HP DVD Movie Writer dc3000

Early Adopters Pick: October 2003 The first DVD ReWritable Drive with built-in analog video capture lets you quickly and easily transfer home video directly from tape (via camcorder or VCR) to DVD.

The HP DVD Movie Writer dc3000 is an external DVD writer with built-in analog video capture. It lets you quickly and easily transfer home video directly from tape (via camcorder or VCR) to digital format on your PC and to DVD+R/+RW discs. It provides a full suite of software to enable video editing along with photo, music and data applications, and it lets you write and read CD-R and CD-RW discs as well as DVD+R/+RW.

The DVD Movie Writer dc3000 lets you better preserve your family memories by easily transferring outdated VHS and other analog videotapes to DVD. HP created the DVD Movie Writer dc3000 as a simple tool to convert videotapes by combining the analog-to-digital conversion and video compression function with a full-fledged DVD writer.

Connected to a desktop or notebook PC through either the USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 port, the HP DVD Movie Writer transfers VHS or other analog tapes and creates digital negatives on long-lasting DVD+R/+RW discs. It can convert video from a variety of formats including VHS, Hi8, Digital 8, Mini DVD and BetaMax, as long as the appropriate format player connects to the Movie Writer. The DVD Movie Writer also functions as a standard DVD/CD writer to burn music, photos and data to CD and DVD backup program files.

After the analog tapes are converted by the Movie Writer to the digital MPEG-2 format--the same format all commercially available DVDs are written to--consumers can edit and share their DVD masterpieces with friends and family. And, users can get as detailed as they want in editing their DVDs. The DVD Movie Writer comes with a number of video-editing software packages, including a full-suite editing package, ArcSoft ShowBiz 2, and MuVee autoProducer, a quick and easy video editing software.

ArcSoft ShowBiz 2 lets consumers add or delete scenes, add music or special effects, or create slideshows set to music. Easy-to-use screens allow users to drag and drop video clips, digital photos and music files in either storyboard or simple timeline editing formats. MuVee autoProducer is a fun and easy editing software that quickly turns digital movies into music videos with a few clicks of a mouse.

The HP DVD Movie Writer also comes with software to help save data, video or music on DVDs and CDs, including Veritas RecordNow and Simple Backup. SimpleBackup reliably backs up, protects and restores individual files or folders or helps restore an entire PC hard drive. Additionally, Cyberlink PowerDVD software makes it easy to play DVD movies on a PC.

What's in the box

HP dvd movie writer dc3000 external USB drive
Software CD including electronic user's guide and integrated install software
Quick start placement
Getting help guide
How do I? Guide
USB cable
Composite video/audio cable
One blank DVD+RW disc and one blank DVD+R 4x hi-speed disc

The HP DVD Movie Writer dc3000 is an external DVD writer with built-in video transfer that allows people to easily transfer their video memories from tape - video recorder or camcorder - to DVD via a PC in one simple step.

1 Don't buy this if time is important to you
Yesterday, I started a VHS tape conversion to DVD+RW. This project started at 2:00pm, and while the movie itself was 2:00 hours...the final DVD burn was complete at 10:00pm. The single, most time consuming part is the cumbersome Arcsoft Showbiz software that comes with it. The process for "transcoding" and "authoring" take forever, even at the lowest resolution. Admittedly, the final product is beautiful with exquisite sound. I've been converting old VHS tapes to DVD format so they'll be preserved without degradation. When compared to other similar items, it's a very user-friendly if you use the HP software for direct-to-DVD burning. But, as stated earlier...the ArcSoft software is a huge pain in the ___!

2 Well Worth It!
My main point here is HP has great technical support for this product. I've had my DC3000 since Dec 03, and I love it! It was just what I needed to transfer my old VHS tapes to DVD. I didn't have any of the problems other people discussed in previous reviews (I have a 1.3 GHz processor, 256 MB memory, 60GB hard drive, and Windows XP Professional). I did have trouble writing to the +R discs with my first movie. Consequently, I was on the phone with HP tech support a few times. They were always very helpful and willing to spend all the time needed to get the problem solved. It turned out my first movie just hadn't "created" right, and after I "created" it again, it worked great. Just wanted to let people know the HP tech support is great!

3 HP DVD Movie Writer DC3000/4000
IT:s like this I purchased the dc 4000 about a week ago this is my 3rd one. But anyway i;ve had nothing but problems, with it ive spent 3days talking to tech support for about 3hrs eac time. Right now hp is doing research on it. to figure out he problem. But it appears to be a software issue.It does every thing but the main thing , which is burn the dvd . Al;so its its only compatible with the software the comes with it. so if it ever gets that fixed it might be ok. But i was very dissappointed with it and i expected better from hp

4 caveat emptor
It took me 3 months to replace this product. Technical support is both time-consuming and worthless. Eventually had to talk with someone in the U.S. to resolve the problem. Hint: If you are frustrated with technical support then go to HP's website and contact somebody there. Replacement seems to be working for the time being. Last time I am purchasing anything from HP.

5 Work first time I ran it
I hooked up my dc3000 without any problems to my PC. Probably because it is a HP a430n desktop. I burned tens of DVD's with the dc3000 alreday. Yesterday I attempted to convert a 1 hr 45 min VHS tape. The conversion went without a hitch. I used the bundled ArcSoft Biz 2.1 to edit, add text, transitions and background music to the converted movie. When it came to burning the finished edited movie, it took a relatively long time to decode the material. The other steps like multiplexing, etc. went fast. The finished product seemed to lose some video quality (definition).

6 The worst piece of electronic equipment I've ever purchased!
I wanted to like this DVD/Movie Writer so much, but I've now owned the system for 5 months and have only been able to record small snippets of DVD movies, because the system keeps failing. For several months, HP technical support strung me along, telling me they would send a software update because I my Windows XP operating system wouldn't recognize the system. I kept callng. I finally got someone at HP to admit that it was a hardware problem. They sent me a new unit. I attached it and recorded a couple of DVD's. However, I made a critical mistake. I actually unplugged the system (appropriately, when the computer was off). The next time I reattached the drive, XP wouldn't recognize it. The video capture is broken and I've literally already spent over 4 hours online with their tech support. Purchase a regular DVD burner and a separate video capture card. It may not be as well integrated, but it least you have a better chance of making it work

7 easy install and detected by win xp good result
with the name of God
1.this product is very good but sometimes it captured good video with bad audio.
2.you awlays need to restart your pc next capture to a void bad result
3. realy it works with dvd+ only not dvd-. dvd- cheaper.
4. i burnt 100 memorex dvd i got 4 dvds damage :).
5.it will work good if you use USB2 and better with intel main board.
6. do not foget to update win xp with sp1.
7. easy install and detected by win xp.
GoOd Luck

8 DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY AND TIME
I bought a dc3000 and tried to install it to my PC and also my laptop. I studied on that 3 days but it was frustration. It drove me crazy! I tried many options,like winxp update, bios update,second high speed USB port, many reconnection, plug in-plug out, cable change,and finally reinstallation everything etc.etc. but fail. Another strange issue is that there is no action from insensitive HP in spite of many forums discussing the dc3000 problems!!!unbelievable!!, Do not waste your time and money like me.

9 Thank You HP
I have been working with my old home movies with an ATI capture card and an internal burner, burning to both VCD and DVD formats. So far none have produced satisfactory results for archiving my old home movies - until now! I am thrilled with the results from both this product and the software that it came with. I had some problems with the software but one e-mail to HP tech support and the problem was solved. I've had it for over a month and have tested it pretty thoroughly. Did I mention I'm thrilled with the product!

10 everything works great
After reading some of these reviews I was a little anxious about the dc3000 but decided to give it a try and see what it could do. Given all the complexity with drivers, BIOS etc, I was expecting a difficult installation. I couldn't have been more pleased. The software installed on my Dell without a problem, I was making my first DVD in no time. The only issue I had was after powering down the computer the first time, I got a blue screen when I started the Dell the next day. I noted in the documentation it was critical to have the latest and greatest of all drivers etc. I went to dell's web site and downloaded an updated system BIOS and that solved the problem. I have since installed the software on a Compaq laptop and also have had no problems (after downloading latest drivers BIOS etc.)

The video capture software works well, I have copied from a camcorder and also from old VHS tapes. I took a 6 hour VHS tape with holiday tv specials and made 3 DVDs with which will make it much easier for my kids to find Frosty the Snowman next Christmas. I also made a backup of about 4gb of digital photos onto the DVD to take advantage of the higher capacity. I think some users with older computers need to be cautious as any new product can cause compatability issues, but as long as your hardware manufacturer provides updated drivers, you should be OK.

11 WILL NOT WORK WITH ALL MEDIA
I just hung up the phone with their support desk. The machine kept spitting out a brand new FujiFilm DVD-R and telling me no media has been detected. So I brought the DVD-R back, thinking it was faulty. I bought a Verbatim DVD-R and everything worked perfectly. The next DVD I tried to create with a TDK DVD-R and I had the same problem.

HP Support has told me that they are having compatibility issues and they can only guarantee that HP and Sony DVD's will work with this machine.

This is a waste of money for me since I have to now go out of my way to buy Verbatim, HP or Sony DVD-Rs. Avoid this product!!

12 I should have known better
I purchased the DVD Movie Writer because I thought it would be easy for other people to use in my household. However, the item arrived on Wednesday and was promptly repacked and mailed back to Amazon on Thursday after two very lengthy calls to HP Customer Support in India. The dc3000 was installed on a Dell Desktop and a Dell Laptop. Each running @ 2.3ghz and 512MB of RAM. Each system had the same problem - I could see the video preview and audio preview, however, when I went to record no video source was recognized. Further, the drivers for the video capture card appear to limit it's use with third part capture and authoring software. I had high expectations, and I was severally let down. So now I am off to the store to find a seperate capture device and a DVD +/- Recorder. I suppose now upon reflection, I should have done this the first time. If you are considering this product, wait until april witht he dc4000(?) is out, which will use Firewire and may have some of these bugs fixed. Whil I was waiting for shipping, I did more investigation, so I anticipated some of these problems, as they probably account for 50% or more of nagative posts concerning this product. It appears HP is selling a flawed device. I don't recommend rewarding overall poor corporate behavior.

13 Great Buy!!
I can't understand why people are having problems with this???
If their computer meets the requirements then it will work.
I bought my Movie Writer this afternoon and have already ripped 2 DVD's as a test. I haven't even got a USB 2.0 port yet!!!
Granted, the picture quality isn't crystal clear but that's just due to me not "tweeking" my PC yet. I've had it hooked up to my DVD Player, VCR, DV Camera and not one problem.
The editing software ain't bad considering it's a "freebie". I have Vegas 4.0 and nothing can beat that but Showbiz does the job. If you want help with this then read the online manual or search the net. Apart from that the instruction manual with it gives you enough to go on. The manual is simple because using the Movie Writer is simple.
If I had to make one suggestion though, it is that it should have Firewire capabilities. However, what to do is capture your video using your DV camera's firewire then use the Movie Writer to burn the DVD. There's always a way around. Just my opinion even though I'm only a novice!!!

14 DO NOT BUY THIS EVER
This is a complete waste of money; the thing just does not work at all. The software is good but I could not get my computer to recognize the drive. The bottom line - buy something else

15 Ok, but info lacking
I was in the market for a dvd burner. I did research and decided this would be the right one. I have a HP system, so didn't think any compatibliity problems would arise. None have so far. The only gripe I have about it comes from my own ignorance. I had no idea that there are different types of DVD recordables. What's all this + and - stuff?! There is nothing on the box or any website I found about it ONLY being able to read DVD+R & DVD+RW's. So I now have roughly $30 worth of DVD-R & RW's I can't use.
I like the writer, it does what I want and has a couple of perks, like being able to edit the scenes (I'm new to movie editing programs).
Just beware if you're not buffed up on the absolute latest in recorable media.

16 At least it arrived quickly....
I received the DVD Movie Writer DC3000 from Amazon's amazingly speedy shipping service in just a few days. But the trouble begin almost immediately when I tried to install it on my state-of-the-art DELL system. I reached the point where you simply connect the USB cable and my high-powered DELL instantly went into complete shock, totally frozen. Unplug the USB, everything's OK -- plug it in, freeze the computer. Two hours later, I'm still on the phone with an amazingly patient and kind HP tech in New Delhi. We're uninstalling and reinstalling, we're connecting and disconnecting other USB devices, we're booting and rebooting. Nothing helps. He orders a replacement unit, which should be here next week. Right now I'm assuming that HP rushed this device into the marketplace just to boost quarterly earnings and please their stockholders. Whatever happened to product testing? The entire computer industry seems to have gotten a "pass" on allowing defective products to enter the market. At least it's not a set of tires. Thank goodness for forums like these - I just wish I had read all the customer reviews before I purchased. Caveat emptor.

17 Use an analog to digital converter card.
I gave dc3000 an extra star because it finally did work. The transfer button never did work. I had to find the "wizard" to set it up. Not much is said about the actual copying, that it takes a looooonnnng time, that you may need multiple disks for one movie, the vcr must be stopped at the end of a disc recording and then restarted for the next disc (after you have searched out the appropriate frame. Last but not least -- the audio was displaced 1/4 to 1/2 second. This made it appear like a foreign movie which had translation audio dubbed in.
Also should have a firewire interface, needs its own dedicated VCR and - surprise - ties up your computer endlessly.
The verical mounting accessory -- if you do not mind holding the disc in while the door closes, then it's OK.
I have 1.5GB memory, 320GB storage, speed 2.6MHz

18 Good product for simple transfer
This is a good product for transfer of VHS tapes to DVD without much fuss. After having read the reviews of possible incompatability with Dell Laptops, I was concerned. I reviewed the faqs and website devoted to this machine written by one of the HP engineers and found them helpful and maybe crucial.

I used a Dell Laptop running Windows 200Pro with no other video or DVD software. The installation was easy and the device was recognized. My initial transfer had poor sound, but checking the support website that is referred to by other reviewers, I was able to correct the problem fairly quickly. Make sure all virus software is disabled and your usb transfer rate is sufficient.

I can start a transfer and walk away. It does take time. On my Laptop, 2 hours of tape equates to 2 hours transfer time, then at least another hour of processing and writing to the dvd. But, you can walk away. The software has a neat prompt asking if you want to burn another copy after the first which I always do. I have had no compatabilty problems with various dvd players.

I say way to go HP!

19 Bad
I didn't see the negative review when I bought my Movie Writer. I have spent days on the phone with HP and finally a gentleman in India admitted that HP was having a compatibility issue with Dell computers and so if you have a Dell, do NOT buy this movie writer. It is totally frustrating. No one admits the compatibility problem at first! So, I have hours invested in a product I have to return.

20 Published on-line problems
I have had my dc3000 for three weeks, burned over 40 DVDs, transferred video, made photo slide shows and made data disks all flawlessly. What I wanted to share with readers was what I have learned from reading all the problems that people are having, as reported at this site. The site is operated by one of the HP design engineers.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hpdc3000

Here are the three biggest problems,

1. People did not read what the system requirements were before buying the unit. Typically they did not have USB 2 ports, or enough memory, or big enough hard drive or fast enough processor.

2. They are new to computers and thought they were purchasing something simple, like plug & play.

3. There have been some genuine equipment problems, so do not buy one of these units over the internet. If you get a bad one you will want to return it easily so shop at a local store.

I posted comments before and I said READ READ READ and I am saying that again. There is no excuse for being disappointed because the unit does not have FireWire, or is DVD+R only. You should know these things before you buy. And if you do buy I hope things go well for you, I love mine.

21 Don't Waste Your Time or Money - Buyer Forewarned
HP acts like a company on its way down.

Great concept - poor execution. HP support on this product is horrific. I have been waiting over 3 weeks for a response to inquiries and each time I initiate contact, I am told someone will get back to me in 5-7 days.

Product has bugs that HP knows about but you spend hours conscientiously trying to debug. Worst of all, they offer s-video hook-up but no where can you find the proper cable or can you get the specs from HP. Some idiot at HP told me it was a special 5-pin connection. As it is, it is a 7-pin and most connectors to either a Camcorder or PC are 4-pin. I have spent hours trying to find a 7-pin male to a 4-pin male and it is not going to happen. I have already returned two cables.

I have wasted hours trying to get this product to work like promised and I don't expect that to happen anytime soon or ever.

Buyer be forewarned.

22 A great product that does what it says
Having read all of the reviews on this site, I was somewhat skeptical and anxious about buying the product (having tried and returned the similar Dazzle product about 2 1/2 years ago). However, I read all of the trouble-shooting hints at http://k0lee.com/dc3000/index.htm and made sure to follow all of the advice there (including the order in which to plug in the device to the PC and to the power source) BEFORE trying to burn anything. After all new drivers were downloaded, and settings adjusted, and screen savers disabled, it worked like a charm on my very first try, and I have been burning away making 2 hour DVDs of my 8mm tapes. The criticism of ShowBiz 2.0 seems justified (and it seems to have a 90 minute transfer limit, not 2 hours), but for straight tape-to-DVD transfer, the HP Transfer Wizard (which runs ShowBiz 2.0 in the background, without any user interface) was mindlessly easy, and created full 2-hour DVDs. I highly recommend it.

23 Dont waste your time with this product
Good concept, glowing reviews in PC Mag and others, but the installation process is not ready for prime time.

Spent hours following advice from HP support, tried on 3 separate machines.

At the end of the day, it worked once, then couldn't be recognized by the systems.

I even, per HP, ordered a replacement system because it would "fix all the problems", and reinstalled the OS (WinXP). Still no luck.

Documentation pretty thin (the trouble shooting page takes you to a generic HP drive page).

Clearly a wine before its time .......

24 Almost bought one of these
While in theory this could be a great device, allowing you to easily capture video to a DVD, I ended up NOT buying it, for two reasons:

1) Doesn't support DVD-R. DVD-R media is much cheaper than DVD+R media, and is far more compatible with normal DVD players. Since there are plenty of drives available now that support both DVD-R and DVD+R, and many more -R than +R drives in the market, it seemed like a bad idea to get locked into +R.

2) No FireWire (IEEE 1394) port. It's astounding that they'd limit a device intended to edit video to USB. Admittedly, many PC's don't come with FireWire standard, but since the cards are only $30, that shouldn't be a major issue, and FireWire is (1) faster, and (2) most importantly would allow you to capture a clean digital signal from a DV camcorder to DVD, which would be much cleaner than playing back the DV tape as an analog signal and re-digitizing it.

I'll wait until I find until I find a unit that does what this one does, but isn't senselessly handicapped.

25 I'm Pleased My Movies are Protected
I read the reviews, some saying the dc3000 doesn't work and many complaining about lack of instructions. I've tried video card add-ins for my PC in the past because I'm so worried about my VHS and Hi-8 home movies disintegrating but I didn't have success--the quality was poor (maybe I didn't spend enough.) But the dc3000 connects as simply as plugging in an external DVD drive and it does work!
The hardest part is figuring out how to use the ArcSoft ShowBiz2 video software. Between what's included on the CD (I had to find the files through Windows explorer because when I selected that feature on the intro menu it kept telling me to reload the software--this is the only thing that doesn't work for me) and what's available on the ArcSoft web site, I got it (my daughter had to help me with understanding how to edit but the tape-to-disk part is straightforward.)
One problem I did have was the capture process freezing midstream. After turning off my screen saver and turning off the computer's power save feature in the BIOS setup, I'm able to start the capture and walk away.
I think the HP instructions could be greatly improved but I am so happy that I'm finally digitizing my tapes! I even bought a new hard drive for a capture/edit workspace. The product works.

26 Is not so good after all
There are many factors about DVD recording as I learned from this device. First, at least 20GB of free memory should be saved on your hardrive, I ended up buying an external hardrive to fix this problem. Then it takes forever to record a two hour movie, and if for whatever reason your DVD+R/RW can't take it all in because it doesn't know who much space it has before hand, it stops at the last minute of the 6hr time to let you know that it doesn't have enough space, so please try again, from the start. Finally, when it is all fixed, it doesn't write smoothly, it records with flickers all through out. This device makes you want to use VHS tapes forever.

27 Not ready for market
I got this DC3000 for Christmas and now, two weeks later, still have not been able to get it to work on my late model, high-end computer. My computer will not recognize it. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software numerous times with no success. The only suggestion from HP was to do extensive editing of my Windows Registry. Well, no thanks. It's too late to return it for a refund, so I'll dump it on eBay. I think HP rushed to get this unit to market for Christmas before they had the bugs worked out.

28 Very nice
This is my first time working with video on DVDs and I am very impressed with the dc3000. No problems, it worked right out of the box. There is no instruction book as we all like to have but rather it is on the CD and there is a wealth of information, just print out what ever you are looking for. A word of caution, if every time you get something new for your computer and you have to spend lots of time on the phone with tec-support this would not be a product for you. Before you make a purchase READ READ READ go to the HP web site they have a lot of good information, go to the ArcSoft site, know what you are getting into ahead of time. The next generation is due out in April 2004, called the dc4000, I never think it's a good idea to be one of the first buyers on a new piece of equipment, let the bugs get worked out. I think all the bugs have been worked out on the dc3000 and what an amazing piece of equipment.

29 could have been 5 stars
First had problems with a code 10 USB Mass Storage Device error and the drive not being detected in the device manager(Win2k). I have seen this same symptom in alot of reviews. Opened up the case and hooked it up as an internal drive via the IDE connection and that showed the drive was ok however it wouldn't burn a DVD properly. I got a longer spare IDE cable and replaced the one that the burner came with (ie. between the drive and the capture card) and have the drive in a spare bay. I actually like it as an external/internal better however, the capture card is kind of free floating in my computer. Prefer this setup rather than taking it back for an external. Had problems with rendering quality. Downloaded update for Showbiz2 from [website] under "Known Bugs". Quality now looks great. System seems to have been rolled out before a thorough quality check on initial shipments. Seems they may have just had a bad batch of IDE cables get into some of their systems. Those who got a good cable give great reviews, those who didnt think it's trash. Don't forget the showbiz patch for quality rendering.

30 So far so good...
I set up the Movie Writer last night. There was a kink or two with installation which caused me to install twice, but once it was up everything was fine. I burned a 2hr dvd without any issues...even with USB 1 instead of 2.

The lack of a comprehensive manual is mildly annoying but I was able to figure out the basic functionality pretty fast.

31 Didn't work
My son bought me the HP DC3000 for Christmas and I hooked it up to a Dell 4500s which contained everything the system demanded including Windows XP and 256mg of ram. My system would not recognize the unit. I spent a day trying many of the fixes offered on the HP website and it still would not function. I called and was on the phone with a techie for almost two hours trying different fixes - nothing! I then connected it to my wife's PC which is newer than mine and it still would not recognize the HP drive. The unit was returned today.

32 Great product, and the kinks have been worked out
The dc3000 has been great, both for transferring old video tapes and photos to DVD, and even more for editing videos before writing them to DVD.

As others have noted, some people have experienced problems with their machines. The lead architect on the product has setup a suport/discussion/feedback group on yahoogroups and has done a great job in helping people with problems get them corrected and to correct problems with HP or the software vendor. The problems people have had seem to lie in three categories:

1) There was apparently an assembly error in some devices resulting in intermittent problems. All of the units do not seem to have had the cable routing problem, and Lee (the HP architect/designer) has made manufacturing aware of the
problem so it shouldn't recur.
2) HP ships a new version of ShowBiz with the unit. It is so new that the manual isn't even available yet, but there is onscreen Help built into the package and it is very similar to other storyboard-oriented video editors. There is an update to the version of ShowBiz that ships on the CD that you should install. It eliminates a proplem that many of us have encountered. The update is available via the FAQ at k0lee.com/dc3000/index.htm and on the HP support website
3) Lee has explained that there are conflicts between various DVD
burning software that have affected some people who have installed the HP software and other DVD copying software.

The first problem is being addresed by HP and if you have a faulty unit you can exchange it. The other two problems should be easily avoided by most people, once they're aware of the cause and solutions.

33 should have read these reviews before purchasing
Dead out of the box. Installed programs..had recognition problems as stated before by others...would not run on brand new Dell system With XP Pro and 1 Gig ram. Spent 2 hrs on phone to tech.. " needed to research problem more". Email got multiple suggestions to no avail. Finally concluded it was defective...new one to ship next day....15 days later it had not shipped. Solved my problem by returning it to place of purchase and exchanged for new one. New one works finally. Still trying to get them to cancel shipment. Quality of productions so far have not met my expectations.

34 More than adequate, less than professional
I am wrriting this review to provide some clarification to some of the previous reviews. To this end, I'd like to clear up a few things:

1) If you want to copy the DVDs you rented at Blockbuster last night, that's all you. This device has the capability, but was never intended, to do this.

2) I personally know two people (other than myself) who have bought this product and none of the three of us have had any problems installing or using it. To accentuate this, I offer to you the oldest computers stats (mine):

AMD Athlon 1700+ (1.463 GHz)
Windows XP Professional w/ SP1
768 MB RAM
ATI 7500 64 MB Vidoe Card
USB 2.0 PCI board by Belkin

All three of us followed the installation instructions EXACTLY, step by step and never jumping ahead (it's only like 5 steps, anyway).

3) The video editing software will easily capture your video. For the simple purpose of copying old video camera movies to DVD, the software is way more than enough.

The software also provides you with literally hundreds of fade-in/fade-out, text, audio comentary, and graphics options if you wish to spice up your videos. There are enough tools to allow you to create near-professional level results.

The most beautiful thing about the software, though, is that it is very easy to use and learn. While it's not the best tool as far as file management goes, the interface itself is very comfortable feeling; options are well laid out, logical, and easy to toggle between.

There are a few improvements that could be made to the software suite, but considering this is 'lite' software, it is very good.

4) Did I mention that all these movies you have created can be burned to a DVD+R, DVD+RW, VCD, or just to your computer's hard drive?

5) Most DVD writers come with a disk for you to use, but this drive comes with a DVD+RW, wich allows you to experiment and erase, a very nice and USEFULL touch.

6) The digital to analog (DA) converter works very well. I have experienced no hickups or static from any source, including my VHS-C tapes when played directly from the video camera to the dc3000.

7) The HP DVD Movie Writer dc3000 can be used as a regular DVD+R / DVD+RW / CD-R / CD-RW drive for data purposes as well, not just for the video recording aspect.

OVERALL: While not a professional level product, the HP DVD Movie Writer dc3000 is perfect for everyone else, no matter how much effort you want to put into spicing up your videos or backing up your data.

35 HP DVD Writer does not work!
Dont buy this product - at least not if you run Windows 2000. I recently bought this product after checking that my machine exceeded all of the minimum system requirements. First, it would not install and forced me to reformat my hard drive. Second, when I eventually got it to install, my computer could not recognize the device. After hours on-line to HP (via India!) and after repeated trips to the store where I bought it (the technician at the store spent an entire day trying to get it to work and eventaully gave up), I gave up in disgust. Dont waste your time with this piece of junk.

36 Didn't work at all
My Dad picked up one of these units for my Mom so that she could take our movies downstairs and start converting them from degrading analog tape.

The unit we got does not install properly in Windows XP. After plugging it in there is a missing mass storage device in the device manager. When you get around to installing the software it can't find the drive during setup. Also it appears to hang our BIOS while the unit is plugged in when the computer reboots. I have to unplug it just to get past a certain point in our BIOS. I've had no problems with other USB devices at all and the available BIOS updates for my motherboard (GA-7S748) do not address any USB issues which leads me to believe that the unit we have is defective.

There is also close to 0 documentation included in the box. If you decide to buy it at all make sure you're buying it for someone who is competent and doesn't depend on manuals.

37 A solid product
As far as combos of this nature go, the HP DVD Movie Writer doesn't sacrifice much either as a DVD Writer or as an analog input device. Some notes: You can't write directly from your source to DVD with this device, you must have a connection to your PC. Also, there is a 2 hour limit when writing directly to DVD. Otherwise, I was very impressed with the quality of video transferred from VHS, although there was some pixilation caused by the compression process, it was negligible. As for the DVD writer itself, it is very much like any other external drive. Overall, I am very satisfied with this product.

38 A flawed product that needs a lot more engineering
HP had some good ideas with this product, particularly combining the burner and the video source reader into a single, external product. However, they apparently rushed this product to market, as it is seriously flawed.
There is no On/Off switch, and the instructions say it can be left on all the time. However, simply turning power off and back on fried two units - both of which were connected to good surge protectors. Too give them credit, HP did promply send a new unit after the two failures, but they don't seem eager to acknowledge the problem.
The documentation with the DC3000 is almost non-existant, and many common questions go unanswered.
HP has not been forthright about telling customers what they can and cannot copy with this unit. We have a lot of old purchased VHS movies that we want to preserve by transferring them to DVD simply for our own legal use. About half of these copy just fine, and the quality is as good as can be expected, but the other half give a message that the VHS is copyrighted, and the process stops. HP cleverly avoids this issue by advertising the unit as being designed to copy home movies.
So, if you are willing to live with these restrictions and are very careful about never powering the unit down, the DC3000 is OK. Otherwise, I'd advise waiting for a more mature product.

39 DC3000 is GREAT! Burned 14 'home' DVDs in a few days!
This has really been a fun project for the family. Before it was a chore to watch VHSC tapes. Never being able to find a favorite spot very quickly. Now on DVD, watching home videos are fun again. I had a few problems getting started: turning off the PC hibernation, disabling the screensaver, allowing the computer & movie writer to do its work, for example.

But once I got the hang of it, its been smooth sailing... or burning, as it were. And even the earlier ones are still fun for the family to watch; better than VHSC! Its really a joy to be able to 'save' 8 year old VHSC tapes recordings from from their unavoidable deterioration. So far I've only used the wizard software that was included with the package. It is very EASY to use.

I would recommend this product to anyone who wants to preserve their video memories before its too late.

40 What a peice of JUNK!!!
Where can I return this thing? If you want hours upon hours of frustration, this product is for you. I'm very computer savvy and was never able to get either one of my two fairly new, high-powered Dell computers (with a USB 2.0 port) to recognize the new drive. What's worse is that HP customer service for this product is a complete joke. I've talked to over half a dozen technical support reps (in India, of course, where HP made the brilliant decision to relocate their tech support unit), including one supervisor, who were clueless about the product. To make matters worse, several reps, including the supervisor, promised to call me back with solutions and I never heard from them again. How's that for customer service?

41 I wish there was better software
I bought a dc3000 to dump several VHS and Hi-8 tapes to DVD. The installation went OK on my PC (USB 2.0, 1GB RAM, Windows XP Pro, AMD 1600+ CPU). The front buttons are backlit by a very bright blue LED and the unit has no ON/OFF button. The bad part is that I keep my PC in my bedroom. When I went to bed, the room had a blue glow to it. I thought I was being abducted by aliens... again... :-)

Anyway, then I started playing with the software. The PowerDVD DVD viewer seems OK. There are 2 pieces of backup software from Veritas. I really, really, really wish HP had worked with Nero on this one. The Veritas software seems very limited (although I admit not playing with it very long). I haven't played with the muvee autoproducer but I'm not quite sure that it does.

Then we come to ShowBiz 2. Like others I was shocked with the lack of documentation. I've played with other movie programs so I finally figured out most things, but I'd really like some better documentation on the whole package. It wanted to change the resolution on my screen and ended up changing other things (like the refresh rate) so beware those of you using 800x600.

I have burned a CD using the transfer wizard. That worked just fine. The resulting DVD is almost as clear as the VHS tape I started with. After capturing the 1hr45min tape, my system spent 30 minutes chewing on it and 10 minutes burning the DVD. There was some nice CD/DVD case inserts that you can print as well that uses captured frames from your video.

So far so good, but I think the software needs a little work.

42 FoolProof!
This is the fist tool I have ever used that makes it foolproof and simple to transfer VHS to DVD. Simply plug your VCR into the Movie Writer then plug the movie Writer into your PC press two buttons and let it run. All my conversions have been error free.

HP's use of the "+" format is a huge relief as whenever I have tried to accomplish this task using my "-" format drive I can never get the discs to play on my TV's DVD player. The "+" format is much better than "-" when it comes to compatibility with other DVD devices (TV's etc). When you're done with converting your VHS tapes it functions as a normal DVD Writer for data back-up's, photo, etc.

Leave it to HP to provide a simple, honest solution. Highly recommend this product!

43 Writing DVDs from VHS and hi8 Tapes
I purchased this product as an early Christmas present for myself with the intention of taking all my home hi8 tapes and putting them on DVDs for presents for the Grandparents. The hook-up of the equipment and the installation of the software went beautifully. I did have to purhcase the Windows XP Home Update and a USB 2.0 card so that my system at home would meet the minimum requirements. I immediately plugged in my camcorder and began capturing the video right to my PC. It was working great. I was familiar with video editing tools so I wasn't terribly put off that the documentation for the ShowBiz software was lacking (I later found a PDF version on Lee Devlin's website, see his message). When I got to the step of writing the movie I had capture to DVD I ran into problems. The drive didn't seem to want to respond.

I'm not a Windows guru so my first instinct was that I must not have a correct driver or I've installed something incorrectly. I talked with an HP technician by calling the Help number provided in the documentation and we spent over an hour and a half trying to trouble-shoot the problem. To make a LONG story short, I finally found Lee Devlin's DC3000 message board (again see his message posted here). It's a great site for getting help. After talking with Lee, we decided that I was having a hardware problem with the drive and he suggested I return it for another. I did that and when I brought the new drive home and plugged it in, it worked like a CHARM! It wrote the DVD without a problem and I went from that to plugging in a VCR to copy a VHS tape to DVD (using the editing tools provided by ShowBiz). This also worked perfectly and I'm now a VERY satisfied customer and my children's Grandparents are going to LOVE their Christmas presents!!!

44 Hewlett Packard MisInforms about this one...
I was first intrigued when I read the Best Buy Sunday flier (11/09/03) that stated "PC-Free DVD Movie Writer"..."The fast, easy way to transfer videotapes to DVD without additional hardware or software. Just plug in your video source and press a single button." "HP Movie Writer - 1-touch DVD transfers from your camcorder or VCR." I was most intrigued with the $349.99 price. I thought, "Wow! they have finally made a simple method to convert VHS tapes into DVD... and inexpensively."
I called the Best Buy Store and was told it was a stand alone unit. I was told that the need for the P.C. was only for editing, if you chose to do that.
I called Hewlett Packard and heard from three different representatives who all told me that it stood alone and did not need a computer.
Then I bought it, brought it home only to find out that instruction number one tells you to install the software; then in troubling shoot is the instruction: must be connected to the personal computer.
I don't know that it would be proper for me to say that those who wanted my money lied to me, deceived me or slammed me, but I do know that what I was TOLD this product would do IS NOT what this product CAN do.
Initially I thought this would be a great gift idea for my elderly uncle who wants to transfer his VHS tapes onto DVD. The "1-touch DVD transfers" sounded simple enough, but this product requires too many steps to be called "simple."
As someone who has used an internal DVD burner for more than two years, I appreciate how difficult the conversion process can be (play tape into computer, edit, mpg conversion, burn DVD) and I know that all these steps would be too much for my elderly uncle.
Anyhow, I wasted an entire day today purchasing the product, bringing it home, finally talking to someone at HP technical support who confirmed that a computer was absolutely necessary (he said it's basically an external DVD burner)and then returning it.

45 The 'best external video-conversion device'
I have created a FAQ for this product where you can get help directly from HP. If you search Google with my name, you'll find a website and a link to the FAQ and user group that can help you overcome any difficulties you might experience with this product.

Walt Mossberg wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "The DVD Movie Writer is the best external video-conversion device I've tested."

We want to continue to live up to that claim and so if you're having any difficulties, please share them with the user group and we'll do our best to help you solve them.

Lee Devlin

46 Steer away
If, and only if, you are only interested in capturing whatever is on your VHS tape to DVD then this product works fine. However, if you want to edit, add audio, etc. then you should NOT buy this product.

Showbiz is not documented and technical support is extremely poor. (Actually, you cannot really get support from Showbiz, but you can get support from HP technical). Unfortunately, I have made nine calls to HP technical support for this product. I have uninstalled, installed, uninstalled, installed... to the point I thought I was going to wear out my CD player. And after all of that HP technical still could not figure out the problem(s). Please note that you can expect your phone calls to technical support to be dropped numerous times (HP informed me this was a known problem and they hoped to correct the situation soon).

So, due to an average to below average product and extremely poor technical support I strongly advise that you steer away from this product if at all possible.

47 Bad execution of a good idea
This sounded like just what I needed to convert my stack of videotapes to DVD. Unfortunately the hardware does not install according to the very brief manual, and when I eventually got the thing working it produced a totally unusable DVD, with exceedingly poor image and sound quality on three DVD players. I returned it to the store where I bought it - what a waste of money for something that simply does not work as advertised! Incidentally, the two computers I tried it on both exceed the minimum requirements by a factor of 4 in all departments: speed, RAM, disk space ...

48 Great in theory but could use a little work...

I purchased this product with the idea of converting my old camcorder tapes to DVD. This product was promoted as being "the next best thing to sliced bread" and so easy to use. Well I am here to tell you, it was a long and painful process to finally get the project completed and here is why:

The Showbiz software (used for the video editing) is mediocre at best and definitely has room for improvement. There is no instruction manual or resource available to guide you through editing for the first time. You are left to try and figure it out for yourself.

HP support was another huge frustration. In my first attempts to deal with HP support I called to try and troubleshoot the errors by phone. After being redirected to wrong departments (even different countries!) and being on hold for more than 2 hours at a time, I decided to try the email method. I had better luck with that and also had a way to document my correspondence. After they determined that it was something one of their Quality Customer Care Reps would need to handle, I was assured that someone would call me. 3 weeks later and multiple email reminder messages from me, I still received no phone call from HP. I was also getting no help (or even a single return phone call) from CompUSA where I originally purchased the product. Talk about feeling frustrated!

In the meantime, I upgraded my PC to USB2.0 and increates my RAM to 512MB. I wanted to be sure my system wasn't causing the program (Showbiz) to fail. This didn't change anything...program still failed.

After 7 weeks and hours and hours of time spent trying to get this product to work, the problem was resolved by simply unchecking a box within the ShowBiz software. This setting is under Options / DVD Quality - uncheck the box that says ShowBiz Smart Rendering. Unfortunately, this box came checked by default (go figure!) when loading the software.

If this information can help anyone having the same headaches and frustrations I had in getting this product to work, I will be happy. This is really my goal in publishing my review of the Movie Writer. Once you get the DVD Movie Writer and software all figured out, it does work and accomplish what it set out to do. Since I am not a beginner with computers I was not expecting to endure the pain and suffering I experienced. However, I did learn that I will think twice before buying another HP product as well as buying anything from CompUSA (products are great, service stinks) in the future.

One more bit of info I wanted to pass along...HP has an updated driver available from their FTP site. I believe it is dated 10/31/03. This could help if you are using the prepackaged version and having trouble.

Good luck!!

49 Great in theory but could use a little work...

I purchased this product with the idea of converting my old camcorder tapes to DVD. This product was promoted as being "the next best thing to sliced bread" and so easy to use. Well I am here to tell you, it was a long and painful process to finally get the project completed and here is why:

HP support was another huge frustration. In my first attempts to deal with HP support I called and try to trouble shoot the errors by phone. After being redirected to wrong departments (even different countries!) and being on hold for more than 2 hours at a time I decided to try the email method. I had better luck with that and also a way to document my correspondence. After they determined that it was something one of their Quality Customer Care reps would need to handle, I was assured that someone would call me. 3 weeks later and my multiple email reminder messages from me, still no phone call from HP. I was also getting no help (or even a single return phone call) from CompUSA where I originally purchased the product. Talk about feeling frustrated!

In the meantime, I upgraded my PC to USB2.0 and upgraded to 512MB RAM. I wanted to be sure my system wasn't causing the program (Showbiz) to fail. This didn't change anything...program still failed.

Good luck!!

50 Product shipped before its time
I had great hopes for this product, being a fan of HP printers, but have been disappointed on all fronts. I purchased it to archive 8mm tapes to DVD, create backups to DVD and to create special DVDs of the kids to give to grandparents. I've had the unit for nearly 2 months and have had numerous problems. I have had some success in creating DVDs of entire tapes but have yet to successfully create a "project" using the Showbiz software (after numerous attempts and reinstalls of the software). Arcsoft provides NO support for the product (they never reply to email sent to their support group; the other contact option is US Mail). HP's support is also marginal. Documentation is very poor. There is a major bug with the integration between the drive and Showbiz that is documented on the HP site: "ShowBiz 2 encounters error during authoring stage while writing a disk with DC3000". Apparently a patch is in the works but "is not available at this time." I'd suggest that HP recall the unit, complete the testing process that they obviously did not complete the first time, and re-release. I would also suggest that HP consider bundling a different video editing software with the product. Arcsoft was a poor choice.

51 copyright remover
How about connecting a copygard remover between the vcr and recorder.I do this between vcr machines all the time and it works well.It should work -

52 Misiformation?
According to this weekends Best Buy circular, this HP Movie Writer is advertised as a "PC-Free Movie Writer". The idea of being able to transfer my VHS tapes into DVD is very enticing and I was very happy when I read that it was "PC-Free", but when I went into the internet, nowhere does it state "PC-Free". Could you enlighten me on this matter. I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

53 Good hardware, really bad software!
Easy enough to install. Hardware solid. However, there are a lot of DVD writers out there that are equally as good. I bought this because the software and cables were included and I wanted to edit home movies. Arcsoft Showbiz is too buggy and the tech support is very bad. HP is not much better but at least you could talk to a real person. After one month of emails and phone conversations, I was able to determine the source of two separate problems. The first was related to a known driver problem on their end. The second, was due to a mechanical high pitched sound that developed with Showbiz DVD recording. Finally, someone directed me to the audio sampling settings. It seems so obvious now. They do not know this software and made me reinstall it several times. I would not recommend this product. Pinnacle is a better product for editing. Again, REALLY BAD TECH SUPPORT!!!!!

54 What a piece of ******
I would have to say that this is the most overpriced and ineffective hardware, that I have wished that I had not spent my money on in my entire life. Not only was it very cheaply made but the software did not work properly. I thought that this was going to be a great product but I have found that for the same price you can buy a dvd recorder at Frye's that does the same job but does not have to be hooked up to your computer and screw up your computer when you attempt, Yes I said attempt, to uninstall. Do not make the same mistake that I made....stay away from this product like it was your ex-wife looking for more alimony. And now I have to deal with UPSing it back to Amazon. What a major pain!!

55 It worked for me just fine
The DC3000 installed first time out of the box for me with no problems. I've successfully copied 12 hrs. of vhs tapes and another 6 hrs. of 8mm sony tapes. I'm using a Compaq Presario laptop with USB 1.1, a spare 15 Gigs of disk space, with 128 meg of RAM -- not a souped up system for sure. I've been using Fujifilm DVD+R and DVD+R/W blanks, as the two HP sample DVDs gave me a problem.

The Muvee Producer software provided was enough to show me that I wanted to buy the $19.95 upgrade to the full version - 3.0. This product will pay huge dividends to those who try it. It is cool, even just to package digital photos in an interesting movie format, forgetting the clips from the videos I can insert from my DVDs now. I haven't read great things about the Arcsoft Showbiz package, but I haven't played enough with that to give it a thumbs up or down for me yet.

After I finish converting all of the movies that I want to do, I'll be left with an external DVD drive that I can move between my desktop and laptop. Not bad at all.

- a pleased user with expanded horizons

56 Good hardware, lousy software
ShowBiz 2 stinks. After many hours of frustration I was able to reach ArcSoft only to be informed that the User Manual is not yet available for ShowBiz 2!!! When will it be - we don't know, "we have no idea".

The help screens are great for explaining the obvious but forget about any real help. There are no toll free numbers to be found; there are no tech support numbers of any kind to be found; not on the CD, not on their website and certainly not within the software itself.

I was only able to get a phone number for ArcSoft indirectly. HP wasn't much help either but cured hanging of Showbiz 2 by providing a .dll file download. That only took about 2 hours.

In short ShowBiz 2 is buggy and arrives without instructions. The unit itself works well otherwise although there is no ON/OFF switch.

57 Don't waste your time on HP Media Writer
I bought myself a DC3000 as a birthday present and instead got hours of frustration from a product that does not work. The drive is simply "not recognized" by my brand new Dell with USB 2.0 and oceans of RAM memory and disk space. Having read other reviews before purchasing, I was ready to accept that not all the high-tech editing functions worked smoothly, but at least (I thought) I will be able to copy home videos to DVD. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I am persistent and reasonably knowledgable about installation and debugging. I followed every piece of advice, restarted my machine "clean" with no background softwate to interfere, tried and re-tried the HP-recommended steps with the help of a tech. I can only conclude that that there is a bug in the installation software. After several tedious debugging routines, the HP tech finally conceded that there was a defect, but he couldn't solve the problem. This is not yet consumer-ready -- if you want something that works out of the box, look elsewhere.

58 Costs a little more than a DVD+RW writer; but incomplete
I am a very satisfied customer of HP's. And this is a pretty good product; but not a great one.

Why is it good?
---------------
Well, obviously, it can be used to record, transfer and burn movies into DVDs. It substitutes for the costly DVD Recorders from Philips; but ofcourse, you need a PC with lots of HardDisk space and RAM to do the same job. Please note that in dc3000 the burning of the DVD and the capture are two separate process in time. This is not a real-time or a standalone recorder and always needs a PC. I guess that it is still value for the money.
Ofcourse, you would also be able to convert your VHS tapes into the DVDs. You might have to play a few tricks on some VHS tapes (read movies) to get them burnt into the DVD. Remember that it does not have many ways finding that a material is copyrighted. I don't want to dwell deep into this.
The ShowBiz2 software packaged is pretty powerful; but is also resource hungry. Remember we are dealing with files of Gigabytes in size. So, if you want to edit the movie into a DVD using the software, pump in more memory > 512MB (may be 1GB). The 384MB in my machine was definitely insufficient. To create a DVD, it would need 13-14GB of free hard-disk space just like any other DVD authoring software.
The QuickDVD option is pretty neat with just the minimum steps to create a DVD.

Why is it incomplete?
---------------------
1. Lack of firewire/i.Link/1394 port.
2. Support for an external USB storage device like a "portable USB hard-disk" which can be used to store the MPEG2 file instead of the need for the PC. This would make the system pretty much a standalone recorder. The R&D and manufacturing cost should not increase beyond a few dollars for this I guess; but I bet any company would charge $50-$100 more for this feature.
3. Though not designed for this purpose, it would have been nicer if HP also included a timed DVD recording software or a feature in their software package.

Value for money? : I would think so.

59 How about some consistency
I purchased the HP DVD Movie Writer with every intention of retiring my VHS collection once and for all. Boy was I in for a surprise.

I'll agree that the HP DVD Movie Writer was easy to setup and use. HP has made that part of the experience quite painless. The capture process is fantastic and seems to work just perfectly. The problem, however, lies in the consistency of the burn process.

So far I have successfully burned about 8 VHS tapes to DVD and I have had to use up about 24 DVD's to get there. When I first begain having issues with burning DVD's I thought the problem was media related, so I set aside the 25-pack spindle of Fuji DVD+R's and got a 10-pack of HP DVD+R's. Well, I went through all 10 HP DVD+R's and I have 3 successful burns to show for it. So much for media being the problem. Next I thought it was a speed problem, so I ran out and purchased the only USB 2.0 PCI adapter card I could find, a D-Link DFB-A5. Well, needless to say, that didn't work either. Although the USB 2.0 card seems to recognize the DVD Movie Writer, it refuses to burn the captured video to a DVD. So, I am back to using USB 1.1. Oh the shame.

I have ran into the frustration of not being able to burn copies of my copyrighted VHS tapes, and although I am a bit peeved about that, I have found that many of my VHS tapes are not copyrighted and, theoretically at least, should be able to be captured then burned to DVD. I have a handful of .mpg files sitting around that didn't get the honor of being burned to DVD as the burn process, I am sad to say, hung. And forget about pulling those mpg files in through ArcSoft Showbiz 2.0 and burning them to DVD as is, that won't work either.

I gave the product 3 stars because I have seen the results of what it can do when it works, the problem lies in its consistency. If you meet the minimum requirements laid down in the documentation, you should expect reliability regardless of how slow the process might be.

I suppose I will simply have to suffer along with USB 1.1 and a 33% chance for a successful burn. I am on that 3rd try right now, so someone wish me luck.

60 Excellent Product
HP DVD Movie Writer dc3000
True to HP's reputation for making top quailty products, the HP Movie writer delivers all the functionality it promises and works flawlessly. Excellent software and hardware integration. It comes with analog-capture and MPEG-2 encoding capabilities. The only reason I gave 4 stars is because this unit does not come with FireWire or 1394EEE connection. It only has USB2.0. I wonder why HP did this, cosidering that most of us have FireWire but not USB 2.0. Many computers built before 2002 have USB 1.1 ports, limiting them to 12 Mbps.

Installation is pretty easy, if you follow the steps mentioned in the documentation. I like draw your attention to one important point before you buy this product. Your Desktop or Notebook should have a USB 2.0 for this product to work. Most of us have laptops with USB 1.1. Only new laptops purchased in the last one year have USB 2.0 delivered. To enable your laptop to have USB 2.0, read my special notes at the end of this review. I had to spend an additional $75 to make my notebook USB 2.0 compatible. I recommend that before you buy this product, makesure your computer has USB 2.0 else first buy the card I mentioned below and install it. Only after your USB 2.0 card works you buy this product.
Following are the steps I recommend.

1) First install the software on your computer using your computer's CD drive. ( After installing the software, you should see a "HP DVD" icon on your desktop.

2) Then connect the delivered power cord to the Movie writer( The system lights up). Connect USB cable to the USB port on your computer. Windows XP immediately recognizes the new hardware and comes with a hardware compatibility wizard. Just select automatic installation and everthing is done.

3) To see the drive on your computer, Right click on "Start" and select explore. You will now see the DVD-CD- R/W listed.

4) Connect your camcoder or VCR to your HP DVD Writer. Turn on your VCR. Insert the Tape. Position the tape at the section you want to start.

5) Double Click the "HP DVD" icon on your desktop and after the sofware is launched click the "ArcSoft ShowBiz 2". Slect the capture Vedio Button. Then press the record button to start your recording.

Note : USB 2.0

USB 2.0, a successor to the popular USB 1.1 standard, which started appearing in mid-2001 and is now being built into almost all new personal computers.USB 2.0 offers greater bandwidth and a data transfer rate of up to 480 megabits per second -- 40 times faster than the 12 Mbps maximum of USB 1.1.But USB 2.0 doesn't always mean "40x faster."
The creators of USB 2.0 -- a team made up of Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Hewlett Packard Co., the former Compaq Computer Corp., Agere Systems, NEC Corp. and Royal Philips Electronics -- made the standard fully backward compatible so it would work with the gadgets people already own.

That's why USB 2.0 actually encompasses three speeds: the original USB speed of 1.5 Mbps, aka "low-speed USB"; 12 Mbps, aka "full-speed USB" or USB 1.1; and 480 Mbps, aka "hi-speed USB."

There's an additional consideration in buying USB 2.0 products. Your computer needs to have a USB 2.0 port to take advantage of the faster data transmission. Many computers built before 2002 have USB 1.1 ports, limiting them to 12 Mbps.

I bought the Adaptec USB 2 connect for noteboods ( USB 2.0 Card bus adapter) , which costed about $75. It has 2 ports. Do not buy cheap products, as they do not work as promised. Most of the Card Bus come with a power adapter, which adds another wire to your already mess of wires. Adaptec USB 2.0 does not come with the power adapter, becuase for 90% to the noteboods it works without power. I inserted the CardBus into the PCMCIA slot, and windowsXP immediately ditected new hardware found, and promted a dialogue box with an option to install the driver software automatically. When computer was not connected to the internet and it could not find the driver files. I connected to the internet and again inserted the CardBus into the PCMCIA slot and I select the install driver software automatically option. This time it worked. ( My NoteBook is HP Pavillion and it works great. HP makes outstanding products.)

61 The RIAA Strikes Back
I had hoped to use the dc3000 to finally transfer my aging VHS collection onto more stable and long-lasting media. Simply, I wanted to keep on watching my old movies (which in some cases, are not even available on DVD) without having to worry that I was degrading the quality of the video.

Well, I must have been day-dreaming when I bought this product, or maybe I'm just niave - since I have no intention of starting my own pirate DVD production shop, using just this one DVD-writing product, to cheat Hollywood out of billions of their just-deserved royalties. I really only wanted to put my VHS tapes (including movies I have already paid for) onto the DVD format...

The set-up and configuration of this product was a breeze, the software suite installed without any issues, and the hardware literally just plugs in (just make sure you have a USB2.0 input though). Unfortunately, when I actually tried to backup one of my VHS movies, the HP Video Transfer Wizard told me "The source video is copyright protected; video capture will not resume."

Well, even though the U.S. courts say I can make backups of movies I already own, HP apparently doesn't agree. So, if updating your aging VHS movie collection is one of your primary reasons for buying a product like this, you should just take the dc3000 out of your basket and move on (if you can find something else without this draconian copy-prevention).

Aside from HP, I'd also like to thank George Lucas for this disappointing experience. Being the geek that I am, one of the main reasons I purchased this the dc3000 was to finally have a copy of the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD, since my friend George has yet to do so himself. And here I just wanted to keep from having to buy a new set of videos every 6 months, as that's about how long it takes for VHS tape to begin degrading, and I'm that big of a fan.

Lastly, I'd like to give special thanks to the RIAA. Even though 99.9% of us just want to make our own copies of our own media for our own internal use, the RIAA would rather do everything possible to prevent us from doing so, treating ALL of us like criminals. Sorry RIAA, but that's only going to hurt your business even more in the long run than any piracy possibly could.

So... back to the HP dc3000. Yes, if you want to copy your own home movies and non-copyrighted materials... I'd give it a thumbs-up (4 stars, only because the software is a resource-hog). But if you thought you might be able to make legal copies of copyrighted materials you have already purchased, think again. The dc3000 won't let you do it, even though the law still says that you can.