Does anyone know if and how you can connect a DVD/VCR recorder/player to a computer to convert videos to DVDs?

Question

I have a lot of videocassettes that i want to convert to dvd to preserve them, some are from when we were kids; also i have a lot of cassette tapes and i wonder if they too can be converted to a dvd or cd format. my late father and grandmother are featured in these tapes and they contain a lot of family history. I heard that getting an s-video cable might do this, but perhaps if someone knew of a website that could show me step by step how to connect up and use the set-up would be great. I am by no means a computer technician but with simple terminology and instructions I might be able to make this work.

Answer 1

You need to convert the VHS signal into one that your computer can read. To do this you need a special card that receives such signals. ‘ATI All in one Radon’ or some of the products produced by ‘Win TV’. The ATI card is more expensive, but it has the signal processing system integrated into the card, however that limits the capability of the video card a little. The Win TV basic card will give you the capability, but it will be a pretty poor image (I used to have one, to do exactly what you want to do, and it didn't work). The higher end Win TV cards might do better. Ideally you want one that can receive the same signals that your Cable TV sends.

Normally your computer is only equipped with OUTPUT jacks, it sends the sound to the speakers and a special video signal to the monitor. As signal that has little to do with the way TVs and VCRs handle their video signal. The audio signal is handled in a similar fashion, but unless you have a high-end audio card then you will only have a single mono input jack. If you use that jack then you lose any stereo you had on your VHS tapes.

The VHS signal is closer to an analog signal when compared to how a DVD signal is, so you have to convert the VHS signal into a television signal, then you can carry it over standard RCA lines or a S-Cable and standard RCA audio lines. Then you need to connect these cords to the INPUT jacks on the computer card. Then you can read that television signal and record it on the DVD Player in an analog or digital format. Remember, that a copy is only as good as the original so the simplest format you can use will be good enough.

The new generation of DVD players have a record capability. I am waiting for the price to go down before I try any conversion routine. I think that for what you plan you need to look into Recording DVD Players. They will take the same signal that your VCR already uses and accept it to record on the DVDs, with less conversion their will be less static and noise created in the recording process.

Answer 2

I've converted my VHS tapes. You do need special equipment, specifically a video card. I've used the ATI all-in-wonder. It has bundled software with it that allows video capture and comes with cables that allow you to connect your VHS player directly to your computer. With this card you will also now have the ability to watch TV or VHS video on your computer sionce the card has a TV tuner also. You can use a number of DVD builder programs to caputre video. I've used Roxio EZ CD & DVD creater to convert mine, but there are many other out there.

As for the cassette tapes. Unless it's your own original music or voice stuff you are better off just downloading the music from the many legal (or illegal) sources. You wont get CD quality from a cassette tape, but if you want to do it, you can use any number of sound recorder programs (like Goldwave at www.hotfiles.com). get an appropriate cable and connect your best cassette recorder to your microphone jack on your computer. If you have a soundblaster live or above sound card, you can use the on-board effects to try and enhance the quality somewhat. Good Luck !

Answer 3

Cassette to CD can't be done, there are simply to many obstacles to overcome. Converting VHS to DVD is a posibility, but your VHS player has to have firewire, which I don't even know they make.

Besides all that, keep something in mind. Your VHS tapes may very well last longer than a DVD-R. The latest tests show that DVD-R's, once recorded on, have a life span of only about two years. The industry is trying to keep this quiet, for obvious reasons. Look the info up on the web. Some claim as long as 100 years, others say 1-2 years...so just be careful. Personally, my CD-R's from 4 years ago became corrupted one by one and eventually all failed.

Answer 4

Buy a "TV tuner card" and install it on ur computer. They are available as internal cards as well as external card thru usb port. The quality of the card and resources on ur computer will decide the quality of the video captured by u on the computer.

U do need a mpeg device on the TV tuner card so that the size of the movie files is reasonable otherwise avi format consumes huge spaces say 1.2 gb for 10 min clip.

Answer 5

get a video capture card that has audio/video input that your VCR can connect to.

Here is a website that rank each video capture card and many user reviews of those cards.
http://www.videohelp.com/capturecards

With the video capture card, you can do a lot more stuff that just watch a movie on your computer.
And on the same site, it has many great guides about how to capture video, live TV, stream/broadcast, DV Cam, etc. And of course contain step-by-step guide to capture video.
http://www.videohelp.com/capture

Answer 6

You can go to your local Walmart and purchase equipment specially made for that. Although, you're better off buying one from a tech store.