Dazzle DVD Recorder
By: Pinnacle Average Rating: 3.0 Total Reviews: 55
More Information
 On: 2008-07-03
do not buy this. Neither the pinnacle software or the direct to dvd software could actually record to a DVD without crashing. I am sending this back. To be fair, I was able to connect the video capture device to the computer with favorable video quality.
On: 2008-06-27
The 1-Click DVD feature makes DVDs that appear to work, but have unpredictable defects. I have wasted upward of 48 hours of time trying to get the movie that this product created to work, with no avail. Dont buy--it is a shrink-wrapped piece of junk that was clearly not thoroughly tested.
 On: 2008-06-16
Quite a good little product for the price.
You do tie up your computer while copying, but I used a spare computer with a DVD burner installed.
On: 2008-06-09
Have not had a chance to use it much yet, but it seems to work just like advertised. I have a lot of old VHS family tapes that I want to transfer to DVDs and this seems to be a good way to do it - now I just have to find the time.
On: 2008-06-09
Its a pretty easy product and I was up and running in minutes and started burning DVDs of home videos.
 On: 2008-06-07
Now you can transfer your vintage tapes to DVD. With time and imagination you can digitize VHS tapes, add a menu, maybe some background music and voilá, you can burn DVDs of all your treasured home movies. The included software is a good start but I recommend that you upgrade to the full suite package.
The Studio - Premium or Ultimate sute has more controls, transitions and above all is more stable. You will be surprised that the easy to use interface gives plenty of options for video editing.
Install the software and reboot your computer before connecting this device. The only 2 reasons, in my opinion, to purchase a more expensive device is that 1. You want to output to tape. 2. You want to digitize HD video. But then again the purpose of this device it to digitize Standard VHS video.
 On: 2008-06-03
...Because you are actually rating two separate components: the video capturing function (from a VCR or camcorder), and the DVD creation function. One works well, the other one is TERRIBLE.
First though, Id like to make a note for Vista users. Right on the Dazzle package it says its compatible with Windows Vista, you can download the patch at Pinnacles website. The problem is, when you go there, there are MANY patches, and its very hard to figure out which one or ones you need to download. The patches should say something like patch for Vista; instead they say things like "Studio release patch". Studio Plus is the software that comes with the Dazzle recorder, but Pinnacle has other software called Studio (like Studio Ultimate). Which Studio program is the patch for? Is it for Vista? Do I need to download other patches first? Who knows? It took me an hour to figure out all the patches I needed to download to get the software to work. If you are missing one patch, it doesnt work at all. Oh, and dont look to the manual for help. There is NO paper manual with the Dazzle, only a VERY POOR and undescriptive online manual, and it doesnt help at all.
Once I finally got it installed, I tested the video capturing from my VCR. It worked great, and was easy to use. Intuitive design, you wont have a problem figuring it out. So, with my video ready to be transferred to DVD, I launched into the DVD creation software, Studio Plus.... WHAT A NIGHTMARE! This is the absolute WORST software for DVD creation. its is EXTREMELY buggy, almost to the point of being useless. It crashes often. Here are some of the problems I encountered:
- THE MENUS: When editing one of the pre-made menus (such as "Corporate Function" or "Our Wedding"), the software will tell you you cant edit it because you can only have one menu per project. Nevermind that its the ONLY menu you chose for the project. You have to just keep hitting cancel, go back in to "edit", and keep trying until it finally allows you to edit. Sometimes, the menu background will simply disappear for no reason. When this happens, you have to delete the menu and start all over. Also, its SUPPOSED to allow you to choose a thumbnail picture to be displayed for each chapter on the menu. There is even a "set thumbnail" button. The fact that IT DOESNT EVER WORK makes you wonder why the button is there. Simple: its there to INFURIATE you. So you eventually end up with menus with black boxes for each chapter instead of thumbnails. If you are thinking of creating a menu from scratch, forget it- there is no such function included. Ok, so you FINALLY got the poor-mans menu ready to go. Time to burn the DVD!
-BURNING: The fact that only about 40% of my attempts to burn a DVD have succeeded should give you pause. 60% of the time the program crashes. Now, if you are burning at say 4X speed, an hour DVD takes about 60 minutes to burn. It usally crashes right towards the end, so now you have a useless DVD and you wasted an hour. While the video captures are still in the system, your menu you struggled to create IS NOT, so you have to recreate it all over again, then try burning it again (with the same 40% chance of success). Sounds like fun, huh???
The Dazzle does give you the option to simply burn straight to DVD from the source video (in other words, the DVD will be a straight transfer from the VHS tape- no menu, and no chapters). I tried this, and it worked perfectly, but really, who wants a DVD with no menu or chapter stops? If the video is more than 10 minutes long, you are going to want to be able to fast forward by using chapters.
Overall, the Dazzle does a great job at capturing video from a VCR or a camcorder. The software that comes with it is CRAP, and deserves a negative star rating. If not for the software, Dazzle would have gotten 5 stars from me. As it is, the 2 star rating is only because the video capturing works so great. The bottom line is- USE A DIFFERENT PROGRAM to create your DVDs. Avoid Studio Plus like the plague!!!! Shame on Pinnacle for releasing such buggy JUNK software with an otherwise great product.
On: 2008-05-26
This is the first time I have written a review or returned something to Amazon. I wasted way too much time on trying to get this product to work with my Vista PC. I downloaded the Vista drivers and software but the best I could do was capture about 20 minutes of a 60 minute VCR tape and then the software froze. Vista then went to blue screen but luckily came back after a reboot. I tried to contact support via email 3 times with no reply. Part of my job includes installing software and drivers, so this should have been a simple operation for me. I am now going to try the DIAMOND One Touch Video Capture VC500. Wish me luck!!!
On: 2008-05-24
This product is supposedly compatible with Windows Vista, however my experiences has been to the contrary. The product will cause your computer to crash, showing the blue screen of death. Another big problem is that it freezes up too easily, meaning that you will need to restart your computer, then restart whatever it was that you were watching. This gets to be rather expensive if you choose the direct to dvd option since you will also be wasting a blank dvd.
User beware!
On: 2008-05-09
Somewhat finicky in setting up the Dazzle. Just getting software upgrades installed was not straight forward. Getting USB port recognition correct before seeing video was a challenge.
After 8-10 hours of work, still have yet to produce a DVD.
So, maybe with a higher performance system (>1.99 GHz AMD CPU, with > 2 GB memory, ? video board) you may have better luck than I.
2 stars, since it does work and is not a complete waste of money.
 On: 2008-04-21
The main reason I got the Dazzle DVD recorder was to copy my VHS tapes to DVD. Mostly I have instructional videos and a few old videos from a trip. So far, I guess the Dazzle is doing what it says it does, but not without causing a lot of frustration first. I had problems installing both the Instant DVD Recorder software, and Pinnacle Studio. Instant DVD froze twice, and I had to restart the computer both times. Pinnacle Studio also froze twice. The 2nd time I was trying to install it froze when it appeared to be almost finished, it said it was configuring the software. After about 10 minutes I had to ctrl alt delete and close it. But it must have finished installing cause it was on my computer and working.
The first thing I tried to do with it was try using Studio to edit some mini DV home movies that I want to put on DVD. My camcorder instructions say it can be connected to the computer with a USB cable, but Pinnacle Studio couldnt detect the camcorder and says it must be connected with a firewire cable. I dont have one of those, so I went looking for the S-video cable to hook it up through the Dazzle. Tore the house apart looking for it, but couldnt find it, so I cant comment on how well it works with that. I decided to try VHS to DVD using Studio. The video it recorded was choppy and the sound was garbled. I thought maybe the VHS tape was bad, so I tried a different one. Same as the first.
I couldnt figure out what the problem was with Pinnacle Studio, so I tried the Instant DVD software to do the transfer. I recorded 5 minutes of a VHS tape (I didnt want to waste my time if it was going to be garbled too), it recorded fine.
So it seems after finally getting the software installed it does the bare minimum I wanted out of it, record VHS to DVD, but it seems I wont be doing any editing with the software.
On: 2008-04-18
Problem with loading program. Had to get online driver to make it work. Still cant figure how to use the advanced and bonus feature CDs. Would have been better had there been written instructions. But it does work for copying VHS to DVD. Apparantly doesnt copy DVD to DVD so have to make copies off the VHS
On: 2008-04-05
Pinnacles Dazzle DVD Recorder product is pretty good. It captures video just fine from a DVR (the only way Ive tried it). However, their software consistently messes up the output captured on HD. The audio, IF present, is out of synch with the video. Pinnacles tech support is limited in their knowledge of this problem. The version 10.0 MUST be upgraded to version 10.8 before it will work with Vista. While the upgrade s/w is available on their website, it is very difficult to find out which s/w to download and install on your PC, and in which order. It took me 2 eight-hour days to get it right, and then recording from a DVR simply never did work right.
On: 2008-04-04
I got the Dazzle to convert several home movies from S-VHS to DVD. The Dazzle was very simple to connect and start capturing. The software that came with the device was not as nice. The direct-to-disk works well, but you can only capture one movie to the disk and it closes it. It would be nice if you could leave the DVD open and burn multiple movies to it. The Pinnacle Quick Start is okay, but it requires several patches to run on Vista, where it still doesnt behave well.
On: 2008-03-25
I recently purchased this item. I just got it in the mail today. The video playback quality is so bad you cant even see what you recorded. When I opened the package one of the discs were cracked too. I do not reccomend purchasing this item. Go for something a little more expensive, because if you buy this, you are just throwing your money away.
On: 2008-03-02
First let me say that after using Windows Vista for a almost a year at home, I have found it to be a very stable, very intuitive OS that is great at fixing problems itself, creating its own firewall rules, etc. The version of Dazzle Pinnacle that I bought said "Vista Compatible" on the box. After months of trying, and help from my Elec & Comp Engineer friend, I gave up. He even tried to use it on his XP computer, no good. I cannot get the Studio to work at all, and Instant DVD Recorder only works for certain types of small files. Avoid this junk, get the StarTech USB 2.0 Video Capture cable instead and youll be MUCH happier with it. Remember to install its software before its hardware.
On: 2008-02-26
Package advertises Vista Compatable says drivers are online. This seriously took me quite a while to get it working in the Vista environment, however if you are prepared for this (read the reviews and youll see). Customer service has an online support ticket for help and they are truly awesome, I did have to waste a few DVDs with their try this and try that, however now that I have it working for what I wanted it for I am up to my lightscribe DVDs and I absolutely love this product.
On: 2008-02-20
Everyone seems to have a different experience with this product. Many people report bugs/software problems and that is because there are some. I find the hardware portion of this product works quite well and the video captures are of a good quality. Unfortunately, most unfortunately, the software bites. You can capture good video, but you cannot use this software to burn a DVD. The menu generator, where you can design a menu and select chapters every x number of minutes gets hung up all the time and says "generating disc menus" and you have to force shut down the program, or computer. I will be looking around to see if they release any software updates or fixes that will take care of this, but I dont know how hopeful I should be. If anyone has a solution for these burning errors and hanging up on generating disc menus, PLEASE POST IT! I know Im not the only person whos had this trouble because many people report having the same trouble. I will just have to use this product for the video capture stage and edit/burn with something else. I was very disappointed that I could not do everything with this product. It is supposed to be an all-in-one solution; if they fixed some small software bugs it could be great, but as it stands it is next to worthless.
On: 2008-02-09
I was excited when i received Dazzle, but once I opened the box, I discovered it wouldnt do what I had hoped. Before I made the purchase, I had read what I could find, on Amazon and elsewhere, but the cumulative results of this research were still quite sketchy. What I had found out, though, made me think I might be able to use it to put my video tapes onto dvds.
Once I received the package and read the enclosed directions, I realized it wouldnt work. For one thing, I had to have a computer that could be dedicated to this task. (This is because of the extensive number of tapes I wanted to transcribe.). This was not a possibility. Obviously I didnt understand how Dazzle worked, though tried hard to try to find out. (I even went to an electronics store; the salesman had never heard of it.)
I wish Amazon could have provided more detailed information about the product or given links to finding out more about it. I was disappointed, but the experience just made me realize I need to do a lot of homework before making another purchase, though I will make another purchase on Amazon.
On: 2008-02-04
Horrible software - what looks like an easy plug and play product ended up being buggy and unable to deliver anything. After multiple discussions with their tech support (friendly yet ineffectual), numerous re-installs and upgrades, the product still wouldnt work, leading once to a total crash of my system. Tech help seems to read out of a training manual, rather than actually communicate solutions - it would have been nice to hear them say something like: "Oh yes, we have had this problem before, this is one of the ways we have found to fix it" rather than "reinstall software again, turn off other programs like virus checking and firewalls" (how safe - and wonderful that a product cant function under regular operations of a normal computer!).
I am getting more and more outraged at companies that feel they can market their products any way they want without having to prove their claims - this is hardly Instant DVD Recorder.... try Instant Pain in the Rear.
And before you ask, I am computer literate and run a new Dell Windows XP system with twice the recommended system requirements that the product advices.
VERY DISAPPOINTING
On: 2008-01-21
I JUST BUY THIS PROGRAM,BUT I CANT USED BECAUSE THE CODE KEYS DOSENT WORK I JUST TRY TO CONTACT COSTUMER SUPPORT,BUT THEY DIDNT HELP ME THEY HAVE A STUPID SISTEM, WHEN YOU ENTERED THE KEYS CODE BECAME A POP UP WHO SAID THE KEY CODE IS NOT ACEPTED, IM SICK AND TIRED ABOUT COSTUMER SUPPORT, FOR THIS REASON I CANT USED THIS PROGRAM,,,,IT REALY SUCKS!!!! DONT BUY IT......
On: 2008-01-20
I JUST BUY THIS PROGRAM,BUT I CANT USED BECAUSE THE CODE KEYS DOSENT WORK I JUST TRY TO CONTACT COSTUMER SUPPORT,BUT THEY DIDNT HELP ME THEY HAVE A STUPID SISTEM, WHEN YOU ENTERED THE KEYS CODE BECAME A POP UP WHO SAID THE KEY CODE IS NOT ACEPTED, IM SICK AND TIRED ABOUT COSTUMER SUPPORT, FOR THIS REASON I CANT USED THIS PROGRAM,,,,IT REALY SUCKS!!!! DONT BUY IT......
On: 2008-01-03
Originally I bought this for an XP machine that was fried shortly thereafter. When I got my new laptop with VISTA recently I thought Id use the Instant DVD Recorder with that. I spent two days trying to figure out just which patches I needed - the site is confusing, their product names seem to be inconsistent, and there are way too many to sort through easily. Once I picked out what I needed, each patch/update took hours on a 2.0 ghz desktop with broadband - I didnt dare try on my laptop, which is slower.
The updates and patch seemed to install correctly on the laptop, everything looked deceptively efficient, until I tried to transfer from a home-recorded tape on the vcr to a dvd, and Instant DVD Recorder software froze the video twice on two tries.
Im thinking there might well be a setting I could alter, but thats the next story...
Ok, bad enough, but then try to get help? The manuals on line are split into chapters and download even slower than the updates. I waded through as many unhelpful windows as I could stand, then tried writing for email support. After filling out the form I was invited to create an account (no SEND button), filled out another form (still no SEND button) and got the response "There is already an account for this email address" (STILL no SEND button). Is this just Pinnacle giving me the middle digit????
I submitted a request for a password reminder and was told that tech support and two other areas required "separate" passwords. Just who are these monkeys?
So, try it, but keep the receipt and return it promptly if it doesnt work for you. I hope it does work for you, I wish it would for me, or that I could get some help.
On: 2008-01-02
Originally I bought this for an XP machine that was fried shortly thereafter. When I got my new laptop with VISTA recently I thought Id use the Instant DVD Recorder with that. I spent two days trying to figure out just which patches I needed - the site is confusing, their product names seem to be inconsistent, and there are way too many to sort through easily. Once I picked out what I needed, each patch/update took hours on a 2.0 ghz desktop with broadband - I didnt dare try on my laptop, which is slower.
The updates and patch seemed to install correctly on the laptop, everything looked deceptively efficient, until I tried to transfer from a home-recorded tape on the vcr to a dvd, and Instant DVD Recorder software froze the video twice on two tries.
Im thinking there might well be a setting I could alter, but thats the next story...
Ok, bad enough, but then try to get help? The manuals on line are split into chapters and download even slower than the updates. I waded through as many unhelpful windows as I could stand, then tried writing for email support. After filling out the form I was invited to create an account (no SEND button), filled out another form (still no SEND button) and got the response "There is already an account for this email address" (STILL no SEND button). Is this just Pinnacle giving me the middle digit????
I submitted a request for a password reminder and was told that tech support and two other areas required "separate" passwords. Just who are these monkeys?
So, try it, but keep the receipt and return it promptly if it doesnt work for you. I hope it does work for you, I wish it would for me, or that I could get some help.
On: 2007-12-27
So far Im impressed. I took the Dazzle out of the box and burned my first Dvd from Home video and no problems. My computer is a year old. I havent done anything else yet but Im happy with the product. I havent used the editing features as of yet but I know with any product, experimenting and practice comes perfection. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars since I havent used the other features yet. So far so good!
On: 2007-12-20
Im an animation student whose school only provides us with the ability to get our work onto VHS. Basically, this is ridiculous and I need my work on a DVD or at least in some sort of digital format. This work is whats going to get me a job some day so I cant have it getting eaten up by a VCR or anything crappy that VCR/VHS do.
Grand solution: the Dazzle. Unfortunately with animation there is a complete and utter need for each and every frame to be shown and for the sound and video to ACTUALLY be in sync. The Dazzle failed to sync the sound and failed to even record more than a few seconds without dropping frames or getting frozen.
basically if you want bits and pieces of your VHS onto a DVD and want them to have sound completely off sync then the Dazzle is your product.
Im extremely disappointed, and I am wondering if anyone knows of a product similar to this that actually works?? Because I really need one!!
On: 2007-12-19
Im an animation student whose school only provides us with the ability to get our work onto VHS. Basically, this is ridiculous and I need my work on a DVD or at least in some sort of digital format. This work is whats going to get me a job some day so I cant have it getting eaten up by a VCR or anything crappy that VCR/VHS do.
Grand solution: the Dazzle. Unfortunately with animation there is a complete and utter need for each and every frame to be shown and for the sound and video to ACTUALLY be in sync. The Dazzle failed to sync the sound and failed to even record more than a few seconds without dropping frames or getting frozen.
basically if you want bits and pieces of your VHS onto a DVD and want them to have sound completely off sync then the Dazzle is your product.
Im extremely disappointed, and I am wondering if anyone knows of a product similar to this that actually works?? Because I really need one!!
On: 2007-12-18
I does kind of work. It is not really combatible with vista. After attempting to load the software numerous times I gave up. The supposed "patch" download on the pinnacle web site is incredibly hard to locate as there are numerous other options and fixes that dont pertain to my operating system. The direct to dvd burning software that came with it does work though. Its OK if all you want to do is copy vhsc direct to dvd with no editing.
On: 2007-12-09
I hesitated to buy this because similar digitizers seem to cost about twice as much (and so this seemed TOO cheap), and because several reviewers were unable to get the hardware to work at all. In fact, I did have some trouble installing the software -- one of the three CD-ROMs kept hanging up during the installation, until I selected the option to install only certain programs and avoided all the sample images and video. But after that, I was able to plug in my old VHS machine and create AVI movies from 25-year-old tapes. (Eventually Ill make DVDs.) I have yet to look at any of the instructions, and I was nonetheless able to add titles and simple transitions between scenes; the movie editor seems quite similar to iMovie on the Mac. I dont know if this will work for everyone, but on my 2006 Windows XP machine Dazzle really dazzled.
On: 2007-12-07
DAZZLE WILL WORK AS DESCRIBED ONLY IF YOUR COMPUTER IS STATE OF THE ART. YOU MUST HAVE USB 2 ON THE MOTHER BOARD, NOT ON A HUB, ON A HUB IT WILL NOT WORK. YOU MUST HAVE A LARGE HARD DRIVE WITH ENOUGH FREE MEORY FOR YOU TO CAPTURE THE VIDEO. ALSO YOUR PC MUST HAVE A MINIMUM OF 2 GIG OF RAM.I TRIED DAZZLE ON THREE OF MY MACHINES UNTIL I WAS ABE TO GET IT TO WORK.
IM STILL PLAYING WITH IT TO TRY AND EDIT AND MAKE A MOVIE.IM ABLE TO COPY FROM VCR AND BURN A DVD.IF YOU HAVE A MACHINE THAT IS TWO YEARS OLD YOU PROBABLY WORT BE ABLE TO GET IT TO WORK. THE ANSWER IS BUY A NEW COMPUTER.
On: 2007-11-30
I purchased the Dazzle DVC90 and Pinnacle Studio Plus 10. I have a fast computer (Core2 CPU 2.13 GHz, 2 GB memory, raid drive)and the latest XP updates. There were multiple problems with Pinnacles installs, patches, drivers. With Pinnacles support I did numerous installs, manual software deletes, registration deletes, Windows Installer Cleanups, and uninstalls. It took me days to get the Dazzle to work. One final problem was the need to turn the sound off on the source camcorder.
The Pinnacle Studio Plus v10 software is also a disappointment. I have yet to be able to burn a DVD! I was forced to buy a $5 update just to read a common MPEG2 file. Silly! And I have entered about 6 long registration codes. Too much! And why the heck do the product designers have to use their own unique icons for opening a directory, browsing, etc? This need to be different only makes the learning curver sharper. Not too smart! Big designer egos and bad design.
On: 2007-10-28
I purchased this product to copy to DVD programs I had saved on my Tivo. The product works very well. Teh installation can be a little tricky, I had to install the software twice to make it work. I do not have Vista, and thus did not encounter some of the problems other users have mentioned. The software included in the package is for XP, the Vista patch has to be downloaded (no big deal).
After installing I had to play a little with the preferences in order to pick up the incoming video signal. Apparently this has more to do with my low tech laptop (a cheap model). However, I imagine I am not the only one out there with a similar computer. My point is that you may need to be persistent (check the Pinnacle website)if it doesnt work at first...but when once works, its quite nice.
The software included does more than the basics for editing your videos, though you can always upgrade if you want to get fancier. I consider the software included to be more than adequate.
On: 2007-10-27
I purchased this product to copy to DVD programs I had saved on my Tivo. The product works very well. Teh installation can be a little tricky, I had to install the software twice to make it work. I do not have Vista, and thus did not encounter some of the problems other users have mentioned. The software included in the package is for XP, the Vista patch has to be downloaded (no big deal).
After installing I had to play a little with the preferences in order to pick up the incoming video signal. Apparently this has more to do with my low tech laptop (a cheap model). However, I imagine I am not the only one out there with a similar computer. My point is that you may need to be persistent (check the Pinnacle website)if it doesnt work at first...but when once works, its quite nice.
The software included does more than the basics for editing your videos, though you can always upgrade if you want to get fancier. I consider the software included to be more than adequate.
On: 2007-10-10
I had a problem. I have 30 hours of Hi8mm camcorder video that is a history of my family and kids. I have several old video tapes, some 20 yrs old, that I fear are going to turn to dust. I needed to get those tapes on to DVD. After a few quick searches on the Internet, I came across Dazzle DVD. I read all the Amazon reviews and looked in a few other places and decided this was the product for me. And it works great! No problems at all.
Reviews on Amazon seem to be very positive or extremely negative, and most of the negative come from not getting Dazzle to work properly. I was able to install mine and use it with ease. My laptop is only a few months old, so hardware wasnt an issue. I installed each of the 3 disks, then did the next important step. The product box says Vista compatible, but you MUST go to the Pinnacle website to download the Vista drivers. I did this, installed them, then plugged the product in.
The first night, I plugged in my camcorder and then my VCR. The menu allowed me to set it up in 3 easy steps. The tapes from the VCR play right on your screen and go straight to DVD. Dazzle DVD is very easy to install, but you must download the drivers, and if your computer is older, I dont know if that will be an issue.
You can only have one recording session at a time, so if you want footage from more than one old tape burned onto a DVD, you better be quick and changing the tapes in your VCR.
Studio Software also comes with the Dazzle DVD. Ive only played with this a little bit, but I was able to capture video from a VCR onto a video editing system that looked like had tons of capabilities. I then changed the 7 minuted video that was 500mb into an AVI file that was 7mb and was able to upload it on You Tube. Pretty Cool! This product is cheap and can mean the salvation to all those old VHS tapes currently rotting in your video camera. Dont hesitate. Buy this product if you want to transfer videos to DVDs.
On: 2007-10-07
THIS IS AN EASY TO USE PROGRAM WITH A LOT OF OPTIONS. IT IS WORTH THE PURCHASE PRICE.
On: 2007-09-22
Dazzle made perfect sense: an inexpensive peripheral that would pipe video directly into a USB port so it could be edited and burned onto DVD. But in fact its a disaster. People who gave it a five-star rating must be blessed somehow: My experience matched the one-star ratings.
The software that comes with it isnt Vista-compatible. Pinnacles website doesnt make it obvious where the upgraded software can be found. The upgraded software is 211MB for the DVD recorder (never mind the "Studio" editing software). Good luck if (like me) you use a dial-up connection.
The upgraded software crashed the system (blue screen of death) during installation. When the system came back up, the drivers for the DVD drive had been corrupted (fixing this requires going into the registry editor). Once I got it running, the resulting video was unsatisfactory -- fuzzy around the edges and had interference patterns along the bottom.
Perhaps there are ways to fix all this, but the point is that its not the easy-to-use, plug-and-play, amateur-friendly device it claims to be.
So: I returned "Dazzle" (the first time Ive ever sent something back to Amazon) and bought an entry-level regular DVD recorder for only about $30 more. My time and aggravation were worth at least that much. The DVD-R was easy to set up and worked perfectly the first time out. Sorry, Pinnacle, but I strongly recommend that course of action instead of buying Dazzle.
On: 2007-09-21
Dazzle made perfect sense: an inexpensive peripheral that would pipe video directly into a USB port so it could be edited and burned onto DVD. But in fact its a disaster. People who gave it a five-star rating must be blessed somehow: My experience matched the one-star ratings.
The software that comes with it isnt Vista-compatible. Pinnacles website doesnt make it obvious where the upgraded software can be found. The upgraded software is 211MB for the DVD recorder (never mind the "Studio" editing software). Good luck if (like me) you use a dial-up connection.
The upgraded software crashed the system (blue screen of death) during installation. When the system came back up, the drivers for the DVD drive had been corrupted (fixing this requires going into the registry editor). Once I got it running, the resulting video was unsatisfactory -- fuzzy around the edges and had interference patterns along the bottom.
Perhaps there are ways to fix all this, but the point is that its not the easy-to-use, plug-and-play, amateur-friendly device it claims to be.
So: I returned "Dazzle" (the first time Ive ever sent something back to Amazon) and bought an entry-level regular DVD recorder for only about $30 more. My time and aggravation were worth at least that much. The DVD-R was easy to set up and worked perfectly the first time out. Sorry, Pinnacle, but I strongly recommend that course of action instead of buying Dazzle.
On: 2007-09-05
Funciona bien cuando pasas video de forma simultanea, para la edicion y manejo del software se requiere de un equipo de computo potente. Pero logre mi cometido, salvar mis vhs a dvd!!
On: 2007-09-04
Its simple to use and relatively inexpensive. Not terribly flexible. However, it does what I want it to.
/j
On: 2007-09-03
Dazzle DVD Instant Recorder was a fabulous product out of the box. I was impressed with its ease of installation and ease of initial use. When I tried to burn to double layer DVDs, however, the product failed. After a week of emails with their support team, this was their solution: "I suggest to try to burn the videos to a hard disk folder instead then burn it using a third party software."
I replied with, "Forgive my boldness, but your recommendation that I copy to hard drive first, and then buy other software for burning to DVD is unacceptable. I bought Dazzle Instant DVD Recorder specifically to copy my VHS tapes to DVD. The outside of the box says in five places that this software is for copying videos directly to DVDs. Example: "Easy to Archive - Record your videos directly to DVDs without copying to your hard drive, saving both time and space with Pinnacle Instant DVD Recorder software."
Their final answer was: `I have verified this information and I regret to tell you that this feature is not currently supported by Instant DVD Recorder. This is a product limitation."
In the end it was a poor brand of DVD+RDL that I was using and not Dazzles fault at all, but their ridiculous answer and obvious blow-off was inexcusable.
Now I am getting run-time errors every time I burn a DVD. Their forms and knowledge base have been no help, and I would be dumb to contact their out-sourced third-world tech support again.
Save your money - this product doesnt live up to its claim.
On: 2007-08-31
I bought this to transfer the hours and hours of VHS and camcorder tape to DVD. I installed the 3 discs, pluged in my camcorder and the program did not read the device. I uninstalled and then reinstalled. This time I could capture the video and edit. The Dazzle USB capture worked great. I spent no time doing this. The difficult part was burning. I have burned hundreds of DVD copied using other progams and my computer is new and bigger than necessary. It would never finish burning. It would freeze. After saving to my hard drive using various setting and trying to burn using various settings, nothing. I used the online support, which gave me some other ideas. After spending 6 hours trying to burn I gave up and went to bed. I got up this morining after restarting the computer and everything worked perfectly. Sometimes you have to save what you are doing and get out and restart the program. The online manual is vague, but I am not a dummy and after a day messing with the program, I feel like I know what I am doing.
On: 2007-08-23
Although the box had a Vista sticker on it, unable to get it to run on my new Vista machine. I downloaded several programs claiming to get it to work, but still quirky. In one word - Disappointing.
On: 2007-07-30
This product functioned as advertised. It was easy to setup and run. I converted many hours of VCR tapes to digital video. I definitely recommmend this product.
On: 2007-07-29
This is easily one of the worst products Ive ever bought for my computer. Complete waste of time. I should have known I was in for a long day when the installer hung on the 2nd disc and I had to download a patch from the vendors website. Never a good sign. Ive already wasted an entire day on this lame product so I dont feel like going into too much detail but if all you want to do is capture video to your harddrive then this product works great. However, if you actually want to convert that video into a DVD then youre in for a frustrating time. Ive got a decent system with core 2 duo processor and 2GB of RAM so I blame buggy software for the constant application lock ups (or the endless looping). I eventually gave up and just tried to create iso files I could burn to DVD later and the software couldnt even handle that. If Id done maybe 5min of research beforehand I would have discovered that a lot of others have had a bad experience with the software.
Sure its cheap but how much is your time worth? If you actually decide to buy this product make sure you can easily return it (like I did). I would pay five times what this product cost for something that would actually work.
On: 2007-07-25
Wow, thought it wouldnt be good, and man was i wrong. Setup was easy and only took a few minutes. No problems. After everything was installed I took it for a testrun. Turns out you can record full quality (the quality your actually watching on the television.) Its perfect. Also few for people with not much hard drive space. Dont worry about it. The editing software that comes with it will make all the space taking movies turn very small after youedit them. This product is perfect. BUYERS - DONT BEWARE!
On: 2007-07-25
I walked past this product several times at the at Staple where I work. I had long wanted to get a product to transfer all of my old VCR tapes over to DVD. I then finally decided to take the leap. I purchased the device; however, before opening the package, I did some reading and research. Since I am currently dual-booting XP and Vista I wanted to ensure I had the current drivers for both OSes. I went to Pinnicals web site and what do you know -- they had updated drivers. I downloaded them. I wanted to see if there was updated software. Well what do you know again? They had updated software that I again downloaded. Next I looked around to see what the ratings and customer reviews I could find on this product. I read every review I came acrossed (the good and the bad; paying particular attention to the fanbois and the ranting freaks on the fringes). The average rating (discounting the extemes at both ends) came out to be about be 2 out of 3 stars on the 3 star scales, 3.5 stars on the 5 star scales, 65% to 70% on the 0%-100% scales -- not the best ratings on a product, but definately not the worst and well within what Id call acceptable for my needs. The harshest critizims came from users who expected more from the DVD authoring software or installation problems (that have mostly been addressed with the aforementioned updates).
I installed the updated drivers and PADDOW! It installed with no problem in both XP and in Vista. I installed the software and BUHBANG! It too installed with not a single hiccup. Then I plugged in the device and fired up my VCR then ran a test recording. It work without a hitch. From software install to making a recording all took about 5 minutes. The darn thing is foolproof.
I will say that the included software IS NOT the most robust youll find on the consumer level. It is overly simplied and gives you little in the way of control or options. It is simple software for simple users. But I am not interested in the software in the least. I have other software for my DVD authoring. My only concern was to get my VCR tapes into digital format and the device does that with aplomb.
If you are looking for the "best" hardware and software combination and state-of-the-art technology, perhaps you should look elsewhere to spend your $15,000 to $25,000 for such equipment. However, if you are looking for a consumer-level product that performs adequately and as advertised for a good price, this is the device for you and WELL worth every penny.
On: 2007-07-24
Wow, thought it wouldnt be good, and man was i wrong. Setup was easy and only took a few minutes. No problems. After everything was installed I took it for a testrun. Turns out you can record full quality (the quality your actually watching on the television.) Its perfect. Also few for people with not much hard drive space. Dont worry about it. The editing software that comes with it will make all the space taking movies turn very small after youedit them. This product is perfect. BUYERS - DONT BEWARE!
On: 2007-07-24
I walked past this product several times at the at Staple where I work. I had long wanted to get a product to transfer all of my old VCR tapes over to DVD. I then finally decided to take the leap. I purchased the device; however, before opening the package, I did some reading and research. Since I am currently dual-booting XP and Vista I wanted to ensure I had the current drivers for both OSes. I went to Pinnicals web site and what do you know -- they had updated drivers. I downloaded them. I wanted to see if there was updated software. Well what do you know again? They had updated software that I again downloaded. Next I looked around to see what the ratings and customer reviews I could find on this product. I read every review I came acrossed (the good and the bad; paying particular attention to the fanbois and the ranting freaks on the fringes). The average rating (discounting the extemes at both ends) came out to be about be 2 out of 3 stars on the 3 star scales, 3.5 stars on the 5 star scales, 65% to 70% on the 0%-100% scales -- not the best ratings on a product, but definately not the worst and well within what Id call acceptable for my needs. The harshest critizims came from users who expected more from the DVD authoring software or installation problems (that have mostly been addressed with the aforementioned updates).
I installed the updated drivers and PADDOW! It installed with no problem in both XP and in Vista. I installed the software and BUHBANG! It too installed with not a single hiccup. Then I plugged in the device and fired up my VCR then ran a test recording. It work without a hitch. From software install to making a recording all took about 5 minutes. The darn thing is foolproof.
I will say that the included software IS NOT the most robust youll find on the consumer level. It is overly simplied and gives you little in the way of control or options. It is simple software for simple users. But I am not interested in the software in the least. I have other software for my DVD authoring. My only concern was to get my VCR tapes into digital format and the device does that with aplomb.
If you are looking for the "best" hardware and software combination and state-of-the-art technology, perhaps you should look elsewhere to spend your $15,000 to $25,000 for such equipment. However, if you are looking for a consumer-level product that performs adequately and as advertised for a good price, this is the device for you and WELL worth every penny.
On: 2007-07-17
Comes with tons of cumbersome software that need to be installed. Didnt work, even after extensive trying. Tried it on several computers and OS, finally returned it. No results after hours of trying!
On: 2007-06-06
Excellent product! Can copy from computer to dvd and dvr to computer then to dvd. No problems worth every penny.
On: 2007-05-15
This is the worst purchase I have ever made. I would NEVER recommend this product to anyone, for any reason. 3 computers, and 3 VCRs later, and a new video card, a new USB card and a new USB hub later, I have decided to take it out in the street and run it over.....avoid this product.
On: 2007-05-12
This product works just exactly as advertised...Just plugged it in and started copying...The only problems I had were finding the right speed to use for my play back machine...but the Dazzle works great...
On: 2007-05-10
I am really pleased with my purchase. The Dazzle DVD Recorder has easily allowed me to begin transferring my 20-year old VHS family movies to DVDs. I have been able to lighten dark recordings, edit out unwanted scenes and make titles with the Pinnacle Studio software. My only complaint is that the tutorial is very limited and I had to learn to use the software by trial & error and by referring to the help menu quite often. Now that Im familiar with the program, I am very happy with what I am able to do.
On: 2007-05-05
Having installed and used one of these on someone elses computer (a Windows XP box), I figured that it would be a good idea to get one for myself.
According to Pinnacle, the BETA patch (mind you, its BETA) is supposed to make this device work with Windows Vista.
Well, this experienced computer user has thrown in the towel with this product because getting the software installed on my Vista machine is impossible...setup crashes right before install completion. And getting the remnants of the software is a nightmare.
Although its possible that Pinnacle will figure out a patch that works on ALL Vista machines, Im not going to wait. Looks like Ill be returning this for a refund.
On: 2007-03-09
I read reviews constantly, but my questions never seem to get answered. So I will try to answer the questions that I had about this item.
First, It works really well.
Second, its easy.
Third, for the price, this is probably the best youll get.
This item comes with the software to instantly burn DVDs. Plug this into your USB port after installing the software. Click on the Instant DVD Recorder, and use the advanced option. You get the whole menu on your screen, you pick what you want, and bam, your video is now recording right to disk.
Quality? Its fine, youre going from tape to DVD, it will still be tape quality.
Cautions: Make sure your computer/laptop isnt too old. This item NEEDS USB 2.0. Get an PMCIA adapter card if youre still running USB 1.1. Online auctions sell them cheaply.
On: 2007-03-03
I ran into a problem trying to install an upgrade that can be downloaded from the Pinnacle website. The on-line help was very helpful and after two personal messages I got the installation to work. The product works as advertised and the Studio10 movie editor is very nice.
On: 2007-02-18
purchased my Dazzle recorder from Amazon stocked items and found it to be just as advertised. The Dazzle performs as advertised and a very reliable method of recording movies. It is very simple to install and operate. I bought this Dazzle for my daughter and now will order one for myself.
On: 2007-02-13
The only reason I gave it one star is because there isnt a negative star to give.
I spent 3 days trying to make this thing work right and called tech support 3 times...still junk.
The sound was out of sync and the picture jumps and apparently cant be corrected. I updated my drivers,uninstalled and then reinstalled. Finally on the third call to tech support the tech himself told me that this was a common problem with this product.
Dont waste your money nor time.
On: 2007-01-18
Its not working with my Toshiba Tecra M2 laptop -- it keeps wanting an update to my video driver that doesnt exist.
On: 2007-01-12
I bought this in October but didnt get a chance to try it out until after the holidays. The connections were touchy so I had to be careful moving about my desk when it was connected. The instructions that came with it were about nil, so I sort of figured it out myself. Part of the software that came with it could transfer direct to DVD, but I couldnt get that to work. It also came with Studio 10 Pinnacle, so I used that (also figured it out myself), and have been able to transfer video to my hard drive. Boy does it take a lot of space!!!!! I am glad I am able to use it, but I wish there were an easier way for us non-techies who just want to edit and create a couple of DVDs!
On: 2007-01-10
Ive had dazzle products in the past. Usually a very good product, This DVD Recorder is just not very reliable. I would recommmend spending a little more and getting one of the higher end dazzle products.
On: 2007-01-10
what it does is awesome, unfortunately i wasnt able to make it work with adobe premiere on my computer, so if i want to capture with it id have to use the included pinnacle software. the free software works and its pretty intuitive, but it takes way longer to load than premiere (for me anyway) and doesnt do what premiere does. overall, great product, just needs more compatability.
On: 2007-01-09
This product is simple to use and does a good job converting my home VHS tapes onto DVD. The only reason I didnt give it 5 stars is because I wish it supplied the connection cables with the product. Other than that, I have no gripes. Worth the money in order to preserve your precious home videos!
On: 2007-01-09
Ive had dazzle products in the past. Usually a very good product, This DVD Recorder is just not very reliable. I would recommmend spending a little more and getting one of the higher end dazzle products.
On: 2006-07-11
Dont think about video capture cards, going into the operating system, or even opening the computer case - just turn on the power, plug Dazzles USB plug into your usb port, and connect the colored cords on your vcr with the same colored plugs on Dazzle, install the software, and let this wonderful tool do all of the heavy lifting.
EXCELLENT quality, and they will lower the quality if you want a smaller file - like, say, if you want to back-up your vcr to a cd-r. The test for quality is time - tell it to record to 70 minutes, and your work is DONE.
I REALLY like the fact that the software is so stable, I recorded a SIX HOUR VCR tape using a 512 meg XP machine - not a moments problem.
They also included software that makes editing these video files real easy, if you want. That is just icing on the cake.
Strong, solid, silent - the John Wayne of VCR to computer file translator tools.
As an aside, I have held onto some VCR tapes for years, one for more than a decade, hoping something like Dazzle would come along.
Prayers answered.
Just shut up and BUY it.
On: 2006-07-10
Dont think about video capture cards, going into the operating system, or even opening the computer case - just turn on the power, plug Dazzles USB plug into your usb port, and connect the colored cords on your vcr with the same colored plugs on Dazzle, install the software, and let this wonderful tool do all of the heavy lifting.
EXCELLENT quality, and they will lower the quality if you want a smaller file - like, say, if you want to back-up your vcr to a cd-r. The test for quality is time - tell it to record to 70 minutes, and your work is DONE.
I REALLY like the fact that the software is so stable, I recorded a SIX HOUR VCR tape using a 512 meg XP machine - not a moments problem.
They also included software that makes editing these video files real easy, if you want. That is just icing on the cake.
Strong, solid, silent - the John Wayne of VCR to computer file translator tools.
As an aside, I have held onto some VCR tapes for years, one for more than a decade, hoping something like Dazzle would come along.
Prayers answered.
Just shut up and BUY it.
On: 2006-05-12
The Quality is EXCELLENT! Use it to go out of the Digital Cable Box Strait into the computer. Pinnacle Software is easy to use and edit with and if you have a DVD Burner, makes great menus. I have bought and returned Well Over 5 RCA Capture Devices and this is BY FAR the best. Especially for $50!!!!!! Cant BEAT It.
|
|
