Whoaaaa! Stop the five star Snappy stampede!
Written: Mar 10 '00 (Updated Apr 15 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good price, useful for certain tasks
Cons: Limited use - due to quality limitations
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| modelcar's Full Review: Play Snappy Video Snapshot |
Whoaaaa! Stop the five star stampede! I agree, the Snappy is a cool tool, BUT - if you are expecting miracles, you will be disappointed.
For toying around, this thing can't be beat. But if you need quality graphics, especially for a business use, don't think that what you see on the Snappy website is what you'll get without a LOT of work. A digital camera is better, and much less of a hassle, because you have to link to a computer to use this thing in live camera mode.
First, snaps from tape replay tend to be poorer quality than live still shots direct off the camera. If you must use tape, USE A TRIPOD during filming, and hold the frame for several seconds while recording. Snaps from this mode are pretty good, if you know how to use Photoshop or some other image editor to clean them up.
But even slight motion of the camera while taping significantly deteriorates the snap quality, and "pan motion" snaps from video tape look worse than a convenience store crime tape. They are very pixellated and color washed.
Also, the software control panel looks "cool", but has some quirky aspects. First, it goes bananas if I try to "acquire" an image with it through Photoshop (PC format). It's probably a display driver conflict of some kind, with each program "fighting" over display resources. So, I have to use it independently of Photoshop, which means that I MUST save every snap first, then reopen it in Photoshop in order to edit it. Very annoying! Recently, with their new upgrade, it crashes every time I save a photo.
Then there is the clunkiness of the panel itself. Can't they put all the controls on one panel, with drop downs? Instead, you have to skip between screens to set up a snap, (b & w, color depth, still, tape, etc.). Then it seems to re-set some of your settings to default after certain functions. More annoyance.
And Snappy includes some very coarse image editing tools in the control panel (brightness, sharpen, contrast, hue,, etc.). Sorry, but I have enough of this capability loaded on my computer already, (as in Photoshop!). Can't they let me opt out of this junk that just fills up my hard drive. If someone needs it, let them load it separately. I think they actually bundle Adobe PhotoDeluxe with some versions of this, so why have it in the first place?
But, the price of a Snappy beats the heck out of the price of a good digital camera, if you already have a good video camera to plug into it.
Snappy does do a decent job of converting video to digital. But the result has limited uses. If you just want to have fun, or need basic shots for info purposes, then go for it!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
modelcar
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Member: Dirk Johnson
Location: Sterling, VA USA
Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Turn Your Hobby Into A Money Making Website - What Works and Why! http://www.roiwebsites.com/hobbysite
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