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Hi,
This is a simple review of the Hollywood DV-Bridge from Dazzle. Since this is my first attempt at DV hardware, it should be good for those beginning transition from analog to DV.
The DV-Bridge is a device that makes the claim it can act as a A-to-D converter (and vice-versa). The item to keep in mind is that this device does not come with a 1394 card. You have to get that separately. For my setup, I went with an ATI DV Wonder card that one user here used succesfully.
It should be noted that the DV-Bridge has been updated by Dazzle. There were some issues in previous versions.
Hardware
--------
AMD 1.1 GHz
786MB RAM
1-20GB WD HDD (non-RAID)
1-20GB Maxtor (non-RAID)
2-45GB IBM 75gxp (RAID-0)
Matrox G400-TV
Hauppage WinTV-Radio
Promise FastTrack ATA100
DataVideo TBC-100
ATI DV Wonder / Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge
Software
--------
Windows2000 SP2
DirectX8a
WMP 7.1
Ulead MSP6.5
...
Components
----------
The ATI DV Wonder is a very small PCI card. There are 3-1394 ports on it.
The Hollywood DV-Bridge is in all esence, a BOB. There are standard connections for video-in and video-out as well as 1394 and LAN-C ports. The device can be used separate or connected from/to a PC. The codec is handled in the hardware.
A mode button is available for switching A-D, PassThrough, and D-A. However, the hardware switches itself appropriately.
Installation
------------
First, the ATI DV Wonder was installed. This went in like a breeze. Win2K recognized this card as "OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller." The driver installed without searching for the Win2k CD.
Next, I plugged in the Hollywood DV-Bridge. This was done using the included 1394 cable.Win2k recognized it as "Microsoft DV Camera and VCR." Again, easy install and no CD was needed.
Finally, I plugged in all of the camcorder cables (S-Video and composite audio - S-Video goes through a DataVideo TBC-100). Just for the sake of it, I plugged in a TV to the output of the Dazzle BOB.
The test
--------
The scene was of some footage in SeaWorld, Orlando. There is a clear blue sky and a very colorful background.
First, I captured using YUY2 + PIC Video with the quality set to 20 (about 9-12 MB/s). The capture device was a WinTV-Radio. Next, I captured the exact same thing using the DV-Bridge (standard 3.5MB/s).
Captures went very cleanly using different programs. For some reason, I am actually starting to enjoy MSP's capture program more than others.
A small note is that I really enjoyed having the TV as a preview window during captures. The WinTV does not allow this. It reminded me of the days when my G400-TV had all of its power working.
Once the captures were done, I created a project in MSP6.5. I made a simple split in the video and used a page roll transition to join them. This is important to me because I have had some odd results with this one.
Finally, I went further and created a SVCD and VCD using TMPGEnc.
Results
-------
From strickly a data viewpoint, 9-12MB/s is greater than 3.5MB/s. Obviously, there is more data there. However, is it better quality?
Simply put, the PIC Video sample did not look as crisp or colorful as the DV-Bridge capture. This is perplexing as DV compresses color. However, I think I have a reason why.
The DV-Bridge not only captures using hardware. It also uses hardware to playback the video. To test this, I took the same DV-Bridge file and played it using strictly software through the G400-TV (aka shutoff the DV-Bridge). Then, I turned the hardware back-on. The results were obvious. The Hollywood DV-Bridge really produces superior playback results.
Now, just comparing software playback to software playback produces neutral results. The DV-Bridge is still better, but not nearly as much.
What about VCDs/SVCDs? Well, this was not easy for me. After tinkering with TMPGEnc's settings, I decided to go on purely standard ones. When I first created the sample from the DV-Bridge, I was highly critical of it. However, that changed when I created the VCD/SVCD from the PIC Video sample.
The PIC Video sample was very good. The DV-Bridge was also very good. The differences were really hard to notice. Between the two, I would say that the PIC Video sample was a bit more smooth while the DV-Bridge was more clear.
Finally
-------
I know this is a simplistic evaluation. However, I wanted to go right to the heart of it. How it looked was most important to me. After evaluating it myself, I asked for volunteers (grin). Each one agreed the DV-Bridge samples were just that much better.
This hardware reminds me of the days when I had the access to the power of the Zoran chip (ahhh, that color boost is back again). The biggest difference is that the problems are not there (flashes, stuters, bad frames, etc.). I can not wait to hook up the LAN-C control of the Bridge. If that works, then this is a almost a perfect device for me.
That's it!
This is a simple review of the Hollywood DV-Bridge from Dazzle. Since this is my first attempt at DV hardware, it should be good for those beginning transition from analog to DV.
The DV-Bridge is a device that makes the claim it can act as a A-to-D converter (and vice-versa). The item to keep in mind is that this device does not come with a 1394 card. You have to get that separately. For my setup, I went with an ATI DV Wonder card that one user here used succesfully.
It should be noted that the DV-Bridge has been updated by Dazzle. There were some issues in previous versions.
Hardware
--------
AMD 1.1 GHz
786MB RAM
1-20GB WD HDD (non-RAID)
1-20GB Maxtor (non-RAID)
2-45GB IBM 75gxp (RAID-0)
Matrox G400-TV
Hauppage WinTV-Radio
Promise FastTrack ATA100
DataVideo TBC-100
ATI DV Wonder / Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge
Software
--------
Windows2000 SP2
DirectX8a
WMP 7.1
Ulead MSP6.5
...
Components
----------
The ATI DV Wonder is a very small PCI card. There are 3-1394 ports on it.
The Hollywood DV-Bridge is in all esence, a BOB. There are standard connections for video-in and video-out as well as 1394 and LAN-C ports. The device can be used separate or connected from/to a PC. The codec is handled in the hardware.
A mode button is available for switching A-D, PassThrough, and D-A. However, the hardware switches itself appropriately.
Installation
------------
First, the ATI DV Wonder was installed. This went in like a breeze. Win2K recognized this card as "OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller." The driver installed without searching for the Win2k CD.
Next, I plugged in the Hollywood DV-Bridge. This was done using the included 1394 cable.Win2k recognized it as "Microsoft DV Camera and VCR." Again, easy install and no CD was needed.
Finally, I plugged in all of the camcorder cables (S-Video and composite audio - S-Video goes through a DataVideo TBC-100). Just for the sake of it, I plugged in a TV to the output of the Dazzle BOB.
The test
--------
The scene was of some footage in SeaWorld, Orlando. There is a clear blue sky and a very colorful background.
First, I captured using YUY2 + PIC Video with the quality set to 20 (about 9-12 MB/s). The capture device was a WinTV-Radio. Next, I captured the exact same thing using the DV-Bridge (standard 3.5MB/s).
Captures went very cleanly using different programs. For some reason, I am actually starting to enjoy MSP's capture program more than others.
A small note is that I really enjoyed having the TV as a preview window during captures. The WinTV does not allow this. It reminded me of the days when my G400-TV had all of its power working.
Once the captures were done, I created a project in MSP6.5. I made a simple split in the video and used a page roll transition to join them. This is important to me because I have had some odd results with this one.
Finally, I went further and created a SVCD and VCD using TMPGEnc.
Results
-------
From strickly a data viewpoint, 9-12MB/s is greater than 3.5MB/s. Obviously, there is more data there. However, is it better quality?
Simply put, the PIC Video sample did not look as crisp or colorful as the DV-Bridge capture. This is perplexing as DV compresses color. However, I think I have a reason why.
The DV-Bridge not only captures using hardware. It also uses hardware to playback the video. To test this, I took the same DV-Bridge file and played it using strictly software through the G400-TV (aka shutoff the DV-Bridge). Then, I turned the hardware back-on. The results were obvious. The Hollywood DV-Bridge really produces superior playback results.
Now, just comparing software playback to software playback produces neutral results. The DV-Bridge is still better, but not nearly as much.
What about VCDs/SVCDs? Well, this was not easy for me. After tinkering with TMPGEnc's settings, I decided to go on purely standard ones. When I first created the sample from the DV-Bridge, I was highly critical of it. However, that changed when I created the VCD/SVCD from the PIC Video sample.
The PIC Video sample was very good. The DV-Bridge was also very good. The differences were really hard to notice. Between the two, I would say that the PIC Video sample was a bit more smooth while the DV-Bridge was more clear.
Finally
-------
I know this is a simplistic evaluation. However, I wanted to go right to the heart of it. How it looked was most important to me. After evaluating it myself, I asked for volunteers (grin). Each one agreed the DV-Bridge samples were just that much better.
This hardware reminds me of the days when I had the access to the power of the Zoran chip (ahhh, that color boost is back again). The biggest difference is that the problems are not there (flashes, stuters, bad frames, etc.). I can not wait to hook up the LAN-C control of the Bridge. If that works, then this is a almost a perfect device for me.
That's it!
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