Avid’s newly-acquired brand, Pinnacle Systems, Inc. is a long-time creator of consumer video editing peripherals. The latest in their Video Creator peripheral series is the Video Creator Plus HD, which promises to allow consumers the ability to shoot and edit video on their PCs.
INSTALLATION and SETUP
The first step in getting the Video Creator Plus HD system to work properly is to install the included software disk. Not only will the disk install the Pinnacle Studio HD software suite, but also the drivers for the key hardware component of the system – the DVC-107 USB video capture dongle. Pinnacle has made the installation very easy, thankfully, and after you get done with the install software, you can plug the DVC-107 into an available USB 2.0 port and let the magic begin.
DESIGN
The DVC-107 video capture dongle features an all-white or all-black, slick plastic shell with plastic-insulated cabling that ends in a USB 2.0 plug. The DVC-107 features ports to accept both RCA as well as S-Video inputs as well as RCA (stereo) audio inputs. The peripheral is powered all by the USB connection, so there is no added RF adapter to worry about toting around. Thankfully, this makes the video capture dongle extremely easy to take with you in your jump bag. The design is pleasing to the eye as well, which makes it nothing you would be ashamed to have connected to your laptop while you edit video.
USAGE
Using the Video Creator Plus HD is very easy, allowing you to get video from any source which uses the accepted cabling. For instance, you can transfer over video from your VHS cassette players to digitize your old home movies. For the would-be filmmakers out there, getting video from your camcorder is equally easy, and the system takes the technical load off of you so that you can focus on actually editing your video.
You can also use the DVC-107 dongle, once fully-installed, as a means of getting live video from your USB port-equipped camcorders for use in streaming video services like USTREAM. This unadvertised feature makes the Video Creator Plus HD a great solution to bridge the divide between those of us with FireWire-equipped camcorders and those of us without.
The included software is very east to use, and I am not just writing that from someone who is used to software like Sony’s Vegas and Adobe’s Premiere software. Even laypersons should have no problem picking up the in’s and out’s of the Pinnacle Studios HD software. Once completed, you can then output your video back through the DVC-107 dongle or even to online services like YouTube. The software features track-based audio and video editing, a titler, as well as transition effects. Without taking a scientific study, I would guess that this is the most inexpensive, full-featured video editing software available.
OVERALL
Avid’s Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator Plus HD works exactly as advertised and then some, being a very easy way to get video from your camcorder, or VHS tape player, to your PC. Additionally, it then allows you to edit the video in the included software suite, adding transitions, effects, etc. For $89.99 on the official website, you just can’t find a better price to value solution that will do what this system can.
*DISCLOSURE: Pinnacle Systems gave GamingShogun.com a Video Creator Plus HD for the purposes of this review.
