I wanna transfer family videos (vhs) to dvd

maxi_isa

I have about 20 hours of recordings which I want to put onto dvds.
Does anyone know how much a lab would charge to do this without any editing? Alternatively, I'm thinking of buying a recordable dvd machine with a hard drive. Can anyone recommend one that would also facilitate editing (by a techie novice!).
Any advice appreciated.

deanos

Why not just get a dvd recorder/vcr all in one, thats what ive got and copied all my tapes to dvd dead easy

maxi_isa

Thanks deanos. As I have quite a good vcr, I was thinking of just taking an output with a scart to a (new) dvd recorder with a large memory. Eventually the dvd machine would probably replace the vcr.
Which vhs/dvd combi do you have and would you recommend it?

joemardo1

I bought a panasonic es15 earlier this year for £120, probably later model now but if you look around, you will get a deal. Don't go for any cheaper inferier brand. No vcr in it or hard disk, just hooked it up to my vcr ...and I also copied all my family camcorder 8mm tapes onto it, direct connection between camcorder and dvd, great job!

joe

deanos

maxi_isa wrote:

Thanks deanos. As I have quite a good vcr, I was thinking of just taking an output with a scart to a (new) dvd recorder with a large memory. Eventually the dvd machine would probably replace the vcr.
Which vhs/dvd combi do you have and would you recommend it?

I have a Sharp one http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5335323.htm there is a seller on Ebay selling them for £114 thats wher i got it

mrs_baggins

You can also do this by hooking up your vhs to your pc and then you can edit it if you want with some video editing software. I did this with mine and it was quite easy once I had everything in the right place. I had to get some leads for about a tenner is all. And I was also able to edit out the bits where people had forgotten the turn camcorder off and it was 10 minutes of peoples feet and things like that. I was then able to add photos and titles and things. It became quite addictive!

maxi_isa

Thanks mrs baggins - using my pc looks interesting especially as I need to do some editing. But don't I need a special card/interface for the computer and some software? Where can I get more info on the details of what is required and how to do it?

mrs_baggins

I suppose it depends on how new your pc is. Mine had a built in tv card and how it was supposed to happen was that I should have been able to tune this in to receive the picture once the vhs was hooked up but that didnt work for me so I viewed it through some video editing software. One of these was pre installed on my pc and is with a lot of newish ones but in the end i used a bought one that I had installed.(you may be even to download frr trial software from some sites such as Pinnacle) If you have windows Xp you may be able to do the same thing with movie maker which is a microsoft built in one.I am not the most technical person to help but once I knew what I was doing it was really easy once I had the correct leads from maplins. It worked a treat. The quality wasnt brilliant i must admit but then again the tapes were like 28 years old and at least now they are saved onto dvd for keepsakes. If you have any specific technical type questions maybe the teccie board ca help as I know this has been done before on there. It was great to see the finished dvd and I even added music to it, phased in the photos, and did various in built special effects.

daisyboo

in aldi they have a high speed dvd maker for £24.99, It says you can burn from video players or camcorders and even edit the videos and add special effects