I've been using Dazzle as a capture device to convert my old VHS movies over to DVD format.

When I saw the Pinnacle Video Transfer information on the web site, I figured it would be an easier way to capture.  I'm interested in any tips that others have on using these two products together. 

 At this point, I have captured a 15 minute video to an iomega 500gb USB 2.0 disk that is formattef for fat32.  No problems with the capture.

One thing worth mentioning that wasn't totally clear in the doc's is that the LEDs for the mode settings are very small little blue circles next to where the mode is pressed.  There are lots of other big square blue lights.  These are not related.

I'm not really clear on the best way to determine when the VHS tape is finished, since there is no computer screen to watch.  Video Transfer keeps recording to the end of the tape and beyond.  The reason it would be helpful to know when the tape is complete is so that all the additional snow and other items captured end up in the captured file.  I'm not aware of any way to get rid of it afterwards.

I captured my initial video in BEST mode.  The documentation says this should be used if additional editing is planned.  An insert that comes with the documentation says that BEST mode does not play well on a computer because the capture is done with interlaced frames.  When I imported the captured file into Studio 11, the video was ragged at the edges, just like the documentation indicated would be the case.  I am not clear how to work with captured videos in BEST mode at this point, since viewing the video on the computer is an important part of the editing process. 

If you want to view the captured video, the latest quicktime works.    The documentation insert also mentions using a VLC video player (www.videolan.org).  I haven't tried this yet, but I don't think it will help with the video editing problem from within Studio.

I'll update the post as I get more info.  If others have any tips. please pass them along.

thanks,

todd

 

 

In the Pinnacle Video Transfer documentation, page 10, there is a reference to a new product, videospin (www,videospin.com), that is recommended for video editing and DVD creation.   I tried installing it today to see if it worked better than Studio 11 for viewing the captured mp4 file.  Videospin looks like a cut down version of Studio 11, and when you bring it up, you can actually update it to Studio, so if you already have Studio, it does not look like Videospin will get you anything more.  I did try viewing the mp4 in videospin, and noticed the same problem that I had in Studio 11 where the video did not display properly when played.

 The mp4 video does display ok from Quicktime, so I am starting to wonder if the problem is related to mp4 files and Studio 11.

 In my initial post, I was trying to figure out a way to know how to find the end of a video, since there is no monitor option like you would get with dazzle.  It looks like the counter on the VCR can be used if you do not mind doing a preview capture.  What I did was capture a short video in better mode, then I brought up the video in quicktime.  The counter in quicktime indicated that the video was 17 minutes long.  If I reset the counter on my  VCR to 0 at the start of the capture, if I stop it at 17 minutes, it appears to end properly.  This keeps all the extra garbage out of the mp4 file that I will end up using for video editing. 

 

Tonight I tried a capture in better mode to see if that makes a difference with how the mp4 files play in Studio 11.  They have the same problem as files captured in BEST mode.  I did a little searching in the forum and found a link where someone is having a problem playing mp4 files.  From the thread, they seem to be running into the same problem I am seeing.   http://forums.pinnaclesys.com/forums/thread/100771.aspx. 

When video transfer is used with a USB disk, according to the documentation, files are created using an incremental sequence under the VIDEOS top level directory on the hard drive.  I did get a file with a number 2 in it, but I also seem to have managed to trash the mp4 file that I created yesterday in BEST mode.  I'm not sure how I trashed it.  My recommendation would be to move any files you want to keep out of the VIDEOS directory before starting the next capture.

I'd be interested to know whether anyone else is having issues playing mp4s.   

Actually you might be interested in the new studio 11 version which was released these days (11.1.2) which will now support H264 files captured with Pinnacle Video Transfer. 

You can download it from here.

I've confirmed that updating to the 11.1.2 release does resolve the problem with playing the mp4 files created by Video Transfer from within Studio.  Thanks for the pointer.

With the 11.1.2 release, I have been able to successfully play and edit mp4 files captured by Video Transfer. 

Make movie seems to hang up.  When the make movie button is pressed, the play window goes black, I get a bar saying that movie making is in progress, and nothing more.  Task manager shows the studio app is using up the entire cpu.  I see this even when I split the clip down to a couple tenths of a second.  Normally, you can see the movie progressing from the timeline.

Has anyone had any success making movies from a Video Transfer capture in Studio?  I've tried creating a file as well, that has the same symptom.

 

 

I'll have to try the upgrade. I activated my keys but it shows very bad HD recordings. Yes, I did record an HD program on my USB drive. It worked fine and as for extra number files, that happens when you start/stop the device while getting your recorder/player to start where you want. I recorded off an HD DVR without any issues. I did have to play to the TV so I could find out where to start. If that's the only drawback, I'm o.k. with it because I just go into another room and let it do it's thing.

 I did have issues trying to view/edit the recording in Studio. Thus, I'll try the upgrade patch. I was able to use another software, which worked flawlessly to play and edit the video. I was also able to burn to a DVD as well. A 43min. video took 4hrs to burn. No biggy there, I just let it go and went to bed. The downfall, I need an HD DVD player now!

 I'll be trying a regular recorded program to see it that works in the next few days. Other than getting the whole thing figured out, a no brainer, I love it!

Thanks.  I was able to get past the hang problem by updating my video driver to the latest rev.  I still get the normal Studio hickups, but those are not related to the video capture.

Your experience with viewing through another software package is consistent with mine - the patch should solve the problem from within Studio for you.

You said, "I'm not really clear on the best way to determine when the VHS tape is finished, since there is no computer screen to watch."

Can you hook a TV up to your VCR? If you're using the Composite Video or S-Video to go to the PVT, you should still have an old co-ax output on your VCR that you can route to the TV.

 

Yes, that would do it.  Thanks! 

 

todd

Seems that there is a bug in Studio 11 (with the latest patch) when MPEG-4 files from Pinnacle Video Transfer are used - I've been hitting this in 20 to 30 percent of the files I've created.  The bug causes the sound issues when the DVD is created.  I've also seen it cause Studio to hang if you play through a problem spot from the edit tab. 

More detail on the issue and workarounds can be found in this thread.

Im having the same issue with studio 11.1.2 hanging when trying to Make Movie and there are no video driver updates for my laptop (ATI Radeon X1400).  Anyone have any other suggestions?

You might also be hitting the MPEG-4 problem mentioned in the previous post.  Did you try converting to MPEG-2 and importing from that?

 todd

Just to close on this one - the problem with hangs or the sound going away in some clips appears to have gone away with Studio 12.  Since updating to Studio 12, I've been able to work with the captured files directly and have not had any issues.