I bought a Dazzle DVC USB Internet Edition. I've got problems with the DVC installshield installation. It crash when I launch it with several products bundled on the cd (dvc, jukebox, etc) One time it reached to the end of the installation, but when I use the Setup Wizard, it tells that dazzle device was not detected. I've checed that the device is present in the system properties. Windows tells that it works fine. When Wizard tries to detect Dazzle, the ready light turns on, and after that it begins to blink. Did someone experience this problem?

-- Marcelo Hamra (mhamra@cvtci.com.ar), February 19, 2000

Answers

hmmm, no offense but do you want all that extra stuff they offer with the cd? i have the same one as you but i installed it and had no prblems. Dont use the wizzard. its pointless. Have you tried using it at sll yet? Just slest the dazzleusb and see if it starts up.

-- Doug (mazinz@aol.com), February 19, 2000.

sorry about the double post and the typos that went with it

-- Doug (mazinz@aol.com), February 19, 2000.

Marcelo,

when you boot up the system make sure the dazzle is connected and all three green lights are lighted. If the bottom two lights are blinking yellow, you have a problem. Just unplug the power source to the Dazzle and wait for a few seconds and plug it back. Do this several times until the two bottom lights are no longer blinking yellow. Now run the detect video source...you must have a video going or at least a VCR that will produce a blue menu screen...if you don't then the Dazzle will have a problem detecting the source and it will bomb out like you've described....

-- lnguyen (wingstarzz@hotmail.com), February 19, 2000.

If you are serious about things video capture and VCD you will at once get rid of that Dazzle or as wily gesture give it away to somebody else you want to have trouble with it. For one thing you will not have the problems you are having now. For about the same amount of money (~$300) you get much higher quality, infinitely fewer headaches, and better productivity with Matrox Marvel G400, or the new 3dfx Voodoo MPEG-2-capable AGP capture card, or possibly even with the new ATI Rage Pro 128.

-- EMartinez (epmartinez@yahoo.com), February 20, 2000.

Dazzle is not that bad....I've good quality vcd out of this puppy...only problem i had with it is audio/video sync when i over used it, because the unit heats up fast. Other than that it's not a bad device when used with a good encoder. I purchased it because it was handy espcially for my laptop. I also own an ATI AIW 128 32Mb AGP and it's not bad either. However ATI and EZ CD doesn't get along too well..comes to think of it EZ CD doesn't get along with most of the software if you don't know how to tweak your system (getting support from adaptec for this is not an alternative!!! so i dump it and use Nero...but now I don't get to make menu the easy way...) For those of us who just getting started in this VCD business...Dazzle, ATI, etc.. is the first attempt. If you really serious about VCD then the Broadway, RT-6, Mpegator, etc ($799-$1500) is the next step up. If you really getting more serious, then the Optibase Movie Maker, Express, 2000 are the way to go....VCD, DVD, SVCD($2200-$32000). P.S. I didn't know Voodo sfx makes a capture card? must be new.

-- lnguyen (wingstarzz@hotmail.com), February 20, 2000.

AMEN!!!! I bought the Dazzle so I could convert home video to VCD. I had already spent the cash to upgrade my RAM, bought the CD curner and the full version of Adaptec so I had a lot of money invested already. I bought the Dazzle DVC, made a video CD, took it to the store bought a Philips DVD player because it played both CD-R and CD-RW....Bottom line...the end result using DAzzle was unwatchable. Way too many artifacts, the people looked like they were being seen through heat waves and a lot of blockiness. I returned it and bought a Broadway 4.0. It's more expensive but the Dazzle was horrible. I also found out the Philips has problems with VCD playback...Pioneer 525 is the way to go....Lose the Dazzle while you still can.

-- Al McCraw (amccraw@ix.netcom.com), February 21, 2000.

hey Al, When you used the dazzle you probably just encoded it as a straight vcd didnt you? thats why your results are horrible. if you follow the method i and a few others use (capture at 3000 then convert to vcd rate using panasonic(although now that 2 of my dvd players can read a 2500bit vcd i use this instead) you would see that the results you can get are pretty damn good, but again im not against anything else, im just stating for the record

-- Doug (mazinz@aol.com), February 21, 2000.

thank you to all people that asked this question. I will try to make Dazzle DVC work before burned it up.

Inguyen: I didn4t connected any audio/video source to the device. The first thing I've tried to do is plug the usb and try to detect the device with the wizard. Both lights are not blinking when I boot the system, but after use the Wizard it tell me that the device is not detected and both lights begin to blink. When I unplug the device, they restore to not blinking state. I will try to detect the device with the audio/video source plugged in later. Now I cannot have a try becouse I haven't enough time. Thank You.

-- Marcelo Hamra (mhamra@cvtci.com.ar), February 22, 2000.

One thing about Dazzle has to be addressed here. Granted, people like Doug use the Dazzle to capture at a bitrate higher than White Book VCD specs, and then use Panasonic later to re-encode that to what we want here which is VCD-compliant bitrate, and the results are all okay so it is said making it look like Dazzle isn't so bad after all. What seems to have been forgotten here is that one whole point of using Dazzle/Snazzi is to capture straight to a VCD-compliant MPEG stream such that we can all start VCD authoring as soon as capturing is finished, bypassing all the tedious waiting associated with off- line s/w encoders like Panasonic. If after capturing with Dazzle I still have to re-encode the captured files to get what I need then what's the difference with standard AVI capture followed with off- line s/w encoding?? Either way I have to wait for my files to get finished encoding; and if that is the case I better do it with something else instead of that horrible Dazzle.

-- EMartinez (epmartinez@yahoo.com), February 22, 2000.

hey Ed i totally agree with that 100%. It does suck that we have to do things like this. Although from what i gather if we were able to afford the mpeg1(and now 2) boards that cost around the 21,000 range, im sure we would not have to re-encode (and if you had to thats the biggest crime of all time) but for the budget i have this will do. i told Dazzle that their capture at 115vcd is horrible and to quote them "yes i agree the results arent too good" was the answer i recieved. So i think then why the hell dont you make the damn thing like it should be made. I dont know, i picked up the studio mp 10 as well, its not bad considering it lets you save as an avi as well, plus it does have a nice editing/titleing program, but it doesnt have a post process choice so most of the time the sync was screwed to some degree. Oh well im happy to some extent for what i have now.

-- Doug (mazinz@aol.com), February 22, 2000.

I've tried what Inguyen suggested without any good result. DVC Software cannot still attach the device. I will install Windows 98 English version in my machine (I'm using the Spanish version) and I'll try again. If I have no success, my last try will be to install the device and the software in another PC.

Any suggestion or idea will we best regarded.

Thank You.

-- Marcelo Hamra (mhamra@cvtci.com.ar), February 23, 2000.

Guys,

let me say one thing about the Dazzle. IT IS NOT A BAD PIECE OF EQUIPMENT FOR ITS PRICE. at any price range of equipment for video tools, if your source is bad the output is bad. No matter what you have. Whether you encode it straight through hardware or encode it after with software. I have made good quality (above VHS standard) VCD with the Dazzle straight through VCD format using high definition source, DSS s-video signal. Try that out and you'll see. Doug, we all make do what we have available to us. lnguyen

-- (wingstarzz@hotmail.com), February 25, 2000.

Marcelo, What about the USB driver for your system? do you have any driver for it? check that out also. lnguyen

-- (wingstarzz@hotmail.com), February 25, 2000.

Here is a simple question? Do other USB devices work on your system?

If the Dazzle is the only USB device you have then you should check the Device Manager to see if the USB Root Hub is installed correctly. Also check your BIOS to see if USB is turned on. If you find that USB is not installed correctly then re-install the USB drivers for you motherboard.

-- The Lone Ranger (rutger_s@hotmail.com), February 25, 2000.