VHS CONVERSION TO DVD SVCD VCD

[mickey sabbath]

I own a number of VHS NTSC films-- Prince of the City, Missing, Homicide (Mamet)-- in which the distribution company in its infinite wisdom has not seen fit to release on DVD.

Does anyone know of a simply guide to convert these to DVD or SVCD format-- a guide preferably which will maximize the resolution and quality of the rip to its outer limit? (BTW, I own an antiquated VCR with RCA video ins and outs but without a firewire, USB, or S-Video Connection. Will this make conversion impossible?)

Also, are any of the services I see advertised on the net for VHS to DVD conversion worth employing?

[hwoodwar]

Mickey:

First off you told us what hardware you have to play back the tapes, however you did not tell us anything about the hardware/specifications of your computer. I suggest you fill out the "Computer Details" your "profile" data, in as detailed a fashion as possible. Some procedures (in particular proprietory capture programs) are designed for specific hardware. Also, you may or may not be willing to pay xxx$ for various hardware/software.

There are many "guides" in the "All Guides" section. Unfortunately, I do not use any of them. I got started with information from two or three guides and a lot of trial and error about two years ago and further refined the process.

When I first started out I did a lot of tape (tapes that I owned) to SVCD, CVD and ocasionally VCD conversion. I did use just the standard composite video/audio out from a good VCR. Eventually, I was able to refine my procedures to get good to excellant quality from excellant quality tapes. For older tapes of lesser quality (that have deterioriated) it will be hard to remove "jitter" without some sort of stabilizor or time base corrector ($$$.)

Commercial services will not copy/convert, copyrighted material.

[mickey sabbath]

Thanks for the reply hwoodwar. Per your request, I filled out the hardware section of my profile to the best of my ability.

To provide a few more details not delineated on my profile. I'm using a business laptop with two USB 2.0 and one IEEE-1394 firewire inputs (the DVD writer listed in the profile occupies one of the two USB connections); in addition the laptop possesses a single S-Video output.

Let me know if you have any further suggestions.

[gshelley61]

You should also seriously consider a standalone DVD recorder. The prices on them are falling tremendously, the quality of the DVD's they produce is very, very good (especially if they are under 2 hours long) and it is a very easy way to transfer VHS. Check out this forum:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=28