November 2004 — Product Watch
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2005 Digital Imaging Products Guide
Dazzle Fusion Review
The purpose of Dazzle Fusion is to transfer analog or digital images, as well as video or audio onto your computer. Priced at $99, this inexpensive external box takes digital input from Type I and II compact flash memory cards, as well as from a number of peripherals such as a Memory Stick, SmartMedia, MultiMediaCard, SD card and IBM Microdrive. It also takes analog input from almost any camcorder or VCR. Video can be captured using MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or AVI with a frame rate of 25 frames per second and a capture resolution of 320 x 288. The captured material is then streamed to the computer via a USB connection. With Dazzle Fusion, you can film lecture snippets or lab demonstrations using any camcorder, and then easily transfer the results to a computer for editing and uploading to the Web.
In addition, Dazzle Fusion comes loaded with software that lets you capture, edit, and arrange audio and video along with photographs. As video is captured, the software tries to guess at the different scenes for you, which makes it easy to delete or rearrange scenes. Then once your production is complete, it can be exported as AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Real Media or Windows Media. However, it’s important to remember that Real Media and Windows Media work best for posting to WebCT or Blackboard. While fairly complex, the software was straightforward and relatively easy-to-use after a learning period.
If you have an older camcorder that cannot output directly to a digital format that will interface with your computer, Dazzle Fusion is an inexpensive way to get your video into the computer while also providing the editing software needed. In fact, the software alone is worth the low purchase price. Dazzle Fusion is an excellent tool for creating instructional, Web-based video, and its ability to read digital camera memory cards is an added bonus.
For more information, visit www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage_n.asp?Product_ID=1429&Langue_ID=7.
InkLink Handwriting System Review
The InkLink handwriting system from Seiko Instruments USA Inc. lets you capture your handwriting on any desktop, notebook or PDA. Any text, equation or drawing that you can write can be captured. Your writing can then be exported to a JPG file, which can be e-mailed to a student to answer a specific question or posted on a Web page as an illustration. The result is like having a virtual blackboard.
The InkLink product comes with a device that attaches to the top of any notepad up to a legal size. This device also attaches to your computer via the USB port or to your PDA via an IrDA transceiver. When you write on the pad using the special enclosed pen, the software displays a notepad on your computer screen and what you write gets captured.
I found it easy to use and very useful for posting notes for my statistics course where I needed to produce a lot of distribution drawings. The product’s list price is only $129.99, which makes it very affordable. Although my handwriting and drawings came out somewhat sloppy, this is certainly not the fault of InkLink. Some of my efforts are shown on this page.
The InkLink has two main drawbacks: First, it captures text slowly, at least on my USB 1.1 system, so you have to write slowly. Second, the pen d'es not have an on/off switch so it continues to drain the batteries while not in use. The batteries are $12 a set so I take them out of the pen when not in use.
