Copy VHS Tapes

[Mistress Diana]

Thanks to a really great person on this site, I have learned to copy DVD to VCD, and I hope someday I can help someone as sort of payback.

Now I want to try VHS tapes to CD-R and have gone to the links on the left of the screen, one of which mentions the following:

"These guides describes how to capture using a capture-card, a TV-Card like WinTV Hauppauge or a Videocard with video-in/TV-in."

I am pretty sure I do not have a WinTV card in my computer, but how can I tell if the existing Videocard might have video-in/TV-in.

I have a brand new Laptop with S-Video capabilities, and in my utilities I find information on TV Now and TV Now options. I also have the cables, and convertor box to hook up to TV, so I can play VCD disks on computer watching on TV screen.

So only thing left to figure out right now, is what, if anything else do I need to be able to copy VHS tapes onto my computer to in turn burn on to CD-R disks.

Thanks

Diane

[Karate Media]

According to my limited knowledge, the TV NOW function is one-way: from your computer to your TV. It will let you watch your DVDs/VCD/etc. on your home television (as I used to do before I shelled out for a standalone player), but it will not capture video. The S-video and other ports are going to be line-out only. Unless you are video editing professional it's highly unlikely that you purchased a laptop with video-in capabilities.

If you are using a laptop, your best bet is going to be an external capture device. Installing a video capture card just isn't an option with laptops for the most part.

First question will be, "What sort of data ports does your computer have?" We're looking for USB 1.1 or 2.0 or (even better) Firewire. If you have neither (or want something like firewire, if you don't have it already), you can get an plug-in PC card that will fit into an opening that should be in the side of your computer.

If you have firewire, it may be worth it to but a DV capture device. I use the Dazzle DV-Bridge -- the company sucks and the product was a headache at first, but once I rigged the ground wire, it's been fine -- but there are other options as well. DV will be higher quality than, say, the USB 1 Dazzle DVC 80, which captures .avi video at VCD resolution. Something like the DVC 80 is much cheaper than a dv-bridge, but if you think you might want to have broadcast quality DVDs of your VHS tapes someday, then it might be worth the investment.

Actually, the capture card section of dvdrhelp.com has information on external capture devices, and I'm sure that it is far more informative than I can be...

Basically, though, I think you need an external capture device -- turn to the pros to help you decide which one...

Another lengthy post from

Karate Media

[K2]

Your Laptop manual should tell you if the video is input or output.
It is not likely to use one port for both input and output. It is rare to have video capture card in a Laptop.

[Gazorgan]

For laptops, you typically use a USB (2.0) or Firewire capture device. Remember laptop hardrives are smaller and slower than a full size PC. Laptops are NOT the best computer to capture with, but it can be done.

[Karate Media]

Gazorgan-
very true about the hard drive -- a laptop is not the ideal way to capture high quality video (but I will rebut this soon, see below). In fact, looking at MD's specs, I would tell her not to buy a DV-Bridge for her laptop, but look for a less expensive device, such as the DVC 80.

I actually first used the DVC 80 with my laptop (a 3-year-old Gateway, Pent III, 20GB HDD, USB1.1, Windows ME) with almost no problems at all. I think a casual user who isn't looking for the best quality (maybe they just want to transfer old home movies to VCD so they don't wear out the tape) would do fine with a USB device and a laptop -- in fact, I did a local commercial some time ago where I had to incorporate some footage from the client's previous commercial -- I used the DVC 80 to transfer the original commercial to my laptop and with a minimum of post-pro fuss, it didn't look half-bad in the final commercial. So...I wouldn't totally knock the laptop as a means of capturing video (I got paid and nobody hated the ad, so I'd call that a thumbs-up for laptops!). That said, of course, I usually stick to my desktop for video work when I can...

So, Mistress, what sort of videos are you transferring, and why? This will help you decide what sort of capture device you need, and if your laptop will offer the quality you require.