Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge
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The DV-Bridge doesn't necessarily need a computer to work. It can convert to and from DV by itself, and it is great to convert analog footage to be recorded on a DV camera or deck or DV footage from a camera or deck to be dubbed to any analog format. It automatically senses the input source and switches to the correct mode of operation. Because it converts in real time via hardware, it lets you watch your converted footage on the fly on an analog video monitor. When connected to a computer, depending on the software, you can play back and/or edit your DV footage on the computer while watching it on a video monitor. This is definitely the way to edit, as you can only see what a video will really look like on a video monitor. If you only use the computer monitor, you may end up finding out that what looks great on your Mac or PC screen may not necessarily look good on video.
No drivers are necessary when using the Hollywood DV-Bridge with a Mac. It's truly plug and play and works right away with most DV-compatible applications. Both Final Cut Pro and iMovie see the device as a regular DV camera or deck, and capturing and playback work perfectly. As I mentioned before, you can see the video that you are working on simultaneously on your computer screen and dedicated video monitor. Using the device with a PC requires the installation of the supplied drivers.
I have read many messages on the Hollywood DV-Bridge technical support forums, and I can see that most reported problems are actually a result of user error. This unit is extremely easy to use; still, all the common rules of video do apply. As an example, many people complain about rolling images or loss of vertical sync. This seems to happen only when people feed non-timebase corrected VHS, Hi-8 or S-VHS video through the unit. In such cases the original signal may be bad enough to cause the DV-Bridge to lose reference, causing the aforementioned problems. The old "garbage in, garbage out" rule applies here, and feeding good, quality footage through the unit should definitely give you good results. If your footage is bad to start with, run it through a TBC before it goes into the DV-Bridge. Another common problem seems to be with the automatic mode switching function. It does take a few seconds to kick in, and the more impatient users seem to have a hard time waiting for it to do so. I have found that, once in a while, the switch will not work, but there's a little button in the back of the unit that lets you manually switch modes. I prefer to use the button all the time since it's faster, more reliable and lets me switch between sources instantly.
Are there any other limitations with the unit? Well, it doesn't have analog component connections. But what would you expect at this price range? Personally, I don't see any problems with using Y/C as the crosstalk is virtually nonexistent and the image quality can be very high. The important thing is to have a clean Y/C signal to start with. If you use a component video source such as Betacam SP, MII or a DDR, utilizing a good external transcoder to convert the signal to Y/C may give you an edge over the built-in encoder—that is, if your deck happens to have one. I own a Panasonic UT-2, which transcodes between all analog video formats, and I use it a lot. A unit like this can give you excellent results if you require the highest quality possible.
The Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge is one of those rare products that delivers outstanding results at a very reasonable price. I consider it to be a must-have if you own a Mac or a PC with FireWire connections and have at least one analog VTR or camera lying around. It is also a perfect unit for authoring DVDs on the Mac from Betacam SP or MII footage, since it will preserve the quality of the original images and should make your DVD footage look practically like your master. And, since Apple's DVD Studio Pro relies on the DV format to achieve faster MPEG-2 compression, just the time saved on the first project should definitely make this a worthwhile purchase.
Paulo de Andrade is producer of Digital Post Production, DVD Creation, DMNTV and Film & Video Magazine Online. He can be reached at pdeandrade@digitalmedianet.com.
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