Dazzle DV Bridge and iMovie

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Wow. Been a while since I posted in here. I thought my registration got all screwed up because i couldn't login using Safari. Back to Mozilla and tadaa.



ANYway, hope you guys had a great holiday season. Here's my question for you: I have a couple Mac consulting jobs I'm doing where I'm helping customers set up high-end Mac systems, and then doing some additional training once they're comfortable with the Finder, etc. Both are switchers.



Today I got both systems installed and running well. Next comes the hard part. I have one client who wants to convert a bunch of analog video footage onto his Mac. According to Apple's web site and the box, the Dazzle DV Bridge is just the ticket to do that as you can hook up VCRs or analog cameras.



No Mac software comes with it, but the manual stipulates that all you need is a built-in Firewire port and "DV software". It specifically mentions iMovie by name so I want to know if it can be used effectively. I'd rather not have this guy go buy Premiere or FCE just yet as he's new to video editing. I want to start simple and just get these things into his computer and onto DVD.



My understanding is with most DV cameras that have come out in the last year or so, all you do is plug it into the Firewire port and iMovie opens and starts importing clips. How does this compare with using something like the DV Bridge - does iMovie "see" it as simply another camera? Can you just hook everything up, open iMovie and hit "play" on the source device and away it will go?



Any advice or "do's and don'ts" I can pass along would be great. I think I can handle the DV camera stuff - but this Dazzle thing has me a little puzzled. Not so much connecting it but getting the clips imported....



Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.



-Moogs



[ 02-02-2003: Message edited by: Moogs ]</p>
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    bill mbill m Posts: 324member
    I use my SONY MiniDV camera (TRV17) to convert analog video footage from my old Hi8 tapes to iMovie. Most minidv cams can work as a bridge between analog devices and iMovie.



    i.e. setup:

    Mac - firewire cable - MiniDV cam - composite cable - Analog Audio/Video Source



    Not as straight forward as using minidv footage, but it works great.
  • Reply 2 of 23
    guarthoguartho Posts: 1,208member
    I bought the Dazzle DV bridge for my girlfriend for Christmas. She captures from an old, bottom of the barrel VHS-C camera using it. It's hooked up to my old B&W G3. The DV bridge works dandy.
  • Reply 3 of 23
    The Dazzle is awesome. I-movie recognizes your camera right through the dazzle. No additional software needed.



    A few little tips:

    - Unlike a camera to computer setup, the i-movie does not control the play of the camera. What you do is control the play of the camera directly on teh camera. So play, FF, Rwind all on the camera controls. You will see it played on i-movie and then you push import on i-movie as usual.

    - Make sure you hook the camera in DV in ports on bridge. Then firwire from bridge goes in computer.

    - Occassionaly on video, I get a small buzz sound while importing and playing back. If this happens, just import again and usually works fine.



    Good luck. :eek:
  • Reply 4 of 23
    addisonaddison Posts: 1,185member
    Are you having any sound problems with iMovie 3?
  • Reply 5 of 23
    No sound problems with I-movie3.



    Just a bit slower and crashes (closes unexpectedly) very often.



    What sound problemsyou having.
  • Reply 6 of 23
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    Thanks guys. This is great news. The client will be really happy to know all he needs is the Bridge and iMovie (and I'm happy for that matter).



    Regarding the importation of clips, what would the exact sequence be using iMovie 3? Lets say I have the Red, White and Yellow components hooked up, the FW is "bridged" to the Mac and iMovie is open.



    Do I just queue the tape to the beginning of the clip, then click "Import" in iMovie, then "play" on the camera? Then just click "stop" on the camera whenever I want the "feed" to stop?
  • Reply 7 of 23
    [Regarding the importation of clips, what would the exact sequence be using iMovie 3? Lets say I have the Red, White and Yellow components hooked up, the FW is "bridged" to the Mac and iMovie is open.



    Do I just queue the tape to the beginning of the clip, then click "Import" in iMovie, then "play" on the camera? Then just click "stop" on the camera whenever I want the "feed" to stop?[/QB][/QUOTE]





    Push play on camera , then you will see it on i-movie, then you can push import at part you want. You can use FF/RW on camera to move back and forth.

    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
  • Reply 8 of 23
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    First off, I just borrowed one of these for a project last night. So although I don't have hundreds of hours of usage yet, I can say it works really well.



    It's not the automated process that a true digital camera to computer setup would have. That's because the analog camera you connect to the Dazzle can't be controlled by the computer commands.



    Anyway...



    When you plug in the Dazzle, iMovie "sees" it as a camera, even if your video camera isn't plugged in.



    When the camera is plugged in, all you have to do is hit the "play" button on the import screen. Once iMovie is in "play/import" mode any signal coming in from the camera via the dazzle will be playing on the computer screen (it's the same image that's simultaneously in the camera's viewfinder.)



    Last, there's an "import" button right about the "play" button. As the movie is playing, just hit the import button and a clip will be captured. Hit the import button again to stop the capture. Meanwhile the video camera is playing constantly, and is still playing even after you stop importing.



    The user has to manually hit play and stop on both the computer and on the physical camera. It's very easy to do, even for a beginner, once they've done it two or maybe three times. I imagine you could do it in seconds.
  • Reply 9 of 23
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    cool, i think i'll do this to recreate the original star wars series w/o the stupid digital add-ons, keep it so Han shoots first, and destroy that bastardized ewok song at the end.



    i wonder how bad an analog scene will look among the digital stuff. only one way to find out!



  • Reply 10 of 23
    i've had a dazzle for a few months and I have no complaints... I've experienced that buzzing that sometimes occurs, but i just rewing on the camera (or vcr) and import again...



    I've found that dazzle is also really handy if you have a vcr with cable hookup, and no tv, as is my case in my dorm room...



    i just hook it up through my dazzle, and i can watch tv through imovie.
  • Reply 11 of 23
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    Thanks foye (stop laughing at me damnit) and bunge.



    So basically the import "queue points" are determined simply by when I click "import" on iMovie while the feed is coming in through the Bridge. That's cool. I thought it might be a little more "manual" than that. Actually better to control the import start and stop points from iMovie than the camera....



    I must say this is all very encouraging. yOOT!



    2002 was the year of the wOOT, now it's time for the yOOT to take its rightful place among legendary web forum words. You heard it here first.



  • Reply 12 of 23
    [quote]Originally posted by Moogs:

    <strong>Thanks foye (stop laughing at me damnit) and bunge.



    So basically the import "queue points" are determined simply by when I click "import" on iMovie while the feed is coming in through the Bridge. That's cool. I thought it might be a little more "manual" than that. Actually better to control the import start and stop points from iMovie than the camera....



    I must say this is all very encouraging. yOOT!



    2002 was the year of the wOOT, now it's time for the yOOT to take its rightful place among legendary web forum words. You heard it here first.



    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Is this laugh. I thought it was just energetic. No offense meant.

    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
  • Reply 13 of 23
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    Yes, the toggling of the import button is a great way to do it.



    Two tips.



    One, by default "Automatic Scene Detection" (or something like that) is on in the preferences. When it's on iMovie is set to automatically import into multiple clips at scene changes. This doesn't work properly with the Dazzle since there are no digital commands going back and forth.



    Two, I'm finding it very helpful to use the "action" and "cut" commands when filming. It's a perfect way to know when to toggle the import button in iMovie. If I had done it consistently while shooting I could just let the damn thing play straight through pulling in clips without having to rewind the camera when I miss the beginning of a scene....
  • Reply 14 of 23
    kcmackcmac Posts: 1,051member
    Welcome back Moogs.
  • Reply 15 of 23
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    Thank you much. Good to be back. And don't worry foye - I wasn't offended. Just giving you a hard time back.
  • Reply 16 of 23
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    OK. Things didn't go as smoothly today as I had hoped with the iMovie 3. Didn't even get to the Dazzle part yet.



    The guy has one of those tiny little Sony DV cameras with a Firewire port and the touch-screen menu interface. New camera so I figured it would be easier to show him how the automated features in iMovie work on that.



    Well, for whatever reason I could not control the camera using iMovie's controls. I had to manually press play on the camera first, then press play and import as decsribed above. The auto-sensing clip feature worked OK, but I should've been able to start and stop the camera playback from iMovie and I couldn't. It would say "Camera Playing" but nothing would happen - blue screen on the Mac, blue screen on the camera.



    It was in VCR (what the hell is VTR mode anyway? a typo in Apple's documentation?) mode and we tried using the AV out &gt; DV thingy both ways and it didn't make a differnce. Are there only certain DV cameras iMovie can control without having to press "play" on the camera itself?
  • Reply 17 of 23
    There are several different device control protocols used by DV cameras. In FCP you can choose which protocol to use. If this is a really cheap, low end DV camera you are using it may not support device control or may use a protocol not supported by iMovie.



    Also, the really really low end cameras do not support analog/dv bridging. People buy cheap cameras thinking they are getting a bargain and all they get is incompatibility. Of course, this may not be the case.



    -Chris
  • Reply 18 of 23
    I'm REALLY glad someone started this thread, I've been looking for Dazzle veterans. I have the Dazzle DV Bridge and when it comes to bringing analog VHS video "into" my computer, it's all good. But I've been trying to print my digital video projects created in Final Cut out to VHS cassette tape. I thought this was possible with Dazzle, but I can't get it to record on the VHS tape. The final cut end works fine and it thinks its printing out to VHS tape, but when I play my tape, nothing. Can you output digital video to analog VHS tape with Dazzle? If so, how?



    [ 02-07-2003: Message edited by: jim katta ]</p>
  • Reply 19 of 23
    elricelric Posts: 230member
    What type of quality can I expect from the Dazzle?
  • Reply 20 of 23
    For one yes you can output back to tape. I have put many projects back to tape with both fcp and imovie with my dazzle. With fcp make sure you have device control off and the dazzle on dig. to an. one thing that helps is to have a tv hooked up to your vcr. that way you know if you are getting the signal b4 you start to record. if you are getting the signal the frame the playhead is on in the timeline should be displayed on the screen. then just print to video with apple/M .
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