AVerMediaMDVDEZUSB DVD EZMaker USB 2.0 External Video Capture Device

There are two separate components you get when you buy this package: Hardware and Software.First the hardware -- it's a straightforward little widget (which is good as the documentation is pretty much non-existent). On one end is a USB connector and a jack plug audio connector -- you must use both of these - the USB for the video goes to the USB port on your computer and the jack plug for the audio goes to the line-in on your computer (warning: I tried to plug this into the microphone jack on my computer, as this was conveniently located on the front, but this did not work in my case). On the other end is a component video (yellow RCA), S-video, and Left/Right sound (White and Red RCA) connectors. You will use one of the video connectors (composite or S-video), and one (mono) or both (stereo) of the sound connectors to connect to the audio/video source, such as a VCR. With all your drivers installed, the software (more on that later) is pretty easy to use. You play the VCR, the software shows you a preview window - you select the file format and destination, and then hit capture - your audio/video is captured to the file. You can then use the software to convert the file to a DVD or VCD.Now this package comes with several different makes of software (Broderbund, Mediostream, and Movie Maker). For simply capturing video/audio to a file it works fine and is fairly straightforward. However I found several problems with the software. On my Win XP sp2 system the Broderbund and Movie Maker would crash quite frequently. Even when not crashing, I found trying to use the software for editing, or otherwise modifying what I had captured, to be mind boggling. I am a computer professional, but what is needed here is an editing professional. The software is NOT intuitive, and makes use of the jargon of the film editing industry. I initially tried to use the software to trim some footage off of the front and back of a video I had captured, but eventually gave up and just re-captured the shorter segment I was interested in. Finally, I had a driver conflict with the audio driver. After installing it, I bought and installed a webcam only to be frustrated by the inability to install the webcam microphone driver. Turns out all I needed to do was to remove the Avermedia driver and the webcam driver installed fine. All in all I am glad I bought this as it did what I wanted -- converted some old VHS footage to digital format. But I do wish more care went into the user interface and documentation of the software.

If you want a cheap option for preserving all your old VHS tapes onto DVD's this is it. It has taken me some trial and error to get a good copy (I suggest you read the help book first). It WILL tie up your computer - figure at least 2x the movie length to play/capture the video, set chapter points, and encode/write the DVD. Direct record to DVD only if you don't want chapter breaks at logical points (be sure to set chapters in order - if you skip around in the movie, they will be "dislodged"). Don't expect to clip out commercials/unwanted scenes. The Broderbund MovieShop editor stinks and the Neo software will only capture, set one start point and one end point, and create up to 6 chapters and a menu.Other than settling for very basic software editing features, my only real disappointment is the sound quality. Be sure to turn the gain control way down (like 5) to avoid most of the tinny ringing behind certain pitches. If you are a home theater buff who cares about sound - save your $45 and buy pre-made DVD's. I also have had little success in saving Pixar movies - the beautiful colors wash out in translation and messing with the limited picture controls before capture doesn't help. All other movies picture is fine (for my 27" screen) even at "better" quality setting. 4.7 GB DVD+R's aren't big enough to record feature length movies at "best" setting; you need to buy the $45 software upgrade if you want to record at "best" setting on double layer DVDs.Enough griping - my treasured collection of VHS movies will be saved from further deterioration (and VHS obsolescence)for a relatively small investment in this device.

I wanted to turn a VCR video feed into an .mpg file for the purpose of burning a DVD. This inexpensive device did the capture with ease. I was concerned that there might be mysterious problems or incompatibilities, as some have reported, but for me it "just worked". I installed the software and hardware and ran the software and then clicked to start and stop the capture, and the result is an .mpg file. This is on a Dell Dimension 4500 running at 2.26 GHz with the latest WinXP.This device doesn't pack a lot of (or any?) processing power, so it relies upon your PC's CPU to do the crunching to digitize the video stream. That's why a 2 GHz or better processor is required, and presumably why this unit can be sold more cheaply than others that claim similar functionality. As far as I'm concerned, this architecture is a good thing: Why should I pay for another specialized processor when my existing PC can do the job? Also, the minimal hardware means that this unit is powered completely by the USB connection, and does not require an external power supply as more complex products do. That's a nice advantage, since we can all do without additional "wall warts".

UPDATE-- 12/18/05- Unit quit working already, cheaply made, wish I wouldn't have ordered this, can't get my money back now. But tech support is good, I am sending it back, just wish I could get my money instead of a replacement.I had trouble getting it to work. Hubby plugged and unplugged it fromthe back of the computer, then it finally worked and the computer recognized it. I had email customer support and they did reply each time in a timely manner. (I did downlod the newer driver from their site before installing the dvd EZmaker system.)It is so slow though- real time downloading the movie from vcr, so 2 hour movie takes 2 hours. Then the software doesn't edit very well (not enough options and hard to understand) so I used windows movie maker to edit but used the software that came with this to burn it to dvd. And this is a slow process also. All together it takes me about 4-5 hours for a 2 hour movie from vhs to dvd.