| Ease of Set Up | 2.5/10  |
|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 3.5/10  |
| Value for Money | 4/10 |
| Reviewer Rating | 4.5/10 |
| Overall Rating | 6.3/10 |
By bjoord
on 31st Oct 2006
| Time Video Capture Hardware Owned | Less than a Week |
|---|---|
| Ease of Set Up | 4/10 |
| Ease of Use | 7/10 |
| Value for money | 8/10 |
| Overall value | 8/10 |
 bjoord's recommendation | |
PCI card has firewire connections, and the breakout box has S-video and composites for Audio and Video. The software has a lot to help a beginner/novice create a very nice DVD production. Will record to NTSC, PAL and SECAM, though I have only tried NTSC.
Software installation was a bear.
The Pinnacle Studio Plus 700-PCI video capture software box comes with 3 discs. I couldn't get it to install for the life of me. So after some Googling I found out that to overcome that problem you need to create a folder on your desktop called Studio, then copy the contents of Disc one into that folder. Then reboot and go into safe mode with networking. You do this by continually pressing the F8 (key) until you get to the safe mode menu. Once you are in Windows (safe mode) then open up the Studio folder and locate the setup.exe file and double click. You should be good to go. You might have problems installing the bonus DVD (Disc 3) due to some conflicts with InCD from Nero. There is a program that will delete just that program, and then you should be good to go.
What I've just told you is the worst case scenario. But I did all this and everything after that was smooth sailing. I'm quite happy with the card and software.
I think most people that complain about Pinnacle are those that just can't get around software conflicts. So if you don't mind the possibility of fiddling with that a bit, you should be fine. If you are not into troubleshooting at all, then I would make sure that prior to purchase you are assured that you can return the product. Again, I think this is a great product, but some initial tinkering might be needed. It all depends on your system and your software. I tried a USB capture Device from ADS and I returned it after a few days, and after comparing the two I would take the Pinnacle hands down. Although it does cost more.
Getting a PCI card for video capture is always better and faster than using a USB video capturing device. Definitely having the Firewire capability is great, as this allows you to use Pinnacle's editing software to make a great production from your DV camcorder recordings.
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oldspammer on 2nd Dec 2006