Video to DVD??

Sallys_Savings

Hi, firstly..........Merry Christmas to you all

I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me.
We have lots of videos of the children growing up and over christmas time we always have a showing of them all . Sadly this year we no longer have a video to play them on.

I went into a shop today to ask how much it is to convert the videos to DVD and they were quoting £40 for a 2 hour tape :eek: Rather shocked I've been looking on ebay and found alot cheaper quotes but I'm really concerned about sending my precious memories away to a stranger.

I'm thinking it may be better to actually buy something to convert them myself...is it easy enough to do?......what do I need to look for?

Any help would really be appreciated as I havent a clue...many thanks

Mattjimf

all you really need is a tv card and the cables to connect the video player to your graphics card (although most of the newer graphics cards come with the proper connectors). See here for a walk through

albertross_2

The easiest way is to buy a combined video and DVD recorder unit, not sure of the current prices, but probably in the £100-200 range. Or a new video and separate DVD recorder, which is probably £120 or so, but more fiddly. Or as already mentioned a video, and a TV card for the PC.. but even more fiddly. Or ask a friend and family with any of the above to do it for you, or lend you the equipment.

Bert_Anderson

What I've done previously is hook up the video camera through the dvd recorder and record from the old VHS-C tapes directly to DVD using a cheapo (69 quid or so) Cybehome 1600 DVD Recorder from Asda.

I've subsequently converted the DVD Recording to Divx/MPEG-4 format via Nero Recode (on the PC) which allows you to put even more old VHS recordings onto digital formats - the great thing about the Cyberhome 1600 is that it also plays Divx/MPEG-4 files too

The PC method may be the cheapest but from personal use the cam to dvd recorder method seems to be the most straight-forward from my experience.

imho

Or just hook up your video player to a dvd recorder and copy video that way

irishjohn

if you are considering buying a new dvd recorder, go for one with a hard drive - you can link up your video player to it as an external source and record the video content onto the hard drive, then dub it onto dvd - I did this with mine for a friend and it was very easy. I recommend Panasonic model for straightforward process.

Give me a PM if you need more help

Fairwinds

I've been doing the same thing over the last week.

I bought DVD maker from Aldis a couple of weeks ago. i think it was 24.99. It came with a composite to usb convertor and also Power Director software which seems quite good.

Aldis may still have some if your interested.

It has worked quite well for me

mrs_baggins

I did it in a slightly different way. I hooked up an old vhs (can borrow one from someone for a few days??) to my pc then edited out all the horrible bits, added some soundtrach etc then burned it onto a dvd

Kido

I did the same as Mrs Baggins above. This is what I used.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=307332

It's very straight forward. The only thing you need in adition is a scart lead with an in/out switch.

If comes with software included but I prefer to use Videostudio 10.