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Refurbished Dazzle Video Creator Platinum, for $29.99 + $5 shipping
Product: 1x Pinnacle DVC170 Dazzle Video Creator Platinum

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The reviews for these things actually aren't too dazzling on Alatest...
http://alatest.com/searchaction.html?keyword1=Pinnacle+Dazzle+Video+Creator

oo i can start recording my COD4 matches again! my last device i used for this broke :'(

The video converter is great, its the pinnacle software thats a hassle, just need the driver. great product!

~~~~~~~~~

Does this work with the Intel Mac?

My mom owns one of these - it's a really handy little device. It greatly simplifies the process of converting family videos to DVD. The software is easy enough for my mom to use, and she completely lacks computer knowledge.

This is a good Christmas present for anyone with old VHS or camcorder tapes of the family.

I bought one of these from Tiger Direct about one to two months ago for about $80. It hasn't worked for me yet. These should be good devices, especially if they work properly.

sirhcmin6 wrote:Um.... someone clarify me this... Can this be plugged on to computer and TV to watch movies or computer screen on TV?

The main use for this device is so you can record video from an external source (like a video camera or vcr) directly to DVD (assuming your computer has a DVD recorder) or to the computer's hard drive.

Could you watch a movie on your computer using this decvice? I guess so. Is it really the best use of this item? Nope.

Upon further reading the answer to your question appears to be no - you can't use this to watch your computer display on a TV.

I'm in for one - need to finish archiving my old camera videos.

Okay, one of you lurking geniuses out there, real quick.

How is this different than the red one they offered last month?

I ask because I bought that one and want to know if this one is better.

Anybody know?

(You scoff, but last time somebody asked a question like this, a full spec sheet appeared in no time, even though it was a legacy product and there was no info at the maker's site.)

RUN away from anything with the name Pinnacle on it... especially if it also contains the name Dazzle. As mentioned, the hardware might be okay... it's the software that really vacuums! Even if it works, Pinnacle will not support it for long.

Can this work on a Mac?

I have the same kind of Video Capture but on a Video Card ( a Woot item). It works pretty well but is definitely older technology. I use it for my Hi8 Camcorder to put it on DVD, pretty cool but tiring to switch it all over.

So one hour of VHS is equivalent to how many gigs? Will I need to buy a 2TB hard drive??

Anyone know how this will save files for a PSP? My daughter has one but we can't seem to get any music/vid on it. Thanks...

ilovereality wrote:The main use for this device is so you can record video from an external source (like a video camera or vcr) directly to DVD (assuming your computer has a DVD recorder) or to the computer's hard drive.

Could you watch a movie on your computer using this decvice? I guess so. Is it really the best use of this item? Nope.

I'm in for one - need to finish archiving my old camera videos.

Hmm Okay Thanks! But outputing computer screen to TV works too right?

sirhcmin6 wrote:Um.... someone clarify me this... Can this be plugged on to computer and TV to watch movies or computer screen on TV?

No - the box plugs in to a USB port, and all of the video/audio connectors are for transferring a signal from a TV/VCR/camcorder/etc. to your computer via the USB cable.

Besides, there are much cheaper ways to use your computer on a TV. With modern TVs, it's actually no more difficult than connecting a computer monitor; some even come with a VGA or DVI port, and some even come with the proper cable!

For instance, I don't know of a video card that lacks an S-Video port, and I'm assuming your TV has an S-video input. Just connect them. Or get an RCA-Svideo converter and do it that way, if your TV lacks that port. This is a cheap, low-res solution if your TV is a bit older.

Or if you have an HDTV with an HDMI port, get a DVI->HDMI converter (assuming you have a video card with a DVI port)

Edit: In other words, this little box is not what you're looking for if you're interested in using your computer with a television as a display. It's great if you're looking to go the other way, though (ie recording something on the television to your computer or a DVD)

sirhcmin6 wrote:Hmm Okay Thanks! But outputing computer screen to TV works too right?

This product is for INPUT only. No output. You can, of course, use other products (a variety of video cards) to then output the recorded video to a TV, but that is not what this product is for.

If anyone knows... this wouldn't happen to support game systems like Playstation, ect to display the video and audio through a computer would it?

I got one.. video quality is utter carp
.

Eeezee wrote:No - the box plugs in to a USB port, and all of the video/audio connectors are for transferring a signal from a TV/VCR/camcorder/etc. to your computer via the USB cable.

Besides, there are much cheaper ways to use your computer on a TV. With modern TVs, it's actually no more difficult than connecting a computer monitor; some even come with a VGA or DVI port, and some even come with the proper cable!

For instance, I don't know of a video card that lacks an S-Video port, and I'm assuming your TV has an S-video input. Just connect them. Or get an RCA-Svideo converter and do it that way, if your TV lacks that port. This is a cheap, low-res solution if your TV is a bit older.

Or if you have an HDTV with an HDMI port, get a DVI->HDMI converter (assuming you have a video card with a DVI port)

Edit: In other words, this little box is not what you're looking for if you're interested in using your computer with a television as a display. It's great if you're looking to go the other way, though (ie recording something on the television to your computer or a DVD)

micahshaw wrote:This product is for INPUT only. No output. You can, of course, use other products (a variety of video cards) to then output the recorded video to a TV, but that is not what this product is for.

Thanks Both of you! Karma++

casibley85 wrote:So one hour of VHS is equivalent to how many gigs? Will I need to buy a 2TB hard drive??

It depends on the compression that you set in the software. At the highest settings I believe it was about 1.2GB or so for an hour of video.

I'm looking to record videos from my 360, would this be the thing to get? I heard bad things about the program it uses, but I was going to capture it to Sony Vegas or something.

mayz945 wrote:I got one.. video quality is utter carp
.

Of course it is - this thing uses RCA cables, what were you expecting? When you're converting VHS tapes, there's really no room to complain though.

wow this is a great price... the usual platinum is over 100$ and the regular red one (not as good) is about 50$ i think. i have a red one but i dont use it at all...oh well=]

DietMexicola71 wrote:I'm looking to record videos from my 360, would this be the thing to get? I heard bad things about the program it uses, but I was going to capture it to Sony Vegas or something.

This would be a low resolution solution for doing that, sure. You're not going to have the best looking videos, but they'll look alright.

DietMexicola71 wrote:I'm looking to record videos from my 360, would this be the thing to get? I heard bad things about the program it uses, but I was going to capture it to Sony Vegas or something.

this is a perfect product to record things such as halo machinimas or almost any other kind of gamplay video. It's fine for video recording too (definetly recommending since the platinum is usually over 100$)

msspurlock wrote:Okay, one of you lurking geniuses out there, real quick.

How is this different than the red one they offered last month?

I ask because I bought that one and want to know if this one is better.

Anybody know?

(You scoff, but last time somebody asked a question like this, a full spec sheet appeared in no time, even though it was a legacy product and there was no info at the maker's site.)

1st off it is $10 more.....

Second thing I notice is this one apparently can do Mpeg 4 compression which is two better than he one you got.... (ok - not really 'two' but is is capable of a newer form of compression).

Overall it looks like this comes with a few more bells and whistles - about $10 worth in woot terms I'd say.

Link to detailed specs of the other Dazzle product you refer to (the red one) here: http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=6209

Link to detailed specs on todays woot here: http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=6406

Open two browser windows and knock yourself off comparing them

casibley85 wrote:So one hour of VHS is equivalent to how many gigs? Will I need to buy a 2TB hard drive??

I don't know this model specifically. But it does MPEG-2 and claims to make DVDs, so one hour of MPEG-2 video, with its software, is probably about 2.2 gigs. That'll let you get 2 hours of video onto one DVD-Video disc.

Its software probably has lower and higher sampling rates too.

It also claims MPEG-4 which compresses tighter for storage on your hard drive, but that's a different format than a DVD-Video disc uses.

This is a quick but probably right answer, until you get a better answer.

hey guys, can i hook this up to my dvr on my tv and put some of my recordings onto my ipod??

RepsRok07 wrote:If anyone knows... this wouldn't happen to support game systems like Playstation, ect to display the video and audio through a computer would it?

Since this directly captures video... It'd be possible to play video games on a laptop screen... though with the software included the screen size would be quite small.

wackokid05 wrote:hey guys, can i hook this up to my dvr on my tv and put some of my recordings onto my ipod??

If your dvr has standard "composite video" video outputs, yes.

wackokid05 wrote:hey guys, can i hook this up to my dvr on my tv and put some of my recordings onto my ipod??

Maybe..... (I am pretty sure yes)

I don't have this particular device (yet) - but assuming you record whatever you want from your DVR to your computer - compressed in Mpeg4 - you should then be able to use one of several applications out there to convert it to a format/size your Ipod would like.

I got the red one (DC100) and it works great on Vista. No install probs. From what I read I expected I might have an install prob or thought it might break, but it's been fine for a couple months. YMMV.

Meanwhile, I love it because it only cost $15, and I added a digital converter box (only $10 with the $40 government coupon), and a $5 bow tie UHF antenna, plus some cable. So for only $35 total I'm watching digital TV channels on my laptop. The resolution's only analog TV quality, but it's all I need.

danaparker wrote:Can this work on a Mac?

According to the specs you need Windows Xp or Vista. Doesn't say anything about Mac OS - so I would say no.

My mom wants something like this for Christmas...does it really require DX 9, or is that just the software it uses? I doubt her low-level Dell could handle it if so...

msspurlock wrote:Okay, one of you lurking geniuses out there, real quick.

How is this different than the red one they offered last month?

I ask because I bought that one and want to know if this one is better.

Anybody know?

(You scoff, but last time somebody asked a question like this, a full spec sheet appeared in no time, even though it was a legacy product and there was no info at the maker's site.)

This model offers hardware based mpeg and Divx encoding. The red one uses software encoding. This has two advantages, in theory. Your computer doesn't get locked up doing encoding during video capture, and the USB speed shouldn't be a drawback to quality, since your PC is capturing already compressed video.

In for one.

Can I hook my xbox 360 into this and be able to use full screen for playing video games?

I own both this and the red DVC100

A couple notes you may want to know:

My platinum eventually started recording funky colors. If you buy this and don't experience that, it's pretty good and can record straight to mpeg2 to save space.

It CANNOT however stream on ustream or the like. It just doesn't work. You have to use the DVC100 for that. If you're wanting to stream stuff, you'd be better off finding one of those instead. The only difference in them is that the DVC100 doesn't record straight to mpeg2, so you have to encode it after, and it takes up a lot of space before you do.

Finally, to those who think about using it to play on a monitor: You can, but there's a second delay in controls, so if you really wanted to do that and get the most out of it, you'd want to buy AV splitters to direct the video both to your TV AND your dazzle, play it on the tv, record on dazzle. AV Splitters can be found on dealextreme for like 50 cents.