Dazzle vs Dazzle 2 ??

[darkhunter]

Ok people, I was just wondering if there are any big advantages of the Dazzle 2 over the Dazzle 1.
I know 2 does MPEG2 so I could do SVCD's, but what I was wondering is as you may know Dazzle is crappy for making VCD's because the "VCD" template they give you does not actually make a correct VCD, sound messes up, not to mention the picture is pretty well crap too.

Well I was wondering if anyone knew if they addressed these problems in Dazzle 2?? Does the 2 have a better working VCD template? That's what I am more worried about. If I wanted to make a VCD with dazzle 2 could I just record it and burn instead of having to run the encoded mpeg through TMPEG or something to fix the sound??

thanks in advance,
J.Hileman@prodigy.net

[aguillon]

I own a DVC II, and apart from taking a fair bit of time to get it working right (there s a hardware bug sometime, you need to reset one of the chips on the board) and making sure of upgrading the software to 4.23, it has been producing very good VCD quality for me (sorry cannot compare to DVC I since I never owned one). I ve owned a few capture cards and it is by far the best.
MovieStar software is very easy to use for editing/splitting/adding titles and credita, and produces MPEG files that are compatible with Nero.

[sracer]

darkhunter, Sorry, but I have no idea what you are talking about. The Dazzle DVC makes beautiful VCDs... the template is correct, the audio sounds fine and is in sync.

Visit my homepage for a short sample that I created with the Dazzle DVC:
http://pages.prodigy.net/tcperconti/
That clip was created on a lowly 366Mhz eMachine.

The DVCII has some hardware problems, and the software earlier than version 4.23 has problems. If you have the latest DVC software, then it should be pretty good.

[themamboman]

I have a DVC2 and have not noticed any hardware bugs or needing to reset certain chips. I have used both v4.22 and v4.23 software. The only bug I have noticed is if you set the audio capture to less than 192kbs, it'll bump it up to 384kbs, so I set it to 192 all the time. I think this is a driver issue.

I don't capture directly using the SVCD template. I find that their VBR cuts the average bitrate down a bit lower than I would like. It would be nice if we could specify average, min and max bitrates on their vbr, but I guess that I'm asking a bit much.

If I'm capping off satellite tv (DirecTV in my case), I usually capture using the DVD template (720x480, 8Mbs, and change audio to 192kbs). I then treat it like ripping a DVD: use dvd2avi to demux audio and make a d2v file, load up tmpgenc, set for svcd and encode.

I get awesome video.

[spiderman2k1]

dazzle 1 can not do SVCD if you want to do SVCD then get Dazzle 2

[darkhunter]

sracer, I would love to know how you are doing this.
Unless it's just the software I am using (maybe I need newer?) you cannot get a perfect mpeg for making a VCD. The audio bitrate or somthing is too high. The clip will play fine on a PC, but on a DVD player it will skip. I have to run the clip through TMPEG to get it right before burning.
You can read about the problem right here at vcdhelp, the link is:
http://www.vcdhelp.com/dazzlecapture.htm

Do you know a way to get around this?

thanks!

[geniv]

I still use the DVC and had a DVCII. the DVCII vcd capture is a little bit higher quality (not by that much) just seems to be alittle shaper and the DVC is smoother it depends what u like u might perfer the DVC capture better.

actually the DVC is a very good and bugfree capture card.

now the DVCII is apiece of crap when I had it. hardware problems, software unstable. a/v out of sync.... sold it.

unless you absolute want dvd/svcd then stick with the sNAzzi or go with another card...

btw: the dvc is pretty good quality but can't comment on how it plays on standalone DVD since I can't run CDR on my dvd player..

[sracer]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-10-23 14:43:30, darkhunter wrote:
sracer, I would love to know how you are doing this.
Unless it's just the software I am using (maybe I need newer?) you cannot get a perfect mpeg for making a VCD. The audio bitrate or somthing is too high. The clip will play fine on a PC, but on a DVD player it will skip. I have to run the clip through TMPEG to get it right before burning.
You can read about the problem right here at vcdhelp, the link is:
http://www.vcdhelp.com/dazzlecapture.htm

Do you know a way to get around this?

thanks!
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

I am not doing anything special to get those results. I'm using Dazzle DVC software v3.62 and the default VideoCD template. I've had my DVC for about a year and a half and I have been absolutely delighted with the results. (as you can see)

That sample capture was taken from a DVD player attached to the Dazzle via a S-Video cable. VHS captures look nearly as good.

I had read that link you posted when it first appeared on the site, but the difference in quality was so small that it wasn't worth the additional processing time.

In helping others out, I have discovered that the cause of most problems that people have with their DVC units is that they tweak the default settings and accidentally save them....overwriting the factory-supplied settings. Others had various software (like realtime virus-scanners) that interfere with performance.

As for playback quality on standalone DVD players. Playback quality is highly dependent on the player itself. My old RCA 5220P did an admirable job with CDRW discs. My friend's Apex unit skipped and pixelated all over the place. But on my Pioneer DV-434, there is no artifacting whatsoever (when captured from DVD)...only minor compression artifacts when captured from VHS...and it easily plays VCD, SVCD, SxVCD discs on CDR and CDRW media.

[Mdanner423]

Hey

I am having trouble with my dvc II. When i install all is well intil i shutdown... Then I cannot boot again until i take out the dvc II. I would like to try that chip reset thing, if you could tell me what to do!

Matthew

[vhelp]

I got the DVC II and am testing it like crazy. Most likely will
be bringing it back for a refund. But I want to continue running
some more tests on it (have 30days) . I will KEEP ALL the
caps I make for proof of what MY system was able to do with
this unit. AMD T-Brd Athlon 900mhz in an MSI mb.

So far I am not satisfied with it.
But, first I'd like to say that:
* installation was a snap ( never thought would be posible )
* I pluged card in, loaded up the install cd and away it went.
* I have NO problems capping anything

I was spared all the troubles that most other posters here
are claiming. And, I don't have that nasty shutdown problem
either. And, to top it off, I was actually able to CAP from BOTH
my DVC II and my WinTV PVR USB model, using an 'Y' adpter.
I just wanted to see if it would work - and it did! My cpu %
was about 60% when I did this.

Anyway, I'm going to try a few more tests with all these
capture devices. I still have my DVC USB. if you're interested,
I'll do a VCD cap for both these and share the clip with you so
you can see which produces the better quality. I'm curious
myself. Oh, hi sracer. ...maybe you'd be interested.

Playing my VCD caps from the DVC USB was flawless.
But, produced quite a number of blocks - my Apex ad-500

One thing I didn't realise at the time, but have just found out
yesterday, was that caping from DVD movies (your own, I hope)
I noticed that some of those Widescreen ones come out pretty
shitty! For example, when I tested some caps from movie "Contact",
no matter what Mbts setting I made, it just wouldn't get any better.
But, as I found out yesterday, that it depends on how the movie
was encoded on the dvd (23fps or 24 or 29fps, etc) and give or
take a few other things I don't know/understand (process'wise) .
On another cap I did yesterday in Widescreen, the movie
"Starship Troopers" came out much better. I didn't know at the
time of my DVC USB testing. I was only testing my caps from
the dvd movie "Contact". So, my mistake there!

I'm really trying to give the DVC II a fair deal (testing) .
I shouldn't have shot my mouth off like I did previously.
So, let me appoligize to all those DVC II fans
But, so far, I haven't changed my feelings about this unit.
But, let me continue more tests.

DVC II:
So far, in order to get acceptable results, I have to cap with a
much higher Mbits, say 4mbts and above (5mbts+ is better) .
I don't wanna do a higher cap, say 8mbts and then run it
though tmpgenc and lower for all my future caps. However,
"themamboman" gave me an idea to try. I'm curious about
this process and would like to try it if time allows.

Right now, after testing the WinTV PVR USB, I haven't ben able
to get the capping results (quality) with the DVC II. And this
unit only caps at 352x480 (the PVR) . IMO, the PVR gives the
best quality for TV viewing. As for playing on a pc, I don't think
that a veteran (myself) would appreciate it. TV quality is excellent!
But, for a newbie to the VCD/SVCD video world, any quality would
be considered great - till they learn (in time) as they begin to
want more. Well, at least this is how it was in my experience.

And, all those caps I make with every capture device I am saving
to CD for future reference. And, if I ever get a DSL line running,
I'll have it on my sever for everyone to see.

I'm not sure I've ben of any help, but I just wanted to share
my experience with you and the rest of VCDhelp'ers out there.

[darkhunter]

sracer
It's weird becaus I got a pioneer 434 also and no matter what the source, from DVD, VHS, TV rip, etc, the VCD I make the sound skips, not right away, but a few minutes into it you get a crackeling and poping, but if I run the MEPG through TMPEG first using their VCD setting and burn, fine.
I am running dazzle v4.21 software and use the VCD template.
The video bitrate is 1150000 and audio (sampling rate 44100)(audio bitrate 224000) There is no way to change them too I don't think, do you know what I am doing wrong?

[species8472]

I want to pass along my experiences. I recently got a DVC II and am very happy with it. I have previously used WinTv, PCTV and ATI All-In-Wonder. My captures are from vcr, live Tv or dish; I would just rip a dvd on the pc and re-encode with TMPGenc later. The quality I get with the DVC II is better than all of the other cards I have used. Even capturing with PCTV or WinTV using Virtual Dub and encoding with TMPGenc. I have captured movies from VCR and the audio/video sync was excellant. I normally capture to dvd format 704x480 at a vbr bitrate of 4000mbps. I am planning on buying a dvd writer sometime in the future, so all of my captures are now mpeg2 dvd format. I have a creative dxr3 ( hollywood plus card) in my pc and use that for viewing dvd/svcd.

[sracer]

darkhunter, BINGO! The Dazzle v4.21 software is the culprit! Upgrade that to 4.23 and those problems will go away. I worked with a few fellow VCDHelp folks a few months back on this and it was reported that v4.21 is faulty.

vhelp, Apex players are cr@p for VCD and SVCD playback...pure and simple. And yes, I cap and rip my DVDs for playback in my ThinkPad that only has a CD-ROM drive.

[darkhunter]

sracer thanks for all the replies, I am sorry to be such a bother, but I am at dazzles website right now and I only see an upgrade to 4.22, I see a 4.23 for the dazzle 2 but not #1. Is this only availiable at retail or something?

[darkhunter]

Ok, if this info helps too, when I burn the MPEG I made with the dazzle I use Roxio EZCD creator 5.0
and if even wanrs me that the VCD will be bad. Gives me yellow ! marks warning me on the "Audio Pack + Padding" and "Last Pack Size" which are both 2304. Now when I run the mpeg through TMPEG before burning and fix it I get no wanrings, the pack and pack size are both 2324. So How do I fix this so that Dazzle records it right to begint with?

[siaododo]

I have Dazzle 1 USB version. The mpeg file I captured are not perfect, but I can live with it. I am now using ATI AIW to capture.

When I do capture with Dazzle, I use the VCD template, but before you produce the movie, use fastest rendering option. Make sure to go to the Advance Tab, and and correct the audio setting to VCD compliant. The setting is just a little too high. Also make sure the Video is set according to VCD compliant.

The file I produce is ready to be burned to VCD using Nero. If the file is too big to burn on a CDR, I edit it with Movie Star, but just before I produce the movie, I do it again with the steps above to make sure the move is VCD Compliant.

[siaododo]

I have Dazzle 1 USB version. The mpeg file I captured are not perfect, but I can live with it. I am now using ATI AIW to capture.

When I do capture with Dazzle, I use the VCD template, but before you produce the movie, use fastest rendering option. Make sure to go to the Advance Tab, and and correct the audio setting to VCD compliant. The setting is just a little too high. Also make sure the Video is set according to VCD compliant.

The file I produce is ready to be burned to VCD using Nero. If the file is too big to burn on a CDR, I edit it with Movie Star, but just before I produce the movie, I do it again with the steps above to make sure the move is VCD Compliant.

[Greg12]

i'm demanding a free dazzle as compinsation for dells lemon

[sracer]

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On 2001-10-23 19:35:15, darkhunter wrote:
sracer thanks for all the replies, I am sorry to be such a bother, but I am at dazzles website right now and I only see an upgrade to 4.22, I see a 4.23 for the dazzle 2 but not #1. Is this only availiable at retail or something?
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>
darkhunter, it's not a bother at all. Yes, 4.22 is the latest for the DVC I. Try downloading the update and see if that helps. If it doesn't, then I suggest contacting Dazzle support, tell them you have 4.21 and that you would like to have v3.62 of their older software to see if it fixes the problems you are experiencing. I have had great luck with their customer support.

Roxio EZ CD Creator is not a very good program for creating VCDs, but the one thing it excels at is flagging MPEGs that do not conform to the whitebook VideoCD spec. So if it is flagging your MPEGs, then that is a clear indication that the Dazzle software is not creating videoCD-compliant MPEGs. This is a classic symptom of the buggy 4.21 software. That is why the 4.22 update is so important.

[geniv]

ohh my bad, I meant to say I use to have the SNAZZI Internal PCI encoder not the DVC.

Is the DVC and SNAZZI same hardware encoder chips... only excpetion is DVC is usb? anyone know if there are any video quality difference in VCD cap?

I use to run my DVCII with moviestar 4.22 and still the same problems.. actually I had 2 DVCII first I thought the hardware was dfect so I returned it and got a replacement but it was the same problems....

some people say they have no problems... and some say they do.. it's a gamble.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: geniv on 2001-10-23 23:03:07 ]</font>

[darkhunter]

sracer
thanks for all your help and everyone else too!
Will try the software update.