Question about DVD Recorders - Can I plug a VCR to it?

[donovan99]

Can I plug a VCR to the inputs of a DVD recorder and record some home videos I have?

I'm thinking about buying this one: Sony RDR-GX330 or this one Samsung DVD-R130 DVD Recorder.

Thanks!

[LJB]

Audio Out to Audio In (Left Out to Left In & Right Out to Right In)
Video Out to Video In/S-Video Out to S-Video In

Please use "monster cables" or equiv. for least amount of signal loss. Those cheap audio/video cables that sometimes come with the units do not have the best signal shielding.

[dphirschler]

Don't buy "Monster" cables until you see a need for it first. But definitely use S-video if you can.

As for the plugging a VCR into it, yes you can, but don't expect it to copy commercial tapes.


Darryl

[donovan99]

Thank you! And sorry for the later response on my part! I had lost my postings until recently. There isnt a "view last postings since last login" feature on this forum - so I was a little lost - but I found my way around it

[handyguy]

They won't let you copy commercial vhs though.

[dphirschler]

Thank you! And sorry for the later response on my part! I had lost my postings until recently. There isnt a "view last postings since last login" feature on this forum - so I was a little lost - but I found my way around it

You can go to "Forum Index" and at the top, right, "View my posts".


Darryl

[someonesomewhere121]

Does a video lead (donno the name of it, male end and female end) need to be connected from dvd recorder to tv and vcr to dvd recorder? Do you need more then one antenna lead?

and you can't just press stop and record again and again like you can on VCR with dvd recorderes right

EDIT: I just want to record a home movie to DVD, no commercial stuff

[guns1inger]

Your manual will explain which leads you need, where they go, and what buttons to press. if you don't have your manual (the dog ate it etc) then go the manufacturer's site - most have them on line now.

[jman98]

and you can't just press stop and record again and again like you can on VCR with dvd recorderes right

You can, but just note that doing that MIGHT (or might not) give you discs that are difficult to play on non-DVD recorders.
Again, I'm just saying there is a possibility that might happen, I'm not telling you it definitely will happen. If you have that sort of issue with your recorded discs, you can always rip them to a PC and re-burn as a single session and those should be fine. You might want to start off using DVD+/-RW discs just in case stopping then resuming recording gives you discs that are difficult to play on non-recorders. No use in wasting discs if you have to rip and re-burn. You might also consider getting a DVD recorder with a hard drive in which case you would record your videos to the hard drive, edit if you wish, and then when you have enough burn as a single session and those discs should play back fine in any players, even non-recorders.

[orsetto]

When copying your home videos, consider hitting pause instead of hitting the stop button when you need to move the tape around. The dvd rec pause will hold for a long time, it doesn't release after five minutes like a VCR does. When you use pause, each edit point is smoother and lets the final recording be one continuous video (or "title"). When you use stop instead of pause, the breaks are more dramatic: instead of one continuous video, using stop will create a whole series of individual videos ("titles") which will not play smoothly as one segment. (Very short segments of less than a minute sometimes confuse standard DVD players and cause a picture freeze or lockup.) Depending on the material and whether you want separate or combined footage, use the buttons as appropriate. Combined footage will appear as a single title on the final DVD menu, multiple individual video bits will appear as independently selectable titles in the final menu. Each recorder has different options for "finalizing" the DVD: some may allow you to join the "stop edited" bits into one continuous video, some won't. You'll have to check the manual. As mentioned, if you have a lot of tapes to edit a DVD recorder with built-in hard drive is more versatile, or import the DVDs to your computer for additional editing options.