VHS to DVD questions

[tornapartbydingos]

I would really like to convert all of my VHS videos to DVD, so I no longer have to hang on to the bulky tapes... I don't own a capture card, but I do have a firewire port. Is there any way to capture VHS from a VCR to a MiniDV camera to my computer? If not does anyone have any other suggestions for converting my tapes?

[Will Hay]

Yes.
You need a camcorder with passthrough:

VCR > Camcorder > Firewire on PC.

Click this link here, you'll find a guide and everything you need to know.
Firewire is by far the easiest method.
Even though I own an ATI card and love it don't fall the "AIW cards are best" shite.
Good luck, but you won't need it, you won't be capturing in the conventional sense.

Will

[DereX888]

if your mDV cam has RCA-inputs and is able to record from external source (I read that many european cam models have this feature 'locked' or removed) then you should have no problem recording from VHS to miniDV then transfer/encode it to DVD on your PC.
Its OK with few tapes, but if you have large amount of tapes to transfer then I'd suggest getting capturing videocard to save time (get a card that is able to capture directly in DVD's MPEG-2 format and specs). Its not neccessary to buy latest videocard - many older cards do as good capture as the newest cards, they just have worse gaming possibilities.

[lacywest]

How about getting a DVD Recorder ... I use the Panasonic DMR E50S ... works for me.