Video Software

[10fingers]

I need to get some opinions on video software. When I bought my video camcorder there was included with it a video capture card and software for editing, special effects, etc. It was included as an incentive to buy the camera. The name of it is Dazzle DV Editor.
I can not get this thing to work and am beginning to think that the software is a piece of shit. Does anyone know about this or perhaps have tried one with good results?
Also, has anyone ever tried those investigative software. I have seen one called Cyber Detective and was thinking of trying it. It's only around $30.00 so I wonder about it.
It seems that there is a lot of crappy software floating around and I'm tired of wasting money.
Any comments appreciated.

[Arkangel]

All I can tell you about is my own shitty experience. I bought MGI Videowave 4 with the firewire card. It's not hard to use, and some of the smaller vids I did were good. I burnt a lot of them onto CD and 50% ran on other pc's - not sure if that was an issue with the writer or the files themselves.

What sucked big time was the fact that there is no simple way to dump onto a VCR via my elsa erazor video card, if I am running Win2k, which I am.

WinXP is supposed to be aimed just at multimedia apps, but do you want to involve yourself with more crap from Microsoft?

[kvitekrist]

I use an sony Hi8 cam and my ati-all-in-wonder

to edit movies I use Unlead Videostudio and Windows Movie Maker..

the movie maker is simple and fast and the .WMV format is realy good i think.. small and good!

[nbk2000]

I bought a Dazzle video dongle. It was a little bigger than a pager. Sounds like what you go.

It was piece of shit! So I returned it.

I later bought a Dazzle Digital Video Creator (Model DVC-USB) that got good reviews from the computer sites (like <a href="http://www.pcmag.com)" target="_blank">www.pcmag.com)</a> that cost $200 in 2000. It worked good.

But the software it comes with is shite too. The MGI Videowave or whatever it is. Blech!

Don't waste your time with such tripe. Just use the Adobe Premier program you can find as warez on the net. MUUUCCCHHHH better.

I haven't used the dazzle thing since I got an ATI Rage video card with video capture and output capabilities. It's much easier to use and doesn't require any dinky software installed.

Don't buy any of that "investigative" software. It's usually just a list of public officals, state DMVs, and other (so-called) sources that you can get for free yourself.

[10fingers]

What's a dongle? Mine is a kit with the TI IEEE 1394 video card and a software CD. The card goes inside your computer case and you plug your camcorder into it. The software I have is Dazzle Ulead Video Studio 4.0. I just noticed that the copyright only went to 1999. I just got it a couple of months ago. Theres a 6.0 version out now.
Maybe that's why they were giving it away!
I have a Sony Digital Camcorder TRV230. This is a nifty little camera, nightvision, 700x digital zoom. You can make out a persons face about a 1/2 mile away and it can see better in the dark than a nightvision device I had.
I don't know how Microsoft got to be so big either. Threats, bribery, extortion. Theres always something going wrong, it freezes up, can't find hardware, loses pieces of software instructions, etc.
I was suspecting that the investigative software was bogus.
Thanks you guys.

[nbk2000]

A dongle is a device you plug into your computer to use a program that won't work without it. That's the crappy thing about the software that came with it. It wouldn't work without the stupid device plugged in.

I don't know what version device you got.

[Polverone]

I use Macs for video editing since that's what I have available where I work. They are quite nice, too. Dual monitors, 1 gig RAM, and Final Cut Pro. iMovie is really pretty decent too, although frustrating if you want to do sophisticated work. For special effects and whatnot I use Commotion Pro (cracked). When I'm all finished there are 2 DVD burners I can use for distribution. Of course I doubt I'd have any of this were I paying for it myself. Macs are nice (at least with OS X) but too expensive for my cheapskate tastes. So for personal use I have a 2 processor mobo with twin Celerons running Linux, the ultimate cheapskate powerhouse :D (or at least it was back when I first assembled it summer of '99)

I could probably put copies of Commotion and FCP on the FTP, but I don't think there's too much demand for Mac software here.

For a solution that works on PCs as well as Macs, I've heard really good things about Avid Xpress DV. Of course you'll need to hunt down a warez version since it's $1699 MSRP. Lots of people use Adobe Premiere, especially since it's really easy to find warezed. But I don't like it much myself. <a href="http://www.2-pop.com" target="_blank">http://www.2-pop.com</a> is a great site/forum all about digital moviemaking and editing. The community tends to be a little Macintosh-centric but I'm pretty sure PC people hang out there too.

[EP]

I just got the lasted issue of PC Magazine and they happened to review DV cameras and editing programs. Their Editors Choice for DV editing programs went to Pinnacle Studio version 7. At $100, its more than some other progs, but a lot less than $550 Adobe Premiere 6. Money isn't an issue with warez of course, but I would still go for Pinnacle if I had the choice because it is quite a bit easier to use.

I doubt anyone is in the market for DV camera, but just in case you are curious, there were two editors choice awards (for a 3 CCD camera and a single CCD camera) and they went to:

3 CCD:
Sony DCR-VX2000 ($3,000)

1 CCD:
Panasonic PV-DV701 ($1,000)