VHS (home movies) to DVD or VCD

[oledad]

Ok so I'm new at this so this might sound like a lame question to all you veterans. Can you give me some advise on the hardware and software that I will need to put my home VHS movies onto DVD. I've done alot of encoding of movie downloads for VCD's but got a new computer with a DVD burner now so want to take the leap into DVD authoring. Thanks for your assistance. Great forum here

[rsquirell]

There are basically three ways to get VHS to your hard drive. You can install a video card or use an external hardware device ( decent ones will cost $200), or you can pick up a DV Vidcam that has analog inputs that will act as a pass-thru via the 1394 firewire (you're looking ata minimum of $500 for this option....but, then you also get a DV VidCam for use.)

[ignignot]

The most common way to do this is actually to install a video capture card, which can be found for as little as $20. You hook your VCR up to the capture card, and more or less record the video. However, I wouldn't expect great results via this method, and it takes great deals of time and effort.

The ideal situation would be if both your VCR and video capture card had an S-Video connection, but to the best of my knowledge most VCR's do not use S-Video.

[oledad]

Thanks guys guess i'll do a shopping for a capture card. Any sugesstions on software?

[rsquirell]

well....if you buy a $20 card you'll probably be disappointed. There are cheap external devices, too....but the resolution is poor. Usually people want to do the conversion to get an exact copy of their VHS tape on DVD to save space...but if the copy isn't exact they are reluctant to get rid of the bulky VHS source. To achieve as-good-as-source quality you're looking at $200. I've heard people say good things about Snazzi, All-In-Wonder, and Happauge cards....I use a Dazzle DVC-150 external device from Pinnacle. Whatever you choose....get it at a store that will allow you to take it back, or trade up....in case you're dissappointed with the results.

[tigerman8u]

I wanted to get a video card with tv out. I got the AIW 9000 pro, to do captures too. I've gotten excellent results with it so far. Can be a pain sometimes to install software but works great after that. These can be bought for app. $150 or less.

[oledad]

thanks again 150 to 200 is nor too bad. ok back to shopping

[metalspider1975]

well....if you buy a $20 card you'll probably be disappointed. There are cheap external devices, too....but the resolution is poor. Usually people want to do the conversion to get an exact copy of their VHS tape on DVD to save space...but if the copy isn't exact they are reluctant to get rid of the bulky VHS source. To achieve as-good-as-source quality you're looking at $200. I've heard people say good things about Snazzi, All-In-Wonder, and Happauge cards....I use a Dazzle DVC-150 external device from Pinnacle. Whatever you choose....get it at a store that will allow you to take it back, or trade up....in case you're dissappointed with the results.

Hi rsquirell. I am trying to copy vhs to dvd. I also use the dvc 150 from Pinnacle. I would like to know how can you shrink or compress the files to fit on a 4.7 or 8.5 gb dvd? Maybe its a real dumb question but, I can't figure it out! Am I missing something? Please give me some advice as to what to do. Thanks. Please e-mail me at: bkorth@tds.net Thanks so much