VHS to DVD
 

Hi, a family member has a few VHS tapes they would like on DVD (So they can play them easier) and I was wondering if there was a way I could do this with my PC without buying anything.

I was wondering if there would be a way I could connect the VCR and computer, take the files and then burn them onto discs.

Thanks

Re: VHS to DVD
 

Buying a converter would greatly simplify your task as they are quite inexpensive. You can connect the three leads to your VCR output and the USB end to your computer.No additional software purchase is needed as there are many free programs to download, depending upon your computer's operating system. The software should allow you to see and capture the video captured from the VCR. You can then save these as mpeg2 files and burn them to DVD.

If your VCR has a SCART output only, you will need to buy a SCART to composite convertor to enable you to connect the red, white and yellow plugs from your video converter to your PC.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-V...edirect=mobile

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Male-Scar...edirect=mobile

Re: VHS to DVD
 

oh okay. Thank you. Will look into it.

Re: VHS to DVD
 

Alternatively you could get a hard disk/dvd combo recorder (the ones with analogue tuners are cheap now) and record off tape to the HDD, later burning what you want onto DVDs. I do this occasionally. I do have a capture card in the PC but the software I have is not up to much and I've been too lazy to investigate what else is out there!

Re: VHS to DVD
 

I have a Panasonic DVD recorder and have transferred both Beta and VHS tapes to DVD by simply connecting both machines together while monitoring on the TV. It may be possible to pick up DVD recorders reasonably as most recorders now seem to use HDD rather than DVD's.

The results have been very satisfactory.

Re: VHS to DVD
 

One of my last purchases from Maplin was a converter of the type mentioned in post #2, it works very well. I think it cost about £30. They also had another costing more than £100 which the assistant recommended because it was 'better'. When I asked to quantify what he meant by 'better' he floundered, so I declined his recommendation!

Andy

Re: VHS to DVD
 

I have an EzCAP which works very well. http://www.ezcap.tv/usb-video-captur...6-capture-card It comes with ArcSoft ShowBiz capture/editing software and will even capture prerecorded tapes with copy protection OK if you use the patch available in their forum. All works fine on Windows 10.

The advantage of going via a PC is that you can do some editing along the way such as removing adverts, nasty edits and unwanted bits etc, and can also crop or blank the edges, especially the head switching lines at the bottom, which makes the result nicer to watch. Avidemux is free and will do most of the editing you need.

DVDVideoSoft Free Video to DVD Converter will convert the resulting MPG file to the appropriate files and folders to burn to a DVD, and also comes with Free DVD Video Burner for that part. Take care to just get those programs from DVDVideoSoft as some of their others are trialware/nagware, but those two are OK.

Generally I would say go for no more than 2 hours per 4.7GB DVD as otherwise the compression will begin to be more visible. If you are using 8.5GB dual layer disks then up to 4 hours will be OK. So for a full E180 tape split it somewhere near the middle if using 4.7GB disks.

Re: VHS to DVD
 

Okay, thank you, I'll try connecting the VCR to the DVD player and trying it that way.

Thanks for replying.