I want to put my VHS stuff on to DVD

[GianRoss]

I have many tapes I'd like to put on DVD, but I was never sure if I could hook my VCR to my PC. I came across http://www.vhs2dvdconverter.com/vhs-to-dvd.php?tid=ADW20VCR%20To%20DVD but am unsure if this is good for accomplishing what I need now and in the future, as I have a lot of tapes. Or is it better for me to install a separate card with correct tv-ins? My PC specs aren't close to the best, I assuming doing this process takes memory, do I have an adequate amount?

I'd appreciate any help or suggestions
Thanks a ton

Dual Core
2 GB RAM
500 GB HDD

[dbanimal]

See my thread as I have already gone through all of this:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/330494-VHS-to-PC-capture

[GianRoss]

I read through your post and I'd be lying if I said I understood most of it. I got your original post and the equipment you intended to use, even puzzlers 5 different routes. But as someone new to this kind of thing, a majority went over my head. For me, it was hard to decipher what was good VS what wasn't. I'm not looking for the best of quality, perhaps the quality of the VHS recording at best.

I hope it's ok that I ask you to make this painless for me? Everyone that responded seemed to know exactly what they were talking about, unfortunately I didn't.

Thanks again for your patience

GR

[lordsmurf]

vhs2dvdconverter.com = crap
You'd do better to use pretty much anything else.

The fact that they use a spam-style site alone should be reason enough to avoid it.

[victoriabears]

This, together with the NTSC<>PAL issue are the most repeatedly raised questions on this site and all the answers are here, so we DO get a bit cranky, and apologies for that.

The effort/reward ratio is very much at play here, if your VHS tapes are recordings you have made yourself and not commercially produced then the simplest is to use something like this:-

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod2380250&navAction=


put the vhs in, put a good quality dvd blank into the dvd recorder side (Please use verbatim or Taiyo Yuden brand discs) and use the dubbing feature from tape to disc.

Most of the experts on here would not use that method and if you do not want to learn computer capture then use something like this:-

http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/standard/overview.html

if you buy one of the simple computer dongle type things at least buy it from a reputable company that you can return it if you do not get what you want, look in your local stores and get advice on which to buy.

If your vhs tapes are copy protected you really need to do what I did which is get the best vcr, a time base corrector and a dvd recorder, all in all, a minimum outlay of $600 total. I had 1000ish tapes and used this method.

The computer capture methods preferred by the experts on here are a big learning curve and you need to be sure you want to learn. here:-

http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/video/dvd-workflows.htm

[GianRoss]

victoriabears I totally understand how bothersome explaining this can be, and I'm sorry for asking .

The first link you provided brought me to a Road Runner search engine URL. With that method, what is meant by "computer capture"? That method also seems more generic to me? Your second link, seems it may be more involved, but with a better payoff.

We have many tapes we'd like to transfer, so for that case, would either method suffice?

I'm thinking the second option you provided might be better.

Thanks again
GR

[zoobie]

your first stop is spending your time wisely and read "what is dvd" on the menu on the left
next up, the glossary

[GianRoss]

What exactly is the point??

[dbanimal]

Disregard everything else in my thread then, except for the hardware I used (if you want to go the affordable route).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882203057&cm_re=rca_to_usb_cable...-057-_-Product

I am very satisfied with how my project turned out using this cable. All I had to make sure of was that I recorded at the highest settings to preserve as much of the original VHS quality as possible. And as others have said, you have to make sure you record at 720x480 (DVD compliant), not 640x480.

So I have a few questions for you:

1. How much money are you willing to spend to achieve your goal of getting VHS to your PC then to DVD?
2. Do you have any video editing software (Ex: VideoRedo, Vegas, Pinnacle, etc...)?
3. Do you already have DVD writing software?
4. Do you have plenty of hard drive space (recording at high settings will eat up plenty of space)?

There's 2 ways of doing this in my opinion, buy a VCR/DVD writer combo and do it that way or capture to PC then burn to DVD but again, it's all dependent on how much you're willing to spend.

As I said, I'm very pleased with my VHS to PC results using the above cable, and it was the affordable way to go for me!

BTW, amazon.com had it cheaper.

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SVID2USB2-Video-Capture-Cable/dp/B000O5RIWO

[jman98]

victoriabears I totally understand how bothersome explaining this can be, and I'm sorry for asking .

The first link you provided brought me to a Road Runner search engine URL.

Yeah, he broke that link pretty badly. Here's the correct link.
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod2380250&navAction=

[GianRoss]

JMAN thank you for the correct link.


DBANIMAL 1. How much money are you willing to spend to achieve your goal of getting VHS to your PC then to DVD?
2. Do you have any video editing software (Ex: VideoRedo, Vegas, Pinnacle, etc...)?
3. Do you already have DVD writing software?
4. Do you have plenty of hard drive space (recording at high settings will eat up plenty of space)?

1. I can't say for sure how much yet, at this point whichever is cheapest. Since I do have many tapes, I could see me probably investing more.
2. I do not have any video editing software.
3. I do have DVD writing software (cloneDVD2).
4. I have around 150-200 GB HDD, will that suffice? I do plan on upgrading my PC soon.

Assuming I go the capture to PC route, does the video editing software allow me to do that or is that another package?

Thank you all for all the help

GR

[dbanimal]

Which OS are you running? XP has Windows Movie Maker already installed but it won't burn to DVD unless you can save the project and use your writing software to burn to DVD. If you have Vista and 7 then you can upgrade to a better version of Windows Movie Maker...for FREE and it offers more options including DVD writing.

One of my captures goes for 36 minutes and has a file size of 2.4GB...so ultimately you'll just barely get 1 hour's worth of video on a DVD. You can do the math to figure out how much space you'll need to accomplish what you want. I have around 6TB of storage and between capturing VHS and HD shows off my DVR, it's filling up fast!

[GianRoss]

I have XP, with WMM, howwever, I don't believe you can save with it. I do plan on having Win7 soon.

If I were to go this route http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod2380250&navAction= would disk space still be an issue?

Also, what is this video capture?

thanks a million
GR

[dbanimal]

If I were to go this route http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod2380250&navAction= would disk space still be an issue?

If you do that then disk space won't be an issue, it will record VHS directly to DVD so no PC required...but I don't know what will happen if you try to put the newly created DVD into a player?!?! Maybe someone else can chime in on that.

Also, what is this video capture?

Ummm...really?? It's the art of capturing video from one device to another...or have I completely misunderstood you?!?!

[GianRoss]

About the capturing thing, I understand that part, but is it used to edit also, or is that totally separate? And will I only need this the PC route?

Thanx again

GR

[dbanimal]

Well...I suppose it depends on whether the capture software included some editing capabilities. The SW that came with my cable (GrabBee) was only designed to capture and not edit but I have plenty of other SW for editing.

Now, I'm not sure about the VHS/DVD combo you had linked to as I have no experience with them. Hopefully someone else can explain that to you better.

[GianRoss]

Thank you for everything!!!

I'm pretty sure I'm going to take the route you did originally. Thank you and everyone who helped clear this up.

GianRoss

[dbanimal]

Not a problem and good luck!!

[wisny]

I read through your post and I'd be lying if I said I understood most of it. I got your original post and the equipment you intended to use, even puzzlers 5 different routes. But as someone new to this kind of thing, a majority went over my head. For me, it was hard to decipher what was good VS what wasn't. I'm not looking for the best of quality, perhaps the quality of the VHS recording at best.

I hope it's ok that I ask you to make this painless for me? Everyone that responded seemed to know exactly what they were talking about, unfortunately I didn't.

Thanks again for your patience

GR

If you're not worried about the best quality, for $20 and ridiculously easy, you can use this product:

http://www.cowboom.com/product/752444


The software will only record, and burn. It says you can edit, but several people (including me) have found you can only burn the original, not the trimmed version.



Here's a YouTube tutorial showing how to use the included software:

[GianRoss]

Thank you very much for that, I definitely plan on looking in to that route.

Thanks

GR

[PuzZLeR]

vhs2dvdconverter.com = crap
You'd do better to use pretty much anything else.

The fact that they use a spam-style site alone should be reason enough to avoid it.

...and the price alone - $39.95 - for some "complete" solution is similar to other spam-style offerings that are rip-offs and/or crap, such as those Anything->iPod converters.

I too recommend to avoid. Glad the O/P is considering other options.

[wisny]

Thank you very much for that, I definitely plan on looking in to that route.

Thanks

GR

Welcs Good luck with your project!

[dbanimal]

I read through your post and I'd be lying if I said I understood most of it. I got your original post and the equipment you intended to use, even puzzlers 5 different routes. But as someone new to this kind of thing, a majority went over my head. For me, it was hard to decipher what was good VS what wasn't. I'm not looking for the best of quality, perhaps the quality of the VHS recording at best.

I hope it's ok that I ask you to make this painless for me? Everyone that responded seemed to know exactly what they were talking about, unfortunately I didn't.

Thanks again for your patience

GR

If you're not worried about the best quality, for $20 and ridiculously easy, you can use this product:

http://www.cowboom.com/product/752444


[Attachment 5969 - Click to enlarge]
The software will only record, and burn. It says you can edit, but several people (including me) have found you can only burn the original, not the trimmed version.



Here's a YouTube tutorial showing how to use the included software:

I had a Plextor capture device years ago that looked virtually identical to this product and I'm pretty sure I paid the same price (~$20) and I feel like I got ripped off. Video quality was horrible and it would eventually lose video/audio synchronization - it was a major disappointment. Good luck to the OP if you try this, hopefully it will be fairly reliable?!?!

[GianRoss]

@dbanimal

Funny thing you say that, my cousin just said that the other day (except the Plextor thing), from his experience, so thanks for confirming.


I'm sticking to your original method.


Thanks again

GR