Help with DVD-R

[Scout]

I have hundreds of family movies on VHS that I want to convert to a DVD.

I have been told that the best option is the Sony VAIO computer with a DVD-R and a Belkin capture device.

Will this work or is there a better way????

It seems that the 2 hour VHS tape will take up lots of space when capturing??? Can it be captured as one continuous item???

What can I do or is this unreasonable???

THANKS For any input or suggestions! !!!!!

[tateman66]

Hello,

You have a challenge in front of you. Absolutely everything depends on how much money you want to spend.

VHS tapes are analog media. They'll need to be converted to a digital format and captured at the same time. Equipment varies greatly in this task. You don't need to buy a specific computer or DVDBurner in order to accomplish this. The cheapest way to go is to buy a 1394 compliant Firewire card or some other device which does analog conversions. (I don't know if FireWire cards are made with analog inputs like S-Video. HELP ME OUT EVERYONE) The bottom line is that you'll need some hardware to connect your VCR to your computer. Then, most DVD-RW drives come with some kind of authoring software. Most non-professional type DVD-RWs range from $550 to $800. I bought a Sony 5120 for $600. (no comment on it's performance yet!) It came with low end software by Sonic called MyDVD. MyDVD lets you pipe video input straight from digital camcorders to DVD. Though, I don't know if this will work if the input has to be converted first. So, you might have a two step process on your hands.
It's much easier to go from a digital camcorder to DVD! FireWire inputs are becoming very popular now. I bought a SoundBlaster Audigy soundcard for $100. It has a FireWire input on it.

Sorry if I've confused you any further. I'm sure people will post about erroneous things I've said in this post.

I guess the bottom line is that video creation is not that cheap to accomplish. There are also alot of video shops that you can take your VHS tapes to. And, they will convert everything to DVD for you.

In the meantime, I'd suggest getting a DIGITAL camcorder if you don't have one.

Steven Tate

[kelleym]

There's another alternative, and that's to use one of the standalone DVD recorders that are now coming to market.

I'm looking seriously at the Panasonic model -- under $1200 and it creates DVD-R and DVD-RW. Works like a regular recorder, accepts composite S-video inputs and DV inputs, so you can just hook it up to your VHS machine (or any other video source), hit record, and away you go.

If you're interested in this option, email me towards the end of the week (I should have it by then -- the nice thing is I have 30 days to return it without charge to see if it will work as advertised).

The disadvantage of such a unit (particularly for the people on this forum) is without the ability to do software tricks you have limitations as to what you can accomplish -- certainly putting the SVCDs of Lord of the Rings would be tricky (not impossible, but then again I have other computer equipment at my disposal which will output video which I could then just record on the standalone). Copy protection on DVDs will mean you won't be able to hook another DVD machine up and copy the disk (but that's not what you're trying to accomplish). The advantages are you don't have to mess with codecs, computers, hardware etc. and no time is wasted in trying to compress your source. If you can afford it, I think it would suit you the best.

[chulo100]

I have worked with this stand alone DVD recorders and they have a very , very good capture card so they can make very good quality DVDs from an analog source. You wont be able to have nice menus just a generic text you give for each video segment and the stand alone panasonic dvd recorders are under $800 on the net.

[kelleym]

I did end up buying the Panasonic unit (for under $1K) and it does indeed work great. The video is incredible, as pristine as anything I've seen from commercial DVDs, and the DVD-Rs it makes are playable on nearly every DVD player I've tried (all but one, an older Pioneer model).

As you suggest, it can't do more than simple menus for multiple program segments, but within this limitation it fits all my needs for transferring video and recording material from my DSS. I even put a certain 4 disc SVCD movie on one DVD and it's very, very good.

The one and only drawback I've seen is that it won't work with media cheaper than around $6 or $7 -- all four different types of cheaper media I tried failed in the machine. So while it doesn't have champagne and caviar tastes, it certainly doesn't like fast food.

[chulo100]

Try The Apple DVD-Rs they cost $24 for a 5 pack that's what I use without any problems. They are made by Pioneer for apple so you pay little for the best media with a different name...

[kelleym]

I'm not sure where you're getting Apple DVD-R in the 5 pack for $25. CompUSA has that pack at $37, and that's about the cheapest around I've found (and at that price, more expensive than the TDK I'm currently using).

If you have an online ordering source I'd love to know about it.

[kelleym]

Ahhh, forget about it.

I see that Apple's site themselves are selling it for that price. Funny -- you can get it cheaper directly from Apple than you can anywhere else (usually it's the other way around, particularly when it comes to anything Mac flavored).

I'll try a pack and see how it works. Thanks for the heads up.