Pinnacle Systems, a maker of video editing solutions and consumer-focused digital media adapters, is betting on the fact you want to easily move over your tape-bound videos to the digital era via their Dazzle Video Creator Platinum package. This $90 collection includes a hardware video convertor and video editing/conversion software.
The hardware side of the Dazzle Video Creator Platinum package consists of a USB 2.0 enabled device which you can connect to your desktop PC or laptop. Also built into the plug-and-play device are analog inputs which you can hook up to a VCR, camcorder or other video gear with analog outputs (composite and S-video). Video conversion is handled by an on-board hardware encoding chip which offers MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and DivX real-time encoding without causing a slow-down in performance on the connected PC.
Image Courtesy of Pinnacle
As for the software side of the Dazzle Video Creator Platinum package, a few included programs are geared towards trying to make the most out of the video you have just copied from your dying VCR. One of the first programs, called InstantDVD Recorder, lets you bypass your computer’s hard drive and copy directly to DVD the video you are recording. This application can let you set the amount of recording time as well as let you create custom menus and chapters on the fly via selectable templates.
Image Courtesy of Pinnacle
If you decide you want to go more in-depth with video editing before burning your final product to DVD, Pinnacle has included the Studio QuickStart application. This movie-making software lets you do things like enhancing washed out colors on old video and stabilizing shaky movies. You can also create movies set to custom music tracks as well as bringing together various elements into one final project which you can burn to DVD or CD complete with custom chapters and menus.
Other features of the Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator Platinum package include the ability to export your video to file formats compatible with the iPod or PlayStation Portable, automatic movie creation, USB 1.1 support and output of audio in Dolby Digital.
More information on the Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator Platinum package can be found at Pinnacle’s Web site.
