Switching to a high-end PC system made little difference to this, so we can't recommend the Dazzle DVD if you're looking to edit your next Oscar-winning short film. One thing that did concern us was an intermittent number of dropped or paused audio frames, which suggested to us that the system was having trouble handling the full data stream for some reason. Our test videos came out mostly fine, albeit only in the kind of quality you'd expect from composite and S-Video connections. It is, after all, primarily designed for digitising home movies, so if you were considering using it to archive an old commercial VHS library, you'd have to look elsewhere. It's undoubtedly to be expected, but Dazzle DVD Recorder can't handle copy protected material, whether it's DECSS encoded DVDs or Macrovisioned VHS tapes.

The DVD Recorder software is wizard-driven and extremely easy to use.

No cables are supplied for connection, so you'll have to be ready with some standard RCA or S-Video cables to hand. Then it's a matter of plugging in the Dazzle capture device, letting it handle driver detection - we tested on a Windows Vista system, and the box carries a Vista-compatible logo - and plugging in your video source of choice.