How do I capture my VHS tapes to DVD

[tfoster]

With the era of VHS tapes dying out I would like to transfer some of my commercial VHS tapes to DVD so that they can be viewed in the future.

I am in the UK - we use the PAL video system.

Now I appreciate that there is copy protection on these VHS tapes and I am in no way advocating piracy of commercial material, however I need to get around this. I stipulate that this is only for transferring my own bought tapes onto DVD.

Now - I know that I will need hardware for this and possibly extra software so I am asking users what options I have in the UK. I do not want to purchase video capture cards and then find out that they are not up to the task in hand.

I have an old video capture USB device but it will not handle commercial Tapes so it's no use. It's a Dazzle moviemaker so I guess it's more designed towards transferring camcorder tapes - something I used to do in the past but found it too tedious to link all the snips

So what Capture cards do I need and what other software is there for getting around the macrovision encryption?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[guns1inger]

You need either a full frame time-base corrector (TBC), which is not cheap, or a one of those dodgy video signal cleaners you can find in small video or electronics stores. You put this between the tape deck and the dazzle (or DVD Recorder) when recording.

[jagabo]

They're usually called video "clarifiers" or "stabilizers".

There are a few capture devices that ignore Macrovision. The Hauppauge PVR-250 and 350 (old), and HD PVR (current). As I understand it, the use of Macrovision on VHS tapes isn't as common in the UK as it is in the USA. You may find a lot of your commercial tapes don't use it.

[hech54]

I've never had a problem copying commercial PAL VHS tapes. Try it first before you go buying all of that extra stuff.

[JoRodd]

The Canopus ADVC-300 bypasses macrovision protection and enhances the picture quality as well. However, it is (still) not cheap.