I was advised to get ........... Toshiba DVR19DTKB2 Freeview DVD/VCR Recorder Combi - Black by Toshiba as a good option to copy vhs tapes onto dvd discs. Im still in the thinking about it stage. Ive got lots of vid tapes dating back to the 80s, it would be great to get them into digital format and maybe enhanced quality too ! I cant just buy something blind, for eg, when recording the vid tape Id need to be able to see the vid on TV and be able to pause the recording with rem control.... just to get the best bits.
Assuming these are not commercial tapes (that may have Macrovision protection which would prevent copying)I would simply copy a tape to a DVD-RW disk and use DVD Shrink on the PC for simple editing and forget about stopping and starting the playback on the unit. As far as quality goes, I wouldn't expect to improve on the original tape.
I had a few hundred VHS tapes myself.I just donated them to someone who can use them.To much work copying them.All of them are on DVD now anyways.Take up a lot of space in the house.