vhs to dvd

jeffy22

I have lots of vhs tapes with priceless memories on that i need converting to dvds or storing on my computer in some format mp4, avi etc etc
have seen some converter machines around but theyre costing about £150
anyone seen any cheap ones? or other ways to do it?

geewhiz

Assuming you have a vhs player, connect this to a cheap dvd recorder and copy tapes to dvd, here's a Samsung for £69

If you have video input on the pc, connect the video to it and capture it on the pc, option to burn to dvd if you want to.

There's other slightly more complicated options if you don't have the hardware for the first two, one is to copy them all to a camcorder and then put these on your pc but then that assumes you have a camcorder too !

There's no need to buy a converter machine if you don't want to.

[Deleted User]

You can buy a VHS player and DVD recorder for less than that..

I just plugged a VHS into my DVD recorder through the scart socket, then did a 'play/record' and converted it that way. You can then manipulate the content on a computer if you wish

jaydeeuk1

I did the same thing recently. I had a spare TV card with analog input. Had a Svideo and a 3,5mm jack lead to the VCR (with SCART adapater) and recorded straight to PC, converting on the fly.

Otherwise something like this will do the job...

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150929

Assuming of course you still have a VCR...

jeffy22

we dont have a vhs player anymore, it died and we replaced it with a dvd player

Pyewacket338

jeffy22 wrote: »

we dont have a vhs player anymore, it died and we replaced it with a dvd player

Couldn't you borrow one?

[Deleted User]

el cheapo VCR - http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5336827/Trail/searchtext%3EVCR.htm

el cheapo DVD recorder - http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5336841/Trail/searchtext%3EDVD+RECORDER.htm

Total cost of £88

jeffy22

vhs player located!
so you can buy one of those little memory stick things (i dont know what they are called)
and it plugs into any standard vhs player and into a usb port on your computer.

how do you get the video from the vhs recorder onto the memory stick?
and do you need any special programs to get it onto your pc?
what format do they usually go into? ( i have adobe premiere for the PC)

Wombat

I've just started using one of those USB stick transfer jobbies. It comes with software you instal on your computer, plug the audio/visual leads into your vcr, the USB into your computer, start the supplied program, play your tape, click on Record in the software, watch and wait.

The one I'm using saves the video file as an .mpg.

One snag I hit was that our vcr didn't have any audio/visual output jacks, only a Scart socket, so I had to use the Scart to A/V converter plug from my Video Sender plugged into the vcr Scart socket, which then would take the female A/V leads from the USB Video Grabber.

Result was excellent.

totalsolutions

Panasonic have VHS-HDD-DVD-SD-USB all in one personal recorders, but not cheap.

Steve-o

Do the solutions people are talking about ignore Macrovision? I have a number of commercial tapes that I'd love to finally stick in the attic (along with the old video player), but I don't want to have to buy DVD versions to replace them. I'm not too fussed about the VHS quality, because I suppose that I'll eventually upgrade to Blu-ray and replaced them a few years down the line.