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Provides: Computer free video transfer
Developer: Pinnacle
Minimum Requirements: External video source with composite or s-video out and left/right audio out, USB 2.0 hard drive or digital media device
Retail Price: $99.99
Availability: Out now

When Apple first starting pushing videos on us via iTunes and iDVD as part of their digital hub, it was pretty difficult to get the videos outside of iTunes and iDVD. The technology was still confusing, compression options were a mess, and your choices for viewing the videos were web and TV, and that was pretty much it. That’s all changed now, and there’s no shortage of methods for converting and viewing your videos, be they old analog tapes or new digital recordings. It’s gotten to the point where, with Pinnacle Video Transfer, you no longer even need a computer.

Pinnacle Video Transfer allows you to hook your video source (TV, video camera, DVD/VHS player, even a gaming system) directly to your iPod, iPhone, external hard drive, flash stick, etc. Simply plug your source’s video/audio out into the Pinnacle Video Transfer device, then plug your destination device into the USB port. That’s it for set up. It should be noted, though, that you get the composite video connection cables, but not the S-video cable. That’s an unfortunate oversight by Pinnacle, especially considering they don’t offer USB or FireWire connectivity from your digital camcorder or other device. It’s as if Pinnacle wants this to be easy for you, but they want your video to look as bad as possible.

And adding insult to injury? No supplied USB cable, either.

Whichever method you use for connection, recording your destination device is incredibly easy. Once everything is plugged in, you simply turn on the Video Transfer device and wait for the input and output LEDs to turn blue. You then press the Mode button (one of two buttons on the device) to select from good, better or best quality. Obviously, the better the quality, the higher the file size, so consider your destination device when selecting quality.

As a sample of quality, when connected to an iPod, the good setting will get you 320x240 512 kbps video with 96 kbps stereo audio at 48 KHz. The better setting will bump that up to 768 kbps video and 128 kbps audio, while the best setting will take the video up to 640x480 1.5 Mbps video, keeping the audio at 128 kbps stereo audio at 38 KHz. Those aren’t stellar numbers for editing, but this device isn’t about editing. If you’re dumping video onto an iPod or iPhone, the better and best settings will do you just fine.

Once all of this is set up and you’ve made your quality selection, you just hit the record button, hit play on our source device, and wait. Obviously, this is a 1:1 transfer, so a two hour movie will take you two hours to transfer. You can feel secure in leaving the Video Transfer alone to do its thing, however. And when it’s done, you’ve got an H.264 MPEG-4 video ready to go. Worried about battery life? Don’t be. There is no battery; you have to plug the Video Transfer in to use it. That’s bad news if you need to transfer your videos on the go for back-up purposes, but forcing you to use an adapter means your battery will never die during a long transfer.

Still, the Pinnacle Video Transfer does what it claims, it does it as efficiently as the technology will allow, and it does it error free. Those used to editing their videos after they’re dumped from a VCR or other older source won’t like that they’ll lose such control with this process (what you transfer is what you get, although you can dump the video to a USB 2.0 compatible hard drive and edit it from there), but if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to get videos on your iPod or iPhone, there’s nothing faster.