VHS to DVD help please

[EJ8]

I'm going to convert old VHS movies to DVD. I have an Emmerson 4 head new vcr, a grex stabilizer because a lot of the movies are my kids Disney movies and my computer is an HP Pavillion m9040 desktop intel quad core processors. My question is what is a reliable capture device and software to use if I dont want to spend any more than about $150.00. Of course my biggest concern is video quality and dropped frames. Thanks for any advice.

[n0ty]

I've been using products from Hauppauge Computer Works for years, with absolutely no problems. I have two WinPVR-150's and a WinPVR-250. Those are legacy products, but they have a great range of newer items. You might look at their WinTV-HVR-1600 TV Tuner card, which has both Analog (cable) and Digital (air) tuners. It also has a Composite video input, and MPEG2 hardware encoder (fast).

BTW, I'm not sure, but if your HP computer is a mini-tower, it might not take a standard size PCIe card. I had that problem with a friends HP system.

Cheers, n0ty

[rago88]

you could also purchase an inexspensive analog to digital capture device which uses usb connection.
just plug in a vcr, camcorder etc and capture to any video editing program or if you run XP, you can use the free movie maker software in XP programs.

plextor make a decent unit for approx 70.00 US.


Plextor Digital PX-AV200U-SW Video Converter

[EJ8]

Thanks for the responses. As it turns out my computer has a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1800 tuner card built in, its a new computer for me and I didnt realize the card was there when I posted, sorry. So I guess my question now is what the preferred software to use to capture the movies and store them on my hard drive and also burn DVD's?

[rago88]

well, everyone has there favorite and they are all good.
Adobe, Pinnacle etc..
I prefer Ulead Video studio myself..but they all come with a price.
there are all kinds of editing tools that each has as strong points but not all of them will capture video from analog sources.
I know Ulead has a special version for analog capture. "8SE"

If you want a basic free software, then as I posted before,
XP carries windows Movie maker...Which also will capture from VCR or old camcorders.
especially if you are uploading VCR video to burn onto dvd.

I say that because,

Not as much can be done with VHS [analog] as far as improving picture quality [garbage in /garbage out as they say, although you can edit out lot of boring or repititious footage.
Just don't exspect night and day difference of your finished result just because it will end up on dvd.
It is still analog tape that has been converted to dvd file structure in order to play in a dvd player.
1 final note about tape:

I had a sony 8mm camcorder that I used around 1990...
when I uploaded the 8mm videos last year, I was amazed at the still clear, sharp, and vibrant looking results..
the 8mm tapes had not degraded at all as far as I could see..
But I think 8 mm had a higher resolution than VHS .
Good luck....