Digi-Tech Converter (Video Capture Device) – A Marketing Review

There’s an old box collecting dust upstairs in the attic.

Hoping for some previously lost jewelry, a wad of cash, or anything else valuable, you lift open the lid and peek inside of the box.  Inside is a different kind of treasure —- home movies.  You pull out VHS tape after VHS tape, examining the titles and fondly remembering the events that were recorded so many years ago.

Downstairs in a closet is an old VCR.  You pull it out and manage to connect all the cables to your fancy HDTV.  Holding your breath and saying a silent prayer, you gently press the power button on the front of the console.  It works!  Well, for now at least.  You pop in a VHS tape and watch in awe as memories from the past are present once again.

You got lucky with finding the old VHS tapes along with a working VCR.  Now it’s time to preserve those previous lost memories for future years.  The only question is how to do so.

Once option is to send all your VHS tapes to a third party company and pay for them to convert the VHS tapes to DVDs.  It’s easy and out of your hands, but you may have to pay a steep price for that kind of service.

Another option is to buy one of those VHS and DVD burner players.  Those are somewhat expensive, but it’s easy to play a VHS tape and directly burn it to a DVD.  Keep in mind that you also need a bunch of blank DVDs for this option.

How about using that fancy laptop of yours to digitally convert the VHS tapes?  Don’t you need like really fancy software or an expensive video capture card to make it work?  Isn’t it also really complicated and technical, practically requiring a Bachelor’s degree from Georgia Tech just to set up the software?

Digi-Tech Converter website — www.GetDigiTech.com

What’s this?  The Digi-Tech Converter?  Are you saying that a simpleton like myself can easily transfer old VHS tapes onto my computer for sharing online or burning onto a DVD?

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial

Let’s take a closer look at the Digi-Tech Converter advertisement and see just how it’s being sold to us, the general public.  Hopefully we won’t spot any flaws or inconsistencies along the way.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – I will destroy you!

The Digi-Tech Converter advertisement begins with old video clips of babies and toddlers.  They’re classic attention getters designed to, you know, grab you attention in this ADHD-driven world of ours.  The bottom line here is that these are all old memories presumably from VHS or other tapes, tapes that are mostly incompatible with today’s hi-tech world.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – THAT MOTHERF&$#ING VCR ATE MY F&%$ING TAPE!!!

And then this happens.  You try to eject the tape only to discover that the soulless and unforgiving VCR has finally claimed its “payment” for its years of servitude and neglect from you, teaching you a painful lesson in making copies of your precious memories.

Some of us have been in this situation more than others.  It used to be more common back in the 1980s and early 1990s when VCRs were still commonplace.  Nowadays the VCRs are rare and those home videos are even more rare and precious, and the thought of a VCR chewing the tape is even more devastating.  Good luck finding another copy of that birthday party from 1989 or the eXXXtra special wedding night video from 1993.  Yeah, that special tape that you really don’t want to send away for somebody else to view while it’s being transferred to DVD.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – It’s the Digi-Tech converter, an inexpensive video capture device.

Just when all hope seems to be lost, the planet is about to be destroyed by an asteroid, and you’ve missing making that credit card payment by five days and are dreading seeing the extra fees on your statement, here’s Andrew Hanna to tell us all about the Digi-Tech Converter, a video capture device.

Whew!  Perhaps there is some hope left in the world.  Maybe we don’t need a flying superhero quite yet.

Andrew explains that the Digi-Tech is “. . . a new way to preserve all of your family’s classic memories permanently.”  And exactly how is this a new way to preserve our classic memories?  Video capture cards have been around for ages.  There’s even a video capture card that looks extremely similar to this one on the Walmart website.  Hopefully Andrew can explain what makes the Digi-Tech Converter stand out from other cheap video capture cards and convince us to use his product.

Andrew does claim that the Digi-Tech is the fastest and easiest way to convert the stuff on tapes to digital files (are there any non-digital files on your computer?) on your computer.  Again, let’s cross our fingers and hope that he can go into some detail in the advertisement as the product’s website is incredibly lax when it comes to details or even useful information.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – Ooooh, such pretty colors!

The Digi-Tech Conversion advertisement switches to its instruction mode and we learn that we can match the pretty yellow, white and red colors on the cables to the same colors on the back of our VCR or our old camcorder.  Just make sure that you connect to the OUTPUT connectors on the VCR.  You may also want to make sure that your camcorder still works before connecting it to the video capture card.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – *Any* computer with an open USB port.

The advertisement then claims that we can connect the USB plug into any computer.  Does this mean that the Digi-Tech Converter and its software are compatible with all versions of Windows or Macintosh?  How about the growing number of Linux users and the Ubuntu operating system?

Are we to assume that the Digi-Tech Converter video capture card is to work with ALL of those computers without any exceptions?  If so that’s a rare feat.  Oddly enough, this kind of useful information is not mentioned anywhere on the Digi-Tech website.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – Pressing a button to operate a device can be a jaw dropping experience.

There’s yet another stupid facial expression as the Digi-Tech Converter advertisement shows us the simplicity of using the video capture device.  According to the advertisement there’s one button on the video capture device; you press it once to start recording video onto your computer and then you press it again to stop recording.  It certainly seems simple enough.

Oddly enough, many other video capture cards in the industry operate with a similar level of simplicity.  The main difference is that you normally need to use your mouse to press a start & stop recording button on the computer monitor.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – Real-time video recording, something that almost ALL video capture cards do.

The Digi-Tech Converter advertisement makes a point saying how you can “go from videotape to computer in an instant!”  In other words this is real-time recording.  You see the video on your computer monitor as it’s being played from the source, whether it’s a VCR, camcorder, or anything else.

This is basically how all video capture cards work.  I have yet to hear of one that records differently.  But for those people who have never heard of this concept, or they’ve had incorrect knowledge, then this may seem like a cool selling feature of the Digi-Tech Converter.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – The video capture device’s input cables will be the judge of that.

Once again we’re dealing with the bleeding obvious being stated as a “feature” of the product.

The tape format doesn’t mean anything in this case.  The key thing is the player itself.  As long as you can attach the video capture device’s input cables correctly to the player, whether it’s a VCR, a camcorder, a video game console, or anything else, then you should be able to see the video feed on your computer and record it as a file on your hard drive.  This is how the vast majority of video capture cards work.

The advertisement can actually get the company in trouble by claiming that the product works with “all tape formats” and not specifically mentioning the tape players.  You’ll have ignorant people trying to convert VHS tapes without a working VCR, or Hi-8 tapes or anything else for that matter without a working tape player.

Before you try to use a video capture device of any type, you must have a WORKING player first, otherwise you will NOT have any video feed to record onto your computer!

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – Just which major theme park was used in this segment of the commercial?

The Digi-Tech Converter commercial then shows more examples of old home movies as a way of convincing us to use the product.  However, one shot briefly shows people on a certain flying elephant ride from a world famous theme park.  Since when was Disney allowing third-party companies like this to use part of its theme parks for an as-seen-on-TV product commercial?

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – Not that it wasn’t already possible to make copies of VHS tapes . . .

And just what can you do with those video files on your computer?  Why, you can easily copy them and send them to friends and family members, allowing them to relive past moments of humiliation and embarrassment.

You can also edit the highlights and post them on YouTube and Facebook so the rest of the world and groan in agony of yet another unoriginal person posting their boring home movies for the rest of the world to see.

Does the Digi-Tech Converter come with any easy to use software for editing your video files?  If so, can we see an example of it?  The Digi-Tech Converter’s website doesn’t tell us jack squat about any useful features or actual product specifications.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – Hello, my name is dumbass and I love to abuse old VHS tapes of irreplaceable memories.

We’ve all been in this situation, right?  You just carelessly toss your old VHS and Hi-8 home movie tapes into a box, not bothering to use a little bit of effort and actually store them properly, and years later the tapes are ruined.  You’re ready to hang yourself for losing those precious memories and not bothering to take care of your beloved items.

Of course, this same exact problem can happen to CDs and DVDs as well.  Let’s not forget that excessive heat can damage the digital video discs just as badly as it can to a box full of old tapes.  How many of your older DVDs purchased years ago now have bad spots on the discs and won’t play correctly in your player?

Let’s also not forget that CDs and DVDs can be lost just as easy as old VHS tapes.  The bottom line here is that improper storage can ruin any type of media, whether it’s something from the 1970s or 80s, or something that was recorded onto a DVD just the other day.

What’s odd is that the Digi-Tech Converter missed a fantastic selling point for the concept of backing up old VHS tapes and other formats.  How about preserving the old tapes to protect the contents from events such as fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other disasters?  If your home was burning and you only had a few moments to grab your most precious possessions, would it be easier to grab a big case of 250 DVDs full of backup copies of irreplaceable photos and videos, or running around and trying to locate the items individually, hoping you don’t forget anything during the chaos?

Of course, one could take this a step further and use a fancy cloud service to store your digital items on the Internet, but that could cost a lot of money depending on how much storage space you really need.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – Organization?  Who needs those skills these days?

Up next we see that disorganized people generally have shelves and drawers full of crap.  The logic in the Digi-Tech Converter commercial is that said disorganized people will remove the old tapes, convert them, and suddenly have neat and clean shelves and drawers, resulting in a happier life.

The truth is that while the disorganized people may make an effort to clean their home, but their old habits will most likely continue, and instead of old tapes, the shelves and drawers will be full of other crap.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – My computer works for something besides viewing pornography.  Amazing!

“Just one touch and your memories are preserved forever.”

Again, that’s going to depend upon your methods of storage along with other factors discussed earlier in this article.  Remember:  DVDs do NOT last forever!  Neither do computers or the hard drives inside of computers.  If you really want to preserve your old memories, make backup copies of your DVDs and consider hosting the files somewhere on the Internet.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – And just how exactly are you putting that much content onto a DVD?

Here the Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial claims that “. . . you can easily combine a stack of video tapes to one DVD!”

Oh, really?

Are we talking about taking the entire contents of video tapes (remember that super long record mode on a VHS tape is approximately four hours in length) and fitting ALL of that onto a single DVD?

In the picture I count five VHS tapes and six of what look to be Hi-8 tapes.  Assuming that each tape holds approximately two hours of content, you’re looking at twenty-two hours of total content.  Unless you use an incredibly high compression format and/or really sh*tty resolutions, you’re going to have a hard time fitting ALL of that content onto a single DVD, even if it’s an expensive, dual-layer disc.

I wonder what the consumers targeted in this advertisement will think when they attempt this “feature” for themselves.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – You mean companies actually charge money for the service and convenience of transferring your boring home videos?

Here in the Digi-Tech Converter advertisement we’re shown this shocking display of an imaginary company charging extraordinarily high fees for the convenience and service of transferring your home videos to new formats.  Golly.  Of course, the fictitious price is even higher because the consumer is transferring several tapes, including three that cost $21.99 each.

Let’s not forget here that considering the age of most of your old tapes, you really don’t want to be screwing around with playing the tapes over and over again in your VCR until it finally looks correct on your computer.  That kind of wear-and-tear can damage your precious memories stored on the old taps.  Don’t also forget that you may need some computer smarts to actually get the video capture device to work correctly.  Not everything works straight out of the box, especially when dealing with computers.

Depending on your situation, you may still be better off shopping around for an inexpensive company that will transfer your tapes for you.  Or at least using a dual VHS-DVD burner and player that can make direct copies of VHS tapes onto digital video discs.

Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial – It’s time for the BIG promotion!

The end of the Digi-Tech Converter advertisement has the big promotion.  Just like every other as-seen-on-TV product commercial, this promotion is a buy-one-get-one free deal.  All we have to do is pay the extra postage & handling charges.  In addition to a second video capture device, we also receive 10 DVDs to help us start backing up our memories.  There’s no mention of any software to go along with the video capture device, nor is there any mention if these are the standard single-layer DVDs or if they’re the more advanced dual-layer discs.

The TOTAL PRICE of the Digi-Tech Converter promotion costs $35.85 ($19.95 + $7.95 P&H + $7.95 P&H (for the “free” second Digi-Tech Converter).

FINAL THOUGHTS

Backing up old photos and movies is a sound idea no matter how you ultimately complete the task.  There are too many ways for you to lose your material, from fire and other hazards to improper storage techniques.  It’s sad but frighteningly true.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help make sure that your precious photos, videos and other memories will last significantly longer.  Start with getting yourself a cheap scanner and begin the painstaking process of scanning all of your photo albums and other images, awards, certificates, and everything else that you want to save that also fits within the scanner.  It’s a long process but worth it in the end.

If you can handle that part, then it’s time to move on to preserving your old VHS and other tapes and converting them to a digital format.  This is where a video capture device comes into play, such as the Digi-Tech Converter.  It also helps to have some computer skills as any device is capable of having problems with software or your computer’s operating system.

Be warned that devices such as video capture devices are not foolproof, even cheap ones that are advertised in as-seen-on-TV commercials.  The device may work fine on one person’s system and it may have problems on another computer.

As far as the Digi-Tech Converter, the advertisement and the product’s website are shockingly poor (well, it’s not that much of a shock as it is an as-seen-on-TV product) when it comes to the actual product details.  It’s clear that the marketers are focusing on people who know virtually nothing about either computers or transferring old video tapes.  At no point does the Digi-Tech Converter advertisement or website attempt to differentiate the Digi-Tech Converter from the dozens of other video capture devices available in the marketplace today.

Let’s not forget that the Digi-Tech Converter’s website fails to mention any specifications you’ll need for your computer, such as the operating system or a recommended amount of clear space on your hard drive.  Unless it specifically states that it’s possible, the majority of video capture devices do NOT transfer the incoming video and audio feed directly onto a blank DVD.  The video file, which can be VERY LARGE depending on how much video you’re transferring along with the compression, if any, is instead placed onto your computer’s hard drive.  It’s then up to you to burn the video file(s) onto a blank DVD.

A single-layer DVD holds roughly FOUR GIGABYTES of information.  You’re going to need AT LEAST that much space clear on your hard drive if you’re planning on capturing a bunch of video from old tapes and then putting them onto a DVD.

Video capture devices come in all shapes and sizes, from simple devices designed for amateurs to expensive devices made for enthusiasts.  The video capture device pictured above costs $21.99 through a major computer store’s website.When it comes to a computer’s hardware, it’s extremely easy to do online research about components and devices, even on a store’s website.  A little bit of online research can save many hours of headaches and frustration if things don’t work as advertised.

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All of the Digi-Tech Converter TV commercial images were screenshots of a TV commercial currently available on YouTube and the product’s website.  For more product information, please visit the company’s website at www.GetDigiTech.com.

Digi-Tech is a registered trademark.

RellimZone.com is not affiliated with Digi-Tech Converter.

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This article was originally posted at www.chamberofreviews.com on June 16, 2013.