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The Hollywood DV-Bridge is a two-way converter. In addition to converting old-style (analog) video and audio into digital signals, the DV-Bridge can also convert digital video to analog signals. You can make VHS copies of your edited videos this way.
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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
Hollywood DV-Bridge turns old VCR tapes into digital videos


March 2, 2003


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, The Post-Standard

   If you have old videotapes you want to put on DVDs, you're probably worrying about the same problem I faced a few months ago. I had a DVD burner in my new Apple Macintosh and I knew how to edit my new digital camcorder tapes, but I didn't know how to turn my old VHS tapes into digital video.
   I was rescued by the Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge, a paperback-book-size external converter that sits between my VCR and my computer. I was able to start making DVDs of my old family videos a few minutes after I carted my new DV-Bridge home from the store. I simply connected the video and audio cables from the VCR to the Hollywood DV-Bridge, then plugged the DV-Bridge into my computer using a FireWire cable.
   I paid a about $220 for the Hollywood DV-Bridge (the list price is $250) at a local computer store. I already had all the cables I needed -- an S-Video cable to go from the VCR to the DV-Bridge and an extra FireWire cable to go from the DV-Bridge to the computer. You can find out more about the product at www.dazzle.com.
   The results have been extraordinary. I've had only one problem (a common one mentioned by many others), but it was easy to deal with. In every other way, the Hollywood DV-Bridge has been a delight.
   The Hollywood DV-Bridge is a two-way converter. In addition to converting old-style (analog) video and audio into digital signals, the DV-Bridge can also convert digital video to analog signals. You can make VHS copies of your edited videos this way.
   Digital video converters are needed because computers cannot work with old-style analog video. All signals have to be changed into digital form before they can be edited on a computer.
   The DV-Bridge works with any computer, PC or Macintosh, that has a FireWire connection. (FireWire is also called 1394 and iLink; they are the same.) All your computer needs is editing software and, of course, DVD-creation software. My OS X Mac recognized the DV-Bridge as soon as I plugged it in.
   Dazzle's designers created a stunning base that makes the Hollywood DV-Bridge stand upright. This makes it look like something the holographic doctor would have at his desk in Star Trek Voyager, but the unit easily topples over when it's standing vertically. I threw out the little slip-on base and keep the DV-Bridge flat on my desk.
   The only problem I've had with the DV-Bridge is the same one reported by dozens of users who have posted their comments on video-editing Web sites: It forgets which mode it is supposed to be in, forcing you to press a little reset button each time you want to start a new conversion.
   The DV-Bridge does not use any of your computer's processing power to do its conversions, and therefore doesn't require a particularly fast computer. But you do need a lot of hard drive space to store the raw DV (digital video) files while you are making your DVDs. (Nine minutes of raw DV takes up 2 gigabytes of file space.)
   Your drive -- or drives, if you can afford at least two -- also need to be fast enough to keep up with the digital stream. Most drives made in the last few years should do fine.