recording VHS tapes to DVD?

Steven Welborn · Post by **Steven Welborn** » 6 Oct 2004 6:12 pm

Anybody have any tips for the simplest setup or burners to do this? Thanks

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 7 Oct 2004 1:11 am

well there is a school of thought.

I'm thinink your using a home PC..? yes..no ?

record your video to the hard drive first..then transfer it to the DVD.You obviously need a pretty savy PC and a large hard drive for this.

One little gliche while recording direct to DVD disk will cause you to start all over and..ruin the DVD disk.

Also keep in mind many of the home burners and PC Burners are DVD +RW. Make sure your home DVD player can read + RW disks. A majority of the home players can read both + and - DVD RW but just be aware..

t

Rick Johnson · Post by **Rick Johnson** » 7 Oct 2004 3:46 am

Steven
I bought a Sony CD recorder for Christmas
last year, about 150.00
I can take old LP's and that I have and
record them to CD. It doens't remove
the pops and clics in the LP.
I can do VCR tapes the same way, just
use the audio output of the VCR to
line in on the CD recorder.
Its a lot easier than using a computer.

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Rick Johnson

Joe Alterio · Post by **Joe Alterio** » 7 Oct 2004 5:11 am

Using your computer to copy VHS to DVD is a pain.....your best bet is to buy a stand-alone DVD recorder. Panasonic makes a number of them and they generally run around $300.....plus, you can use it just like you use your VCR to tape shows off the TV and what not....

I've had mine for a couple of years now and love it!

Joe

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 7 Oct 2004 6:00 am

If you are just looking to do a straight copy across (i.e. 1 to 1), then a standalone DVD burner is the way to go.

If you want to get fancy and do some audio and video editing, format conversion, mixing, and multimedia stuff, then a PC is the way to go.

As with any "system", the more complicated it is the more opportunities there are for things to go wrong. Believe me, with the PC flavor there are LOTS of opportunities for coaster making.

Doug Brumley · Post by **Doug Brumley** » 7 Oct 2004 6:41 am

I'm in the time-consuming process of transferring over two dozen old home movies (on VHS tapes) to DVD using an iMac. It's taking me a while because I'm adding titles, editing a little, etc. The following may be quite peripheral to your situation, but two suggestions nonetheless:

- This may be out of the question depending on what equipment you already have or how much you're willing to spend, but it's tough to beat a Mac for getting footage to DVD--especially if you want to do any editing of that footage or adding of titles to mark separate events on your home movies. The software applications iMovie and iDVD are great for this and very intuitive, very easy to use. But you will still need a camera or "DV Bridge" of some sort to get the footage from your VHS player to your hard drive. That part can be a hassle... so if you just want exactly what's on your VHS tape to be on your DVD, a standalone DVD recorder may be your best option. Remember though, just because you may want a straight copy today, don't discount the fact that you may want the option to edit the footage someday--say for compiling a video for a 50th birthday party or other significant event.

- If you have a digital video camera, you might consider transferring from the VHS player to this camera first (utilizing minidv or digital8 media) to make a fresh copy. Then you can work from this digital tape to transfer to a computer or DVD recorder. Once the footage goes to DVD it is compressed, so you'll lose quality if you decide later you want to edit that footage and have to pull it from your DVD. But if you have a digital tape copy--a new "original," if you will--you'll be able to go back to that uncompressed footage at a later time to transfer to additional DVDs or for editing purposes on your PC/Mac. And although you could do the same by using the original VHS again, in my opinion the fewer times you use an aging VHS tape the better.

J J Harmon · Post by **J J Harmon** » 7 Oct 2004 6:58 am

Walmart has a stand alone DVD burner for $150

Bob Lawrence · Post by **Bob Lawrence** » 7 Oct 2004 9:25 am

HP DVD movie writer dc4000

http://www.shopping.hp.com/cgi-bin/hpdirect/shopping/scripts/home/store_access.jsp?product_code=Q2125A%23ABA&AOID=1024&template_type=product_detail&script_name=product.cgi

Enjoy home movies in a whole new way by transforming them with digital magic! Quickly and directly transfer what you've got on tape in your camcorder or VCR to digital format on your PC or to DVD± R/± RW discs.

• Enjoy the flexibility of the new dual format, which lets you read and write CD-R and CD-RW discs, as well as DVD± R/± RW discs
• Transfer home videos to DVD fast and easily without additional hardware or software
• Entrust your video memories to preservation on long-lasting DVDs
• Bring your photos to life with special effects, music, and more
• Make your own original DVDs and CDs
• Get creative with the full suite of software that lets you edit video, photos, music and data applications
• Install fast: everything (including cable connectors) is in the box
• Operating system compatibility is with Microsoft Windows XP, 2000 Professional.

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Steven Welborn · Post by **Steven Welborn** » 7 Oct 2004 9:52 am

Thanks, very helpful. I think the stand alone unit is what Im after. Less hassle.