Ever since the introduction of FireWire-enabled Macs and iMovie, folks have had the ability to generate their own digital movies with relative ease. But this digital solution still leaves folks, especially those that donit have a computer, out of the action. There are many more people that have the ability to view good oli VCR tapes than digital movies. Fortunately, the good folks at Dazzle offer the Hollywood DV-Bridge, advertised as “a universal solution for converting and editing analog and DV video.”
Prem Talreja, Vice President of Marketing, took a moment to tell us about the unit. Announced at the recent COMDEX show in November 2000 and shipped in December 2000, the Hollywood DV-Bridge seems to live up to its claim of being a universal solution. For input, it will accept the standard analog RCA jacks for video, right audio and left audio. For higher quality, there are also S-Video and DV (FireWire) inputs. The outputs mirror the inputs, allowing analog, S-Video and DV output.
The Hollywood DV-Bridge and Friends
In their booth, Dazzle was demonstrating the versatility of the product by showing a DV camcorder providing input to the Hollywood DV-Bridge, and sending output to both a monitor via the analog outputs, as well as an iMac DV equipped with iMovie. We can imagine all sorts of scenarios, from creating digital versions of existing content on a VCR tape, to moving an iMovie to a tape for those who donit (yet) have a Mac to enjoy them.
As mentioned, the unit is available immediately, and is priced at US$299. Weill be performing a more detailed analysis of this unit in an upcoming product review.