VHS tape to DVD RW - did it today

[superba]

Hi,

I'm new to processing digital video and have seen numerous articles about how to copy VHS tapes to DVD. All seemed complicated and some required more equipment like a black box or a video camera.

I bought a Liteon 5115GHC+ a couple of days ago and connected it today. I have a Panasonic PV-V4600 VCR that is several years old. The VCR has AV inputs and outputs as does my TV. I simply connected the Liteon as shown in its connection diagram and included the VCR through AV cables to the Liteon.

I tested a program I recorded over the air couple of years ago and put about 10 minutes of it on a DVD-RW before stopping to see if it worked. It did.

There was a period of about 10 minutes when it seemed like nothing worked; however, I connected the Liteon to the TV using AV cables and RF cables. I had to change the source to Video to view the output from the Liteon and to TV to view my satellite signal.....

The quality may be low by afficianado standards, but it is perfectly good for me.

[ZippyP.]

Yes, DVD recorders have made video capture simple and accessible to just about anyone.

[lordsmurf]

Put less than 4 hours on a disc, and you'll be fine. I suggest only doing up to 3 hours on the LiteOn units. Quality is fine.

[superba]

Put less than 4 hours on a disc, and you'll be fine. I suggest only doing up to 3 hours on the LiteOn units. Quality is fine.

Hi,

This is twisting the thread a little but maybe no one will notice.

Your recommendation to put "less than 4 hours on a disc, 3 hours preferably" sort of fits in with my limited experience with the LiteOn.

Here is my question: I have several very long tapes; one is an old movie that's ~6 hours long. It's not good quality in the first place but acceptable from my VCR. My initial plan was to split the movie into ~3 hour segments and record to 2 DVD's or put them on both sides of a double sided DVD.

Another is an off the air recording of Band of Brothers which is about 12 hours.

Do you have a recommendation of how to record those to DVD? The old movie could go on without editing out of commercials but BoB would need to have loads of commercials cut. I've already converted a tape of an off the air movie and removed the commercials successful enough for me.

TIA.

Cheers!

[TimBooth4Eva]

superba, have you tried to copy a pre-recorded copy protected video though?

I was able to copy tapes with my Toshiba RD XS-24 DVD Recorder but when it came to trying certain movies, the copy protection stopped me.

I'm still looking for a way around it.

BTW the movies in question are bought and owned by me.

[Bob W]

superba, have you tried to copy a pre-recorded copy protected video though?

I was able to copy tapes with my Toshiba RD XS-24 DVD Recorder but when it came to trying certain movies, the copy protection stopped me.

I'm still looking for a way around it.

BTW the movies in question are bought and owned by me.

You cound buy a TBC (time base corrector) however they are expensive or you could buy this gadget which wors great http://www.facetvideo.com/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=83&cat=0&page=1

[TimBooth4Eva]

You cound buy a TBC (time base corrector) however they are expensive or you could buy this gadget which wors great http://www.facetvideo.com/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=83&cat=0&page=1

Thanx Bob, someone else recommended that piece of kit but as far as I am aware, my DVD Recorder and VHS both have scart sockets.

I also realise TBCs are very expensive for the few tapes I need to convert.

Oh and I live in PAL World if to make it more difficult!

[A_51]

Hey I Bought off the net a thing called Digital Video Stabilizer my model is and RXII. I pay about $25 for mine. Do a google serch for it. It will clean the video signal for you and help you with those old VHS that you want to convert to DVD.

[superba]

superba, have you tried to copy a pre-recorded copy protected video though?

I was able to copy tapes with my Toshiba RD XS-24 DVD Recorder but when it came to trying certain movies, the copy protection stopped me.

I'm still looking for a way around it.

BTW the movies in question are bought and owned by me.

I only tried one or two as I recall; one was a commercial version of "A Town Like Alice", ~6 hours long, very old, probably not in release any more. The producers would probably encourage recopying it, it's so old. Anyway, the first 10 minutes or so recorded to the LiteOn DVR fine. I've not done enough to say that all will work.

It might be the way that I have my "system" connected. I used component video/audio cables from my satellite receiver to the DVR, the VCR, and the TV. To view a tape from the VCR, I have to set the TV input to the Video setting, known on the DVR as AV2, and turn on the DVR as well. That may be why the copy protection is being bypassed.

Works good until I want to record an other movie off the air like right now where DirecTV is showing all the Starz channels in the clear. The only way I know to do it is to tune the DirecTV receiver to the channel beforehand or set it to autotune at the correct time to the channel desired, set the DVR on timer record using the AV2 input. It's awkward and there might be a better way.........

Cheers!

[RowMan]

superba, have you tried to copy a pre-recorded copy protected video though?

I was able to copy tapes with my Toshiba RD XS-24 DVD Recorder but when it came to trying certain movies, the copy protection stopped me.

I'm still looking for a way around it.

BTW the movies in question are bought and owned by me.

I only tried one or two as I recall; one was a commercial version of "A Town Like Alice", ~6 hours long, very old, probably not in release any more. The producers would probably encourage recopying it, it's so old. Anyway, the first 10 minutes or so recorded to the LiteOn DVR fine. I've not done enough to say that all will work...

Many, but not all, prerecorded VHS movies have copy protection.

TimBooth4Eva, I still think your best bet is the Clarifier Classic from www.facetvideo.com . Your only other options are either to buy a TBC or buy a DVD recorder that can be hacked to ignore copy protections and both are more expensive than the Clarifier. You could always turnaround and sell it once you're done.

VHS and DVD recorders should always have audio and video inputs even if they also have the SCART connections.

[superba]

Hold the phone; stop the presses.

My first try at recording a movie off of DirecTV just failed, probably due to VOD copy protection. Drat. I was going to rip off a number of movies while Starz was in the clear.

Everything worked fine but the LiteOn went to pause and wouldn't budge when the movie started.

Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Probably can't record to VCR, either......

[Richard_G]

You cound buy a TBC (time base corrector) however they are expensive or you could buy this gadget which wors great http://www.facetvideo.com/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=83&cat=0&page=1

Thanx Bob, someone else recommended that piece of kit but as far as I am aware, my DVD Recorder and VHS both have scart sockets.

I also realise TBCs are very expensive for the few tapes I need to convert.

Oh and I live in PAL World if to make it more difficult!

PAL doesn't make it more difficult at all, just very slightly different (and the end result is far better quality too!). Don't worry about the fact that the video stabiliser has Composite and S-Video connections and your units use scart. Scart is just a nice convenient way of having composite, S-Video and Component inputs and outputs all in one plug. If you get a stabiliser and a pair of scart to three phono leads (one in and one out) you can go VCR scart to stabiliser composite and stabiliser coposite to DVD recorder. Check out Maplin for suitable cables.

Before everyone leaps on this and says you should be using S-Video, don't forget that unless your VCR is an SVHS one, it won't output S-Video so you'll end up with a black and white picture.

[superba]

In a very limited experiment I found that I can record from DirecTV to my VCR but not to the LiteOn 5115GHC+. DratX2.

I mean we're not talking front line movies here; we're talking bottom of the barrel stuff.

Is that correct? Does anyone know how to record to a LiteOn 5115GHC+ from DirecTV? I can do it by recording to a VHS tape and then to the DVD, I think. Right or wrong?

If it's a DirecTV device, then that raises Dish and Comcast in my estimation, unless, of course, they do it also.

TIA.

Cheers!

[TimBooth4Eva]

PAL doesn't make it more difficult at all, just very slightly different (and the end result is far better quality too!). Don't worry about the fact that the video stabiliser has Composite and S-Video connections and your units use scart. Scart is just a nice convenient way of having composite, S-Video and Component inputs and outputs all in one plug. If you get a stabiliser and a pair of scart to three phono leads (one in and one out) you can go VCR scart to stabiliser composite and stabiliser coposite to DVD recorder. Check out Maplin for suitable cables.

Richard, living in England myself, I'm interested in whether or not you use a stabiliser, and if so, which one?

There's one advertised on e-bay every day called Macro Master which has a SCART in and a SCART out.

It costs £41 incl p+p and the feedback on them is encouraging!