thinking about getting the dazzle but....

[amongthedead]

im not sure if its going to do what i want it to so maybe you guys can help me out. I'm concidering openeing up a small business in the area, taking peoples VHS tapes (weddings, birthday parties, anniversary's etc) and converting them on DVD with nice menu's (so they can use scene selection to get RIGHT to the part with the drunk people) and possibly a slideshow with a bunch of wedding pictures, stuff like that. Would the dazzle 150 be right for this? I've read around on the forums and it sounds right but i wanted to make sure. I'm willing to spend 100-250 on the device. thanks

[amongthedead]

any opinions? I dont have a cam corder, and my vid card doesnt have S-video...

[GKar]

I would chuck your video card and buy any of the ATI All In Wonder cards, depending on your gaming needs choose the model you need, check the reviews on this site, they have tried and true software and seem to give good results. Try this link:

https://www.videohelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCard=ati&Submit=Search&searchconnecti...&Search=Search

[fmctm1sw]

Here's some: Wait more than a couple hours to bump your topic. Other folks might flame you for it. I used to hear Dazzle getting slammed a lot back when there weren't a lot of USB 2.0 devices. I never used one so I can't comment one way or the other. From a business aspect don't advertise "VHS to DVD." There's much, much more you can do. Can you make a windows media file too? Real Media? Can you do 8mm? I would offer "A wide range of video services including ... blah blah blah" Cheak out the reviews of the capture cards to the left. That's mainly what swayed me into buying what I use....

[presto]

I bought my Dazzle 150 a few weeks ago and I'm a big fan. It does the converts to mpg in real time so your computer doesn't have to and to save disk space.

It comes with Studio 8. Studio 8 is absolutely the most powerful consumer level capture/edit/burn software. You'll probably want upgrade to the full version and then buy some extra wedding related effects, menus, and transitions. I used to have alot of trouble with Studio 8 but I think problem was my anolog capture and I think the Dazzle has solved that. I don't have enough experience with the new set up to swear to this. The Studio web board is really helpful. Pinnacle support is not.

The dazzle also has video out so you can hook the rca plugs to your TV and edit on "the big screen" instead of the little preview window. You can also use the video output to record right to VHS tape so that gives you an option for people who don't have a DVD player.

I love it but take this with a grain of salt because I'm probably still in the honeymoon stage.

[amongthedead]

it was an intetional bump, i just forgot to add the facts about my vid card =)

[CaptainAmazing]

presto, you mention that you love the Dazzle 150. Have you or anyone else compared the Dazzle to the Canopus ADVC100 or the Pyro ADS capture devices?

[presto]

Here is my reply from another thread where the same question was asked. (I think you asked it there and I didn't get back to that thread so you asked it again here).

No, I haven't tried those. I'm thrilled with the Dazzle 150 because it captures video tapes that my ATI AIW Radeon 7500 would not. The quality looks great to me but I'm not dealing with high quality source material and watching it on big screen TV like the some of the videophiles around here. It's possible that some other device might have a better "upper limit" of quality, I don't know anything about that.

The only hitch I see in the Dazzle 150 is Studio 8. Nothing has changed in over two years that I've been using it on and off. The forums and reviews here are still a mixed bag. Everyone agrees it is a great interface and powerful editor. It's just that some people have so many crashes and corrupt projects that they can't get anything done. Others seem to have no problems. Are the people with no problems doing less ambitious projects or are they using S8 to edit and then authoring with something else? Or are they just lucky?

I still think recommend it. If you are lucky there will be no problems. At worse you will find that you can do all your editing in S8 and output to another program to author. No big deal really.

[Manokat]

It's interesting to know how dazzle products progress after they've been bought out by Pinnacle. Would you happen to have screen samples from MPEG2 for Dazzle 150?

[mbaker_jr]

I highly recommend staying away from the Dazzle 150. Back when I was first getting into the whole DVD creation scene I bought one of these and promptly got rid of it. The software that it is bundled with is atrocious and the hardware tends to heat up if you leave it plugged in.

The answer to my prayers was ATI's All-In-Wonder 7500. This great little card is packaged with easy to use and very functional software. Free updates are available on ATI's website every now and then as well. You should be able to pick up one of these (or equivalent) for $100-$150 online. Trust me, the AIW is miles ahead of the Dazzle in every way.

I also picked up quite a few helpful tricks from www.lordsmurf.com as he has quite a bit of experience using AIW cards.

[presto]

Trust me, the AIW is miles ahead of the Dazzle in every way.

I have both. It's not that simple. As I've said repeatedly the ATI AIW Radeon 7500 cannot capture some old VHS tapes. The Dazzle 150 does not have this problem.

Studio 8 is really the best editor out there but can be "buggy". I wouldn't let that keep me away from it because they have an excellent forum and the problems seem to mostly be with DVD creation and not with editing.

Pinnacle's site mentions "Starmaker" software or something. I think that may have been bundled with the Dazzle 150 before Studio 8. I think the Dazzle 150 as I bought it is a relatively new product.

[amongthedead]

well since im going to be doing a lot of older VHS tapes, I dont think the AIW is much of an option. On pinnacles website they have where you can upgrade to studio 9 for about 40 more dollars. anyone have experience with studio 9? I read up on their message board and heard all the horror stories of 8 =/ thats the only thing thats made me doubt the dazzle 150 so far but presto's convidense is slowly winning me over =)

[Phantom Of The Opera]

... presto's convidense is slowly winning me over =)

Well, Presto's confidence is winning me over too. I'm about 95% decided to buy the Dazzle 150 to at leeast try it out.

Hey, Pres, do you have any idea how the MPEG2 output from the 150 compares with MPEG2 files encoded by TMPEGenc+ from DV AVI? Also, will the Dazzle's MPEG2 output be accepted as is by authoring programs like TMPEG DVD Author?

Thanks very much for your help.

[presto]

Hey, Pres, do you have any idea how the MPEG2 output from the 150 compares with MPEG2 files encoded by TMPEGenc+ from DV AVI? Also, will the Dazzle's MPEG2 output be accepted as is by authoring programs like TMPEG DVD Author?

I haven't done any comparisons. I almost never capture really good quality video so I can't say how the upper end compares to others. Tonight I'll try to do some tests and post some screen caps.

The Dazzle 150 captures by using the capture ability of Studio 8. You just change the source in Studio 8. You can set the frame size, bit rate etc to one of the presets or custom. The resulting mpg works in any authoring program.

I have just started using Studio 9. No problems so far. I have not used it to author a DVD yet. I edit and then output the mpg and use it in Tmpgenc DVD author. I captured from a vhs video yesterday and then used Studio to "utomatically detect scenes". It would be more accurate to say that it detects the "shots". Close up of two people talking (shot 1), Long shot of same two people (shot 2), close up of 1st person (shot 3), etc etc. It is then easy to delete shots you don't want. The thing that really pleases me this time is that when I output the edited mpg it only took a few minutes for an hour of video. In other words it didn't re-render. Therefore you don't get the loss in quality that comes with re-rendering. Studio 8 was supposed to do this (smart render) but it didn't work and I gave up on it.

Studio 9 also has auto color correct which seems to work well. I find that I can usually get just as good of results by adjusting the color, contrast etc myself but newbies might find the auto feature very useful.

It has a stabilize function which I tried on one tape and didn't see any improvement. It may work on some types of movement but not on the tape I tried it on.

The noise reduction setting seems to have worked well too.

If one of you guys gets it be sure to report what you think. Best Buy gave me no trouble when I returned the Dazzle 80 and got the Dazzle 150. So get it. Play with it for a few days and if you are not satisfied take it back. That is what Best Buy wants you to do. They offer the peace of mind of a generous return policy to encourage purchases.

(Here's a funny story. I used the Dazzles video out to run the cables into my ATI AIW Radeon card to see if it would stabiize the picture. It did! The same vhs tape hooked up directly to my ATI card was too jumpy to capture, but run it through the Dazzle and it captures smooth as silk. A few days later I tried the same thing again and I got no video out. I checked my cables and tried it again, no luck. I emailed Pinnacle and asked them about it. Their reply was that you couldn't use the Dazzle as a pass thru device! Well today it is working again. I don't know what I did to make it work or not work but now it is working fine. )

[amongthedead]

so... opinion question, would this set up work.
VCR plugged into the dazzle 150
dazzle 150 plugged into the computer
capture video striaght from the VCR onto the hard drive as mpeg2
using studio 8/9 to author and burn

Now i know you said that it will capture old videos very well. but what do you concider to be a old VHS tape?

[presto]

so... opinion question, would this set up work.
VCR plugged into the dazzle 150
dazzle 150 plugged into the computer
capture video striaght from the VCR onto the hard drive as mpeg2
using studio 8/9 to author and burn

That is exactly how it works.

Now i know you said that it will capture old videos very well. but what do you concider to be a old VHS tape?

I have a video collection that is comprised of copies of copies of stuff from TV and home movies. I would guess some are 18 years old but most are more like 10. They all play fine on TV although the colors on some are shifting toward red. I also have some 5 or 10 year old disney movies that I am backing up (I have a Sima SCC for macrovision).

[The village idiot]

I would sooner spend the money on a TBC, than to buy another Razzle product. Just my opinion.

[indolikaa]

I would sooner spend the money on a TBC, than to buy another Razzle product. Just my opinion.

Ditto.

Your results may vary.

[amongthedead]

ive also heard a lot of people say that as well. Im tempted to buy the ADVC-100, but for one i dont have firewire. for two im not sure how well it works with VCR's and I'm having a bit of trouble understanding exactly what I would need to make the ADVC-100 work for me. The dazzle appeals to me because its simple, converts straight to mpeg (im working on a 40 gig hard drive) and comes with software. The ADVC-100 is appealing to me because of the overwhelming possitive feedback that I've heard about it. great no im more confused than ever =/

[indolikaa]

Well you've heard both sides of the story.


Go with your gut instinct. You've seen that there are people who can help if you run into Dazzle problems. The Canopus -100 is supposed to be a marvelous unit, and there's plenty of users here who have one. So either way, you should have a good line of support.

If you post intelligent questions, that is. The first time you say, "I just downloaded Kill Bill 3 from ShutUp, how do I make a DVD from it?" you're gonna get. Well...
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=220282

A picture is worth a thousands words, isn't it?

Now quit sittin' on the fence and make a decision.

[amongthedead]

i would for SURE buy the ADVC-100 if i knew if i could just hook up a VCR up to the unit, and have it do its thing buying a firewire card wouldnt kill me. im just trying to buy as few things as possible, but i'd like decent quality on all the things that i DO buy. BTW GREAT PICTURE!

[presto]

I would sooner spend the money on a TBC, than to buy another Razzle product. Just my opinion

Have you tried the Dazzle 150? If not what was the last "Razzle" product you owned?

[amongthedead]

ok one last small question before I make the plunge (one way or another)

I've done a bit of searching about ADCV and TBC and everyone says you MUST have it when capturing video. Then I hear people saying it depends on what VCR you're using because some have it built in. So i suppose my final question is... What other hardware am i going to need, I'm buying a new VCR for this anyways, so if it would prevent me from spending 180 dollars on a TBC that would be just super! Also what cables does the dazzle AND the ADVC -100 come with? (im sorry about all the questions i just want to get all this right the first time)

[presto]

The Dazzle 150 comes complete with cables. You can connect by using the supplied RCA cables or svideo (ALL VCRs have the RCA plugs, newer ones might have the svideo).

The Dazzle 150 uses USB2 if your computer is older you might have USB1. USB2 is much faster. On one of my computers I had to add a USB2 card for $40.00). It says on the box it can use USB1 too but I think it will limit what settings you can use to capture.

You will have to get something to defeat macrovison if you want to back up macrovision protected video like store bought movies. I use the Sima SCC. I think I would get the Clarifier if I were buying one today.

I haven't found a tape yet that I needed TBC on. My VCR does not have TBC.

The Dazzle 150 comes with Studio 8 Quickstart which is Studio 8 light. I know it lets you capture edit and make videos but they must have disabled some of the special effects and stuff. I would recommend that you upgrade to Studio 9 right off the bat. That cost about $60.00.

[nelson133]

I've been using the advc for video tapes for a year and have nothing but good results. Nyah Levi

[The village idiot]

I would sooner spend the money on a TBC, than to buy another Razzle product. Just my opinion

Have you tried the Dazzle 150? If not what was the last "Razzle" product you owned?

DCS-200 it went back for a refund! DV Bridge, had to fix the POS by replacing all the coupling capacitors to make the video look decent and make the audio show the same level on both sides, and what ever the PCI card thing was, I can't even remember its name as I struck it from my memory. So don't give me a lecture on how great the Razzle crap was. Worst part about them was the absolute lack of customer support! You may like what you have, and that's your opinion, and you are welcome to it, my opinion is that they SUCK, and I should be welcome to mine, so get off my back about it, this is not the first time you have said similar things to me!

[Phantom Of The Opera]

There are other products that do roughly what the Dazzle DVC150 does, i.e. external stand-alone hardware MPEG2 encoders that connect to the computer via USB2 cable. I'm speaking of the Adaptec VideOH, Plextor PX-M402U, Pinnacle MovieBox and ADS Tech Instant DVD 2.0. Alternatively, there are the AVERMedia Ultra TV PCI plugin cards that have onboard TBCs and hardware MPEG encoders.

Has anyone tried these?

[presto]

I tried the Pinnacle Movie Box because it came packaged with Studio 9. The "problem" video tapes I had caused it to freeze so I switched back to the Dazzle 150.

Village Idiot,
No offence intended. Of course you're welcome to your opinion of Dazzle. I just wanted to clarifier whether you had any experience with the product being discussed or not.

[spiderman2k1]

I have the Dazzle 2 great card for capturing TV show from Satellite dish but the it's also a peace of crap when capturing VHS tape's. Dazzle 2 has a better picture then ATI AIW. ATI has Video soap to clean up old VHS tape's this is some thing that Dazzle's can not do. For VHS ATI AIW is the winner for Satellite dish Dazzle 2 win's. The Dazzle 2 and Dazzle 150 are almost the same it's just USB. Dazzle also has lip sync problem's ATI AIW does not.

You might want to get a Panasonic DVD recorder. Alot easier.

[presto]

The Dazzle 2 and Dazzle 150 are almost the same it's just USB

I think you are wrong. The Dazzle 150 uses USB2 to get better quality than the Dazzle 80 for instance, which uses USB1. If the Dazzle 2 uses USB1 then it is in a different league than the Dazzle 150.

Nothing you have said is true of my experience with the Dazzle 150. To be more specific, capture of VHS is not crap and I have Zero sync problems. Studio 8 does not have video soap but doesn't need it. You can control the hue, saturation, brightness and contrast durring capture. Studio 9 will be available by the end of this months and has several new video clean up tools like noise reduction and auto color correct.

You might want to get a Panasonic DVD recorder. Alot easier.

For making wedding videos with nice menus? (first post in this thread)