Converting VHS Tapes to DVD

[Frozen8950]

Hey everyone i have a question.

I have a client that has a 1000 VHS movies/home movies and other random stuff.. I have one of those new dual layer dvd burners. My question is how to get a VCR plugged into my computer so i can copy from one to the other? anyone done this anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Thermite Paste]

video capture card. youd plug it in, start the recording program. then youd have to burn the file onto a dvd as a file that would play in a dvd player.

 

[Frozen8950]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-180&depa=1

Do you mean somthing like that? or is there somthing better suited out there?

The product i buy will be specificly for pulling VHS movies from a VCR..

 

[Vile]

This will do it for you: (Dazzle)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-144-019&depa=0

 

[Wildace]

i think the winfast tv tunner card is a better way to go

 

[MScrip]

It's not as easy as just "copying" from VHS to DVD. Here is an outline of the steps required.

1. First you need some kind of capture hardware... a video capture card, a Dazzle device or analog pass-through a camcorder through FireWire. You capture the video onto your hard drive.

2. Next, you'll need some kind of editing software. After you capture the video onto your hard drive, you can edit it and get your video files ready to burn. Rendering and MPEG compression all take place during this step.

3. You need some kind of burner software to burn those files you made earlier.

I use Pinnacle Studio 8 to edit videos. Most of my video comes from a DV camcorder, but I have also captured VHS from a VCR passed through the camcorder. After I edit the movie, I create menus and assign chapters for the DVD. After a lenghty rendering process, my movie is ready to burn. I don't burn the DVD from inside Pinnacle Studio. I use Nero 6 to burn the files that Pinnacle creates. It does a much better job!

I don't think there is a way to go from VHS directly to your computer's DVD burner... since you have to do MPEG compression before you can burn videos on DVD.

Standalone DVD burners, like you see at Best Buy, use hardware Analog/Digital compression to burn directly to a DVD. If you need to burn a lot of VHS to DVD... I'd suggest a standalone DVD burner.

 

[sandman78]

The stand alone burners are the way to go for what you want to do. Even if you go buy a stand a lone (like the panasonic), use it to convert all your VHS tapes to DVD, then return it. I didn't do that, but I know people who have.

S@ndman