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Louis Brandt
03-01-2009, 4:03 PM
Hello,
My wife and I have at least 125 VHS tapes on which we’ve recorded movies, TV series, etc. We’d like to eliminate the clutter of having these around, so we’d like to copy them to DVD. Does anyone have any experience with doing this with a VHS/DVD combo unit that copies from VHS to DVD? If so, what brand and model are you using, and are you getting good results with it, and is the output DVD of good quality?
Thanks,
Louis

Darius Ferlas
03-01-2009, 4:11 PM
The easiest and least expensive for this is one of the TV tuners (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=1427&srkey=tv%20tuner). The tuner can be connected to a TV out connection in your VCR and to the antenna connector in your TV tuner cars. The process is simple. This is often less expensive then getting a one gig device which can only capture video.

I have good experience with Hauppauge. They include basic, but decent and functional software allowing to capture video onto the PC and then to convert it into one of the popular formats, such as DVD.

mike holden
03-01-2009, 6:31 PM
Louis,
I have a samsung VHS/DVD recorder combo and I copies tapes reasonably well, and quite easily. Be aware that any tape that was not copyable to another VHS machine will NOT copy onto the DVD either, macrovision and several other forms of copy protection keep it from happening. There is a way around it using your computer but it is more complicated. Good news is that most of the woodworking videos copy onto DVD nicely. The only hangup is that we have forgotten just how much better the DVD image was, and the copied image is a VHS image - it doesnt get better just because. But it is quite watchable. Anything that you have put onto a VHS tape is copyable and quite a few commercial films are as well. I am happy with my purchase. I also have a DVR on my cable and can transfer from that to the DVD as well, I am getting quite a collection of NYW!
Mike

Pat Germain
03-02-2009, 8:47 AM
If you already have a VCR, you don't really need a combo unit. Although, I suspect a combo unit would be more convenient.

You can buy a DVD recorder for just over $100. I recently bought a Sony model which I'm very happy with. I got it at Wal-Mart as they had the best price (better than the "clearance" prices at Circuit City. :rolleyes: )

Using your VCR and DVD recorder requires only an audio/video cable between the two. You put a tape into the VCR, stand by at the ready with a formatted recordable disc in the DVD recorder, then hit play on the VCR and record on the DVD recorder. It's really quite easy.

The picture quality will depend on what speed the programs were recorded onto tape. The slower speeds allowed more time on one tape, but at the sacrifice of picture quality. Similarly, you can choose different levels of picture quality on a DVD recorder; the higher the quality, the less time you can cram onto one disc. I always use the highest quality since DVD-R discs are pretty inexpensive.

Frank Hagan
03-02-2009, 1:29 PM
I have an Insignia (Best Buy brand) DVD recorder with VHS deck, and it works very well. The only problem I run into is in getting all the tape content onto the DVD (for those longer VHS tapes.)

You can also create archive copies of your copyrighted (i.e, Macrovision) tapes by using what is called the "analog hole". Use the AV cables from the back of a VHS player to the input of a DVD recorder, and it should work. My understanding is the DMCA (copyright law) allows you to break copy protection schemes when the playback equipment is obsolete, so this should be legal soon (can you buy a VHS deck anymore?)

Pat Germain
03-02-2009, 7:48 PM
My understanding is the DMCA (copyright law) allows you to break copy protection schemes when the playback equipment is obsolete, so this should be legal soon (can you buy a VHS deck anymore?)

You can legally make copies of music and video for personal use. Copying from VHS to DVD is personal use. You can even make one copy for home and one copy for you truck, for example and it's perfectly legal. Giving it away or selling it thereafter violates copyright law.

Frank Hagan
03-02-2009, 11:05 PM
You can legally make copies of music and video for personal use. Copying from VHS to DVD is personal use. You can even make one copy for home and one copy for you truck, for example and it's perfectly legal. Giving it away or selling it thereafter violates copyright law.

I thought there was a specific prohibition against "cracking" a copy protection scheme, but it would make sense that the traditional "personal use" exemption would apply to the DMCA as well.

Al Willits
03-03-2009, 8:58 AM
The whole copy thing is so muddled it's hard to say what you can do and can't do, the industry says any copying is illegal, the courts say maybe, maybe not, and it appears as long as you copy and keep, nobodies overly concerned.
Its when you start giving them away or selling them they the industry gets involved....usually.

Personally I'd copy them and say no more.

If you run into copyright protection and they won't copy, hit Google and you'll find many programs to circumvent the protection...so I hear....

I hear DVDFab Platinum 5 is one of them that works well, so they tell me...

Al

Bob Moyer
03-03-2009, 9:41 AM
I had some old VHS tapes that I no longer wanted; most of them were either golf training videos; or old movies; I copied them to a DVD and sold the tape & dvd together on eBay. eBay has extremely tough rules on selling copies and or pirated tapes/dvd's/software. They never cancelled one of my auctions.

I have a Panasonic combo VHS/DVD/DVR model EH75 and I copy a lot of DVD's especially the ones the kids watch; if they scratch the copy, I just make another; I always keep the original.