Reviews (2)

pretty good
Ok I know this product did not get very good reviews, but I came away with pretty good results, not perfect but pretty good.I think it has a lot to do with what type of system you have. I have a P4 2.66 ghz Dell with 512meg of ram and a pretty good video card the ATI Radeon 9700tx with 128 meg.I can capture mpeg 1(low res) with no problem, and even at dvd quality mpeg 2 720 by 480 it still did a decent job with hardly no frame loss, a little fuzzy at places though so it is not perfect.I came into buying this knowing that it would not be exact dvd quality and it isn't, but I have used it for a couple of weeks and have burned some pretty nice and very watchable dvd's. also I had little trouble hooking it up and getting it running in xp home.so if you have a fairly good system able to handle video and audio than this product might be for you.

So much promise, so little value...
Let's start with what works. MPEG-1 capture works. But if that's all you want, then there are cheaper products available. Video capture at higher resolution is unreliable. Expect plenty of bad frames. Conversion between different formats is buggy. The video editing software is substandard and chock full of bugs. The box claims that DVDComplete is included, but it really should be called DVDIncomplete because it's just a "lite" version. It is not much more than an advertisement for the really thing (available for extra cost from Dazzle.) On top of that, DVDComplete tends to choke on ~50% of the captured files. (Ulead's authoring and editing software had no such problems with the same files.) The OnDVD program didn't even install. Customer Support can be characterized by the old joke: "Dr., it hurts when I do this."; "Then don't do that!" There is a customer forum on their web site. It's a great place to commiserate with other Dazzle customers and to get recommendations for competing products. In summary, this is not the product you are looking for. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Works great for me.
I've used my Dazzle USB 2.0 ZIO! on XP, Win 2000, Win 98 & MacOS 9.0 w/ no problems at all. The design makes it extremely portable & the transfer rates are just fine.

Don't buy it - does not work with WindowsXP
Folks, don't buy this. Just go to the Dazzle web site and check out the Dazzle support forum for a string of complaints about not working with WindowsXP.
This product is having serious issues with Windows XP which is likely infant mortality. Perhaps the regular ZIO (non high speed) is OK, but this puppy is a product that was clearly pushed out the door too early. ... Read more

Features

• Reads MultiMediaCard, CompactFlash, IBM Microdrive, SmartMedia, Memory Stick and SD Card media
• Lets you transfer data from one card to another
• Included OnDVD software lets you take your digital pictures, add background audio and make photo albums for your DVD player
• Bus powered--no power supply required
• Compatible with Windows: 98SE, 2000, Me, and XP; or Mac: OS 9.x or higher

Reviews (12)

problem with memory stick
The reader does not read Lexar memory stick. You have to go to the dazzle online to down load the firmware to solve this problem. I only used it to read memory stick. Don't know if it works well with other medias. However, the price is low if the mailing rebate works.

Fast!
The Dazzle 6-in-1 reader is a great tool! I am most impressed with it's speed as compared to downloading images direct from camera. The software installed with no problem and this device works as advertised. And with the rebate it is one sweet deal.

Excellent Product and Price
Simply plug and play. Additionally Dazzle Reader shows up as a separate drive under Window's. Easy to move files back & forth to the reader. Only glich is the stand -- very flimsy.. wish they had a better stand but the product is great and excellent price too .....

Works good
This is a great product. I would recommend people to buy dazzle card reader. I had this for over 3 months or so. Have not have any problem. I would say, but this one when a deal come by! DL

No fuss
No installation necessary with Window XP; reads CompactFlash and SmartMedia, the two formats that I have, without any fusses.

But note:
- There are only two slots (or drives) for all six formats. One slot is for IBM Microdrive and CompactFlash, the other is for four different formats: Smartmedia, Memory Stick, Secure Digital, and MultiMediaCard. So you cannot, say, copy data from MicroDrive to CompactFlash, or copy data from SmartMedia to Memory Stick.
So it's something to consider if you plan to copy data from one format to another. Some other brands provide up to four slots so they may be more versatile.
- The flimsy stand is a joke. I wonder why they bother to include it. ... Read more

Features

• Capture DVD quality MPEG-2 video
• Edit with Dazzle MovieStar software
• Make DVDs, Video CDs, Video Tapes and more
• Stream video via the Dazzle Webcast Theater

Reviews (10)

Ultimate Junk
The only good thing about this product is the software (Studio 8). I bought a DVC 150. I spent two days trying to get Tech support, and 45 minutes on long distance toll calls to their version of tech support (they do not offer toll free service). Their tech suggested that I use a 1394 setup for better quality and ease of use. They never did answer the email I sent for assistance 4 days ago.
I paid $150.00 for this piece of junk desk orniment. A firewire card and cable is only $75.00 at Best Buy. And I have been able to down load my grandson's birthday from my Sharp Digital Viewcam just like I wanted to with out unnecessary grief and agrivation.

Terrible Engineering and Support from Dazzle
This was the 2nd and last Dazzle product I'll ever buy. The first was the "Snazzi" capture card which ceased to work under Win 2K, then this product ceased to work under Windows XP. Dazzle must be playing tricks with interrupts and other low level hardware to make these things incompatible.

Buh bye Dazzle, see you in Chapter 11.

Don't lose your receipt for product.
I would recommend that you quickly repackage this product if you purchased it and return it before the warrantee expires. I made the mistake of purchasing this product last year and have never been able to make it work correctly. I tried to install it on a 450 Mhz Dell and a 1.6 Mhz Dell w/ Windows XP. I couldn't even get it to start up or install correctly on the windows XP. On the 450 Mhz machine I was able to install it and actually load some video into the program using the interface. However, I was never able to get it to successfully edit the imported video. The downloads for Dazzle says it all. It never has worked well if at all with Windows XP. ... Try Pinnacle or anything else.

Win2000 users, Avoid This Product !!!
I have never before encountered a product which would
completely ruin my operating system.
I have had file system corruption on 2 separate Win/2000
systems as a direct result of using this product.

Dazzle seems to work well enough...at first.
But after capturing various sized clips for a few days,
suddenly things start to malfunction first within Dazzle,
next the O/S starts taking twice as long to boot up...then
the CD-R burner starts to malfunction, and eventually the
entire file system seems to show signs of pervasive corruption.

Thinking this some sort of horrifying coincidence, I try again
with an entirely different machine and a fresh Win/2000 install.
INCREDIBLY, the exact same symptoms reoccur. ...avoid this product at all costs.

A device attached to the system is not functioning
If you like self torture get one of these. I play musical PCI slots to get it to work sometimes. It is easy to use when it works. There is nooooo customer support, they've never answered any of my emails. Is there a lemon law for computer hardware? The people at Dazzle should be sued for malpractice and mental torture! ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

If The Blair Witch Project taught us anything, it's that anyone with a clever idea and a video recorder can make a movie. The DM4100 Digital Video Creator from Dazzle Multimedia makes it possible to put together your creation on your PC.

Basically an input-output device for composite or S-video multimedia, the Dazzle ships with an excellent suite of video editing software that makes it simple for anyone with a moderately powerful PC to make and edit their own movies. The Dazzle claims to run on a Pentium 133 or higher with only 16 MB of RAM, but we recommend at least a Pentium II and 64 MB of RAM for any serious video handling.

This USB version we tested was a cinch to set up--we installed the software, plugged the Dazzle into a free USB port, and we were ready for prime time. A lot of multimedia graphics cards offer hardware input-output similar to the Dazzle, but one of the things we liked best about using this device was not having to dig around behind our machine every time we wanted to plug in a different multimedia source.

We were able to capture smooth video--up to 352 x 240 resolution at 30 frames per second--on our Celeron 300 (with 64 MB of RAM). We could then easily output the video to a VCR or even to CD with our CD-RW drive (although a third party program is required to create video-CD format discs.)

In addition to the Dazzle software, this package includes the powerful Ulead Video Studio and Ulead Photo Express. (The Dazzle can create still images with resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,200 pixels.) An Internet version is also available, offering an easy way to create streaming audio and video.

At its current price, the Dazzle is expensive for hobbyists, but for those users interested in professional digital video, it's a steal.

Pros:

• Easy to set up and use
• Excellent software bundle

Cons:

• USB version won't work with Windows 95
• Connecting cable could be longer

Features

• Add the power and impact of video to product demonstrations, sales and training tools, and family events
• Capture rate of 30 frames per second
• Composite and S-video inputs and outputs
• Includes WebStudio to create Web pages
• USB plug and play

Reviews (37)

Works great, if you can get it to work at all.
First time I plugged it in and installed the drivers it worked instantly. Captured about four hours worth of high quality video with no sync problems on a P3-450 with 128megs ram.

I then installed a USB cd writer. The Dazzle device no longer works. I really don't care what installing the cd writer did, I see this as a major flaw. My USB cd writer and USB zip drive work perfectly. I'm now forced to use this device on another, much slower computer. Nothing about this is mentioned on their site.

This product is VERY flakey. After making changes to video settings, you must exit the program, unplug the device, plug it back in, and restart the capture program. This seems to be Dazzle's solution for every problem I've encountered with this piece of uhm.. plastic.

It feels as if this product was rushed out in a "just make it work" strategy. Dazzle obviously did not test this product thoroughly enough before finalizing it.

Stay away. Get a digital camcorder and DV card instead.

best if used for it's intended purpose
I have the parallel version of this device and have not had the benefit of encountering any usb related problems. however, most of the reviews here are misplaced. most of these other reviews sound as if these people bought the wrong product. the Dazzle DVC is a mpeg encoder, which means it is best suited for computer files. low-resolution for e-mails to high-resolution for presentation. a cd-rw drive is a must once you have this item. i have backed up several hours of family movies and made many copies on cd-r. you can put 1 hour of good quality video on a cd-r that costs less than $.75 . perfect to pass many copies to family and friends. with the right software you can even make a video cd (vcd) which can be played on about one-third of dvd players. If you're looking to make vhs tapes out of your editing process you'd be better served with a video capture card. for the most part the Dazzle DVC is mostly about mpeg files. the video capture cards that have to be installed into a computer do not offer the range of features that the Dazzle does.

what a product!!
all i can say is that when i went back to my local bestbuy and noticed that they removed this terrible product from the shelves, i almost cried in joy. When i brought the product back to the store to return it, they took it back no questions asked, because they knew this product sucks.

This is the worst product I have ever puchased in my life!
After having this for over a year I have yet to use it. It will not install properly. It does not detect the hardware. After waiting 3 months to get an answer from tech support (calling is a joke in itself) all tech support gave me was the troubleshooting steps listed on their website that I had already done hundreds of time. They then told me there were conflicts with AMD chips so I waited to get a new PC... well here I am with a brand new PC that far exceeds the requirements for the product along with having a pentium chip and I am still having the same problems. It will not detect the hardware, the PC detects it, the software does not. What a waste of [money]!!!!

Don't know about the bad reviews but . . .
I purchased this product last weekend and love it so much, I'm buying a second copy later this week! I teach college and my summer project is to put all my lectures on Powerpoint. I hate learning new software and don't have the time for a drawn out learning curve. It took me minutes to set this up, and another hour or so to discover that this actually does almost everything I need (a phone call this afternoon to the tech help desk which kept me on hold for less than five minutes--a resonable wait in my opinion--explained that I couldn't do what I asked about. But I can do everything I need as far as audio goes, I can record decent video via VCR, and the television image I can monitor with software on my 'puter screen is actually clearer than on my television monitor (albeit much smaller). So I'm happy enough to try another copy (for work). I suppose in another year or so something better will come out, but for the casual video-editor who doesn't want to pour over tech specs, this is great! ... Read more

Features

• The ultimate USB video connector for camcorders featuring built-in audio/video ports and easy to use video editing software
• 4 audio/video ports - Left Audio In, Right Audio In, S-Video In and Video In
• With the Digital Video Creator 80, you can capture video from your Camcorder, VCR or TV; edit Video on PC; and send Video emails
• Includes free admission to Dazzle Webcast Theater

Reviews (24)

Would buy again
I am writing this to hopefully save others some of the trial-and-error that I went through. This is a great product for the money and I would buy it again! Like others have said, the VideoWave software packaged with the device is not the best for capturing video. But, better software can be had for FREE. For capturing video, I used VirtualDub to capture files as AVIs. I used TMPGEnc to convert the AVIs to VCD compliant MPGs. The Nero software that came with my CD burner was producing horrible results when it had to perform the conversions. I have dubbed DVDs and VHS with very good results. Following the methodology I have listed below, I can produce VCDs with a quality that can be compared to video tape....

1) Capture the video as an AVI file using VirtualDub with 29.97 frame rate, MPEG4 codec V1 video compression, CD quality audio compression.
- Don't use the audio inputs on the Dazzle unit. Instead, directly wire it into the Mic input of the PC with a Y-patch cord.
- Use S-Video cable over RCA cable where possible.
2) Convert the AVI file to an MPG using TMPGEnc with Video CD NTSC setting and motion search precision set to 'highest quality(very slow)'
- TMPGEnc allows you to pull sections out of the source AVI to divide files longer than 70 minutes into two or more MPGs.
- Expect the conversion to take three to four times the time length of the file
3) Burn the CD with Nero in VCD mode using the MPGs from step 2.

PS - the VideoWave software that comes with Dazzle is great for editing home video that has already been captured. When producing the final file to burn on VCD, do not use its VCD settings. Produce it as an uncompressed AVI and follow steps 2 and 3 above.

Almost what I wanted
After searching and researching for a device to capture old mini-VHS tapes to my PC, I decided to try the DVC80. Although it installs with ease (driver download for XP) and comes with free MGI 4.0 software, the quality of the capture was much less than desireable. Even at 352x240 I was losing 2 out of every 3 frames, which makes the final product not worth watching. Also the sound transference didn't seem to work nearly as well as the video. So, after hours of experimentation, I came up with a work-around that didn't include use of the DVC80. If you are like me and have purchased a DV video camera and want to capture your old VHS for archive or other purposes, record directly from the source to your DV camera (if it has that option). Then capture thru firewire to the PC. Although this requires an extra step, the quality is 1000% better and worth the extra time. I will say this about the product - if you don't have the DV option for video capture, you will not find an easier product to use. Unfortunately there is just too much quality loss going from analog to digital thru this device.

no support
Ok, so how are you supposed to enter a 10digit SN when the one that they provide for you has 11?
Couldn't install the software so couldn't use the product at all. Multiple posts on the Pinnacle user forum on the company's website also went unanswered with this same problem. Bye Bye, back to the store.
If you're not going to let me install your product and you're not going to help me to figure out how to get around the problem you've created then you clearly shouldn't be in business.

Absolutely Painful
The unit itself is poorly built due to the fact that you must force the rca cables into it, that should've been the first clue. The software installed fine (Pinnacle version 8.0 initially). They capture quality is extremely choppy, this is especially true if you are filming any type of racing. The max resolution that it can capture and then give you a final product in is not even close to what you initially started with on either VCR or an analog camcorder. That being the case, what in the hell is the point of this product ?

With a combination of poor resolution and what appears to be dropped frames(although during capture, I had zero dropped frames it says) this product is one big disappointment.

Works well -- do the research first.
Unlike copying VHS tapes to VHS tape; DVD recording is a far more complex enterprise. I recently bought a DVD recorder to transfer my VHS tapes to DVD (a more stable format). After doing some research on DVD ripping, SVCDs, DVD-R, and MPEG vs. AVI formats, I purchased the Dazzle device and bundled software.

Bottom line: Its not perfect but it does a very good job if you are willing to spend some time messing with it.

First off, the software installed without any problems, as did the USB based hardware. I did have a problem with the recessed audio plugs. I had to shave off some of the rubber casing from my audio av plugs so that they would fit into the dazzle device properly. I recommend getting an adapter plug so you can simply use your computer's sound card (not that the sound quality will be any better) and using the S-Video plug on the dazzle for the picture signal.

I used the software to burn a DVD, using the other formats (like SVCD) did not interest me since the finished products would only be viewable on my PC. What good would that do?

The bundled software allows you to save the whole process in a project file. You can then go back and create a menu and chapters or have the program do it automatically, which I think is really cool. You do need a large hard drive (80 Gig or better), a decent DVD recorder (I have a Sony DVD-RW/R+ drive) and a relatively fast PC (2 GHz or better with at least 256MB of physical memory) to make all of this work properly.

How do the resulting DVDs look? Pretty good. The real work involves tweaking the recording settings, which adjusts how much can be saved on a single DVD. A high quality DVD picture will limit you to about 1 hour of recording time on a DVD. I used the medium setting so I can store almost two hours of film on one DVD. The picture was a bit pixilated in spots but the DVD played fine on my stand-alone DVD player.

The whole process produced very acceptable results and I did not have to mess with compression ratios and ripping procedures. I think all the critics of this system were looking for a "fire-and-forget" type of package; dazzle is not it. It takes some work but Dazzle is the most effective DVD authoring system for the price. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

WARNING
WARNING: DO NOT USE WITH OLYMPUS C-4000 DIGITAL CAMERA MEMORY CARDS. CARD WILL REQUIRE REFORMATTING AFTER EACH DOWNLOAD. OLYMPUS TECHNICAL SUPPORT SAYS THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME WITH THE DAZZLE CARD READER. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Movie Star Obsolete No Tech Support No DVD burning
I was so thrilled to convert by VHS tapes to DVD until I discovered that even my 80 gig hard drive was not enough for a 20 minute video AND once I had the AVI video and tried to burn the DVD the software said I had to go to dazzle.com to PURCHASE a $100 upgrade. The hardware and bundle only cost $40! There is no tech support effective 10/24/03 for any Dazzle DVC 80 Movie Star v. 5. Therefore, you use up your hard drive and can't off load it anyway. What a waste! You have to delete the capture that took you 5 hours to produce. LOSER!

Movie Star 5 is junk
I've had nothing but trouble with this product. The XP version is very buggy and virtually unusable. Even with the latest patches, the software simply does not function. I cannot recommend this product to anyone.

easy to use
I like this software because it was easy to use. There is interactive help for it available online. There are a few issues with it,however. The titling and Intro screens are clunky and not good quality. The voice over requires a recording program, which I found online called Goldwave, which is EXCELLENT! The MPEG2 recording would not play on all CD readers and the write to CD function didn't work on my machine. For the money it's not bad, there aren't alot of choices out there for this kind of software at the consumer level.

Didn't work for me
I tried making SVCD's with this.... ended up with several coasters before I gave up. All of the SVCD's seemed to render and burn OK, but when I tried playing them in my 8 month old DVD player, they were unwatchable. The video was completely distorted with hundreds of lines throughout the picture. When I made SVCD's with Ulead and Sonic MyDVD product, they worked fine every time. I don't know how it works for DVD's, but based on my experience, I wouldn't buy this product.

Terrible
The only mode to capture video is in AVI format. The files become so huge after just a minute of recording that they are uneditable and you can't produce anything. A complete right off. ... Read more

Features

• Capture video and still images from DV camcorder to a PC or notebook computer
• Plug-and-play PCI card
• 3 ultrafast IEEE 1394/FireWire ports
• Add special effects, transitions, titles, and audio tracks
• Record edited digital videos back to DV camcorder, DV VCR, or CD-R

Reviews (2)

It doesn't work
This review is for Dazzle DV-Editor DM-6000.

This product does not work. I could not capture video from my Sony DCR-TRV20 mini DV camcorder using this product.

On its outer package it says "capture video from any digital camcorder". There is even a picture of Sony camcorder on the package (of cause they removed the brand name). I checked Dazzle's web site and found an article saying that there is compatibility problem when using Sony camcorders. I sent them an email asking if this product really works on Sony camcorders. They replied that if the problem is posted on their web site, it means the problem has not been solved. What a joke.

For Gamers With Websites
This package is great for video game players who want screenshots/ movies/ audio for web sites. The screengrab feature is easy to use, and the resolution can easily be adjusted. The audio encoding is also noteworthy, as it can record in several popular formats, including Real Audio. The stand out, however, is the MPG encoding, which is relatively easy to use. Grabbing video from camcorders/ game systems is great, and the encoder puts them at a decent size while maintaining good image quality.

Overall, it's a good purchase, but for a special brand of consumer. Pick it up if you don't want to shell out the cash for a capture card (This review written based on "last year's model", the Parallel Port version). ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Difficult to setup, works great now.
Didn't work when I first connected to my ~2 year old Dell running WinME. Turns out I had to update several drivers. Dazzle online support did eventually come through for me, but it took several hours over a couple of nights to get it done.

Now it works great and I wouldn't want to be without it. So I recommend it for anyone who is knowledgeable and persistent with Microslop stuff, but I would probably not suggest it for others.

It works!
I'm using this handy little device on a Powerspec we bought from Microcenter in '99, running Windows '98. By no means a computer genius, I've had no problems with this at all. It's fast, simple, performs as advertised. I like that in a product.

Gets the job done.
I've had this reader for a couple months now, and it's worked without a hitch (under Win98). It's much much faster than the parallel reader I used to use. It's nothing fancy but it's worked for me really well.

Good for tranfers but crashes my computer.
I like the fact that I can transfer the pictures I take with my digital camera without having to plug it into the PC. It is convenient, especially if you have several CF: you don't need to turn off your camera, switch the CF, turn on the camera... and so on.
The only problem I have with this product is actualy when I am not using it. With the CF reader plugged into the USB port, my PC would crash anytime, without any reason. It took me some time before finding out that if I didn't leave the CF reader plugged when I wasn't using it, the problem would disapear. I still use the reader pretty often but I have to plug/unplug it every time.
I use Win Me. I don't know where the problem comes from but I have several other devices on the USB ports and never had any problem with any of them.
One last thing: that would be nice to have a LED to know when the CF is being read/written.

fantastic little gadget.
I just bought one of these a couple of days ago, and I'm glad I did- I wish I'd bought one sooner, as I would have saved a lot of battery power transfering photos from my Cannon camera. And, it transferes files 10X faster than using the program that came with the camera. It works just as they say- as an extra drive, so you can drag and drop directly to a folder in your hard drive. The only drawback is that you have to go in and "rename" the transfered files in order to be bale to find a certain pic quickly in the future (they are transfered as numbered files) which is a bit time comsuming. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Worked out of the box with Red Hat Linux 8.0
It's always a treat to find a device that works out of the box on my Linux laptop. I plugged in the card, did 'mount -t msdos /dev/hdc1 /mnt/flash' and was in business. This was using Red Hat 8.0.

Good Product
Very good in performance, can read all 4 format media. Fit all my request. I use it as a floppy disk. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

absolutely fabulous!
Back when my first dog lost her hearing, I finally realized she wouldn't be around forever. She was otherwise healthy, but deaf, so I bought a camcorder. This was before digital camcorders existed and I shot a lot of film of her playing, eating and just hanging out.

Tape is a volitile media - it's basically rusting from the minute it is manufactured, and I wanted to be able to enjoy the film of her forever and not find that the tape had degraded over time.

Now that I have a Mac that can burn DVDs, I needed some way to get the analog video into my Mac. This Hollywood DV-bridge is freakin' awesome!

My Mac at work has the DVD writer, but at home I have an older Mac - a G4/400, but with the DV-bridge, I was able to connect my analog video recorder to my Mac and import the video to iMovie to do edits.

I made the edits and burned the resluting video to a CD and took it to work one weekend and did the fancy editing and burning with iDVD.

I had bought another product that was cheaper, the XLR8 InterView USB, and it was awful. I couldn't import the video real-time, so I got slide-show video and choppy audio.

The Hollywood DV-bridge is just like having a digital camcorder.

I have friends who have even older tapes from the older style camcorders using full size VHS and I can now help them move their precious memories to DVD.

It's not cheap, but you sure get what you pay for! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Does the job
This does the job adequately, with no complaints or problems.

It's a little large to be very portable, but it sits well on a permanent computer installation with a built in upright stand. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

This product is the best!!!!
It is fast and I was able to use with Windows XP.
The cool thing is that you also can copy files from your PC to the memory card and use as a backup.

Great on win9x and win2k
If you're looking for an all in one media reader, this isn't it, but if all you need is a smartmedia reader to use at home, and on the go, this is it!

Very compact, installs easily, works like a charm.

The only odd thing is that you put the smartmedia cards into it seemingly upside down.

Don't get it if you run XP
Initially a great gadget for the transfer of you digital photos. However, I recently upgraded my operating system; going from WIN2000 to the ultimate in Multi-media XP! I really expected that the ZIO was compatable with XP, as the drivers for XP are loaded onto the installation CD. However, the installation driver on the CD are not compatible with XP??? ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Never worked right . . .
From the day that I opened the box and took the reader, then plugged it into my computer I could never get it to work right. With a system running Windows XP it normally installs automatically then works like a charm. However, this time it installed but never functioned properly. It would dissappear then reappear at startup.
If you where lucky, it would stay long enough you to try to use it, then you could try to use it. It would then say there there was no card in the drive, then dissappear until next startup.
This also happened with the drivers on the CD. I would strongly avoid this product.

Won't read all memory sticks
The Dazzle DM-8100 will not read my 128mb Lexar memory sticks. It will only read the 16mb Sony stick that came with my camera. I emailed customer service. With no response after 3 days I called their 800#. After quite a long wait on hold, they were of little help. They said there might be a patch someday. But, they did not know when.

DAZZLE DUD - WINDOWS XP NOT!!!
I've had nothing but trouble with this reader. Claims to be XP compatable but XP rejects it and Dazzle customer support is useless at best. If you have XP stay away.

Lots of 'Blue Screens of Death'
Had a great deal of trouble installing this on a Compaq Armada M700 laptop running Windows 2000. It runs on my Dell desktop running Windows 98 fine, but can't get through the install on the Compaq. Online support from Dazzle revealed little/no help (but did reveal a similar problem on Dell's running W2K). I tried what was recommended for the Dells (update BIOS, update to W2K Service Pack 2, plug in without USB dock, etc.) but nothing worked. Phone support was stumped after 2 hours. Tried installing on co-workers Compaq running W2k and had same results.

Same symptoms occurred with Dazzle Multitech's Zio SmartMedia reader.

Love the reader, but onDVD doesn't work at all!
The card reader is great! It recognized all my jpeg pictures taken with my Olympus cameras instantly. The best part is, the reader saves the camera battery. I already toss away the useless program that Olympus camera came with, and just use this reader to transfer files. What is going on with all these handicap-version of software that came with the device, only to force one to purchase the additional features later on? ...

The major attraction of Dazzle's reader over its competitor was, the onDVD program that it came with. The program allows me to transfer my pictures into VCD format.

However, the onDVD program that came with my reader has fatal problems. The OnDVD program I got doesn't work at all.

At first, the program did not recognize my CD-R burner. After the explaination from the Dazzle website, I replaced the edi32.dll file as state and got it to write my VCD.

However, the OnDVD still have major problems! ...Currently, folks from Dazzle is trying to fix the problem. I say get this wonderful reader, but knowing that the software still need to fix with a patch later on. ... Read more