I recently came across a box of my old videotape movies. I am debating whether or not it’s worth the effort to convert some of them to DVD. I don’t have a VCR set up currently and I don’t want to keep a VCR permanently set up. But I would be willing to set one up to convert movies over from VHS to DVD so I could then watch them on my DVD player.
So is anyone familiar with the process? How much effort is it? How does it work? I assume there must be some way to connect the VCR to my computer. Is there some kind of adapter involved? What software will I need? Recommendations are welcomed.
As for legality, I assume it’s legal for me to transfer a movie I own on to another format as long as it’s for my own use.
My rule of thumb is: If the movie available on DVD? If so, it’s not worth the time and trouble.
Any computer store will have video digitizer cards, often combined with TV tuners. What you need is going to be determined by your computer. The cheaper once rely more on your computer’s processor, while the more expensive one have hardware to handle the conversion. Hauppauge’s main business is cards and USB devices. I own one of these, and it gives me an HD tuner that works great with my Windows 7 computer, allowing me to record and archive HD network programming (only non-scrambled cable channels and over-the-air) and it has a video input that I can use with the VCR.
The Supreme Court’s “Betamax decision” legalized time shifting, but not format shifting. If you’re really worried, buy the DVD. Personally, I only transfer things that I cannot buy.
It looks like that is a tuner, not a A/V digitizer. I realize you could take the antenna output of a VCR into it, but that wouldn’t be the best quality if VCR audio/video output can be used.
I just found an old family video from 18 years ago that was on VHS and made a DVD out of it for the people on the video. I wouldn’t do this for any of my old recordings of commercial movies – in fact, I just threw away a ton of those tapes. But I would transfer anything that may be worth saving like family videos or even some old TV shows. The process is not hard, but you do need a VCR player to read the VHS tapes. If you want to do this on your computer you will have to connect the VCR output to an analog to digital device, and then capture the video as a file on your computer. You can do it without a computer by connecting the VCR to a DVD recording device, which could be on the same machine as the VCR (check out Panasonic). Or you can take the tapes to an outfit that will do the conversion for you for a price.
This is a copy from a 15 year old VHS Taped home movie we made on our boat to a DVD-R, then to you-tube. Not too bad considering the age of the tape and all the transfers.
I hadn’t even considered that possibility. I guess I was thinking that the combos players played either format and discounted the recording capability. Something to check into.
It’s a mixture. I have a lot of old movies on tape. Some of them were never released on DVD. Plus I have stuff like TV shows I recorded. And there’s the stubborness of not wanting to buy something I’ve already bought once.
Here’s the thing about those - if the tapes are pre-recorded ones from Hollywood studios, you’re going to run into the copy protection system they used called Macrovision. I’ve never tested it, but I’m pretty sure most of the combo units are going to obey the Macrovision rules and either not record, or give you a crappy unstable, flashing copy. If you use a computer, you can get an external Macrovision stripper.
None of this is a problem if you’re only talking about stuff you recorded yourself from TV or camera.
Nope. As I said, I own this exact unit, and it is plugged into the computer I’m typing on. If you run Windows 7, this inexpensive little device turns it into an HD-DVR.
No idea. I’ve never tried to capture pre-recorded tapes using any video digitizer because the DVD is going to be so much better quality that my time is worth more.
As Musicat pointed out, you could get one of the cheap Macrovision removers if you need it. They are usually called video “stabilizers”, and since they are pretty much obsolete, you should be able to find one for $5.
I use a standalone DVD recorder and a VHS deck. I also use the DVD recorder to convert 8mm and Hi8 tapes. One piece of advice. Always use 1 hour or at worst 2 hour mode on the recorder. The 4 hour mode degrades even the VHS tapes. You can also use Dvdshrink to convert the DVD into an ISO file, which is handy when someone asks for another copy.
I wonder if I could make a better copy if I used a S-VHS deck? I would think a S-video connection you degrade the image less than a composite video connection.
Warning: if it gets around that you can copy VHS tapes, you are going to have people coming out of the woodwork with tapes to copy.
Yes, but not for that reason. First is that S-VHS decks would usually have video heads optimized for SP speed, where cheap consumer decks would have narrower heads optimized for the crappy EP speed. Also, S-VHS decks are just generally better decks with better motor control that will handle the tape more gently, a more solid frame that will improve picture quality by minimizing “time base” errors (the tendency of vertical lines in a VHS picture to become fuzzy) and even “time base correctors” that will stabilize the picture even more. And the last part, the S-Video output will be fed by a Faroudja decoder that further enhances quality.
People have given me very nice Mitsubishi S-VHS decks for free, and yeah - a better one defintely produces a better tape. But make no mistake, the very best S-VHS deck ever made, playing the very best pre-recorded studio VHS tape ever made will still look like dogshit compared to a DVD of the same title. Just better dogshit.
"Transfer home movies and digital pictures to DVD without a PC. Connects with virtually any camcorder, VCR or DVR, and even accepts the four most common memory cards. "
I have a combination DVD-VHS recorder, and I’ve been transferring movies all summer. In most cases it’s things I simply can’t get on DVD, or in some cases, in any format. Like Judge Dee and the Mnastery Murders, which I taped from TV. or the Giorgiou Moroder version of Metropolis, which to my knowledge still hasn’t been released on DVD (and is rare enough on VHS)