Complete Novice needing help with transfer of old videos to disc

[MikeOR]

Complete novice at this so any advice would be much appreciated.

I have a number of old Hi8 tapes and VHSc (I think?) tapes that I really want to convert to disc. The plan is to convert into a format that I can then use to 'compile' DVD's with editing software I have which I think will do the job.

Problem is I have no hardware to play these tapes and wondered if there was a standard piece of kit I can put these tapes in, connect to my PC and capture to then eventually convert to DVD when I have edited what I want.

Thanks

[TimA-C]

Not wanting to sound rude, but have you tried using the search option yet? This is only one of the most discussed topics around here and most people will respond better to more specific questions than a generic "I want to do X but I'm too stupid/lazy/important to do any research myself!" type of request.

How techie are you? How techie do you want to become? If the answer to both of those questions is "not very" then look at either getting somebody else to do it for you or look at getting a DVD recorder (see 'LISTS' section to your left) and using that to record your tapes. You can then either leave them as is or rip the resulting DVDs (you can use re-writable discs) onto your PC and then titivate them a bit before authoring them to DVD/Bluray discs with nice menus etc.

On the other hand, if you're not afraid of rolling up your sleeves and spending A LOT of time playing, tweaking, comparing, re-tweaking, encoding, scratching head, reading, re-reading, asking questions, pondering, re-encoding, etc. etc. etc. then have a look at the Capture cards section to the left (if you have access to a DV camcorder with a firewire socket then you may be able to use that to do your analogue to digital conversion), decide on a budget, use the search function in the Forum, and ask a few more specific questions and I'm sure you'll get all the help you'll need to get some decent looking DVDs at the end of the project.

Good Luck!

[MikeOR]

Thank you for your reply. I did try searching but couldn't find what I was looking for. I will try again

[budwzr]

Did you try looking in the DVD guides? Hint: look at the upper left of this page.

[classfour]

Ion makes a cheap VHS to USB converter. With the right software, it'll do what you ask, only just.

I wouldn't recommend it if you want a quality end product.

I use a Hauppauge capture card, Panasonic AG-1980, DataVideo TBC and sometimes an Elite Video processor to achieve the needed results. This is likely the more common setup on this forum - except for the capture card as they're a matter of personal preference.