Rating: 
Summary: best if used for it's intended purpose
Review: I have the parallel version of this device and have not had the benefit of encountering any usb related problems. however, most of the reviews here are misplaced. most of these other reviews sound as if these people bought the wrong product. the Dazzle DVC is a mpeg encoder, which means it is best suited for computer files. low-resolution for e-mails to high-resolution for presentation. a cd-rw drive is a must once you have this item. i have backed up several hours of family movies and made many copies on cd-r. you can put 1 hour of good quality video on a cd-r that costs less than $.75 . perfect to pass many copies to family and friends. with the right software you can even make a video cd (vcd) which can be played on about one-third of dvd players. If you're looking to make vhs tapes out of your editing process you'd be better served with a video capture card. for the most part the Dazzle DVC is mostly about mpeg files. the video capture cards that have to be installed into a computer do not offer the range of features that the Dazzle does.
Rating: 
Summary: I agree with Slayer
Review: I love this product but I use it for web movies and still capture to send via email. I agree with Slayer's review, use it for what it was made for.
Rating: 
Summary: You won't be Dazzled!
Review: I purchased the Dazzle Video Creator in hope of transfering my analog vhs tapes into a digital format. It was a neat idea, a plug and play option that I could install without opening the computer case. Great idea, right?Well, this is where everything goes wrong. After istalling the software bundle and getting the Dazzle up and running I ran into severe problems. Mainly being the computer just wouldn't recognize the audio or sound files. Hey, no problem I'll just call tech support to get this ironed out. Much to my dissatisfaction I found out thier tech support was almost nonextistant. They never and let me repeat never helped me at all ever to get this problem ironed out. So save your dough and buy a real video capture card and save your money or you could end up let me with a totally worthless piece of junk that don't work.
Rating:
Summary: USB=Universal Serial Bungle!
Review: I purchased the USB version of this unit and ran through the setup procedures without a hitch. When I started to use it , the trouble began. After many hours of frustration I called the technical support number and was told by a rep and a supervisor that this device will not work if ANY other USB device is used. This is unbelievable when you consider the entire purpose of USB is to connect multiple devices to your computer! I was told to disconnect my other USB devices (mouse, keyboard, scanner, printer, and Palm Pilot cradle). When they saw the problem with disconnecting the mouse and keyboard (duh), they told me to return it.
Rating:
Summary: waste of money
Review: I purchased this item and have spent three weekends trying to get it to work. I do lots of digital editing with VideoWave4 so I'm no dope. After numerous phone calls to Dazzle and lots of hair pulling, I finally got it to work. Then, the device overheated and started to melt through its plastic housing. I have tried multiple times to contact Dazzle to return the device without any success. I wouldn't buy this item if your life depended on it.
Rating:
Summary: This is the worst product I have ever puchased in my life!
Review: I purchased this product last weekend and love it so much, I'm buying a second copy later this week! I teach college and my summer project is to put all my lectures on Powerpoint. I hate learning new software and don't have the time for a drawn out learning curve. It took me minutes to set this up, and another hour or so to discover that this actually does almost everything I need (a phone call this afternoon to the tech help desk which kept me on hold for less than five minutes--a resonable wait in my opinion--explained that I couldn't do what I asked about. But I can do everything I need as far as audio goes, I can record decent video via VCR, and the television image I can monitor with software on my 'puter screen is actually clearer than on my television monitor (albeit much smaller). So I'm happy enough to try another copy (for work). I suppose in another year or so something better will come out, but for the casual video-editor who doesn't want to pour over tech specs, this is great!
Rating:
Summary: Don't know about the bad reviews but . . .
Review: I purchased this product last weekend and love it so much, I'm buying a second copy later this week! I teach college and my summer project is to put all my lectures on Powerpoint. I hate learning new software and don't have the time for a drawn out learning curve. It took me minutes to set this up, and another hour or so to discover that this actually does almost everything I need (a phone call this afternoon to the tech help desk which kept me on hold for less than five minutes--a resonable wait in my opinion--explained that I couldn't do what I asked about. But I can do everything I need as far as audio goes, I can record decent video via VCR, and the television image I can monitor with software on my 'puter screen is actually clearer than on my television monitor (albeit much smaller). So I'm happy enough to try another copy (for work). I suppose in another year or so something better will come out, but for the casual video-editor who doesn't want to pour over tech specs, this is great!
Rating:
Summary: All Around Failure
Review: I received my Dazzle with my Inspiron 5000e computer from Dell. The computer was specified with an eye to video capture, 850mh, 32gb hard disk, CD writer, extra RAM, etc. I had problems from day one with capturing and editing. Despite just purchasing the package, I was promptly told by Dazzle support that I would have to purchase the upgrade disk - another [price]! It still did not work so now I was told to download a patch, this was free and still did not work. I got through all the usual problems one encounters by spending hours browsing the Dazzle board, e-mails and telephone. I am now giving up as the last problem is unresolvable or seems to be. Despite shutting down all secondry programs on the PC (the DVD drive, virus protection, and everything else that can be thought of)the video/audio synchronization is garbage. After five minutes of capture I could be watching a movie with another movies sound track - it is so far out of time. I am now looking around for another system.
Rating:
Summary: Dazzle!? Yeah right.....Overpriced Waste Of Time
Review: I recently purchased this unit and had a total of 30 glorious seconds of operation before the unit fell on its face HARD. Everything about this product is just plain wrong. It is made of flimsy plastic, the drivers shipped with the unit were inadequate and the 'upgrade' downloaded from the manufacturers site was worthless. Whether you wish to primarily output to the web or high quality video you would be much better off in checking into the Pinnacle Studio DV or DC10 Plus, and the best part is.......those cards sell for literally less then 1/2 the price of the Dazzle unit.
Rating: 
Summary: No visible support
Review: I wanted to make some mpeg videos and edit them for power point talks. The problems started with trying to capture video from my Sony 8mm. Finally, after reinstalling the driver three times I was able to get it installed correctly. Then I tried to copy some video clips from 8mm to the computer. Unlike some other users I found I could transfer to the computer without a problem through a USB interface even though I have a USB keyboard connected. Also I found that I could adjust contrast, brightness and color successfully and the quality of my videos were improved significantly. You do have to have the DVC connected with the source on when you load the "MovieStar" software to manipulate captured clips(I've no idea why...it's in there FAQ but can't find that in the manual)and I had to close out all the other running programs but Windows Explorer to make this work. This is on a machine running an ABIT BE6-II and an intel 700MHz CPU with 512Mb of ram. But the supplied "MovieStar" capture/editing software's editing functions won't work and the program remains unstable. I keep getting errors like "Unable to build temporary movie for unknown reasons." Of course I read their FAQ and the manual (no section describing the problem.....no troubleshooting section). So far, I am unable to do anything with the clips but trim the ends to shorten them. To do this I have to "produce" a new clip for each editing function. I cannot combine clips by inserting transitions. And it still crashes the system....even with nothing else running. I suspect it is not compatible with my GeForce 256 video card. So I emailed their "support" address through their website www.dazzle.com explaining the problem and got back a computerized response. Then I called their "support" number (long distance.....not an 800#) and was put on hold with the explanation that the California phone system was on the bugger implying that if I couldn't get hold of them it wasn't their fault. So, I left them a voice mail message with my office number. They called and left me a email where I was supposed to be able to get email support from them (anthonyp@dazzle.com) which was returned to sender. Dazzle also handles "MainActor" franchised from a German software firm. Can't get it to combine more than two clips. Nothing back from "MainActor" support either. I don't think Dazzle is responsible for making their software and hardware compatible with every machine. But I do deplore their inability to communicate even a modicum of support. If I had it to do over I would purchase a Firewire card with capture software (for a little less then I paid for this device) and edit the clips with additional software. Such software is expensive ($300 - $2000) but likely has better support. I'm thinking of purchasing the Adobe program. The DVC is adequate to capture clips as MPEG and adjust their quality. George Richardson MD
| 
