Review: Ariston iView USB Video Input Device Offers Average Quality

PRODUCT: iView
DESCRIPTION: USB video input device
MANUFACTURER: Ariston
RETAIL COST: $119.95
CONCLUSIONS: Modest frame-rate capture even on fast G4; mediocre quality, especially at 640x480 resolution; no sound input (uses your Mac's sound input); easy to use; no Mac software included.

If you've ever wanted to record snippets or stills from your favorite movie or make your own home movies, you need a video digitizer. Apple used to make A/V capable Macs, like my old PowerMac 8500, but today you've got inexpensive options like the Ariston iView to bring video into your Mac via your USB connection.

The iView is a tiny box with S-Video and RCA video inputs. There is no power cable -- it gets its power via the USB connection. To use the iView, simply plug the USB cable to your Mac and into the iView, connect a video signal (from your VCR, cable/satellite box, etc.), and launch any QuickTime-aware video-editing software.

Unfortunately, like the Ariston iSee Pro camera, Ariston includes no Mac software with the product (Windows users get several packages of questionable utility, but at least that's something).

Still, because the iView is a standard QuickTime device, it works with all QuickTime software, so any third-party software such as Strata's VideoShop (I used a free version that came on a MacAddict CD) will work. (Apple's free iMovie 1.0 will not work, as it is designed for digital signal input only.)

The iView isn't quite as simple to use as my PowerMac 8500's built-in A/V. The main difference is that the iView has no sound input -- it relies on your Mac's built-in sound digitizer. This works, but it's awkward, as you have to find an RCA-to-1/8 inch microphone input connector in order to connect your VCR's sound out to your Mac's microphone port.

Though video quality is similar to the 8500 (which is to say, average), I was never able to capture more than about 15 fps, even at 320x200 on a 500-mhz G4. (Curiously, 640x480 video was also 15 fps.) The quality of video at 320x200 is fine, but the maximum resolution of 640x480 appeared fuzzy compared to my television.

This is a 640x480 still I captured direct from my satellite system (not from a VHS tape) using the S-Video connection (click on image for full sized view):

The image itself (from John Woo's classic A Better Tomorrow) is fair quality, but the text overlay (part of the DirecTV guide system) is disappointing compared to the image on my TV (which isn't even S-Video quality).

Still, for basic video input, the iView is quick and simple and works fine.