Rating: 
Summary: Almost what I wanted
Review: After searching and researching for a device to capture old mini-VHS tapes to my PC, I decided to try the DVC80. Although it installs with ease (driver download for XP) and comes with free MGI 4.0 software, the quality of the capture was much less than desireable. Even at 352x240 I was losing 2 out of every 3 frames, which makes the final product not worth watching. Also the sound transference didn't seem to work nearly as well as the video. So, after hours of experimentation, I came up with a work-around that didn't include use of the DVC80. If you are like me and have purchased a DV video camera and want to capture your old VHS for archive or other purposes, record directly from the source to your DV camera (if it has that option). Then capture thru firewire to the PC. Although this requires an extra step, the quality is 1000% better and worth the extra time. I will say this about the product - if you don't have the DV option for video capture, you will not find an easier product to use. Unfortunately there is just too much quality loss going from analog to digital thru this device.
Rating: 
Summary: Dazzle Digital Video Creator 80
Review: Although I found the interface (in the beginning) to be somewhat confusing, it got much easier after several attempts. I have taken family videos, video collections and captured them and saved them as .mpeg's (you can produce your clips in .mpeg 1 or 2; WMV -- good for small files to send via e mail). I personally use a standard HI-FI VCR to capture the video, you can also capture video from camcorders, Laserdiscs and the TV. It's well worth its inexpensive cost.
Rating:
Summary: Dazzle Digital Video Creator 80
Review: Although I found the interface (in the beginning) to be somewhat confusing, it got much easier after several attempts. I have taken family videos, video collections and captured them and saved them as .mpeg's (you can produce your clips in .mpeg 1 or 2; WMV -- good for small files to send via e mail). I personally use a standard HI-FI VCR to capture the video, you can also capture video from camcorders, Laserdiscs and the TV. It's well worth its inexpensive cost.
Rating:
Summary: Would buy again
Review: I am writing this to hopefully save others some of the trial-and-error that I went through. This is a great product for the money and I would buy it again! Like others have said, the VideoWave software packaged with the device is not the best for capturing video. But, better software can be had for FREE. For capturing video, I used VirtualDub to capture files as AVIs. I used TMPGEnc to convert the AVIs to VCD compliant MPGs. The Nero software that came with my CD burner was producing horrible results when it had to perform the conversions. I have dubbed DVDs and VHS with very good results. Following the methodology I have listed below, I can produce VCDs with a quality that can be compared to video tape....1) Capture the video as an AVI file using VirtualDub with 29.97 frame rate, MPEG4 codec V1 video compression, CD quality audio compression.
- Don't use the audio inputs on the Dazzle unit. Instead, directly wire it into the Mic input of the PC with a Y-patch cord.
- Use S-Video cable over RCA cable where possible.
2) Convert the AVI file to an MPG using TMPGEnc with Video CD NTSC setting and motion search precision set to 'highest quality(very slow)'
- TMPGEnc allows you to pull sections out of the source AVI to divide files longer than 70 minutes into two or more MPGs.
- Expect the conversion to take three to four times the time length of the file
3) Burn the CD with Nero in VCD mode using the MPGs from step 2. PS - the VideoWave software that comes with Dazzle is great for editing home video that has already been captured. When producing the final file to burn on VCD, do not use its VCD settings. Produce it as an uncompressed AVI and follow steps 2 and 3 above.
Rating:
Summary: MGI's program caused problems
Review: I bought the DV 80 to capture video from my camcorder. Sometimes it would capture just fine and other times nada. When it did capture it would only compress in Microsoft Video 1 format. After several hours I simply unistalled the MGI Video Wave program and used Virtual Dub (a free program). Absolutely fixed the problems. I can now capture video and compress in most formats. I drop very few frames now. I rate the dv 80 capture device around 4 stars because of the [poor] software that came with the device. Taz
Rating: 
Summary: How bad it could get...
Review: I bought the Video Creator 80 a few days ago and only had troubles. After getting the program finally to run (you will need to update all software and look for patches to make the software recognizing your DVD drive) I was able to convert a video from a VCR. It takes forever to convert an AVI file to a MPEG and you will need a BID hard drive to store the temp files. The quality of the end product is just LOSY. I don't know what they mean with Hollywood quality. Hollywood movies might be awful enough but cannot be toped if they are burned with the Video Creator 80. Keep your hands off and invest a few dollars more to buy a good product (e.g. Avermedia).
Rating:
Summary: Bad resolution, worse output.
Review: I don't know what Dazzle was thinking when they released this product. I would think that if someone has an analog camera or VCR to capture from, they just MAYBE want to output to the same device. Call me crazy, but that was my plan. I was looking for a low-cost solution to creating highlight films for my high school football team. Dazzle is NOT it. Technically, it works just fine. Unfortunately you get the blasted thing home and hooked up and installed before you discover that your choices for output are SVCD or MPEG file, unless you have a DVD burner. I think Dazzle was trying to cater to the amateur porn market with this product, since the primary outputs are digital (something I find odd for an ANALOG CAPTURE DEVICE!) Other than creating home videos of the bedroom kind, I simply can't see the use for this product. The documentation is perfectly lousy, barely explaining most functions. How would someone add a graphic, such as an arrow to highlight a player about to make a great play? Dazzle apparently can do this, but I had to go to their technical support to get the information because their manual is EIGHT PAGES LONG! Another reviewer mentioned the horrendously high AVI file that is the capture file before it's compressed. I assure you, he wasn't lying. I filled my 60GB HDD with just two game films. Keep your money and avoid this product.
Rating:
Summary: Works very well.
Review: I opted to buy the Dazzle 80 because of its ease of installation. After a few weeks of reading web sites about creating VCD's I created an excellent VCD using this product. The only downfall was that it took me a few days to learn the ins and outs of creating VCD's,Compression,Codec's etc.
But it was definately worth taking that extra time rather than throwing away CD's. I used VirtualDub for the capture with the DivX:Mpg4-low motion Codec, this worked great. I tested different Codecs. (Don't set the compression to high though). I then had to the split the file into segments because of the Windows 4GB AVI limit. I used The Dazzle software for the split. I then converted the 352X240 AVI segments to 720X480 using the Dazzle software, then I converted the 720X480 AVI segments to MPG1 using TMPGEnc. I then re-joined the MPG segments back together using TMPGEnc. Then I used VCD-Easy to create the DAT file and burn to my CD. The file ran really well even on my DVD player. After much reading and studying about capturing, I thought it was excellent for a first attempt. I also learnt alot from: VCDhelp.com If your budget is low or are only capturing small home movies and want to add titles or photographs I think this is a good buy. There are better products out their but you have to pay the price for them. If your new to capturing like I was then take the time out first to read up on compression, splitting AVI's & Codecs etc, its well worth the time.
It also worked on my WinXP no problems whatsoever.
Rating: 
Summary: It is not that bad!
Review: I planned to buy this product to convert the analog camcorder video to computer file long time ago. However, after I read all these negative commends in here, I was hesitated to get it. Then one day, I saw this product (Dazzle DVC 80) on sale with 50% discount. I told myself why not give it a try. Then I got it. All I can said is "not bad"! It is very easy to install in my old computer with window 98. Then there is no problem of capturing the analog camcorder video into AVI format. One thing I found out is that there is no sound heard while capturing but the sound will appear in the AVI and the final MPEG files. The editing is also fine. Final step of producing the AVI to MPEG 1 file is a little bit slow but the final product is great. I did not experience any drop of frame.
I don't have a digital camcorder or DVD-RW so I can't commend about it. I think with the price of 35 dollar, this is a very good buy!
Rating:
Summary: Its USB thats all thats good about this product.
Review: I purchased this product to record my toddlers VHS video onto the PC and make a DVD. It installed perfectly and was extemely easy to get the video in. However there is n manual in the box, its PDF on the CD and it does not work says its corrupted. So I go to the site, install the updates and it still did not work. So i went back to the site and downloaded the doc's and it still said corrupt file but I can read them online. So I just got pissed and started toying with it already thinking about returning it. After I captured 3 hours worth of video, the whole tape I was going to move it into a folder I created, cant do that the program MovieStar 5.2 wont let you drag and drop it into a different folder and when i copied it from the root folder to the folder i created and then when back to the root folder to delete the original file it deleted both of them. Now I tried the docs again since I could not split my captures and wanted to know how to do this basic thing. Still no docs. So I called the Gold Key Premium server support which is a long distance call and spent and hour on hold until my phone battery died. I dont understand how this product made it to the market. Did they even put it through quality assurance testing? I think now. This is the worst purchase I have ever made. The support software [stinks], the website [stinks] and is not help and the tech support does not answer because they are swamped with plenty of other customers that are having problems with the product. I am returning it for a full refund and if I cant find another USB capture Ill go without.
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