VHS to DVD...Anyone?

[Justin]

Hi Everyone,

So I have a bunch old competition/team videos sitting on VHS that I would love to get off on to DVD. In looking at the howtos online and pricing out hardware this seems to be hardly and easy/cheap process. I'm curious if anyone else has run up against this problem and what they recommend. I'm kind of a mac person but could be convinced to go PC if there was something that would produce reasonable quality. Right now I am kind of leaning towards either a VHS to DVD deck or purchasing a firewire analog to digital converter box, though that seems fairly costly. I know there are some techies out there somewhere who might have some advice to offer, if they're not all at competitions running webcasts ;-)

Thanks,

Justin

[cooker52]

We have a Pinacle RCA to USB port and we can hook up our VHS Player to our computer and record videos through that. I usually download them through the Windows Movie Maker, but most programs that have a "record video" option should be able to record them.

[Mike AA]

I have an EASY inexpensive solution!

1. Buy or aquire good VHS player (VCR) with RCA or CATV output.

2. Buy or aquire a good DVD recorder With the same output as the VCR (Can be bought from MANY stores for less than $100).

3. Buy or aquire a small TV ( or large will work too) with the same connections as above items.

4. Connect the output of the VHS player (VCR) to the input of the DVD Recorder and the input of the TV.

5. Use TV to view video on the output of the VCR, Follow instructions for recording with the DVD recorder. Depending on the speed of VHS tape and DVD quality you use it will handle anywhere between 2 hours to 10 hours per DVD.

6. It will take time to copy each tape but this way it better quality than converting/recording into a computer then recording off, you dont have to worry about processor or harddrive failure.

-Mike Aalderink