Archive your memories to DV
Written: Apr 05 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Analog to DV, easy install, LANC, works with or without a PC.
Cons: Some artifacting, Software bundle sucks, documentation sucks even more.
The Bottom Line: Digital Video editing without buying a digital camera. If you have shelves full of analog videos that are slowly deteriorating then this is your new investment.
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| silvergt's Full Review: Dazzle Multimedia Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge (DM22... |
My daughter's first birthday was around the corner and I was faced with a dilemma. I told my wife that we didn't need to hire a professional videographer (she feels that this milestone should be professionally preserved) that I had an 8mm Camcorder and is be able to tape the party. The problem is that I only had two VCR's and a digital titler that was more like a Dymo labeller for videos.
It would be nice to be able to use my PC to add graphics and titles and transitions, etc. So I looked around for a way to transfer Analog Video(VHS, SVHS, VHS-C, 8mm, Hi8mm, Beta, etc.) and Audio Signals to DV format or any format that my PC can manipulate.
I knew about Dazzle Multimedia since I own the Snazzi capture card. It was decent, but it didn't really produce great presentable videos. So while strolling along my local Bestbuy in order to get my weekly electronic fix(as a diagnosed electronic junkie I feel the urge to be around the EMF radiation atleast once a week in order to maintain a somewhat normal life. :))I ran into the Dazzle Hollywood DV.
I read the specs and in plain, simple pictures it illustrated what it's functions were. Takes Analog A/V signals and converts or bridges it to DV and vice versa.
I spent a little more time soaking in the information from the box and came to the discovery that it requires a Firewire or IEEE 1394 or iLink (depending if you speak Mac, generic engineering standards, or Sony) card.
I ran around the store and found a SIIG "IEEE 1394 Network card" for $29.99. I got to love marketing people.
A quick Tech tidbit: IEEE 1394 is the standard set by Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers which they numbered 1394. A section in their manual. Those of you who remember parallel cables that were bi-directional and of "high quality" was referred to as IEEE 1284. Anyway, without getting into the mindboogling, I'm sure sensual, details of the architecture of 1394 (Trust me you wanna skip this one, I've been there, not lovely at all) it is basically another bus. Bus meaning a way to transport information to the computer or CPU. Not the MUNI. :)
It allows transfer of data up to 400Mb/s (megabits) and interconnect devices in a SCSI-like Daisy chain. With that in mind our great people in marketing has thought up several different ways to market 1394. But please realize and remember, with the prices of these cards varying up to a difference of $100, they are all the same thing. Because of this daisy chaining, it can be used in a network environment provided that the short tolerances of distances that 1394 allows for interconnecting without a repeater is not violated,. If a IEEE 1394 card which sells for $29.99 is sold as a network card and a DV Video capture card sells for $99.99 which is essentially the same piece of hardware then please buy the network card.
With the techbit out of the way, I had the IEEE card in my hands, until I noticed that the Hollywood DV box was actually two boxes taped together. I asked them to open up the box and it revealed a IEEE 1394 card bundled with the Hollywood DV Bridge. So that saved me $29.99. Please check with your reseller to make sure that you are also getting the Firewire IEEE1394 card bundled in. Mac users already has this port built-in, if they bought their systems within the last few years.
When I got home and examined the contents, this is what it had:
Hollywood DV Bridge Box
The Hollywood DV Bridge
An AC power Adapter
A CD-ROM
A folded cardboard Installation guide.
Instruction Manual
3' IEEE1394 6pin to 6pin cable
RCA A/V Patch Cord
White Unlabelled Box
Dazzle DV Editor (IEEE1394) card 2 ports
CD-ROM
Installation Guide
3' IEEE 1394 6pin to 6pin cable.
The cables themselves retail for about $20 each, this was definitely a good value. Installation was a breeze. You can follow the manual or you can use your hardwired instincts to figure it out. Very simple. Front of the unit is the Input and connections on the rear are the output. The Hollywood DV Bridge has RCA A/V jacks in/out, 1394 jacks In/out, SVIDEO Jack in/out and a LANC, Control-L or Remote jack.
In Windows '98 you would have install the driver for 1394 but that is easy enough. In XP it is natively supported.
Next thing is to install the included software. This is where I start to lose my visions of Nirvana with this project. On the box it is states that is includes Professional Editing software for PC's Only. It turns out that the professional editing software is Dazzle's own Main Actor. I tried using it for capturing and I wouldn't capture from the Hollywood DV. Think of that, their own product. I then looked at the other two products that they bundled, one came with the card and other with the bridge.
Videowave 4 SE by MGIsoft or Roxio to be more specific is bundled with the Bridge. This is a nice, decent Storyboard type editing system that offers titles, and other special eFX, but notice the SE part? Special Edition, meaning they stripped it down. Ulead Media Studio Pro 5.0 SE came with the card but, again SE, so I didn't bother installing it.
Dazzle's MainActor's documentation is in PDF format on the CD, I hate that. It feels cheap, ah, I guess it saves us some trees, huh? I ended up buying Adobe Premiere and the Full version of Ulead Media Studio Pro 6.5 to satisfy my software needs for this project.
The captured video quality was above average with minor artifacting present here and there. It was more prominent when enlarged. Meaning, played back full screen on the PC. When I output to VCD, Playback was excellent. Some minor glitches due to the heavy, destructive MPEG-1 compression (VCD)causes. But these are minor and infrequent.
Though I have not tried it, but the Hollywood DV Bridge will also allow you to be able to convert Analog Video to DV without the use of a PC.(nice)
For those you of you who owns a Sony Analog Camcorder (Some JVC or Panasonics also applies) then you are in for a special treat. You need to separately purchase a LANC cable (2.5mm male-to-male sub mini headphone jacks) or make one by using a standard 3.5mm (mini plug) male to male and getting the adaptors to 2.5mm. The LANC control cable sells on the net from anywhere between .69 to $39. (BM Electronics .69) This cable will allow you to control your camera's drive functions (FF, REW, PLAY, PAUSE, etc.) from the software rather than having to do it manually. This is a more accurate way to edit your video capture. Please check your software since I had only been able to successfully do it in Adobe Premiere so far.
Though the prices of MiniDV's and Digital 8's have gone down dramatically,if you have a trusty analog camcorder handy, why buy a new one? You still will be able to take advantage of digital editing and effects by using the Hollywood DV Bridge. The picture quality may not be as good as a Digital Camcorder, but it comes real close, it also offers you the chance to use software controls for your camera via LANC jack and cable. For those of you who are in this situation then by all means buy it. You won't regret it.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
silvergt
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Reviews written: 11
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