newbie with sony vaio troubles please!!

[rsuave5]

Hi all im a true newbie. i have a new sony vaio 512 sdram.80 gig, pentium 4 1.8, i have adobe premiere, win movie maker,dvdit,dvgate.
i think thats all my movie software, ne ways
i mostly burn my home movies to dvd with it and im pretty good at editing etc. i now wish to save some of my vhs tapes to dvd and im wondering how. the tech guy at best buy says all i need is a cord that goes av to 1394 but others say i need a card etc. im lost i know next to nothing. all the info on this site is great ive read for a few days.
but the lingo and nuances are very new to me can someone tell me exsactly what i need do thanx soooo much

[Agent 0008]

If you have any kind of video input your ready to go. Firewire IEE1394 will allow the input of video to be captured, if your computer has a TV tuner you can simply connect your VCR straight to the computer and capture.

I have a firewire capture card and can connect to my computer through my camcorder, I plug the VCR RCA outs to the input on my cmacorder and then by firewire connection from the camcorder to the Computer.

Most of the time thou if the source isn't macrovision protected I will simply use the camcorder to tape it and then capture from there.

If I remember right some Sony have the RCA jacks located right on the front of the tower and you should be able to connect there. Look for the door at the very bottom, it should drop down.

PORT CONNECTORS
Four USB (two front/two rear)
Two PS/2® (Mouse/Keyboard)
One VGA monitor port
One Serial / One Parallel
One 6pin i.LINK port (rear)
One 4pin i.LINK port (front)
One Headphone / One Microphone
One Line In

[rsuave5]

that sounds great but the a/v on my cam corder says out so i didnt think i could go in from there. i have no rca inputs just usb memory stick and 1394 do i need a weird cord to go a/v to 1394? thanx for good insight

[Agent 0008]

I have a Sony digital DCR-TVR720 it uses a jack called AUDIO/VIDEO ID-2. I use it to connect to the VCR when I want to play back videos shot on the camcorder, it also serves as and input when I want to record something on the Camcorder, insted of connecting to the VCR in I connect to the VCR out jacks to the same ID-2 jack and hit the record button on the camcorder. I connect the supplied cable to the output cable the VCR uses to connect to the TV by using a phono plug female to female adapter from radio shack. There designed for audio but they work with video as well.

[rsuave5]

thx for that i dont believe i have the same jac i have s video out a/v out and dv (1394) in out my sony web support says this is the only way to go into it. i think im going to just buy a vcr with a firewire out and go direct ne one tried it?