VHS to DVD - Videokarma.org TV - Video

ohsteve · #1 10-27-2011, 08:22 AM

Hi guys, I am not much of a vintage video fan as I am a audiophile, but my question which I am not sure where to put is ...does any one know how to record old vhs tapes to dvd format. I can burn both DVD and bluray but I can't figure out how to get the video signal over to my computer. I have tried the Roxio vhs to dvd capture thing, and the Easy CAP capture thing but can't get either of them to work. It seems that in todays hi tech world that someone somewhere has made a simple adaptor to go from the audio/video out of Vhs machine to a usb input. But if so I have not heard of it. I would love to be able to rerecord all my Vhs movies onto DVD or bluray platform.
Thanks for any help given.
Steve

old_tv_nut · #2 10-27-2011, 10:28 AM

I have not heard of any video to USB adapters, but I haven't looked recently. What I have is a Hauppauge video tuner/input card, which allows hooking up the baseband composite video and L/R audio for DVD recording. However, I must tell you that the results on fast motion are not very good due to the software MPEG encoder. I get much better results using a dual VHS/DVD recorder. Unfortunately, either of these solutions will cost you a couple hundred bucks, but the dual recorder gives excellent results with just a push of a button.

Electronic M · #3 10-27-2011, 12:46 PM

I have a Pinnacle Composite to USB adapter, and it is the lousiest thing I've ever used! It adds noise that is not there with a TV set, takes a smoothly panned secne and makes it jittery, pixelates stuff, etc.

I use a Toshiba DVD/VHS combo unit to transfer anything analog that I want on DVD to DVD. I got my combo unit for between 20-40$ at a thrift shop.

***Eric H*** · #4 10-27-2011, 05:14 PM

I have one of these Panasonic DVD-VHS combo recorders,, not sure of the model but similar to this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DIGA...011DNQAQ/2?o=9

It works great and very simple to use, copies are the same quality as the original or better since it up converts to 480.

The only thing it won't do is copy tapes with Macrovision, but neither will most PC Programs or Video Cards.

I find that most older tapes aren't protected with Macro anyway, Disney Tapes are one known exception, Disney protects their content like a Pit Bull.

I don't know if these are still available but you should be able to find a good used one somewhere.

zenith2134 · #5 10-27-2011, 08:32 PM

My combo unit is long dead (samsung) so I now dump Hi-8 tapes and VHS to DVD using a magnavox dvd recorder unit. The firmware is pathetic but it gets the job done after shouting swear words for a while. Only thing I've found is that, on my unit, DVD-RW is unusable even though the manual says its OK. It'll record fine, but at the end it 'finalizes' the dvd and on RW it will never complete. Wasted a lot of time figuring that 1 out

But yeah, I've made a few dvd-r's which look fine and play fine on other dvd decks.

Electronic M · #6 10-27-2011, 09:46 PM

I've got a dedicated Samsung DVD recorder and despite being able to play discs, it refuses to record on any disc I've tried. I wish I hadn't bought it at SA as they don't allow retrns on electronics.

zenith2134 · #7 10-27-2011, 10:03 PM

so that's two strikes against Sammy. go figure

Tony75 · #8 10-29-2011, 04:37 PM

Tried a number of things over the years. Had a semi-professional convertor from a friend, this worked on firewire rather than usb. Very good quality but if the tape had any, i mean ANY dropout, it would bluescreen and not record anything else. It was just too fussy.
Got a cheap Kaiser Baas unit that took a composite video input and put a usb output. This thing was rubbish, ok for animated stuff, but any full motion video it just went all pixellated.
In the end got a stand-alone LG DVD recorder, results are fairly good, but ironically not as good as good VHS, and you are restricted to all its menu screens for the finished product, which aren't all that bad really. It's not fussy at all with the input material.