How Do I Convert My VHS to DVD Through My Computer?

[The Monkees]

I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't seem to find a post that simply answers this question.

I know I need some type of connector for the VCR to the computer, what kind of connector. Also what type of program would I use to receive the info into my computer and put on a DVD with chapter stop capability?

[Xylob the Destroyer]

buy a capture card
connect your VCR to the capture card as described in the instruction manual that comes with the capture card
install virtual dub or use whatever other capture program you prefer.
if necessary, convert your captured files to DVD compliant mpg format
use preferred authoring program to create DVD files
burn with preferred burning application
play your "new" dvd in your dvd player

[kschang]

Aye. A capture card, or a capture device that connec through USB will do as well. In a pinch, a TV tuner would do as well, but those seems to have lower input quality.

Those cards usually have bundle programs that'll do the capture to file.

[The Monkees]

Where can I find one of these cards?

[dcsos]

So far 2 suggestions have been for ANALOG capture.
Fine

What I suggest is different. Buy a device that converts the VHS signal to FIREWIRE outside of the computer....then capture that signal to a firewire port (buy an add in card if you don't have firewire ports built in)

I use a Adaptec firewire add-in PCI card and a DAZZLE Convertor

The Dazzle is no loner made.
I reccomend the CANOPUS ADC box instead
http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC110/index.php

[gerryc]

Where can I find one of these cards?

Try CompUSA or Best Buy and explain to them what you would like to do. They'll get you set up...

[FulciLives]

For video capture on a computer I would look at the Canopus ADVC-110 or the DataVideo DAC-100

I would also look at the Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250 or 350 models as well as the USB2 model (external USB 2.0 device). Stay away from the 150/500 models and the "other" models that do not have "PVR" in their name.

I'm also rather found of the ADS Instant DVD 2.0 and the new ADS Instant DVD + MP3 is also worth looking into as it adds the ability to capture the audio as AC-3 format.

The Canopus ADVC-110 and DataVideo DAC-100 capture in the DV AVI format. Very good quality and easy to edit but you must convert to MPEG-2 DVD spec using a software encoder. The learning curve is a bit "high" and the process is time consuming but the results are most excellent.

The other devices are hardware MPEG capture devices. You can capture direct to MPEG-2 DVD spec. The only "bad" thing is they all capture MP2 audio (except for the ADS Instant DVD + MP3 which does capture AC-3 audio) thus you need to convert the audio to AC-3 or PCM to burn a truely compliant DVD disc. Not the end-of-the-world plus re-encoding the audio is a lot less time consuming than re-encoding the video as is needed with the Canopus ADVC-110 or DataVideo DAC-100.

Another option is a stand alone DVD recorder with a built-in HDD as this allows you to do a lot of stuff similiar to what can be done on a computer but with a dedicated machine. I have a Pioneer and love it. Other popular makes include Toshiba and JVC. I'd say that right now those are the top 3 makers. Panasonic is popular but crap. Lite-On has great quality but are not very reliable. Most other brands like Philips and no name brands like Cyberhome are garbage. Sony is OK but not that great and very overpriced etc.

When doing VHS to DVD you also should look into getting a "high quality" VHS VCR such as the S-VHS models made my JVC. You also might need or should at least consider getting what is called a TBC (Time Base Corrector).

Oh and there is one other option that is available. Some Digital8 and DV camcorders have analog A/V inputs and some models with that feature can be hooked up to a computer for capture. So an example would be ... you connect your S-VHS VCR to the camcorder ... the camcorder is hooked up to the computer via FIREWIRE ... the camcorder converts the analog input from the S-VHS VCR to DV AVI and sends that to a computer. So if you have a digital cam check to see if it has this feature (often called "analog to digital passthrough"). I did notice just recently when looking at buying a new camcorder that of the newest generation of models very few of the new models have this feature anymore which is a bit disapointing.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Use an on-line website like PRICEGRABBER.COM to find the lowest price.

[ScottEslick]

Can you recommend a S-VHS player, looks like there is a large range of price.

Thanks, Scott

[FulciLives]

A popular model is the JVC SR-V101US which currently is the top-of-the-line model that they make. There was a slightly higher grade model that was very recently discontinued but the only real difference is that the SR-V101US has a 2MB frame buffer for the TBC whereas the other (discontinued) model had a 4MB frame buffer for the TBC. Those lucky enough to have tried both units seem to think that there is no difference at all in the 2MB vs 4MB versions. The JVC SR-V101US has a MSRP of $425.00 but it can actually be bought at a variety of on-line retailers for as little as $275.00 give or take.

JVC also makes a high-end combo unit ... the JVC SR-MV40US is a DVD recorder with a built-in S-VHS VCR that appears to have all the functions of the JVC SR-V101US including a built-in TBC. The MSRP is $499.00 but you can find it on-line for around $380.00 give or take.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Use an on-line website like PRICEGRABBER.COM to find the lowest price.

[rhegedus]

Canopus.= $230

VCR.........= $380

Total.......= $610

Just buy a set top DVDR with built in hard drive....

[ScottEslick]

It looks like a good set up would be:

1. JVC SR-MV40US - $408 (has the built in TBC, is this as good at the stand alone models?)
2. Canopus ADVC-110 - $230 (the Datavideo DAC100 is $185, does it perform the same at the Canopus)

I would like to capture to my computer for editing, am I in the correct ball park?

Thanks for all your help!!
Scott

PS - I may need to do some PAL tapes, how does this effect what I purchase. I know I need a PAL VCR. Any ideas.

[rhegedus]

I would like to capture to my computer for editing, am I in the correct ball park?

If you get a DVDR, you can edit your DVDR VOB files on PC. At least a set-top would free up your PC and you wouldn't have to worry about dropped frames.

p.s. I bought a Canopus ADVC-100 about 4 years ago to capture my VHS collection. It took me aaaaaages, but I was pleased with the result. However, since I bought my set-top DVDR 2 years ago, I've only used the Canopus about twice.

[FulciLives]

It looks like a good set up would be:

1. JVC SR-MV40US - $408 (has the built in TBC, is this as good at the stand alone models?)
2. Canopus ADVC-110 - $230 (the Datavideo DAC100 is $185, does it perform the same at the Canopus)

I would like to capture to my computer for editing, am I in the correct ball park?

Thanks for all your help!!
Scott

PS - I may need to do some PAL tapes, how does this effect what I purchase. I know I need a PAL VCR. Any ideas.

The JVC SR-MV40US is a combo unit with a S-VHS VCR and a DVD recorder. For a combo unit it seems fairly well made. As far as I can tell the S-VHS VCR side of this combo unit has all the same features of the JVC SR-V101US although I am not 100% on that.

The Canopus ADVC-110 is very good and the DataVideo DAC-100 is nearly as good. Some people think that the Canopus has a very slight edge over the DataVideo ... otherwise they are almost identical. I should point out that the DataVideo DAC-100 is made to totally ignore copy protection. The Canopus ADVC-110 is the opposite and will not allow you to copy anything that is copy protected.

As for PAL video ... the Canopus and DataVideo units are both capable of NTSC and PAL capture but the S-VHS VCR units we have been talking about are only capable of NTSC. You would need a PAL capable S-VHS or VHS unit.

JVC does make a multi-system 6-Head Hi-Fi Stereo S-VHS VCR (model HR-S6970AH) that can play and record NTSC and PAL but the price is about $350.00 and it does not include a built-in TBC. My other suggestion would be a Toshiba multi-system VHS VCR unit. You can get a Toshiba 6-head Hi-Fi Stereo VHS VCR unit (model V-E61) for $130.00 from WORLD GIFT CENTER and yes they also carry the JVC S-VHS multisystem unit (which is normally $350.00 but currently on sale for $330.00)

Please note that these multi-system VCR's will play PAL as PAL. You then capture as PAL with the Canopus/DataVideo then once on your computer you can convert to NTSC if you want. This is the best way of doing PAL to NTSC conversion. However it is a "tricky" thing to do so the other option you have is the Samsung SV-5000W which is a 4-Head Hi-Fi Stereo VHS VCR that can play NTSC and PAL but with the ability to play PAL as PAL or output as fully converted NTSC. This way you would use a stand alone DVD recorder since most USA models are only capable of NTSC recording. Again you can buy the Samsung SV-5000W from WORLD GIFT CENTER and the price is $330.00

If you do a google search on "multi-system tv" or "multisystem tv" etc. you will find many on-line sites that sell such equipment. I only mentioned WORLD GIFT CENTER because it is a popular site that I know to be reliable. There are many other such sites.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[ScottEslick]

I think with the possibility of the PAL tapes, the route I'm gonna take is the JVC SR-V101US, the Datavideo DAC100 and the Datavideo TBC-1000 and add a PAL VCR later. Does this sound like the correct way to approch this?

Thanks, Scott

[FulciLives]

I think with the possibility of the PAL tapes, the route I'm gonna take is the JVC SR-V101US, the Datavideo DAC100 and the Datavideo TBC-1000 and add a PAL VCR later. Does this sound like the correct way to approch this?

Thanks, Scott

Yes.

That's why I mentioned the Toshiba multisystem as it is cheap yet should give good quality for the PAL stuff. You can add it anytime when you feel ready to tackle your PAL VHS stuff.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[ScottEslick]

The JVC website says that the SR-V101US has a TBC built in. Do I need the external one?
http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/tech_desc.jsp?tree=&model_id=MDL101505&itempath=nul...&feature_id=02

Scott

[FulciLives]

The JVC website says that the SR-V101US has a TBC built in. Do I need the external one?
http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/tech_desc.jsp?tree=&model_id=MDL101505&itempath=nul...&feature_id=02

Scott

The TBC built-in on a JVC S-VHS VCR does something a bit different than a Full Frame TBC so to be "safe" it is best to have both. The two most popular Full Frame TBC devices are the DataVideo TBC-1000 and the AVT-8710 both of which can be bought from the B&H PHOTO AND VIDEO website which is actually just one of many websites that you can order them from I just give that one as an example.

Anyways to understand more about what a JVC built-in TBC does vs. a Full Frame TBC check out this here thread ---> CLICK HERE

While I am at it here is another you should check out ---> CLICK HERE

Good Luck !!!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman