richard lake asks:
What is the easiest way for me to copy old VHS tapes onto my laptop’s hard drive so I can burn DVDs?
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I also want to burn DVD’s from our old VHS tapes. Thanks for making this question and I am looking forward for somebody to answer the easiest way.
Richard,
did you manage to burn your VHS tapes to DVD? What method and tools did you opt for and how did it go? Any recommendations for other people faced with this task?
use Roxio easy VHS to DVD to hook up a vcr to your computer to port the video tape as digital file. then use Toast ( or whatever ) to burn to dvd disc.
Hi
Diamond VC500 One Touch Video Capture Device
Mygica EZgrabber2 USB 2.0 Video Capture Adapter Device
EzCAP116 USB 2.0 Video Capture Device
StarTech SVID2USB2 USB 2.0 Video Capture Cable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMHFzrsglUY
if you have a vcr then its very easy.Use a Video Camera. If you have a digital video camcorder, you can use it as an intermediary to convert your VHS tapes to a DVD format. You’ll need to hook your VCR up to your video camera using composite video cables (the red, white and yellow cables). If you don’t have these, you’ll need to purchase them from any electronics store so you can complete the conversion. Attach these cables to your VCR’s video out port and to the video in port on your camcorder. Different makes and models of camcorders work differently, so your best bet is to read your camcorder’s instruction manual to determine the exact steps. With the press of a few buttons you should have your VHS data on your video camcorder. You can then transfer that data to a DVD by connecting your camcorder to your computer or DVD burner.Note: You may need an analog-to-digital converter to use between your VCR and camcorder if your camcorder does not have this feature built in.
There are a couple ways to do this.
1) Buy a TV tuner card for your computer, install it, and hook the VCR up to the TV tuner.
2) Use a digital camcorder to record data from a VCR to a computer. Look for cameras that have a “pass through” mode as they should be set up to make this process easier.
3) Buy a VHS to Digital converter box. These take in the analog input and output to USB or Firewire. Radio Shack will probably have one, and I bet a Fry’s or Microcenter would as well.
4) Buy a VCR/DVD-R combo drive. Sony sells one called the RDR-VX560, but I’m sure there are many others.
The cheapest option? Using the camera if you already have one with the correct features. The VHS-to-Digital converter is probably the second cheapest, as most such boxes go for between $50 and $75.
I have the RDR-VX560 at work and it is pretty easy to ‘sync’ to a DVD from old VHS tapes. I’ve converted many videos from our Archives to DVD to ‘futureproof’ them.
dave, i have about thirty vhs family tapes i want to convert to dvd. did you use the rdr to do something like this?
thaks john, jpacini1@cox.net