Price £59.99 OS: Windows XP and all above + Mac OS
MAGIX sent me a new product of theirs called "Magix Rescue Your Videotapes!"
The product does exactly what it says on the tin; you can plug in any S-Video or SCART connection and transfer the video to your PC via USB. The list of possibilities is endless however the most interesting items you can plug in include:
Video Recorders
Digital Cameras
Games Consoles
DVD Players
Mobile Phones (One of mine has a SCART output, crazy isn't it?)
The product is obviously aimed at digitising videotapes however MAGIX sell themselves short by limiting their product to just that, I think they should sell it as a S-video/SCART capture tool.
I didn’t realise but VHS and Betamax tapes have a life expectancy, MAGIX tell us that year by year the quality deteriorates so if you want to keep the memories you will have to digitise them!
The software has a large number of features built into it specifically designed for video tapes. You can restore image and sound quality, adjust picture levels and use the "quick optimise" tool to name but a few! It also has a fair number of video editing tools, much the same as Windows Movie Maker. You can add music, video effects, text and photos!
The best way to review this kind of item will be to document my usage of it. I decided that rather than testing it on an old poor quality video tape I would see how it copes with a much higher definition input.
I played the opening credits to a game on my Wii and as you can see on the video ( Click to see! ) the quality and refresh rate is actually really really good. Easily good enough for capturing 100% quality of a VHS or Betamax video!
The package comes with everything you need to digitise all your videotapes (other than the tape player) so you won’t have to worry about buying anything extra.
Overall this is actually a very good product and I think I will digitise all my old tapes before the quality on them decreases…Off to my parents house to pick them all up!
I give this a 5/5. It does exactly what it says it will with no fuss at all. Defiantly the best in its product class!
