying.

#2 -- The first time I powered up the unit after installation was near horrifying. The video was glitchy and blocky and the sound twenty or so seconds behind. It looked like I literally just wasted money. I closed the program and unplugged the Dazzle unit from the USB port, plugged it back in and tried all over again and it was just fine. I haven't had the same problem since, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does happen again.

#3 -- This is nitpicking, because this is a pretty good price for a video capturing device -- but, there are zero options with the software. You have no choices at all. It will capture your video at 640x480 and in MP4 and that's it. There are no audio options, and you can't save your file to a specific place (it goes directly to iTunes). None of this is truly terrible, because it takes only seconds to start capturing a video, but Pinnacle tried too hard to make this too easy. What if you want your file to be saved on the desktop, or more convienently, on another hard drive? Nope. Only in MP4, only 640x480, only in iTunes. You basically press a button to start recording and then press it again to stop. Nothing else.

(Of course, you can do all the hard work yourself afterwards. Moving files, converting them to another format, editing them, etc. It's all possible, but by using more of your time with different software.)

Despite my annoyances with this product, I'm enjoying it all the same -- it's my first video capture device, and it's doing exactly what it should: capture decent looking video. If that's all you need, the Pinnacle Video Capture for Mac is certainly worth a shot.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Product, April 8, 2009

By 

Ryan Parker (Hollywood CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Video Capture for Mac USB2 Video Capture Hardware (Personal Computers)

I spend a lot of time capturing video from my Xbox 360 to my computer for doing Machinima. (Machine Cinema, creating cinema using a video game as a medium) I had to buy this product because I am on the switch to everything mac. I was previously using the Dazzle Video Capture for windows. So I had to purchase the same thing but for the mac. after reading some reviews I was skeptical, but purchased it anyways. I received it today and tested it. I am very pleased with this product. It was very easy to get up and running. Maybe five minutes and I was capturing video. There was no sound delay for me at all. I do not have the money together yet to purchase Final Cut. So I can not use Final Cut to import the video with the Dazzle for the mac, nor can I import it from Imovie. But the Pinnacle video capture program works well enough. Then you can drag and drop straight into Imovie for some quick editing if need be. It was a bit pricey compared to the windows version but worth the money if you own a mac and that is what you need or want to capture with. If you just want to capture home videos or video game play and you are not willing to spend the money on an HD card. This is defiantly worth the money.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I hoped for., August 9, 2008

By 

L. Nogg (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Video Capture for Mac USB2 Video Capture Hardware (Personal Computers)

Ultimately, I was disappointed in this product.

THE GOOD: I purchased this for a friend who is not very computer literate, but she was able to install it and transfer some video without problems.

THE BAD: Her primary use was to transfer VHS videos of family events which she would put onto DVD to preserve them as well as make copies for other family members. The problem is, the quality of the transfer is poor at best. The unit captures the original video onto the computer as an MP4 into iTunes. There is no option to transfer it at a better quality or into iMovie (which would have made more sense). We burned the captured video using iDVD and played it back on a regular 19 inch TV. I was shocked at how poor the quality was. The audio was a bit tinny, but worse was the video. I flipped back and forth between the original VHS and the new DVD and the picture from the DVD was probably 30-40% worse than the original material.

Since this gets transfered into iTunes, maybe the quality would be okay for playback on a 2 inch screen on a Video iPod, iPhone or maybe on YouTube, but if you plan to watch it on a TV, I'd suggest spending more money and get a better capture device... particularly if you want to preserve family memories or other material that is important to you.