Jump to content

VHS to DVD


mxr dad

Recommended Posts

Anybody have an idea how to get my old home movies from VHS to DVD? Oh yeah, as painless as possible? Maybe even sending them to a company or individual to do the transfer? I had an old Dazzle program but it was brutal and time consuming to go this route. IDK, maybe there are newer programs? Talk to me Ol Wise Ones. A few years back I even purchased a Toshiba (cant remember the model number) that has VHS and DVD on it that is made to transfer the VHS to DVD but it too was tricky trying to configure the dang thing. 

 

Any recommendations?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yes, there are devices you can buy that will allow you to do that. My dad did it with all his old videos.

 

Good luck, and for what you'll likely pay for a device you're only use a limited number of times, you might want to look into finding a company that offers the service in your area.

 

There's a small company here in San Antonio that offered to do it for my dad, but he was persistent on having his own machine. The company recorded one VHS tape for free, like a sample, and the video quality was better than I thought it would be, and definitely better than what my dad ended up getting out of his machine.

Edited by Gilbert
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good point about the quality. I think I'll check into a company that does that and take it from there. Assuming they arent ridiculous in their pricing, it may be worth while to have the experienced folks do it. I have some really cool Motocross races of my son that I want to preserve. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I realize thats the best you can get on dvd, but I think that either the recording head or software (?) the guy used made all the difference. Dads toshiba did a descent job, but the free recording was noticably better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have done some transfers using a box that converts the audio and video stream to go over firewire into my PC (or Mac... I've done both), and the results are more to do with the playback deck/camera. Playback from the original recording deck/camera has been the best. I've pulled the resulting video into Adobe Premier Pro (other good programs would work as well), and been able to tweak the video further.

 

Of course, this is extremely time consuming, considering it is imported in real time, not to mention the setup and times you screw up and have to start over.

 

Beyond that, I wouldn't begin to try to do anything other than personal videos. Our school has a policy that we will NOT go from tape to DVD if the tape is currently available on DVD/BD. We have a librarian who works specifically on copyright compliance, and works to track down owners/producers/agents, to see who owns the material and if we can copy (for classroom purposes... it gets a bit vague and some will want to stretch how little we know into being able to make the copies). Most is if is just due diligence.

 

Bruce

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The problem I had is exactly as described by Marvel. Very time consuming and many times had to restart it for various unknown reasons. It just seems sometimes it worked great and other times it was frustrating enough to want to chunk it all in the garbage. I'm glad I can keep my temper down now that I'm older. Not sure that wouldve happened in my early years.

 

Thanks for the links. I'll check em out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...