VHS to DVD converter? What should I be looking for?

[neuz]

Through my work we have been allowed to purchase a VHS to DVD converter. Obviously, we want to get a good one. What is the best one? Is there a feature that we should be looking for? Price range? Haven't been given one but probably around $500 or so.

Thanks for you help,


Neuz

[Epicurus8a]

If all you want are simple conversions, buy a quality DVD Recorder with a Hard Drive. (Pioneer, JVC, Panasonic.) If you expect to do a lot of editing, buy a Canopus for your computer.

Just remember: there is no recordable disc that is 100% compatible with all exisiting players.

http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html

Good luck!

[FulciLives]

If you go with a stand alone DVD recorder I suggest the Pioneer DVR-640H-s which you should be able to buy for around $350 US Dollars + shipping. Make sure you buy it from an Authorized Pioneer dealer or Pioneer will not honor the warranty.

I believe that ONECALL.COM is an authorized Pioneer dealer and they currently are offering the Pioneer DVR-640H-s for $329.99 + shipping which is a really good price. I have never bought from ONECALL.COM before myself but I understand they are considered to be reputable and tend to have good prices to boot.

Another good choice or so many say would be the Toshiba RD-XS35 and using PRICEGRABBER.COM it looks like you can get one for around the same price range as the Pioneer DVR-640H-s.

Both of these stand alone DVD recorders feature built-in 160GB hard drives which allow for editing capabilities etc. although many people like to burn to a DVD-RW and RIP that to a computer and then use computer software to edit and then author/burn to a final DVD-R and popular programs for that include:

1.) VideoRedo or MPEG-VCR for editing
2.) TMPGEnc DVD Author 2.0 for authoring
3.) ImgBurn for DVD Video burning

However the other option ... which allows for more "tweaking" but can take A LOT longer ... would be to buy a computer capture device. One of the best is the Canopus ADVC-110 which is an external box with analog A/V inputs that then connects to a computer (MAC or Windows based PC) using a FIREWIRE (also called IEEE 1394 or i.link or DV port). This magical box converts analog A/V into the DV AVI format. This format is superior when "extensive" editing is needed. This also gives you more flexibility in that in that you can use various video and audio filters to "clean up" the source somewhat. However this requires the use of multiple programs and requires that you really know what the hell you are doing LOL

So if expertise is low (and there is little to no time to learn) and if speed is an important factor then I highly suggest going with a stand alone DVD recorder.

Also do not forget the other side of the equation, i.e., the source. For VHS you want a top notch S-VHS VCR (the JVC SR-V101US is a popular model) is essential to getting the best out of a VHS video. Also it is very beneficial to use a stand alone Full Frame TBC (TBC stands for Time Base Corrector). A TBC can be very expensive but one that is relatively cheap yet works wonders is the DataVideo TBC-1000. When searching for this type of "high end" specialty equipment I suggest using the B&H Photo & Video website as they will have the stuff you need like the aforementioned JVC S-VHS and the Datavideo TBC.

So a standard "setup" might look like this:

1.) Pioneer or Toshiba stand alone DVD recorder (around $330 US Dollars)
2.) JVC S-VHS VCR (around $265 US Dollars)
3.) DataVideo TBC-1000 (around $325 US Dollars)
4.) High quality S-Video video cables and high quality audio cables (say $100 US Dollars give or take)

So all in all that is just over $1,000 US Dollars (plus shipping/sales tax) but that will give you a pretty much "bullet proof" system to making excellent quality pro-sumer level VHS to DVD conversions.

However it doesn't stop there! If you really want to be ultra pro about it you might want to consider getting a proc amp and/or image enhancer such as those units sold by SIGN VIDEO and I am specifically talking about the SignVideo Proc Amp and the SignVideo Image Enhancer. Adding those two units to the mix brings the price up another $750 US Dollars on top of the $1,000 or so US Dollars mentioned before.

As you can see this can get a bit expensive if you want to go "all out".

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[dwill123]

OneCall.com is very reliable. I ordered a $1200 camcorder from them a while ago and a couple days after it arrived they called me to make sure I was happy with it. At ResellerRatings.com they have a lifetime rating of 9.4. Newegg (one of the top rated) has a rating of 9.65.