VHS to DVD help please

[darkcyber]

We have some older childrens movies that are not available on DVD and I wanted to get those from vhs to dvd to preserve them, but I'm having a problem.

A friend of mine has one of those new dvd recorders and he hooked up his vcr to that and tried it and it will not copy.

So, I then tried doing it like I copy some of my old home vidoes...I hooked up the vcr to my digital camcorder and tried and I get an error 'Copy Inhibited'.

So, now the question...is there anyway to get this off vhs to my pc? I have an ATI 9800 Pro All-In-Wonder video card...is there anyway to run it through that?

Thanks!

[EvilWizardGlick]

There are some Macrovision removers out there, SIMA makes one.
There have been various discussions of this topic as well.
Do a search and you should come up with one.

[lordsmurf]

TBC

[edsmith77]

WINPVR 250.

[SatStorm]

The cheapest bt8xx card out there won't care about MV
Cost far less a TBC unit or a WinPVR 250 card. For VHS 2 DVD transfers, some guide reading from here and a typical PC, you do your job fine

[darkcyber]

Help me out a little here guys, I'm new to trying the vhs to dvd thing.

Are the Macrovision removers you're talking about software programs for my pc or hardware?

I hooked my vcr up to my ATI 9800 AIW and tried recording under the TV setting and got the same error....copy protected.

Is there not a software program that will remove that using the composite video input from my vcr into my pc?

Thanks again, and sorry for the stupid question...just never done vhs to dvd.

[The_Doman]

So, I then tried doing it like I copy some of my old home vidoes...I hooked up the vcr to my digital camcorder and tried and I get an error 'Copy Inhibited'.
Thanks!

You could try if there is a passthrough option in your camcorder, maybe that will work.
I use my Sony D8 camera with macrovision tapes this way. The camera detects the macrovision signal and disables the record funtion, but streaming the DV signal straight to the pc with the firewire works perfectly!

[darkcyber]

I have a Sony Mini-DV camcorder...I will have to see if I can find the manual and see if it will do that.

How to you enable the pass through on your D8? Mine may be the same.

So, basically what you're doing it hooking up your regular vcr and running it into your camcorder and then passing through the video from there into your pc via firewire and recording on the pc.

[The_Doman]

So, basically what you're doing it hooking up your regular vcr and running it into your camcorder and then passing through the video from there into your pc via firewire and recording on the pc.

Yeah, that's how I do it. Possible you have to set in the menu on the camera which input you want to use (DV-in or analog). Normally if you plug in the firewire cable it wil override the analog inputs. When all goes well you should see the picture of the VCR on the LCD display and on the PC (firewire).
I use a (European PAL) D8 TRV 120 camera. It is possible they changed things in the newer models. Just first try it with a tape without macrovision.

[darkcyber]

The_Doman

Ok, I tried hooking up the vcr through my camcorder and when I use it and can't get the video to come through the ATI TV thing.

I normally use Pinnacle Studio 8 for capturing from my Mini-DV and it will see the video but I don't hear any audio. And when I start capturing the video Studio 8 starts my Mini-DV tape playing.

What program are you using to capture the video with and how are you doing it...details.


Mine will work fine dubbing a Mini-DV from the camcorder, just never tried pass through

[The_Doman]

The_Doman

Ok, I tried hooking up the vcr through my camcorder and when I use it and can't get the video to come through the ATI TV thing.

That wil obviously not work.

Just use a decent DV-capture program to get the signal from the firewire card. I personally use ScenalyzerLive, but there are others too (freeware).
First you have to see if there comes a signal on your Firewire/Dv card from the camera when connected with the VCR.
The AMCAP program (look in the tools) is also nice, you can use it to view the incoming firewire signal.
First try that to check if all is well connected and works.

[pike]

Get ulead video studio 6 or 7, hook up your vcr to your video imput on card and copy to computer.
Then use Ulead DVD movie factory 2 or 3 to make your DVDs. Did all my home movies that way with great results

[darkcyber]

Get ulead video studio 6 or 7, hook up your vcr to your video imput on card and copy to computer.
Then use Ulead DVD movie factory 2 or 3 to make your DVDs. Did all my home movies that way with great results

Well, I can do all my home movies as well. The problem I'm having is dubbing a commercial vhs video to the pc/dvd.

Have you done that using the programs you listed?

[MOVIEGEEK]

I use Ulead VideoStudio 6 but Nero Vision Express 2 or TMPGEnc DVD Author will work.
Definatly use firewire instead of your ATI card.

[Epicurus8a]

A cheap hardware solution is to purchase a SIMA device (+/- $30). A better alternative is a Time Base Corrector (+/- $300).

[pike]

I have only done home movies and movies recorded from cable TV.

[yg1968]

The passthrough feature of a DV or Digital8 camcorder 8 will defeat macrovision if you use it with the firewire port. If you don't have a firewire port, I suggest that you get one. It will be useful to edit in DV.

You activate the pasthrough feature of your camcorder by enabling the DV Out from your camcorder's menu. You also have to take out the casette from your camcorder. The passthrough feature only works if you have a firewire port on your computer. You also need a firewire cable.

The ADS DVD Xpress box (roughly 50$) also defeats macrovision on top of being an mepeg hardware encoder.