[dsulpy]

I bought my G4 earlier this year, and soon after a Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge device in order to transfer VHS signals into the computer for use in iMovie.

IT HAS BEEN A COMPLETE NIGHTMARE EVER SINCE.

After working fine for a couple of months, the Dazzle suddenly started freezing OSX ... and I don't mean crashing the computer, I mean crashing the computer AND locking me out of rebooting from OSX. I called Apple Care, who blamed it on the device. I called Dazzle, who blamed it on Apple. After upgrading to Jaguar, however, I simply got a "camera disconnected" error from the device. Apple Care said: "Well, maybe OSX.2 doesn't support that." Of course, I'd seen no mention of this on the boards, and tried the Dazzle on my wife's iMac... well, guess what... THAT didn't recognize it either.

So I returned it to Dazzle (it's still under warranty, thank God) and got another "tested" unit sent to me. Well, guess what... after about a month the EXACT same problem started up again. It froze OSX10.1, and now won't be recognized under OSX.2.2 (on the G4) or under System 9 on my wife's computer. Great. Another dead Dazzle.

Of course, I could call Dazzle and complain... um, but they want $16 in order to pick up the phone (I've tried three times to get through on their regular line -- not toll free, of course - and spent three hours on hold without anyone picking up). I could complain to Dazzle's discussion board... but, oh... look at that, no complaints are allowed there... Wonder why...

So I thought I'd vent here. Caveat Emptor.

[Eriamjh]

Send it back and get your money back and try something else, I guess. Too bad it didn't work out.

[hardcat1970]

i experience the same thing. when my company bought a hollywood dv bridge and installed it in my work machine, it worked for a month and then it burned out the g4's firewire card. Since the g4 was out of warranty, we had to buy a replacement firewire pci card rather than fixing it. I brought the dv bridge back to the store where we purchased and they agreed to replace it. And i said to my boss that no way you are going to install this damn thing on my machine, ever.

So stay away from hollywood dv bridge....

[ckohler]

I've owned and used my Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge for over a year and the only problem I ever had was that it sometimes gets artifacts when exporting back to analog directly from DV. I've used it with two Macs (a G4 Cube and a G4 iMac) and it's always captured video just fine albiet a bit on the dark side.

To each their own.

[joe]

If you're looking for another option, I've owned a Formac Studio dv/tv for almost a year now and highly recommend it. And Formac recently introduced a lower cost model (Studio dv) that doesn't include the internal tv tuner. I've used it with iMovie (recognized as a camera), VCR, cableTV, regular air antenna, and a DSS dish (DirecTV). The video quality is excellent - especially with video captured off the dish (rivaling DVD)! I own a dual 500 G4 Cube. But I've also loaned it out to friends with iMacs and a dual-USB iBook.

The only problem I ever had was once when I was using it as a pass through from my DSS dish (S-video from dish to Studio to Sony TV). And it was entirely my fault. Unlike the iMacs and iBook above, the Cube Firewire ports remain powered even when the Cube itself is turned off. So the Studio was continuously converting video from analog to digital and back to analog non-stop for 2 weeks. I believe it over heated from continous use. It was also summer and that room does not get a lot of a/c. No permanent damage though. I turned it off and let it cool down and it's worked great ever since. Formac thoughtfully included a power switch on the back of the Studio which I probably should have been using all along. Though it's probably only needed for G4 Cube owners........joe

[DakRT]

Does the formac studio dv/tv allow you to change channels in directv? If it does great, cause that it really allows you to use it has a true pvr. I had wintv for my pc (that i got rid of) and it wouldn't allow me to change the channels on the directv, so I could only record one channel, unless I manually change it on the directv unit. Let me know. if not, is there a piece of hardware I could by for the mac instead of buying a tivo unit?

Originally posted by joe:
If you're looking for another option, I've owned a Formac Studio dv/tv for almost a year now and highly recommend it. And Formac recently introduced a lower cost model (Studio dv) that doesn't include the internal tv tuner. I've used it with iMovie (recognized as a camera), VCR, cableTV, regular air antenna, and a DSS dish (DirecTV). The video quality is excellent - especially with video captured off the dish (rivaling DVD)! I own a dual 500 G4 Cube. But I've also loaned it out to friends with iMacs and a dual-USB iBook.

The only problem I ever had was once when I was using it as a pass through from my DSS dish (S-video from dish to Studio to Sony TV). And it was entirely my fault. Unlike the iMacs and iBook above, the Cube Firewire ports remain powered even when the Cube itself is turned off. So the Studio was continuously converting video from analog to digital and back to analog non-stop for 2 weeks. I believe it over heated from continous use. It was also summer and that room does not get a lot of a/c. No permanent damage though. I turned it off and let it cool down and it's worked great ever since. Formac thoughtfully included a power switch on the back of the Studio which I probably should have been using all along. Though it's probably only needed for G4 Cube owners........joe

[doshin]

I've owned the Dazzle and it was a piece of poo.

I got the Sony Converter Box and have been happy ever since.