Zune and Pinnacle Video Transfer

I'm not a hardcore gadget junkie, although I've bought plenty that I never really use...maybe a semi-junkie. Most of my gadgets are from Woot because at 10 p.m. pacific time when I refresh their site, it's really easy to convince myself that I have to have that (whatever it is). My most recent impulse was the Pinnacle Video Transfer. I have several old home movies on VHS that I've been worrying about losing, and the last gadget for VHS-to-PC transfer that I got failed miserably.

So I decided to try this. And I'm blogging about it because so many of the comments on the Woot blog wondered if it worked with Zune.

The answer is, not directly. However, I transferred the VHS tapes to a USB drive, then attached the drive to my computer and copied the resulting videos over to a folder monitored by Zune. Zune found them instantly and synced them to my device, where they played with no problem. Very easy and satisfying! And now I can sleep better, knowing my daughter's high school graduation is safely reproduced in digital form in multiple locations. (Also, back in the 80s, there was a chain of "Be a Star!" stores, where pre-adolescents could get makeovers, costumes, and then lip-synch in their own personal music video. I also salvaged that tape, to my daughter's chagrin!)