PINNACLE video Edinting KIt MovieBox USB 2 Any good?

[hearts]

Hi I am new to Video editing and have a load of Video Tapes I want to capture on my PC and transfer to DVD. I have a capture card a Matrox which I can capture Video with from my VCR but its changing the format which I am stuck at. At the moment I capture in AVI but its too big MB.

I was told that PINNACLE VIDEO EDITING KIT MOVIEBOX USB 2 was good for the job but its £139 or thereabouts in PC WORLD UK so I want to make sure its what I neded before I buy. Also would I have to buy a Firewire card to go with this.
Thanks for any help.

[harrymj3]

I have Pinnacle Moviebox USB2 and like it very much. I also have the Pinnacle Moviebox DV, but for transfering tapes to DVD the USB2 edition is by far the best choice. The Studio app that comes with it is a little slow but the quality is excellent. ............... harrymj3

[harrymj3]

Sorry, I missed the firewire question. No you do not have to buy a firewire card. The Moviebox USB2 uses your USB port. It will work best with USB2 (if necessary you can buy a card for 15 to 20 usd) but will also work OK with USB1. ................ harrymj3

[hearts]

Thanks for your reply Harry. So you recommend it then? I am swithering between that card and a Stand alone DVD recorder for £350.
I want to beable to email some clips from the tapes to my friends abroad how small does it conver the tape to...sorry, by that I mean MB per MINUTE or Seconds of tape.

[tazwoh2002]

I obtained a dvd writer (TDK440n) which came bundled with some pinnacle software , which judging by the reviews on the net was supposed to be rubbish

On a further note (how can you run USB2 as even Windows XP pro doesnt support it) so when your plugging the USB cable the reason its abit slow is simple because your using actually standard usb

IF your ripping a movie to hdrive in AVI format why not use virtual dub to split,tmpgenc to encode,(to your region) and then Ulead DVD Movie factory to put it onto dvd

Just an idea ????? 8)

[harrymj3]

You have several choices for file size. you can capture to VCD, DVD, and I think SVCD. I don't know about XP Pro but my Sony Vaio with XP Home Ed has USB2 and it works very well for capture. When I mentioned slow I ment the encoding process, not the capture process. As far as Pinnacle goes, it works very well with the latest updates and after removing all packet writing app's ( InCD, Direct CD, etc) from my computer. ................ Regards'................ harrymj3