Newbie. VHS to DVD Questions.

[Thinkly]

I aplogize in advance for my ignorance. I am trying to figure out the most economical way to convert my VHS tapes to DVD. I presently do not have a DVD burner and want to know what to buy.

I do have a PCTV Pro (pinnacle) video capture card, but I only think it will convert to MPEG 1, not MPEG 2 which is what i think i need. I read somewhere that you should only compress it once? Yes? No?

I have a Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz, Computer with 80 G HDD. I have captured some some of the video, but aside from the MPEG 1 problem, it also has a high level of audio noise. It is a hiss sound.

Can i edit this out? Would i be better off just buying a stand alone DVD recorder or should i try and stick a burner in this computer and use my current pinnacle card?

I do plan to buy a new MiniDV camera in the near future, and i understand tha the camera will do the converting for me. So should i buy the video camera instead of a stand alone recorder? Sorry for the dumb questions.

[tigerman8u]

depending on how many vhs tapes you have and seeing that you don't have a dvd burner and with the prices of stand alone dvd recorders coming down that might be the better way to go. Some of the stand alone dvd recorders have a hard drive in them that allows for video editing also. But then some ppl to capture to the pc for more advanced editing etc. If the vhs tapes are copy-protected you will have to deal with that also,

[shiny#3]

the most economical way would recommend to know how many vhs tapes
you would like to capture? means, how many hours!!! at your speed it might be possible to capture directly to disk and then convert to nero digital format...
and then burn to disk at app 1,5 or two hours each!!
i still would recommend to buy a double layer dvd burner,
the lg gsa 4163 b is only 50 € app 55 $ ... containing all the almost lossles data
at aproximatly 1000 kbytes per second video and if necessary dolby surr. you can store approximatly 8 hours to a dvd in very good quality

[shiny#3]

in nero digital , which is, if neccesary, compatible to the standart mpeg 4 format!!

[Thinkly]

I have about 50 -60 hours of home movies that i want to copy. I am not really all that concerned with copying copyrighted material. I am mainly interested in getting my home movies onto DVD.

[Thinkly]

I do have a PCTV Pro (pinnacle) video capture card, but I only think it will convert to MPEG 1, not MPEG 2 which is what i think i need. I read somewhere that you should only compress it once? Yes? No?

What about this? If the files I capture are MPEG 1 is that a problem?

Also, the options are not available to be clicked on. (see attached) Why are they not there?