mspam3
enthusiast
Posts: 2379
Loc: Allen TX
Reg: 03-10-07
|
05-31-11 02:44 PM - Post#132566
I have several VHS tapes I'd like to convert to DVDs. Is it better/cheaper to buy equipment to do it myself or take it to a place that will do it for you? These are tapes of the kids growing up so I am really looking for the best way to preserve them.
|
LowGear
enthusiast
Posts: 302
Loc: Allen, TX
Reg: 01-12-06
|
05-31-11 03:59 PM - Post#132574
In response to mspam3
I got a Diamond One Touch Video Capture VC500 and it does the job well. I haven't had any problems.
If you don't have the time or patience, many businesses will perform the transfer for you. I recently saw that Sam's Club now provides this service.
Shop around and see what you can find.
|
mspam3
enthusiast
Posts: 2379
Loc: Allen TX
Reg: 03-10-07
|
06-01-11 10:13 AM - Post#132640
In response to LowGear
Thanks for the info. I'll look into that. It doesn't look that difficult to do yourself, just the amount of time you have to put into the project.
|
Michael
enthusiast
Posts: 2075
Loc: Allen
Reg: 05-20-02
|
06-01-11 07:20 PM - Post#132711
In response to mspam3
It doesn't look that difficult to do yourself, just the amount of time you have to put into the project.
That's true, it's easy but does take up a lot of time.If you know how long the tape is, you can start it, go off do something else, and come back when it is done.
I use a Dazzle converter, but I think they are all about the same.
| I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it! |
|
DAB
enthusiast
Posts: 138
Loc: Allen
Reg: 03-18-05
|
06-02-11 11:30 AM - Post#132765
In response to LowGear
How does that work? Do you hook your VCR to your hard drive?
|
Al C
enthusiast
Posts: 5920
Loc: McKinney/Allen, TX
Reg: 02-16-01
|
06-02-11 11:47 AM - Post#132773
In response to Michael
It doesn't look that difficult to do yourself, just the amount of time you have to put into the project.
That's true, it's easy but does take up a lot of time.If you know how long the tape is, you can start it, go off do something else, and come back when it is done.
I use a Dazzle converter, but I think they are all about the same.
Dazzle's a good one.
Another thing to keep in mind ... video files take up huge amounts of space. If you have a lot of videos you want to convert, you might want to consider an external drive to store them on.
|
javaprincess
enthusiast
Posts: 151
Reg: 06-01-10
|
06-02-11 12:30 PM - Post#132780
In response to Al C
Or just buy a DVD recorder. After you've finished dubbing your videos, you can replace your VCR with this, and you will be happy to see that your video collection will go from several drawers of old VHS tapes to a small shoe box of DVDs. 
A DVD recorder costs about $100, and blank discs are about $17 for 100 discs. Those are DVD-R/DVD+R "write once" discs. So you can use them for saving your home videos. Then buy a couple of DVD+RW/DVD-RW discs that you can record over and over for the TV shows.
|
Michael
enthusiast
Posts: 2075
Loc: Allen
Reg: 05-20-02
|
06-02-11 06:29 PM - Post#132853
In response to DAB
How does that work? Do you hook your VCR to your hard drive?
It connects to the A/V (Audio/Video) jacks on your VCR and the USB connector on your computer.
| I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it! |
|
Michael
enthusiast
Posts: 2075
Loc: Allen
Reg: 05-20-02
|
06-02-11 06:32 PM - Post#132854
In response to Al C
Another thing to keep in mind ... video files take up huge amounts of space. If you have a lot of videos you want to convert, you might want to consider an external drive to store them on.
That's true. I have a large hard drive in my computer but I also bought a large external hard drive that I plug into my USB via a docking station to back up the videos.
| I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it! |
|
Michael
enthusiast
Posts: 2075
Loc: Allen
Reg: 05-20-02
|
06-02-11 06:34 PM - Post#132855
In response to javaprincess
Or just buy a DVD recorder. After you've finished dubbing your videos, you can replace your VCR with this, and you will be happy to see that your video collection will go from several drawers of old VHS tapes to a small shoe box of DVDs.
That's fine if you don't want/need to edit them.
| I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it! |
|
MCAdventures
enthusiast
Posts: 178
Reg: 08-06-04
|
12-14-12 12:50 PM - Post#158014
In response to Michael
This is an old post, but thought I would chime in that there are a lot of "home" options available now. Including computers with tuners/recording capability beyond the Dazzle (which I never really had very good luck with). A DVR can record to a hard drive, which you can then make simple edits, then burn to a DVD. Then you can rip it to your computer to make more advanced edits depending on what software/hardware your computer has. I recently used U-Edit Video to transfer some 8mm movies to DVD, then transfered that to my computer to make edits.
|
