What is this?
Once the flagship consumer video product from Dazzle, the Hi-Speed USB converter with built-in MPEG-2 encoder is now part of the Pinnacle line-up repackaged with the company’s Studio 8 QuickStart editing software.
User Review(s)
"Wouldn't power up." Took it out of box and pluged it in (abuse?).
AC adapter got warm to touch power light came on dim and then went off.
However, the worst was yet to come.
The Pinnacle support page is like a Monty Python skit.
"Power light won't come on" gets "responses" like: Are you having trouble entering your pass word". From Neal Shields, June 01, 2005
"Wonderful product" I have used this for over 2 years and it is the best capture card you will ever own. I use the captured files in many programs, among which Ulead, Vegas (with codecs), Movie Maker, and various DVD authoring tools.
It works. It is that simple, just sorry to see Pinnacle got their hands on it and ruined it.
James From James Clent, May 24, 2005
"Love Dazzle, Hate Pinnacle Studios" I have owned the Dazzle DVC-150 for two years now and find that it is one of the best capture devices I've tried....mainly because it also removed the encryption/macrovision automatically during the copy of old vhs movies I wanted to preserve for myself.
I've found that even though I installed the Studios software to make the unit work, I instead used PowerVCR-DVD II as the program of choice as the default and never ran into problems with the capture. Whereas the Studio program was nothing but a headache from the git-go.
Since Pinnacle now owns Dazzle, they should sell it independent of the program and they would have much happier customers since the unit itself is absolutely great. From A J Hackler, April 18, 2005
"Pinnacle is the problem, not the Dazzle 150!" I think the Dazzle DVC-150 is pretty good, but Pinnacle did an awful job on Studio. Bugs and bugs and bugs. This software was useless junk, and I just gave up.
BUT...
I've had good times with the DVC-150 on Windows Movie Maker 2, which is available with SP2 and on certain websites.
The software is the problem, Pinnacle needs to debug it. No one has had good experiences with it.
By the way, the last guy said he had a meg(MB) of RAM. I think he means a gig(GB) of RAM! From Anonymous, March 01, 2005
"worst product I have ever seen" Bought large Dell desktop with XP and Dazzle 150b with studio 9. Have had to remove and reinstall Studio 9 again and again as it hangs system. Tech help, if you can reach them gives, conflicting advice depending on who you get. Right now computer will not even recognize Dazzle as new hardware. Any alternative must be better. From james wallis, February 20, 2005
"When it works you'll love it!" I've been using Dazzle 150 to capture old analog videos and making digital movies with the Studio 9. I've made 9 movies that my family loves. However, each one has had a problem to overcome. One stuttered on a few scenes, another had jerky scenes, one crashed my computer during the DVD burn and now this last one is out of sync. The 9.3 patch has fixed all my old problems but this out of sync thing has stopped me in my tracks! Can't fix it! So now I don't know if I'll try something new or not. From Amy Anderson, February 14, 2005
"Not Worth it" I purchased Dazzle 150 last Year , I had problems from the start . The Unit did not come with a Serial Number for the software makeing it usless , I did get one from pinnacal after being on hot for 2 hours , PS it was not an 800 number.
I have only been able to burn one movie from this device , I have spent more time trying to get it to work than it is worth , I would not recomend this unit , But I also dont Know what else is out there , The software locks up while running than it tells you the video is no good after you spend hours editing and rendering it.
the amout of frustration this product has caused is not worth it . I am Runnig top of linne system 3.4 P$ 1G Mem ,256MG Gforce 2 160 G hd
I can not get to to work at all right now at all ? From jim, February 06, 2005
"Out of the Box It Crashes My PC" Purchased the Dazzle 150 with Studio 9.2 Pretty straight forward instructions, After spending all that time to capture my video from my dv I selected Edit to add music. Bang, Just like that, it crashes my New Laptop (w/XP, 3ghz P4,1gig ram,80gig hd)
This thing is going back to comp usa. From Tarc, January 26, 2005
"Dazzling junk" I use Dazzle DVC 120. The hardware component is nearly fine, but in fact you can get similar results with other products for less than one third of the price. For the software, I lack words - you install nearly 4 gigs of what turns out to be all but links to a page suggesting to upgrade for money. All it can do is capture. The DVD menu editing feature is one horrible bug, and the thing just won't render a disk without either crashing or at least getting audio out of sync. Of course, for crashing and sync they may always blame my OS, drivers or slow HD (in fact it isn't slow, I have recommended config). But I simply cannot believe they didn't notice the menu editing was THAT buggy - it is evident Pinnacle wanted their stupid customers to pay for the crap and get lost. From Witold, January 26, 2005
"What a load of Crap !" I can not believe what I have read on this page ?!
I have a Dazzle 150 with Studio 9 I have Had 3 Hauppauge cards not one came close to giving the results I got from my 150 !
"Bundled Software half works." The product was easy to setup. I had problem's with the Software seeing my DVD burner. In fact my DVD burner is almost identical to the one they use in their installation guide as an example. Their illustration showed a Pioneer DVD-RW 105 and mine is a 108. I tried searching their site for help without success. I called the company and support has been fracture between Dazzle;Pinnacle and a third company. So you go on a phone goose chase. Finally I decided to try the Sonic MyDVD software I have on my system and it was able to take the files created with the MovieStar 5 and burn them to a disc. I was suprised at the quality of the image created from my 8mm cassettes. The images were pretty good. I recommend it because once you get past the software issue and no central tech support the product is easy to use and the DVD looks good.
A note here: Most bundle softwae is crap and should either be left out or have a disclaimer with it. My DVD burner software coundn't see movies or burn mpegs to a disk worth a grap. I had to use two other products to do this. From John Herndon, January 24, 2005
"Bundled Software half works." The product was easy to setup. I had problem's with the Software seeing my DVD burner. In fact my DVD burner is almost identical to the one they use in their installation guide as an example. Their illustration showed a Pioneer DVD-RW 105 and mine is a 108. I tried searching their site for help without success. I called the company and support has been fracture between Dazzle;Pinnacle and a third company. So you go on a phone goose chase. Finally I decided to try the Sonic MyDVD software I have on my system and it was able to take the files created with the MovieStar 5 and burn them to a disc. I was suprised at the quality of the image created from my 8mm cassettes. The images were pretty good. I recommend it because once you get past the software issue and no central tech support the product is easy to use and the DVD looks good.
A note here: Most bundle softwae is crap and should either be left out or have a disclaimer with it. My DVD burner software coundn't see movies or burn mpegs to a disk worth a crap. I had to use two other products to do this. From John Herndon, January 24, 2005
"Bundled Software half works." The product was easy to setup. I had problem's with the Software seeing my DVD burner. In fact my DVD burner is almost identical to the one they use in their installation guide as an example. Their illustration showed a Pioneer DVD-RW 105 and mine is a 108. I tried searching their site for help without success. I called the company and support has been fracture between Dazzle;Pinnacle and a third company. So you go on a phone goose chase. Finally I decided to try the Sonic MyDVD software I have on my system and it was able to take the files created with the MovieStar 5 and burn them to a disc. I was suprised at the quality of the image created from my 8mm cassettes. The images were pretty good. I recommend it because once you get past the software issue and no central tech support the product is easy to use and the DVD looks good. From John Herndon, January 23, 2005
"Piece of crap here too." This thing is junk. Cost as much as a Hauppauge WinTVPVR and offers nothing other than record in!??
Then, discovered that there is no way to audition with the software that comes with it. And, this item is NOT USABLE with ANY OTHER PROGRAM out there. Tried all 19 of mine and none work except the software that came with it.
Junk.
Don't waist your money. Go get a Hauppauge WinTVPVR and use it to record your movies, plus you get a PVR in the deal too.
From Jeff Kline, January 23, 2005
We're currently upgrading our user review system; so we won't be accepting new reviews for now. Digital Video Creator 150 Specs
Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP
Video capture resolution(s)
720 x 480
Video capture format(s)
MPEG-1, MPEG-2
Max. capture rate @ 30fps
720 x 480
Video input(s)
S-video, composite video
Audio input(s)
Left & right RCA
Video output(s)
S-video, composite video
Audio output(s)
Left & right RCA
TV standards supported
NTSC
Personal video recorder?
No
Remote control
No
Software
Pinnacle Studio 8 QuickStart
Hardware encoder?
--
Power source
Self-powered
Warranty
One year
Extras Turn on and off this self-powered device automatically with your PC.
Lost a USB cable? Get a replacement USB cable.
Running out of USB ports? Get an extra USB hub.
You may need a new USB card to achieve Hi-Speed USB speeds.
Confirm with our USB 2.0 FAQ if you have Hi-Speed USB on your PC.
Where to buy Dazzle Digital Video Creator 150?
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