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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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technofile
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.
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