The best video capture card.

OK. The Pinnacle Dazzle Platinum came today. I plugged it up to my Xbox 360 with the BigBen HQ S-Video cable.

After installing the software (Pinnacle QuickStart & the Bonus DVD) and updating Pinnacle Studio QuickStart to 10.8 (you should rly do this) I started it up.

I tested recording a match with MPEG2, MPEG4, and DivX. MP4 and DivX are pretty impressive quality-wise. I did some fast video editing and created a final video. You can export in any of the formats that the card can record at. No need for buying anything extra.

So far, I'm pretty impressed (and I was used to record with a MPG2 TV card before).

 

Do you have a windows version?

 

Yeah he's using the windows version.

 

Yep, yep.

 

i have pinnacle ultimate movie box. it uses pinnacle 11.0 software. it's pretty bad ass! TONS of editing tools and is easy to use! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

I have Mac version.
It's extremly simple. Just connect and record.

I've noticed one problem. The sound was very bad. Especially when get louder in the game. I turned volume down and seems OK.

EDIT: Still have problem with the sound.
Check my videos on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/C1REXpl

 

Not bad, watched all the videos. And yeah I noticed the sound was too loud. Great matches though /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

 

Still don't know how to fix sound problem.
I connected X360 straight to capture card. This can be the reason.


Maybe I should connect TV instead? Need a cable first /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Just to let you know that this card isn't perfect. Mac version at least.

 

i made the mistake of buying the pinnacle platinum
card..

1) terrible software that crashes a lot, locks
up (when i'm doing avi save, but not mpg)...yes
i've updated that also..

2) didn't work with XP and dual monitor support
(nvidia 8600) card , and yes i've updated all my
drivers, programs etc....

3) i've had to resort to getting a video splitter,
to take the composite output, a) to the tv
b) to secondary monitor....there is no way to
read the menus/etc in the 1/4 screen preview..
oh and full screen preview doesn't work either..

yeah, the price was decent, but i should have
spent money on a better card...

you've been warned..

later
-1

 

Bought Pinnacle Studio 11 and I gotta say that it's pretty good and offers a wide array of features, effects, and templates.

The Mac and Windows version of the card is the same though. It's the software that may cause a problem here, Cirex. You can tune down the sound volume of the video track in Pinnacle Studio itself in the Edit menu. Simply drag and drop the sound track to a lower level.

Pinnacle Studio 9 crashed a lot for me when I was using it back then. But the newer 10 and 11 version is pretty decent and suitable for slower systems as well.
Reading the menus, etc. is fine though (if you use S-Video), although I wouldn't know why I wanted to read them.

 

i am using pinnacle 10.xxx updated ...

I am not going to buy another cable!
i've already bought the vga adapter, hdmi, etc!..

anyways, if you're selecting a replay, (out of
hundreds of them)...it's nice to see which one
you're choosing..

also, i was trying to record the dojo mode,
where you go through every move with the characters,
and there was no way to read the tiny text..

that's why i ended up having to go to a dual screen/tv
mode, where i could see what i was doing in realtime
on the tv, and then the computer would have the playback..
by the way there is a slight lag on there...
(i have a core duo 2, w 2megs Ram, and a fast harddrive)
so i'm pretty sure my system specs are ok..

odd thing is, in VISTA it worked pretty decently recording
to divx, but since then, i've switched to XP, and now
divx recording crashes after awhile (10-15 minutes), but
i can record for hours in MPG, with no problems..

later
-1

 

There is no Pinnacle studio for mac. It's much worse version than windows I belive. Not a big problem with iMovie.

I solved my previos problem with low quality sound. Just turned volume in game options down. More than before.

The other problem is, the sound is not perfectly synchronised with video.

 

What is your output format video- and sound-wise?

 

It's mp4 and I have no choice about that.
I just installed a new version of Pinnacle Video Capture and recorded again. Looks fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agwwgN2f7Z0 - old version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKejLBnQQzM - fixed.

It makes /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif on my face

 

Fixed version is way nicer, good job.

 

If a TV has an audio/video output, then it's very easy to record in real time.

 

If you can find one that works in your part of the world (NTSC, PAL, etc.), I recommend this.

Save replays on to DVD-RW in DVR. Put DVD-RW into PC. Encode for free with VirtualDUB (must get version that supports mpeg-2 or just find the plug-in). Upload to YouTube.

Edit: The DVR saves .VOB files. This is the reason you need mpeg-2 VirtualDUB. I do not know if the latest iMovie can read .VOB.

 

This capture card I have is just fine.
It capture and convert to mp4 on fly making it ready to upload on youtube.

Quick and easy.