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Anyone converted VHS tapes to DVD?

Discussion in 'General' started by Spooner, Dec 26, 2012.

  1. Spooner

    Spooner Well-Known Member

    I was talking to my dad over Christmas and he mentioned the pile of old family VHS tapes so it got me thinking about converting it to DVD so we can actually watch them, plus I'm guessing that the tapes won't age terribly well. Anyone actually do it? What software did you use? I have a pretty good laptop so I think it will handle it well, plus I have a huge hard drive. I figured I would edit them a bit while I was at it as well.
     
  2. backcountryme

    backcountryme Word to your mother.

    I would look for a company that could rip the raw files for you. I think there is a fair bit of hardware you need to do it properly.
     
  3. kz2zx

    kz2zx zx2gsxr2zx

  4. Spooner

    Spooner Well-Known Member

    Yeah I started searching around and most of the stuff looks to be pretty reasonable, $50-$80 or so. I wasn't sure if there was one that was way better or easier to use than another.
     
  5. turbodogs02

    turbodogs02 Just batting at the bunny

    I got a good deal on VHS/DVD conversion through Groupon or Livingsocial or some such thing....ended up doing some old WSBK tapes. They came out great. Depending on how many tapes you have, maybe looking into the cost at a local shop may not be to bad.
     
  6. backcountryme

    backcountryme Word to your mother.

    Not sure about your setup, but I tried to convert some for my grandma a while back. She had the conversion box, don't remember the brand. But the quality never was that great. I don't know if it was the VCR or if it was the capture box. I ended up paying to get it converted. The quality was really good. I am guessing that the pros use really high end equipment.
     
  7. Lightshoe

    Lightshoe Member

    I'm looking into doing the very same thing.I am very computer challenged. Walgreens said they do it.The 1st 2hrs is $20 and $5 after that. Like was said before kinda depends on how many tapes you have to transfer.
     
  8. V5 Racer

    V5 Racer Yo!

    I bought a combo VHS/DVD recorder for a couple hundred bucks and copied them all that way.
     
  9. notbostrom

    notbostrom DaveK broke the interwebs

    wanna rent it out?
     
  10. desmo2

    desmo2 Well-Known Member

    My wife bought a VHS/DVD recorder this fall, stole a stack of her parents' old home videos, converted them to DVD and gave them to her parents for Christmas. She is now converting our old VHS tapes. The DVD's came out in as good of quality as the VHS tapes.

    It's a Magnavox, model # ZV427MG9.

    Wal-Mart or Amazon have them:

    http://www.walmart.com/ip/Magnavox-Dvd-Player-Vcr-Combo/11319408
     
  11. Spitz

    Spitz Well-Known Member

    My dad did this a while back after he bought a hugh jass fire safe. Took him a little time but he had quite a few tapes. Dont think the setup was all that complicated.
     
  12. Metalhead

    Metalhead Dong pilot

    Yep, I just got one. Got it at Best Buy. Easy to use. Well worth the money.
     
  13. What is this "VHS" you speak of?













    M
    :D
     
  14. rd400racer

    rd400racer Well-Known Member

    Damn, this doesn't help me..


    All my stuff is Betamax!
     
  15. Metalhead

    Metalhead Dong pilot

    Actually RD, the VHS/DVD recorder can help. They will take an external source via 'RCA' jacks. I've got an older mini cam that recorded on them small ass tapes. I can just plug it in into those jacks and dub away.:)
     
  16. rd400racer

    rd400racer Well-Known Member

    Good point Metal. I really do have a bunch of old Beta stuff that I would like to transfer (it's stored next to my albums, dbx unit and Discwasher).

    Don't ask me why, but back in 85 I taped the entire Live Aid broadcast on my Beta. I don't think I ever watched it. Might be kind of cool to check out.
     
  17. acorn27

    acorn27 4 out of 3 people in the world struggle with math

    Cool. Been looking to do this for a while, have like 2 or 3 different tape formats from over the years. Sounds like the VHS/DVD player combo is the ticket!
     
  18. jb_11

    jb_11 Well-Known Member

    I got the same deal. I think it was a place called Southtree? The quality is good. Now instead of a shelf of VHS tapes that were never watched, we have a small box of DVDs that never get watched. :D
     
  19. Mechdziner714

    Mechdziner714 More Gas Less Brakes

    Hows the quality look? Is there a discernible drop in picture quality from the original VHS?
     
  20. beac83

    beac83 "My safeword is bananna"

    The pros usually use a Frame Synchronizer or Time Base Corrector that stabilizes the video and also can adjust brightness, black level, hue and color saturation (chroma). It also probably has an audio limiter to keep from over-driving audio levels as well. That's really the only difference.
     

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