Advice sought on product to capture VHS onto pc

[Martin Dean]

Hi,

First time poster here. I'm looking to buy either a Terratec Grabster AV 400 or a Dazzle Video Creater Platinum.

My pc is Windows 2000 and it's possible these are XP only but I could work on another pc.

Some details on the Dazzle here;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dazzle-Video...UTF8&s=gateway

I can't really find many positive reviews on either device. I know the Dazzle can be obtained more cheaply from ebuyer so that would be my preference. The Dazzle also appears richer in features.

I have a variety of VHS videos I want to capture and I really just want a nice, reliable combo of hardware and software and of course decent results at the end of the day.

Also I don't want to be opening up a pc to insert a card so I am favouring external devices.

I did a search on Dazzle here but not much came up hence my post.

Thanks for any advice.

Martin

[sbowler]

Have you tried Dabs.com

I am also shopping for a device to enable me to import analogue video to .avi. (My experience says this is the best way to start rather than importing as mpeg).

I have also been recommended Dazzle for this purpose, however the Dazzle website does not make the difference between Dazzle 80, Dazzle 90, and Dazzle Platinum at all apparent.

Anybody who can explain would be very welcome.

[MarkE19]

This thread should offer some answers to your questions. However the VHS VCR will only output a composite video signal and not S-Video (unless it is an S-VHS VCR) or RGB.

Mark.

[alnwrd]

Why not get a cheap dvd rcorder, and forget about the pc.
I have transferred tapes via pc, and it takes forever whereas play the tape to your dvd recorder and it takes only slightly longer to create a dvd copy than it does to play the tape.

Originally Posted by alnwrd

Why not get a cheap dvd rcorder, and forget about the pc.
I have transferred tapes via pc, and it takes forever whereas play the tape to your dvd recorder and it takes only slightly longer to create a dvd copy than it does to play the tape.

I tried this with a (normal price) DVD recorder but if you do any sort of editing with scenes taken from more than one DVD then the end product is poor PQ. I have done the same with scenes acquired via firewire to .avi from my later DV camcorder and the end product DVD is great PQ. So want to do the same with my analogue footage

Originally Posted by MarkE19

This thread should offer some answers to your questions. However the VHS VCR will only output a composite video signal and not S-Video (unless it is an S-VHS VCR) or RGB.

Mark.

Still does not answer my query about what the difference between Dazzle 80 Dazzle 90 and Platinum are? Is the 80 the low res option??

[senu]

Originally Posted by Analogue

Still does not answer my query about what the difference between Dazzle 80 Dazzle 90 and Platinum are? Is the 80 the low res option??

To an extent the differences have been in hardware/ software encoding and Hardware differences in inputs/ output options. Lately the software is basically the same ( different cut down versions of Pinnacle Studio™) They seem to have dropped the model nos especially after being bought by Pinnacle.
If you already have Studio itself then you only need the hardware as Studio has the relevant drivers and can be used to configure the hardware.
Studio 10 is now on ver 10.6 and seems pretty stable now.
Im not sure the output PQ itself varies across the range but being software only encoder, the most basic model is CPU dependent on speed and resolution.
The others may also default to lo-res if a USB1 connection is chosen over USB2

Dazzle was (and still is ) marketed as a low cost solution so superlative PQ may not feature high as it is not expected that purchaser will want more but given that one is coming from VHS this reflects more on the mpeg encoding not AVI.
They are basically being pitched as convenient alternatives to budget TV cards and PCI analogue cature cards which are varied in the quality of mpeg encoder chips some of which mainly exist to digitise TV broadcasts .
I feel they are "cheap" enough to try without great expectations: You may be pleasantly suprised
As stated in earlier posts on this subject on another thread, the costlier ADVC hardware by Canopus ( and Canopus codecs) are more likely to give consistent PQ.
Pinnacle/Avid do have Hardware with Pro versions for Liquid and Moviebox for Studio which are a notch above the Dazzle Products. Studios 500 usb seems to share similar hardware with Dazzle but software is full version

[alpine101]

Don't forget the Divx certified Plextor M402u:
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/M402U.htm
I see there's one on clearance at Misco for 30pounds. 'slightly shabby box, product pristine'

[senu]

Originally Posted by alpine101

Don't forget the Divx certified Plextor M402u:
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/M402U.htm
I see there's one on clearance at Misco for 30pounds. 'slightly shabby box, product pristine'

Excellent product for archiving and great value at that price. It however doesnt seem to do avi ( DV) for editing in Premiere etc.
AFAIK the bundled Ulead Product is not an mpeg editor ( unlike ver 9 and 10)