Dazzle Digital Video Creator 80....

[rubberman]

I am looking for a way to transfer my video on VHS and VHS-C tapes onto DVDr. My camcorder is VHSc and my computer only has USB ports and no firewire. I dont have the $$$ to buy a DV so i'm very limited. I noticed that office Depot and Best Buy carry the Dazzle DVC80. Will this work good enought to transfer the video to my computer than to DVDr? Has anyone used this model? WOndered how well it works? thanks

[Solarjetman]

I have heard nothing but bad things about dazzle products. And USB makes it even worse. In order to fit the video in the bandwidth of a USB port, it has to be encoded on the fly. This will generally yeild less desirable results than capturing "uncompressed".

I would suggest you either go buy a firewire card and a DV converter, or buy a PCI capture card. I heard good things about the canopus ADVC-1394 if you are willing to shell out more money. Or just get an ATI TV wonder. But I have not heard much about the TV wonder, most people use the All-in-Wonder (and I am assuming you do not want to replace your video card).

[andkiich]

The Dazzle DVC 80 is only good for capping video for VCD resolution, and even then it is not the best option that I have ever used.

You'd be better served with a dedicated capture video card or if you want some type of external box, get something from Canopus.

[rubberman]

So if i get a video card that has the RCA inputs then i can hook up the VCR or camcorder to transfer video the the 'puter, correct? From there how do I turn that video so it can be burned to a DVDr? DOesnt have to be in VOB form?

[BobK]

The Dazzle 80 was the first thing I bought when I got into making VCDs and DVDs 6 months ago. It's crap. The editing software that comes with it is also crap. I ending up returning it and buying Pinnacles Studio 8 AV with their PCI card. (Best Buy had Studio 8 AV on sale for $99 a couple weeks ago- it was normally $129).

There are probably better PCI cards and software, but I found Studio 8 relatively easy to learn to use and the capture card works fine for me. After capturing the video you use Studio 8 to edit and then encode to VOB.

I also had to upgrade my computer. I started out with a Pentium 3 850GHz processor and it took about 22 hours to encode 2 hours of DVD. I'm now using an Athlon 2400+ and it takes 5-6 hours to encode 2 hours of DVD.

Bob K

[Treebeard]

Just to add insult to injury on Dazzle products:

The very mention of Dazzle products can make people shutter and twitch in these forums

you should check out the capture card section and read user reviews

Have a good day! https://www.videohelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCard=&searchconnection=Any&Search=Sear...Top+User+Rated

[jdizzy40]

Rubberman, I would suggest reading the "How To" guides under "Capture". What you are wanting to do can be done, but you will to have the right hardware and software to get the job done. It is not a one click button operation. You will earn that final DVD that comes from the source material! No it doesn't have to be in VOB form. The issues of authoring, removing, compressing and so forth are best learned by first determining what you will need (cost) wise and then reading the "How To"s. They are there for a reason. The hard work has already been done for you by people dedicated to this kind of hobby!

[SLICK RICK]

The only thing that I want to say is when transferring video, if it's not through firewire then it will look like crap. Speaking from personal experience with USB 2.0 AND FIREWIRE being used on the same device. There is no comparison.

GOOD LUCK,

SLICK RICK

[BobK]

I agree that all the USB capture I've seen looks like crap. But I've compared some of the video I've done with the Pinnacle DC10 Plus (which is not firewire) and don't see much difference.

[andkiich]

Rubberman,

If your capturing directly to MPEG2, then you'll just need to author(makes VOB, BUP, IFO files) then burn the completed to a DVD with burning program of choice or with the authoring tool if it has the option to burn and it does a decent job.

If your capturing to AVI, you'll need to convert the AVI files to MPEG2, then do the rest of the stuff mentioned in the previous paragraph.