Is Dazzle Video Creator II worth buying?

[goranlucic]

I saw that Dazzle's DC II can capture video deirectly in Mpeg2 format. Has anybody worked with card and if YES what is the quality of the mpeg2 files?

I am wonderng wheter it could be decent replacement for all encoding programs.

It costs about 300US$. Is it worh buying and using it.

Any thoughts?

[spidey]

http://www.vcdhelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCardRead=Dazzle%20DVC%20II&Search=Search

http://www.vcdhelp.com/reviews/DVCII/dvc2.htm

http://www.vcdhelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCard=dazzle&Search=Search

Hope these help. I had a DVC 1 and can't complain. I'd max that thing up to 2600 x 224 and cap Mpeg 1 xVCD on the fly with no blocks.

[Boonchai]

goranlucic:I just purchased Canopus MVR1000 PCI realtime MPEG-1 & MPEg-2 Encoder last week $699 direct from canopus.com. My main interest are capturing NBA games(L.A. Lakers)with lots of fast moving motion & old movies from DishNetwork.
MVR1000 output:NTSC & PAL
Mode: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Video cd.
Stream type: Audio, Video, Audio & Video seperate elementary streams.
Program Stream: combined stream A&V.
Quality: Preset -
High 720x480 8mb-cbr, Audio 48khz mpeg-1 layer-2 224kbps
Normal 720x480 5mb-cbr. " " "
Low 352x480 3mb-cbr " " "
Lowest 352x240 2mb-cbr " " "
User defined:- 4 image size-720x480, 704x480, 352x480, 352x240
Preset CBR - low of 2mb to high of 8mb
VBR - " ".
Profile & Level - MP@ML, MP@ll, SP@ML.
Capture in I Frame & IBBP.
GOP Pattern - GOPs Streaming & Closed GOPs.
Aspect Ratio 4:3 or 16:9.
Audio sampling rate - 32 khz, 41khz, 48khz.
Audio bitrate - 128, 160, 192, 224, 256, 320, 384.
Audio format - mpeg layer2, pcm mono, pcm stereo.
Video input: This is not a tuner card. I connected rg6 cable thru Svhs Vcr.
captured Lakers so far at 3500cbr 2hrs15mns(including commercial) produced about 3.7 gb. Output view from 19"Viewsonic pf790 at 1240x1028 about 90% of the source. This pci card come with cutting utility prog & then merge with TmpgEnc.
This is one hell of a card if you don't intend to do much editing, only fault that I can think of now is NO svhs cable or audio cable that come with the card & It's a little bit expensive but well worth it if you want to archive your old tapes or movies & doing it in REAL TIME to dvd-r, which I don't have one yet, waiting for the cost of brand name blank drop to $3.
Sorry for the log post.
regards,

[aguillon]

I own a DVC II and will be honest with you.

Although it is a great piece of hardware when it works (I use it to capture to MPEG1 and MPEG2 from almost anythg), it is quite tricky to install, hates sharing IRQs, does not work well on Via chipsets, has fabrication problems (one of the chips on the card is sometimes not pushed in properly, making it fawlty), has problems under Windows XP, may need a very good power supply. The list goes on.

If you think I m making it up, go to http://www.long-distance-longdistance.com/phpBB/index.php - It s the unofficial DVC II forum page.

Look at all the people asking for help there, cos Dazzle's Customer service does not solve their problems...

I would say that I am one of the lucky ones, being finally able to use my DVC II the way I intended to after a few months of groping in the dark. If you buy one, make sure it s from a place that accepts returns.

Cheers

[goranlucic]

Boonchai:
I'll check that card. Thanks for the info. It really looks great.

Regarding the DVD-R.

Go to the www.pricewatch.com and type DVD-R media and pooooof, you'll seee DVD-R media as low as 1.30 US$/piece.
I normally use Meritline (www.meritline.com) - now they offer DVD-R media for US1.48 / piece. So far I wrote aprox. 200 DVD (ripped DVDs, private videos, etc.) and I had NO problem with any single DVD-R media.
However, those non-named media are only 1x write.

So basically you are right. Brand named DVD-R you have to pay 4-7US$/Piece but they support 2.0 x writting speed.

So if you do not mind writting 1 DVD 50 min instead 30 min you will go with those cheap ones.

[stanthos]

vvc2 is great for mpeg 1 capture and makeing vcd
but there is a problem on the dvd captures with headers you cannot encode mpeg2 with tempeg as it says the files are unsupported
a lot of people on the dazzle site have the ssame problem
so mpeg1 yes mpeg2 no no

[FM]

I was planning to buy MPEG2 hardware encoder and found that DVC2 is the best combination of money/quality. It is not worth to pay two times more to Canopus in my opinion (someone may disagree though).

Check http://www.tecoltd.com for encoder comparison results. These guys are competent enough to trust them.

I am getting my DVC2 in two weeks.

[acidsex]

I actually got my Hollywood DV Bridge from www.shopharmony.com for $229. They had the DVC2 for $219 there.

I love my DV Bridge. Great capture quality.

[TheInformer]

I bought a Dazzle DVC II a few months ago and have hardly used it; I use my Sony media converter DVMC-DA1 instead for what I do.

If anyone's interested in buying the DVC II off of me, I'll entertain offers.

[Main]

Hi, I've used DVC II to make VCDs and SVCDs. Got great SVCDs but wasn't satisfied with the sharpness of pictures for VCDs. They have a sharpness controll in it's capture settings but can not be set. Also had A?V sync problem after around 30 mins.