Pinnacle Video transfer!

[Spiritbomb]

I was looking for a device to record my smash games. I had the Dazzle thing in mind, but then I went to future shop and saw the "Pinnacle Video Transfer" wich offered a "direct-to-device" feature that looked very attractive. To be simple, it lets you record your videos directly on Ipod, PSP, USB flash drive, etc.

here are my questions:
Have anyone on the board tried the device?
Does anyone know a capture card with the same "direct to device" feature? / can you do that with the dazzles?

 

[Wogrim]

If you're talking about recording without a computer between the capture card and device, no I don't know of anything else that does that.

 

[Spiritbomb]

I was indeed talking about recording without a computer. Sorry if it wasn't clear.

Thanks for your answer

 

[Juggleguy]

I've used the Video Transfer for over a year and it works like a charm. Yes, recording is as simple as recording with a USB flash drive which gets you .MP4 files. My only complaint is that the video quality is held back by the transfer rate of the USB, so you have to use an external HDD to record under the 'best' quality and then you'll have to de-interlace the video with something like VirtualDub afterwards. However, for recording matches at a decent quality without having to bring out a laptop, there's nothing simpler than the Video Transfer, and I'd recommend it.

Vids I've recorded using the Video Transfer:
Melee, 'better' quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWxOsWQwmls
Brawl, 'better' quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNzecstRVRI
Melee, 'best' quality then de-interlaced: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3MbwKzkNC0

The last example might be misleading because I had to go into Windows Movie Maker and edit in commentary, then save the whole thing again, reducing vid quality pretty drastically. WMM is responsible for the boxes on the top and bottom of the screen as well.

 

[Spiritbomb]

Great info Juggleguy. I think I'll buy it by the weekend (I have an ext HDD but i'll have to make sure its Fat32!)


Edit: I just won my auction....34$+14$ shipping ^^....better than 140 at future shop^^. I'm waiting for it and will give a feed back.

 

[Juggleguy]

Oh yeah, what is the deal about the USB having to be Fat32 or whatever? I've noticed that with my older flash drives, the Video Transfer works well, but the newer flash drives that I've bought in the last couple months do not work with it.

 

[Spiritbomb]

Your device has to be in Fat16 or FAT 32 format. Stuff (like my seagate external drive) formated in NTFS wont work with the video transfer.

Edit: one of my flash drives in Fat32 just doesn't work with the device...i'll look what's going on eith that.


edit 2 : by the way, what do you use to convert mp4 to a format you can use in virtualdun or WMM? I tryed some that killed the quality...

 

[Juggleguy]

I primarily use Avidemux:
http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

It gets enough done for my video editing purposes, but a couple downfalls include the lack of a 'set audio levels' option (like in WMM) and the underwhelming de-interlace options.