VHS to DVD

[bodegabay_bob]

I am just learning about copying old videos to DVD. I bought a unit expecting to be able to copy old bought movies but discovered that they seem to be encoded with some sort of signal that prevents copying.

I'm not trying to do anything illegal - I just want to copy them once to use on my DVD players and throw away the VHS originals. I feel I should be able to do this since I've already paid for the right to have a copy.

I've been told that I can do this with the Sima Go DVD CT-2 device in between my VHS player and my DVD recorder. Is this true? Or, how else can I accomplish my goal?

[FireRaven]

capture it using your computer then just burn it to dvd.

or if your video cards supports tv out send that straight to your dvd recorder.

the pc will filter out the copy protection on the vhs.

[bodegabay_bob]

thanks - any particular PC card & software you recommend for a desktop machine?

or, external USB device for my laptop?

both run XP

[bodegabay_bob]

also - I have heard that the Sima Go DVD CT-2 device will also get around the copyright problem. Does anyone know if this is true?

[FireRaven]

yeah i heard there are modules/devices that will correct the problem.

as for going it on pc. you can simply run the vhs via composite rca cable into your computer's "tv capture card". some video cards have buildin tv capture cards otherwise you can buy a usb capture card for around 40 us dollars, they're around $70 here in australia. it's a small box no bigger than a tv remote that will allow for your vcr to plug into one end, and the other end into your usb.
from there you can either capture the video and audio into a mpeg or divx file, etc (or if you have a dvd burner, programs like sonic mydvd will let you capture to a blank dvd).
if you want my advise, i'd say use Windows Media Encoder to capture your vhs movies into files.
that codec you can record a 2 hour movie into about a 300mb file with pretty much the same quality as a vhs.
that way you can fit like 15 movies into 1 dvd at 320x240.
windows media encoder has made itself extremly easy for this process with vhs pal/ntsc templates.
most new dvd players will play windows media format.
normally as a "WMA/WMV" logo on the dvd player. also there's this option with divx which has the divx logo again.

as for running tv out to your dvd recorder, you need a video card with tv out support. pretty much all modest video cards from 2002 will have this. just look for a female rca or svideo port on the back of your computer or a dongle port (normally next to the crt port where your monitor plugs into).
an svideo port looks similar to a ps/2 port (the one your keyboard plugs into) but you probably already know this.

most laptops come with a tv out port. i know pretty much all the toshiba models from around 2001 has them.

if you have both of these then just press play on your vhs player, record on your dvd recorder and run a program in xp that you can use to watch tv. the tv out to your dvd recorder will just send out a duplicate of your monitor's video. in some cases you can even tell it to send windows video data directly to the tv out port so you can use your computer while it's going.

anyway let me know...