What do I need to do to convert VHS to VCD on my computer?

Factual Questions
1

I have many VHS tapes that I tend not to watch because rewinding them is such a chore in rewinding them. I want to convert as many as I can over to VCD’s (I would say DVD’s but I don’t have a DVD Writer) to prolong their life a little. Tarnations! I would even do it with my own home made porn (not for your viewing pleasure…only mine you pervs).

I know that it is possible since I inadvertantly bought a bunch of pirated VCD’s off of ebay (RRRGGHHH!) a while back and would like to convert my real VHS to my own personal VCD’s.

[ul]
[li]Are there cords available that can go from the cable part of the VCR to a USB port?[/li][li]If not, will I have to buy some special type of video card that will allow VCR input?[/li][li]How about programs… What type of program will I need for the conversion process? I assume Windows Media player may be able to handle this.[/li][li]Anything else that I should know?[/li][/ul]

2

This might help… http://www.vcdhelp.com/

Zev Steinhardt

3

It’s more complicated than your OP suggests, in that you will need a special video card, not just a USB cable, and you’ll need a separate program, not Windows Media Player, for the capture and conversion process. The good news is that much of the software is free – go to the link zev_steinhardt posted, it really has everything you could possibly need to know. Very good site.

4

Thank you kindly. I guess I will have to invest in a tv in/out card.

5

If you have a firewire (1394) port, you can use this:
http://www.dazzle.com/products/hw_bridge.html

I’ve got one, and it works pretty well. I’m on a Mac, so I use iMovie to edit down what I’ve recorded, and then Toast to convert and burn into VCD format. I’m sure you can do the same on a PC.

6

I use a cheap ATI card & Nero. ATI comes with software to capture & make vcd format files. This takes me only ten minutes more than the length of the video to create a vcd.

BTW, have you ever thought it in the future if there are going to be vcd players?

7
      • I bought a middle-priced ATI graphics card (Rage Pro Fury 32meg?) two years ago for about $120 US that has a video-in, and came with software for capturing still and video images from the input in a number of different formats. The sound can be from the soundcard’s mic, line-in or a pre-recorded sound file on the computer. It supports a number of different (worldwide) video input standards and also has a “digital VCR” that you can set to record, but I ain’t used any of it yet so I don’t know how well it works. Now something similar very likely costs even less.
        ~
8

" (Rage Pro Fury 32meg?)"

Yep, thats what I got & it makes vcds nicely. But ATI drivers suck. I think that VirtualDub (free) is a better vcd capture program but you have to find the ATI drivers for it.

9

This is a very good point. Once DVD burners get a bit cheaper and start shipping standard with new computers, I’m sure VCD will disappear entirely.

I myself currently have about 40 gigs worth of dubbed MST3K episodes sitting on my hard drive until I can afford a DVD burner. I’ve burned a few to VCD just to see how it works, but I want to keep these for a long time, and I know VCD won’t be around forever.

So, consider either waiting until you can buy a DVD burner (they cost around $350 right now), or if you have a big enough hard drive, keep copies of the captured video files so you can burn them to DVD later.

10

My DVD player has the ability to play VCDs. Not sure if this is a common feature or not on a DVD player, but I imagine that the format can continued to be supported.