How do I restore/improve old VHS video to DVD?

[dan@coolbananas]

I am new to this forum and hope that some of you will lend me your advice. I have some old VHS tapes that I would like to try and improve both the video and audio quality, and then burn to a DVD. I have no experience in doing this type of work. I am well versed in Photoshop, but have never used any video editing software.

Can any of you get me started with the basics? For instance, I would like to do the editing on my PC. Which video card/package would you recommend to allow me to do this on a professional basis? Which software(s) will allow me to clean up the videos and restore/improve the quality?

Any advice that you can lend me would be greatly appreciated.

All the best,
Dan

[megamachine]

The range of software and hardware for this job is pretty wide, from free software and hardware for a few hundred dollars, to systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars. You may want to try some of the low end stuff first, before making an investment.

You might also need to provide more info in your question, so folks here get a better sense of where you are headed, what kind of system you already have, how much you want to spend.

For a laptop, which is what I use, you can get one of several external capture devices (Dazzle, Instant DVD, etc.), which are between 100-200USD. Sometimes they come with good software, other times not, but there are options for downloading things.

My goal is to transfer VHS tapes to DVD and other digital formats to better organize my large video collection for use in classroom teaching, for which I need decent (but not broadcast) quality.

After some experimenting and about 6 months of practicing, I have been happy with the following set up, for what it's worth:

ADS Tech Instant DVD for capturing
TMPEnc for editing and encoding
DVDlab for authoring
Nero for burning

But there are as many combinations as there are people, and it also depends on how much time and money you want to spend.

[TestPilot]

I have tried with much success, using: -

Cyberlink Power Director Pro, follow link to 30 day trial download

http://www.gocyberlink.com/english/download/dl_file_new.jsp?dl_id=66&ProdId=45

This software does everything. Capture, edit, menu, author and even burn.

Give it a go.