[BogMonkey]

I researched how to do it myself a while ago and went and got a TV tuner card and all this crap but couldn't get it to work so I'd rather just pay someone to do it for me because its not very often that I find a VHS that I need to convert into DVD format. What kinda shops do this?

[refusetolose]

you could use a dvd recorder

connect your vhs player to it and off you go

[Lump]

Or get a combi VHS/DVD - Makes is easier as it's all done in 1 box.

[BogMonkey]

I can't afford any of this stuff, is there no shop I can take it to to do it for me?

[Lump]

A quick google shows that it'd probably be more expensive to go to a shop, unless you only have 1 tape to transfer.... http://www.dvdcentre.ie/transfer-video-dvd-service.php

[mp22]

Originally Posted by BogMonkey

I researched how to do it myself a while ago and went and got a TV tuner card and all this crap but couldn't get it to work so I'd rather just pay someone to do it for me because its not very often that I find a VHS that I need to convert into DVD format. What kinda shops do this?

If you have all the hardware you should be able to get the system working.

1) Did you get a tuner card or a capture card?

[nlgbbbblth]

I'd recommend a separate DVD recorder with a hard drive. Means you can edit the stuff you don't want before burning to DVD-R.

[BogMonkey]

Originally Posted by Lump

A quick google shows that it'd probably be more expensive to go to a shop, unless you only have 1 tape to transfer.... http://www.dvdcentre.ie/transfer-video-dvd-service.php

€20 per tape is a ripoff but yeah I only have 1 tape. DVD recorders are around €150. I could probably find an old model for cheaper though.

Originally Posted by nlgbbbblth

I'd recommend a separate DVD recorder with a hard drive. Means you can edit the stuff you don't want before burning to DVD-R.

I wouldn't mind paying for that. I don't like DVDs cuz they get scratched and lost, saving videos directly onto a harddrive would be handy.

Originally Posted by mp22

If you have all the hardware you should be able to get the system working.

1) Did you get a tuner card or a capture card?

I got a tuner card but the software that came with it is for Windows (I use linux). That usually isn't a problem since linux has software for everything but installing TV tuners on linux is pretty tricky. That was ages ago, I could probably figure it out now if I tried. Only problem is the monitor for the desktop comp broke and I can't install the card on my laptop.

[nlgbbbblth]

I have a Sony DVD recorder RDR-HX710. It's probably superseded by now but does the job.

HDD has 160 GB memory.

[dr.fuzzenstein]

You will first need a VCR of course and after that your cheapest option would be a USB video converter that can be bought for little money from most computer outlets or online, here's on from DABS:
http://www.dabs.ie/products/best-val...tick-6L33.html
That's the cheapest option if you only want to do one tape and quality is not your number one concern. For VHS they should do fine. TV tuner card should yield about the same results.
Next option is using a Firewire conversion device. I use a Sony Digital8 camcorder that has straight through DV avi conversion capabilities that hook into Premiere.
Best quality of the above, but probably a bit costly for one video.
Software is the next step, Movie Maker (bleurgh!) should do it, wouldn't touch it with a bargepole myself.
Nero can be useful, from capturing to burning it does it all.
Or you could capture with WinDV and use TMPGEnc to encode, good quality for the price.
Just an aside, E20 to convert a video to DVD is far from a ripoff.
To convert the video it needs to be played, that takes as long as the video runs, which could be 2 hours.
After that spend up to 30 minutes editing, depending on the amount of snow, picture dropouts and blank passages.
Also, the footage needs to be rendered, that can take 2 hours again, my PC is old and slow, it can take 4 hours to render a 2 hour DVD.
After that I print a DVD with a framegrab from the video, ditto for the inlay for the DVD cover and the shop gets 20%.
Calculate my hourly wages for that and you'll find it's a pittance.
I could just noodle it into a DVD recorder with no cover or editing, but I have some professional pride left (just)

So far the best program I have found to convert video to DVD is Magix.
It does everything from start to finish, has unbelievable features for the money and a monkey could use it.
If Adobe could master something with that good an interface I'd buy two!