Transferring VHS to DVD

[markprior22]

My wife really wants to transfer our home VHS tapes to DVD. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations of a product to do this?

[Router Help]

I'm sure there is probably a product out there that does everything for you, but I have done this a few times using the following guide: http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/capture/start.html

[stevew]

It shouldnt be very hard to do. Theoretically all you would need is a "tv in or video capture" video card on your computer and a dvd burner. I would assume you are gonna want to put them onto your computer first so that you cant clean up the quality(maybe) and perhaps do some menu titles for the disc. The biggest problem is that when you are playing the tape, it has to go at a 1 to 1 ratio of time, so its likely to take forever if you have a lot of tapes.

[Eaglesfan27]

I have a great combo VCR deck/DVD recorder that is made by JVC. It is model DR-MV1. It is almost idiot proof for doing what you want. However, you could also buy any DVD recorder, and run wires from your VCR's output to your DVR recorder's input jacks and do the same thing. I've been very happy with this product as it can easily be used by any member of the family.

[StanGunner]

If you want to edit your video you probably want to capture and transfer them to your computer. I use a KWorld Xpert DVD Maker USB 2.0 Video Capture Device I bought for $50 on my AMD 2.4 Ghz 256 MB system and it works very well. I capture the video at 30 fps 720x480 pixels. The programs that come with the Kworld are easy to use. It does take a lot of hard drive space so make sure you have a large drive. I make VCD's or DVD's. It connects from your video cable to the USB port and your sound card input. You have to have USB 2.0 to capture a good picture. They also make a PCI card you can install in your computer and not use USB. You can also capture TV input using your VCR tuner.

[gi]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I have a great combo VCR deck/DVD recorder that is made by JVC. It is model DR-MV1. It is almost idiot proof for doing what you want. However, you could also buy any DVD recorder, and run wires from your VCR's output to your DVR recorder's input jacks and do the same thing. I've been very happy with this product as it can easily be used by any member of the family.

Could I get more details on the idiot proofing. My father (60) wants to do the transfer and I need to get him something that is VERY easy.

[gstelmack]

If all you want to do is take a tape and burn it to DVD, get one of the combo VHS player / DVD Burner unites out there as described by EaglesFan.

If you want to edit the tape, be advised that DVD editing / burning is not for the faint of heart on the PC. There's lots of stuff that will help you get the VHS on to the hard drive, but getting it back on to DVD requires patience and time to learn your software / hardware combination. Be prepared to screw some stuff up.

I'm using a Sony 4X DVD-+R/-+RW burner and Roxio 6 for digital video (camera via firewire back out to DVD). It works okay, not very good for doing photo slideshows with background music (I use MovieMaker in WinXP for that, then Roxio to burn the resulting video clip). I used to use Pinnacle Studio 8, but it crashed and was unreliable (the feature set and ease-of-use were fantastic, if it would only work...). Pinnacle 9 may be better in the stability department.

[BigJohn&TheLions]

Get a dvd burner with a hard disk built in. It will change your life. You can record anything to the hard disk that is not copy-protected (there are ways around that too) and then edit it, then burn a dvd.

I no longer have any need to use a vcr for anything other than a player. Everything I watch is recorded straight to the hard drive.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by gi

Could I get more details on the idiot proofing. My father (60) wants to do the transfer and I need to get him something that is VERY easy.

Ok the instrustction manual makes it very clear. All you do is:

1. Insert videotape.

2. Insert DVD.

3. Press arrow that says VCR -->

4. Press the Dub button which is to the right of that arrow, and hold it for 2 seconds.

5. Wait until it is done dubbing.

That is it. Very easy. There is another button to the right of the dub button that says <-- DVD. You'd press that to dub from DVD to VCR (I'm not sure why anyone would want to do that, but the option is there.)

The instruction manual is very clear about being careful which one you press. Anyway, I've found it very simple, and my wife who is not very technologically savvy also finds it simple to use which is part of why I bought it.

[gi]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Ok the instrustction manual makes it very clear. All you do is:

Thanks!!