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We watched some movies and TV this week at MTTL, on the big screen and the tiny screen. We remember the old days, not that long ago, when testing video software was truly a pain, a pain to get the drivers to install and the programs to run, and when we finally got the videos to run, were a pain to look at, the quality was so poor. Those days are thankfully behind us now and watching videos on a PC or a handheld device is now actually a pleasure.

CyberLink’s DVDSuite 6 Ultimate

By Jon Peddie

Downloaded the SW, installed it, no problems, inserted disk, ran the advisor, AOK, pressed play and BAM! I’m watching a Blu-ray movie—install time <1hr.

One of the smoothest installs we’ve ever seen, not going to be much to write up on this puppy.

Pinnacle Video Transfer—no computer needed

By C. Robert Dow

PINNACLE VIDEO Transfer (right) and the video it transferred to a PSP. (Source: Jon Peddie Research)

Pinnacle always seems on the forefront when it comes to PCTV, and giving us products like the PCTV HD for testing just makes us more convinced. They have now taken their talents to the road and given us two of our most favorite things, video and mobility.

The new Pinnacle Video Transfer is an external device that links your video source with your USB storage device, such as an iPod, USB 2.0 hard drive, or flash sticks. For our testing, we coupled the Pinnacle Video Transfer (PVT) with our PSP.

Out of the box the PVT is an unassuming device. It’s a small black box with two USB hook-ups, S-Video input, composite inputs and two main buttons in the center of the box that control the power, mode of video recording, and recording start/finish. The unit comes equipped with a power cable and composite cable that attaches to your PVT and video output device. The PVR allows you to record from a camcorder, set-top box or gaming console, but in our case we chose my trusted Comcast Digital PVR STB as the video source.

It all seems very straightforward at first­—or is it? The party doesn’t start until you attach the power card and plug it in—then our little black box lights up like a tree on Christmas Eve with nine blue lights. All the lights are a little intimidating at first, especially considering the PVT doesn’t include labels on box for the lights. This immediately forces you to retreat to the instruction manual for guidance, something we’re not inclined to doing here at MTTL. However, after a few moments of flipping through the pages, it all comes together.

To begin recording, you can connect an S-Video cable to the PVT or composite cables, we used the latter. After a few moments red lights near the inputs turn blue signifying the PVT recognizes the input device and you’re ready to connect your storage device via 2.0 USB cable. We used a PSP for our storage and playback.

The PSP needs to be in USB mode before the PVT can begin recording. The PVT offers 3 modes of recording

• Good: Video 320x240 512 kbps video 64 kbps stereo audio 48 KHz
• Better: Video 320x240 768 kbps video 96 kbps stereo audio 48 KHz
• Best: Video 320x240 1 Mbps video 128 kbps stereo audio 48 KHz

For SD/Flash memory devices >512 MB the best video can go up to 720x576 (PAL, SECAM)/525 x480 (NTSC), 1.5 Mbps video, and 192 kbps stereo audio 48 KHz

The PVT uses MPEG-4 encoding in H.264 at up to 720x480/576 (NTSC/PAL) resolution.

Once you have selected the video mode you want to use, you press the “REC” button on the PVT and you are off and running. Everything is manual on the Pinnacle Video Transfer—no timers or clocks to set to stop the recording, which might seem a little inconvenient but it does simplify things.

Once the recording has been halted the PSP has to maneuver into video mode to view the recordings. We have a 1GB memory card in our PSP. One half-hour show at best resolutions took up approx 240 MBs recorded on the highest video setting. So, if you recorded everything at the highest video setting you would have roughly 4 hours of video space.

Files stored on the PSP are designated a file name by the PVT, files are saved as /VIDEO/VID00001.MP4, and each following file will be named VID00002.MP4 and so on. Pinnacle cannot be blamed for this clumsy way of naming files. When Sony first introduced the PSP, all files had to named in such a sequential designated way or the PSP wasn’t capable of locating and playing the files. PSP video 9.0 now allows you to rename the video files, thankfully. The new Video 9 in the PSP allows you to change the video file and the thumbnail artwork that identifies the video file.

Playback of the video is beautiful. We did not detect any motion compensation artifacts, the color control and balance were consistent and reliable, solid lip-synch management as well as nominal acuity degradation changing bit rates in the recording mode. All the elements you need for seamless video playback.

The difference in video quality from the “Good” setting to “Best” is noticeable, however definitely watchable with just some minor blur around the edges of figures. So if you’re into quantity and not quality the “Good” setting would no doubt be sufficient.

All in all the Pinnacle Video transfer is a handy device and one that consumers could actually use and get a lot of value from for the $129 price tag. Aside from the lack of labels for the multiple lights on the PVT box itself, the product is well designed and easy you use (as long as you read the instructions through one time). It gets a definite thumbs up from the MTTL staff—now we have to see if we can convince Pinnacle to let us test it a little longer, or at least until the end of the Battle Star Galactica series.

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