Review: Pinnacle Studio Moviebox USB peripheral

Transferring old video to a digital format is a great way of ensuring precious memories are kept and shared, however, getting video onto a computer in the first place can be a bit of a lottery.

Pinnacle's Studio Moviebox USB has all the inputs you could need as well as the software needed to work with the video.

The Moviebox is small enough to sit next to computer without getting in the way. On the front are sockets for composite audio and video (the red, white and yellow plugs), S-Video and a full size FireWire socket. There aren't any outputs so, unlike the more expensive Moviebox Plus (£150), it isn't possible to record the video back onto VHS. The FireWire socket can be used for outputting video back to a DV camcorder, though.

The Moviebox is supplied with Pinnacle Studio 10; software used for capturing and editing video. However, we had video playback problems until the latest software drivers were downloaded.

Pinnacle Studio 10 allows you to burn video straight to disc or exported in formats suitable for the Sony PSP and Apple iPod. It will also convert video to DivX format.

If you want to capture video from a camcorder, VCR or other analogue source, the Moviebox proves a simple way of doing so. And at just £20 more than a copy of Studio 10, it is good value.

An internal video card, which slots into a PCI card slot, is also available and is slightly cheaper at £70.

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