I've been reading the forum and the more I read the more confused I get. I need to convert VHS tapes (family and "store bought") to DVD. I know I need a DVD burner, video enhancer to take out the Macrovision, video capture(?), and a vcr, and a P4 PC (?). What do I buy and how do I hook it up. I can't be the only "middle aged lady" who needs to know this info. I'm sure other people would like to know the same thing. Do I have to go through the computer? Do I need DVD authoring software (ie DVD Movie Factory 2.1 SE) if I don't use the PC? Is it better to go through the PC? I need the whole setup. What about a capture card? See...so many confusing questions? Can anyone help me?
Well I think I can help you out with the "Family" VHS tapes.......I purchased a Video Capture Card by Leadtech (WinFast TV2000 XP Deluxe) and I have used that to capture video from some of my own VHS tpes to view on my compy. I believe it saved them as MPG files, I'd have to double check though. Then all you would need to do is use DVD burning software to convert that file and burn it to a DVD. So yes.....you will have to start with a capture card and get the video onto your PC. But beware.....once you begin to copy video files onto your PC you will eat up space real fast.......-X
Thank you Weaponx88..I'll give it a try...I know it will be trial and error but I'm prepared. Thanks for the help.
There is also an easier way to get the video onto you PC.....they have cables that act as a capture device and one end goes to you VCR and the other end goes to your USB jack. I personally have not tried these but I read on another thread here that it works well........I'll find the threads and link it here, the poster also links to the cable he used.
it's called Pinnacle. http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...ew&sku=A0406658&c=us&l=en&cs=19&page=external copy and past that in your browser. It comes with the software to capture and transform VHS or any format for that matter to DVD, or vice versa. Also comes with the hardware you need to plug the device (VCR, Camcorder, etc.) to the computer.
Here is the cable I was talking about. http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Product_Id=88962 I know there are others (not just Belkin) but this would serve the same purpose of a capture card and you don't need to open up your machine to use it. As far as the software to burn to DVD is concerned, Pinaccle (as stated by the poster above) is an option and there are many others on the market as well but you can also see that the cable comes with the software and the pinaccle has the capture device included. So as you can see these are just 2 of many options. I'd check locally for any of these devices and or software for much better pricing though.
You can also record fron satelitte reciever to pc with capture card or the cable kind .U just hook the red , wht, yellow into reciever and then hook to Dazzle. This also can be done with a s video cable.The Dazzle is a usb hookup for pc. I have the Dazzle. It came with Pinnacle studio. Very easy to use.
Things are starting to make more sense. There are so many options to copy VHSS tapes to DVD. Thank you so much for explaining what I actually need. I do have some questions though...Does "Dazzle Digital Video Creator 150" do the same thing as ADS Tech Instant DVD 2.0"? They both capture the video and convert it to MPEG2, right? What is a firewire for? Is that the same thing as a USB cable..only faster? I've read about it a lot in these forums but just don't understand the concept I guess. The support everyone is so kind enough to give me in this forum is helping me make an educated decision..and also saving me lots of aggrevation.
