VHS<->DVD how much?

djmarkus

Does anyone know how much it is to get VHS's converted to dvd?

ozt9vdujny3srf

if you get a dvd recorder, then its the price of discs.

snappieT

There are 2 ways to do it.
1) Get a DVD Burner and a TV Tuner Card for your PC, alongside software. Expect to pay a minimum €130, but an average €200

2) Get a DVD Recorder for your TV. Will be a simplier setup, but also means you can't have nice menues on your DVDs, and nothing can be enhanced in the transfer.

djmarkus

hmm..maybe i should have made my situation a bit clearer, i have the setup to convert VHS<->DVD and i'm doing it for a guy that wants 150 tapes converted, most of the tapes are under an hour so i can sqeeze 2 tapes onto a dvd, but i dont know how much to charge! im thinking something around the 5 or 6 euro mark per DVD because its very time consuming.

Mutant_Fruit

Think of it this way. IF you were in full tim employment, how much would you work for for one hour? Then apply that to copying the tapes. 150 tapes at about one hour is 150 hours. I suppose €750+materials(150 dvd's...) might be a bit steep for the guy, but thats roughly what ya should be thinking of.

spooydermot

if i recall correctly i think one of the camera places in town charges €30 per tape to transfer to DVD, i think it might be Pixels just off abbey street.

Chalk

itll take you 150 hours just to get the tape onto pc,
assuming no hiccups,
unless you have some hi-speed digitising equipment.

then anything else,
chapters, menus, etc.

if you record to the pc in mpeg2 and dont need any post processing, youll still need to add roughly 20 mins per disc for authoring and 10-15 mins per burn.

assuming good quality media and burner theres still a chance of about 2-4 per hundred failing so thats more discs / time / hassle.

i just wouldnt do it on such a large scale unles it was my business.

offer to do them on a small scale , 10 at a time for 80 - 100 euro.

djmarkus

hmm..maybe 6 euro then, u see my main rig(athlon XP 2.508 ghz) is the only computer capable of capturing and encoding into mpeg2 on the fly, so i cant even have a game of HL2 while the damn things encoding! i also have ordered 100 dvd cases off svp.co.uk at 30 euro.

rubadub

I have a standalone lite-on 5006 €220 from SVP. It does do menus if you stop the recording. You can put titles on the chapters and there is a screenshot of the start of each chapter on it. Just connect have a scart to scart connection. 2 hours on each dvd at decent quality, up to 6 hours at crap quality.

djmarkus

Na, i've a p4 2.8ghz motherboard and CPU on the way, i think it's gonna get the encoding job so i will be able to play HL2! ne1 else like me to convert their VHS's to dvd for 6 euro a pop?

Drag00n79

djmarkus wrote:

Na, i've a p4 2.8ghz motherboard and CPU on the way, i think it's gonna get the encoding job so i will be able to play HL2! ne1 else like me to convert their VHS's to dvd for 6 euro a pop?

Don't you have enough work to do as it is?

djmarkus

Shamrok wrote:

Don't you have enough work to do as it is?

Actually No, I'm unemployed, well self employed, ye lets go with that

Boggles

djmarkus wrote:

Actually No, I'm unemployed, well self employed, ye lets go with that

self unemployed

djmarkus

na not really, i seem to be the only person within 20 miles that knows how to fix a computer so i've plenty of repair work to keep my going

KdjaCL

Most programs allow batch encoding , get the missus or sibling to copy the tapes during the day then you encode overnight with a batch.


evening time= HL2


kdjac

kazzer

encoding into mpeg2 on the fly

Can you give us more info on your rig? Do you have a hardware encoder, or use a software one? :eek:

djmarkus

I have a VCR connected to my VIVO FX5900XT and im using Ulead DVD movie factory to capture the video signal and encode it straight into mpeg2, then DVD movie factory makes the menu's and makes the DVD.

kasintahan

€6 - WOW, that's cheap.

If I was doing it I'd be charging far more.
Something along the lines of €30 per tape.
I think you may be underestimating the amount of work involved in menu creation, titling, sync editing etc + equipment costs + media. Even €30 a tape is pretty low for a good quality job. I did the job for a secondary school in the area and it took me about 6 hours all in. Of course, it being my sisters school I didn't charge.

Even if it was a simple standalone DVD recorder job involving a a SCART to a VHS player (no fancy menus, no chapters, no stills) I'd still charge more than €6.
Media alone will cost you 75c a pop (for good quality Verbatim).

djmarkus

kasintahan wrote:

€6 - WOW, that's cheap.

If I was doing it I'd be charging far more.
Something along the lines of €30 per tape.
I think you may be underestimating the amount of work involved in menu creation, titling, sync editing etc + equipment costs + media. Even €30 a tape is pretty low for a good quality job. I did the job for a secondary school in the area and it took me about 6 hours all in. Of course, it being my sisters school I didn't charge.

Even if it was a simple standalone DVD recorder job involving a a SCART to a VHS player (no fancy menus, no chapters, no stills) I'd still charge more than €6.
Media alone will cost you 75c a pop (for good quality Verbatim).

But its a bulk job, 150 tapes x 30 euro is 4 and a half grand! i wouldnt charge that. and i get 2 tapes on a dvd, 1 hour per tape = 2 hours + 1 minute to make menu/chapters + 19 or so minutes to create vob files and burn = 2 hours 20 mins for production of a 2 tape DVD.

thelad

I do these conversions and I agree with kasintahan, 2 hour tape takes 2 hours to transfer to hard drive then another two to four hours for conversion depending on your cpu, that's 4 to 6 hours plus your electricity, €30 tp €35 per two hour tape is very reasonable and thats just a basic transfer, €50 for customised menus, chapter creation, background music etc, then when all the hard work is done charge €10 per extra copy

djmarkus

I dunno what system you use but i encode it into mpeg2 while the signal is being captured, cuts production time in half!

RicardoSmith

thelad wrote:

I do these conversions and I agree with kasintahan, 2 hour tape takes 2 hours to transfer to hard drive then another two to four hours for conversion depending on your cpu, that's 4 to 6 hours plus your electricity, €30 tp €35 per two hour tape is very reasonable and thats just a basic transfer, €50 for customised menus, chapter creation, background music etc, then when all the hard work is done charge €10 per extra copy

It also does allow for problems and errors that may occur. You have to think what your time is worth. The usual guide is to work out what you think it will cost then triple it. Thats usually ends up to being close to the actually cost.

djmarkus

ok thanks guys

Louise77

Try www.leinsterdvd.com
15 euro for a tape and they may even pick it up for you!!!

Mec-a-nic

Louise77 wrote:

Try www.leinsterdvd.com
15 euro for a tape and they may even pick it up for you!!!

Hmmm, the site is broken if accessed from Mozilla/Firefox.. Guess that's what happens when you use M$ PowerPoint as a website editor...