Pinnacle Video Capture Review

Remember the days of the old shoulder mount analog video cameras?  They weighed in at 187 pounds and that rubber eye piece made the skin around your eye sweat like a fat man trying to get into a wetsuit.  Not to mention the bulky VHS tapes and those short life batteries.  Thanks be given that we have moved into the digital era.

It’s only been about ten years since we moved on from VHS to compact VHS-C and then progressively the video cameras got smaller until we ended up with Digital Video.  1/25th the size of those old VHS monstrosities, and the average weight of those old batteries.  Thousands of families own them, and are happily transporting their video via I.Link, or Firewire, to their PCs every day to share the videos on YouTube or making DVDs to send to old Granny who just found out that we landed on the moon.  She also slept with Charlie Chaplin.

But somewhere in a cardboard box in the attic is a ton of old VHS movies with hours upon hours of memories filling them.  You have two options here.  You can either go to the Museum of Science and try to steal the one VCR they have on display there, or you can get Pinnacle Video Transfer and back your files up to a digital format in real time!

Pinnacle Video Transfer is the latest way turn analog video to digital video almost unattended.  Simply plug in your relic camcorder via the Audio/Video jacks, connect a USB-enabled device such as a Flash Drive, select your mode of video quality, press record on the Video Transfer, and press play on your camcorder.  The video transfers in H.264  Mpeg4 video at a 720×480 resolution.  At 30 frames per second.  That means no dropped frames and high quality video every time.

Luckily, I still have two of those old bulky camcorders that graced the store shelves for over $500 only 15 years ago.  I got each of them at Goodwill for $12 each.  Which should tell you something about that brand new Plasma TV you just unloaded for.  I laugh.

Here is some extra info on the Pinnacle Video Transfer, or PVT as I will call it to save an assload of typing time:

• PC-less capture of your video to an iPod, PSP, USB 2.0 HD, or USB flash stick.
• One touch start/stop recording from any video source including a TV, DVD player, PVR, camcorder, set-top box or gaming console.
• High Quality MPEG-4 encoding in H.264 at up to 720×480 resolution.
• S-Video, composite video and stereo audio analog inputs.
• Compact size makes it perfect for traveling
• Recharges iPod battery during video transfer (cable not included)

Let’s open the box.  First off we find the PVT itself, protected by molded plastic.  Behind this is an instruction manual, video/audio cables, and a power cord.  There is also warranty info and an order form for a free issue of Video Maker magazine.  Which I am planning to send in.  Hey, you can’t really beat free unless they pay you to take it.  And, I’m cheap.

I plugged the power supply into the PVT and slapped the other side into the nearest wall outlet.  Which turned out wasn’t all that near and I had to move across the room to have enough juicetricity to power everything.  I plugged the composite A/V cables into the camcorder and proceeded to plug the other end into the PVT.  I then mounted my 2GB thumb drive and turned on everything.  The PVT powers up by pressing the mode button.  A blue light will come on to let you know it’s running.  To turn it off you press the mode button again for a couple of seconds.

And then you select your record mode:

	Capture Quality PSP 2GB 4GB Flash iPod 30GB 250GB HDD Good 320×240 – 7.5 hrs 320×240 – 11 hrs 320×240 – 85 hrs 320×240 – 640 hrs Better 320×240 – 5.5hrs 640×480 5.5 hrs 320×240 – 61 hrs 640×480 – 320 hrs Best 320×240 – 2.5 hrs 720×480 – 3 hrs 640×480 – 38 hrs 720×480 – 187 hrs

I chose to record in “Best” mode to my 2GB flash drive.  Meaning I would get around 1.5 hours of video out of it.  So I pressed “Record” on the PVT and “Play” on the historical camcorder and walked away.  As it turned out, I didn’t have much to do and easily became bored.  There were no new episodes of South Park, Dirty Jobs, or Girls Next Door.  And then I realized they had taken Family Guy off of my On Demand.  So, pissed, I came back 15 minutes later and stopped the recording.  I took the USB drive and plugged it into my computer.  The video played back flawlessly with no dropped frames and a very crisp resolution.  Which isn’t saying much for original analog video, but it says a lot for the PVT.

My conclusion.  It records in real time.  Which is great for quality but sucks hard if you are like me and hate to wait for anything.  That is probably my only problem at all with this gadget.  I could see myself having plenty of real-world use for this and I plan to use it more.

I believe that if you already have a DVD player, you should forego the VCR/DVD recorder combo and opt for this neat little piece of machinery.  It takes up less space and is capable of recording to a multitude of devices on the go, which can later be burned to DVD.  I give the Pinnacle Video Transfer my full recommendation and I hope that they continue to improve it with the next generation of PVT.

	REPORT CARD : Pinnacle Video Transfer category rating comments Quality 4 Good build quality Innovation 5 Dump MPEG video to any portable gadget Installation 5 Great. Performance 5 Very good hardware-based video quality Value 4 Can be had for around $100 FINAL VERDICT: 5 out of 5 stars