VHS to DVD Conversion - Which is better?

[mreccentric]

Hi all,
I have few VHS tapes, which hasn't been viewed lately. My Videocon VHS HQ video cassette player doesn't seem to be loading the cassettes inside, and it forcefully releases the cassette deck.

So, it has been very late and i think i need to convert the cassettes into digital video / DVD to protect them for further viewing. So, firstly, i will be giving this player to a radio shack and will hope for a repair.

Through my search i found scanner a link, where they say they convert a VHS for some 20$ a piece. I was thinking to use a PC TV Tuner card for recording it to a digital format, and later if required convert to a DVD using authoring softwares. I want to know which is better. A professional conversion or own.

[lordsmurf]

You would be wise to let it be converted professionally.

However, be aware that many "pros" are not professional, and are using low-end hardware themselves.

That site you linked to seems to use low-quality methods. Example: They seem to think all you need for conversion is a capture card. That's wholly false, and true quality starts with the player, and secondary hardware like a TBC.

I also see some typical BS on it. For example, they suggest that editing a DVD will yield low quality. That's just wrong. Many factors are involved, and you cannot say such things.

My #1 pet peeve is the BS idea that tapes "fade". That's not physically possible. Tapes cannot fade. Anyone that says such things doesn't really know much about analog tape formats. That truly stupid saying appeared about 10 years ago, and was meaningless and baseless.

[mreccentric]

hi lordsmurf,
the link says that it 1:1 converstion.
I think they are professional, but not with the best tools to do the work.
What does BS mean?
Well in regard with TBC, i'm not using the video tapes for any post production. If you can tell me why the TBC is important, it will be great.
The hardware i will be using is an ordinary one, which will be used by most amateur users. But, they reviews in the internet show that it has good output quality.

I'm little certain that the professionals here will be doing the same, capturing it to media formats and convert them to DVD. Any more inputs?

[Skiller]

What does BS mean?

Bullshit.

If you can tell me why the TBC is important, it will be great.

There are (at least) these two reasons for a TBC:

1) To completely regenerate the tape signal's sync pulses and output a continous stable signal which can then be captured with ease.
2) To correct horizontal field jitter and even more severe types of jitter such as flagging. This improves the picture visibly and makes it stable, in other words it removes the "wobble" on vertical lines.

[arthurklein]

Well, its not a big of a deal to convert your VHS to DVD's... You should be willing to spend on AMAZON though!!!.....
here is a blog I've got that can help you get away from the nightmare of VHS.....
http://www.alartvideo.com/blog/how-to-convert-vhs-to-dvd-5-result-guaranteed-tips/
hope this helps

[lordsmurf]

That blog is very incomplete amateur information.
Those methods will yield crap results, if you can even get results at all.

[DB83]

Well, its not a big of a deal to convert your VHS to DVD's... You should be willing to spend on AMAZON though!!!.....
here is a blog I've got that can help you get away from the nightmare of VHS.....
http://www.alartvideo.com/blog/how-to-convert-vhs-to-dvd-5-result-guaranteed-tips/
hope this helps

That 'blog' is nothing more than a commercial for the transfer company.

Hope that the mods reads and zap the spammer.

[jman98]

If you really just have a few tapes, it probably doesn't make sense to do this yourself. Where do you live? If you live in the USA, lordsmurf actually does this kind of work for a fee. He can't promote himself here, but there's no reason I can't tell you that he can do this for you. Even if you live outside the USA he could still help you, but that would increase your costs for postage.