Video tape to CD or DVD

[chillyuk]

We have a lot of VCR tapes of family events and the such like we would like to preserve on CD or DVD's.

Lidl are selling this next week and I was wondering if it is what I need to transfer the tapes to the PC, then from there to the DVD. This is not something I have ever done before so am going into it slightly blind! We could send them away to be copied and this may be the best way, as once they are done then the copying equipment will be pretty well redundant.

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[Andy_R]

Given that the cheapest conversion services start at around £5 per tape, after 4 tapes you're in profit! Also, after some practise, you can control the quality of the final product - quite often you hear of disappointing reults from professional services. Go for it!

 

[Angelfishsolo]

We have a lot of VCR tapes of family events and the such like we would like to preserve on CD or DVD's.

Lidl are selling this next week and I was wondering if it is what I need to transfer the tapes to the PC, then from there to the DVD. This is not something I have ever done before so am going into it slightly blind! We could send them away to be copied and this may be the best way, as once they are done then the copying equipment will be pretty well redundant.

Any advice gratefully received.

The only issue with the device lidl as selling is that your PC must be fast enough to maintain the data transfer rate or it will drop frames and the picture quality will be degraded. I guess for £20 it is worth the gamble.

 

[Night Train]

I was looking at the same thing.
If you get it I would be interested in how it works for you.

I am in the same position with lots of VHS. I have a DVD recorder linked to my video player but it has been playing up. It means I can spend 2 hours transfering somethign only to find, after, that nothing was recorded as the DVD failed to format the disc properly, or some other excuse.

 

[tubbystar]

Bought a similar thing today from Maplin for £30. Done a couple of tapes already. Works ok but of course it won't improve the quality of old and worn video tapes.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Bought a similar thing today from Maplin for £30. Done a couple of tapes already. Works ok but of course it won't improve the quality of old and worn video tapes.

You can buy software that can clean up VHS conversions.

 

[tubbystar]

You can buy software that can clean up VHS conversions.

Yep, anyone had any experience of using it? Might invest as I've got quite a few tapes to do.

 

[chillyuk]

As a supplementary question I take it that once the VCR is transferred to the computer you can use the computer's DVD burner to save the video.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

As a supplementary question I take it that once the VCR is transferred to the computer you can use the computer's DVD burner to save the video.

These things usually encode the resultant file as .avi or .mp4. To watch the file on a DVD player that is not .avi compatible you will need to use a program like convertxtodvd to produce a DVD.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Yep, anyone had any experience of using it? Might invest as I've got quite a few tapes to do.

To be honest they are not great.

 

[tubbystar]

Yeah, I wondered that. I've already tried another, newer VCR and thats improved things a bit.

 

[chillyuk]

Today we bought a Roxio Easy VHS to DVD kit, and although I haven't used it yet, reading the instruction manual it certainly seems straightforward. It also works to transfer vinyl (we have loads) to a digital format for CD's, MP3 players etc.