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Pinnacle Video Capture for Mac: Review

Posted to Video Editing 2009-06-17

Review: Pinnacle Video Capture for Mac

If you have been looking for a way to convert your old home movies to digital, or you would like to bring the newest episodes of your favorite TV shows with you on your iPod, then you may want to check out the Pinnacle Video Capture for Mac. With the ability to record video from nearly any analog source, the Video Capture for Mac offers users the ability to bring their most prized videos with them wherever they go.

The Video Capture for Mac is one of the first video conversion packages offered to solely Mac users. While PC users have had this ability for years, Mac users were instead left in the dark and had to find alternative ways to convert their prized videos to digital format. The Video Capture for Mac is a hardware/software setup that offers users a t-bone shaped encoding device complete with composite video, S-Video and stereo audio as well as the Pinnacle Video Capture software that helps make the video recording process a breeze. While this may sound like a dream come true to all the Mac lovers out there, this package is only compatible with certain Mac's and OS levels. In order for the software to run successfully you need to be running Mac OS X version 10.4 or newer on a Mac with Power PC G4, G5 or Intel Core Processor. A minimum of 256 MB of RAM is required but 512 MB of RAM is recommended to get the best possible performance out of this video recording package.

Rating:

3.8 out of 5

Features

The one and most important feature of the Video Capture for Mac is its ability to convert nearly any analog video source into an iTunes compliant format. The included hardware encodes the data in MPEG-4 format which allows the video to be played on your Mac, video iPod or your Apple TV. VHS home movies can be saved from their demise and you will never have to worry about losing any of the TV shows you have saved on your DVR. The Video Capture for Mac can even convert video from your game console or even live TV, but you need to be utilizing a digital cable box for this to be a possibility.

The software also offers users a feature that allows them to schedule how long they would like the system to record for. It offers the option to record manually or you can chose to have it stop recording in 30 minute increments all the way up to 180 minutes. This is perfect for those times when you have a large amount of data you want to record and you don't want to sit in front of your Mac for hours waiting for the recording to complete. It can also help to prevent you from running out of storage space by requesting the recording to stop before your hard drive has become full.

Performance

The Video Capture for Mac connects quickly and easily to your Mac with the use of either a USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 port and the converter box is powered by the USB port so no further wires are required. Just plug in your video source of choice and you are ready to start recording. Just keep in mind you will need to first install the included software for the setup to function correctly.

When it comes to video recording, the setup on a whole performs quite well but your results will depend on the quality of the video that you started with. Don't expect it to take a grainy video and turn it into a crystal clear image. This especially needs to be kept in mind when converting video from older analog formats.

Lastly the Pinnacle Video Capture software works quite well for video recording, but that's about all it can do. Its only task is to convert any video source into an iTunes compatible format, so users who would like to perform some form of video editing after they have been recorded will need to look elsewhere for that functionality.

Summary

In conclusion, the Pinnacle Video Capture for Mac is the perfect solution for Mac owners who have been looking for a way to convert their old home movies to a more stable format. If you don't mind the fact that this package does not offer you the ability to edit your videos after recording, then the Pinnacle Video Capture for Mac may just be the way to go.

Pros

Requires Mac OS X version 10.4 or newer
Minimum 256 MB RAM
Record auto stop in 30 minute increments up to 180 minutes
Just plug and play

Cons

No editing abilities