kevin c Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 I have the complete Burner Series, purchased many many moons ago and, so, on a format that hardly anybody under 30 has. I'd like to make DVD's of each tape, for my own use as well as loaners to our club's new competitor training program, but commercial outfits in the area will charge 30+ bucks for each transfer, and that's just the basic media change. I don't even know if they'll duplicate a copyrighted VHS tape, even for personal use. Is this something I could do at home? Is it hard to do things like a directory and chapter stops? Please understand that my computer skills are laughable. TIA, Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 Kevin, We wanted to save some stuff that we had on VHS only to find out that the VHS player we had was toast. I wound up going to Fry's and getting a reconditioned VHS/DVD combo recorder for ~$80 to copy them. Fry's has something like that now: http://www.frys.com/product/5233937?site=s...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG Later, Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted August 17, 2009 Author Share Posted August 17, 2009 That looks like a very good solution, thanks! kc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Will doing it that way give you the chapter stops and ability to click from one section to another? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outerlimits Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Will doing it that way give you the chapter stops and ability to click from one section to another? absolutely not...that's controlled by the dvd authoring. there are many ways to get this done. i converted dozens of vhs tapes of my child growing up. took a long time, but was worth it. you will need some computer skilz to pull it off, but it's not rocket science. the best method is to get the vhs footage onto your computer. again, lot's of ways to pull this off. if you have a video out on your tv, then it's easy. play the vhs out into a dv camcorder. then, import it into yer pc and author a dvd, complete with chapter screens, etc,. real easy on a mac...dunno about windows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted August 18, 2009 Author Share Posted August 18, 2009 Thanks, Butch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Will doing it that way give you the chapter stops and ability to click from one section to another? absolutely not...that's controlled by the dvd authoring. there are many ways to get this done. i converted dozens of vhs tapes of my child growing up. took a long time, but was worth it. you will need some computer skilz to pull it off, but it's not rocket science. the best method is to get the vhs footage onto your computer. again, lot's of ways to pull this off. if you have a video out on your tv, then it's easy. play the vhs out into a dv camcorder. then, import it into yer pc and author a dvd, complete with chapter screens, etc,. real easy on a mac...dunno about windows. I have 3 or 4 VHS tapes that I need to get on DVD, and I don't have a VHS player, and I'm on Mac. Would it be worth it to buy "something" and do it myself, or - I've seen signs when driving around for shops that say they will convert tapes to DVDs. That might be the easiest? be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outerlimits Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Will doing it that way give you the chapter stops and ability to click from one section to another? absolutely not...that's controlled by the dvd authoring. there are many ways to get this done. i converted dozens of vhs tapes of my child growing up. took a long time, but was worth it. you will need some computer skilz to pull it off, but it's not rocket science. the best method is to get the vhs footage onto your computer. again, lot's of ways to pull this off. if you have a video out on your tv, then it's easy. play the vhs out into a dv camcorder. then, import it into yer pc and author a dvd, complete with chapter screens, etc,. real easy on a mac...dunno about windows. I have 3 or 4 VHS tapes that I need to get on DVD, and I don't have a VHS player, and I'm on Mac. Would it be worth it to buy "something" and do it myself, or - I've seen signs when driving around for shops that say they will convert tapes to DVDs. That might be the easiest? be brian-are they full 2-4 hours vhs tapes? if so, it'll take more than 1 dvd. either way, you gotta get them digital-on yer mac, before you can create a dvd. send 'em to me and i'll take care of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 brian-are they full 2-4 hours vhs tapes? if so, it'll take more than 1 dvd. either way, you gotta get them digital-on yer mac, before you can create a dvd. send 'em to me and i'll take care of it. That's a really nice offer Butch - thanks! PM incoming. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbrowndog Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Along the same lines, I've got some classic movies (VHS)that I'd like placed on DVD. what would be the simplest way of accomplishing this, a local provider or DIY??????? Trapr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 I'm going to move this to the "electronics" area. - Admin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Knight Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 I got a TV tuner/Video input card for my desktop PC and it has cable as well as RCA input. I hooked the VCR up to it and set the system to record the Tape as it plays to the hard drive. Very high quality and very easy. The system stops automatically when the tape runs out. Took about 4 GB for a 2 hour tape. An external Model. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16815144028 A Mac Model http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16815144024 An internal PCI model http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16815116007 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16815293003 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16815116010 I make no claims on one that costs 20$ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16815260017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Along the same lines, I've got some classic movies (VHS)that I'd like placed on DVD. what would be the simplest way of accomplishing this, a local provider or DIY???????Trapr The simplest way might be to check amazon --- replacements on DVD are often pretty cheap.... The one thing that nobody's considering here is that home burned DVDs are not necessarily long-term stable storage, to say nothing of archival --- so if you're looking to copy irreplaceable footage, you might want to store a copy or two on hard drives, as well as burning multiple copies to DVD.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 The simplest way might be to check amazon --- replacements on DVD are often pretty cheap....The one thing that nobody's considering here is that home burned DVDs are not necessarily long-term stable storage, to say nothing of archival --- so if you're looking to copy irreplaceable footage, you might want to store a copy or two on hard drives, as well as burning multiple copies to DVD.... I'll second that. And I checked everywhere, the couple movies I have are not available on DVD. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtBob Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 I have also heard of how home-recorded DVDs will not last forever, but I haven't had any problems yet. As someone who used to work at a professional video production, post production and duplication facility, I can say this. We would never touch copywrighted material for a customer. It isn't worth the potential problems. We also didn't do much transfer for people off the street either, it was way too time consuming for us to get into it, so most people couldn't afford us. The smaller shops that specialize in transfers are the way to go if you only have a couple tapes to do, but I doubt they would touch copyrighted material either. Will anything happen? Most likely not, unless someone finds out that you did it and had a grudge or something against you so they decide to turn you in. That being said, copyrighted, Major release VHS movies often came encoded with copy protection making it difficult, but not impossible to duplicate. We had the equipment at work that would strip the encoding and let you duplicate it, but this gear wasn't meant for that purpose. Anyway, I am digressing. You can get a VHS/DVD recorder that will allow you to make DVD copies of your VHS. There should be a button on the remote that will make a chapter point on the DVD whenever you push it, or at least, when you pause the recording. You will have to check with the manual, but the function is there. If you are trying to copy a copy-protected VHS to DVD, it will not work right. You will know this by the way the picture will get very dark, then back to regular levels... then go back to dark. You can also just get a DVD recorder if you already have a VHS deck, plug the VHS into the DVD recorder and it will work the same. All DVD recorders come with the added option of changing the quality of the recording to get more material on a disc, just like the old VHS where you could choose SP, LP, or SLP. So if your VHS is 8 hours long, it was recorded in SLP, you just have to choose the right quality on your DVD-R so you can fit all 8 hours on it... if you want it all on the same disc. But beware, the lower quality settings are just that, LOW quality, especially playing off of old VHS. All DVD recorders also have the ability to make a rudimentary menu as well. If you want/can get the video into your computer (to do this check and see if your video card has an audio/video IN conneciton) and you get some Authoring software, you will be able to do much more, like create your own custom menus and put chapter points whenever or wherever you want. Most software apps even give you some editing capabilites if there is something you want to cut out. Then you can record as many copies as you want with your DVD burner. If anyone has any questions about all this, I would be happy to try and make sense of it all, just send me a PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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