VHS Tape To CD?

M

maury

Joined
Sep 24, 2000
Messages
606
I have about 100 VHS tapes that I'd like t transfer to CD's. Local shops want to charge lots to do it and I was wondering if anyone can recomend an inexpensive deck that will let me do it myself.

Thanks!
 
I think you want DVDs, not CDs. Be aware that you're going to run into problems if the tape is copy protected - the DVD recorder won't switch on if it detects the protection. Yes, I know, even though you legally own the movie.

I've had JVC, Sony, and Panasonic burners. The Panasonic is the only one that didn't crap out after a year or so. And it was the least-expensive one too (a couple hundred, if I remember correctly).
 
all ya have to do to copy any VHS is cover the small square hole on the end of the cassette, if its open to begin with, ya remove the tab to prevent copying, i havent ever run into anything else anyway, i havent ever had a problem with copying a movie as long as its for personal veiwing, most of them are on HBO/etc anyway.

that said i tried copying some VHS stuff to DVD and the picture quality was not the best, i suppose its good for obscure stuff where its hard to find therm on DVD, but anything else i finally just bought new or used DVD's, hastings has a lotta older (and newer) stuff used on DVD's for $10 or so.
 
I just happened to see one in the latest Brookstone catalog. It allows you to copy the VHS to your computer and then burn DVDs with the computer. Is that how they all work or do some burn it directly to the DVD?
 
Pinnacle makes an adaptor to use between your tape deck and computer to do this. Cost about $100
 
SIFU1A said:
all ya have to do to copy any VHS is cover the small square hole on the end of the cassette, if its open to begin with, ya remove the tab to prevent copying,
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Um, no. Breaking that tab off just prevents you from recording over the tape (so you don't record a football game over your wedding tape :rolleyes:), it has nothing to do with copy protection

That said i tried copying some VHS stuff to DVD and the picture quality was not the best,
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Well, VHS tape does not have the quality of DVD to begin with, and since VHS is an analog format, there is always some degredation of the picture quality when you copy it.

i suppose its good for obscure stuff where its hard to find therm on DVD, but anything else i finally just bought new or used DVD's, hastings has a lotta older (and newer) stuff used on DVD's for $10 or so.
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Yeah, I would not even bother to copy movies or TV series. Just buying them on DVD will give you a much better picture and probably not be all that much more expensive. The only things I would bother having transferred are stuff like wedding videos, graduation videos, etc. Important personal stuff.
 
ok, i give , what do they do for copyright protection on VHS?

whatever it is it must not work very well as i have copied dozens with not nary a problem.

its pretty common knowledge a VHS isnt gonna have as good a quality as a DVD lol.

ya are right about the tab i was thinking about copying over a old movie, i was confused lol.
 
SIFU1A said:
ok, i give , what do they do for copyright protection on VHS?

whatever it is it must not work very well as i have copied dozens with not nary a problem.

its pretty common knowledge a VHS isnt gonna have as good a quality as a DVD lol.

ya are right about the tab i was thinking about copying over a old movie, i was confused lol.
Click to expand...

It actually leverages the differences in the way VCRs and TVs process signals. In short, TVs use blanking intervals because it gives the electron guns time to start scanning a new line, and VCRs don't because they record everything that is there. So they imbed a bunch of crap in the blanking intervals on the protected tape that doesn't affect the TV (because it is in the blank interval) but it will copy over to another VCR making a copy. This crap contains a special type of noise that confuses the component in the VCR that keeps the signal and the blanking intervals straight, so it records the noise as part of the signal and the result is an unwatchable copy.
 
I had the same problem and found at least a partial solution at WalMart. They sell a DVD/VHS player that will copy for about $160. The above posts are correct, the tapes that had copy protection stopped the process dead in about 10 seconds, but those without it worked like a charm. It was worth the price not to have to rebuy the tapes I already bought, especially since more weren't available any more.

Note to the signers of whatever international LE community that flashes that warning before the start of the tape: these were my tapes, bought new by me, and I threw out the originals after, so there.
 
mdauben said:
Um, no. Breaking that tab off just prevents you from recording over the tape (so you don't record a football game over your wedding tape :rolleyes:), it has nothing to do with copy protection
Click to expand...

He said covering the hole. Commercial tapes can be recorded over/copied when you cover the hole with tape etc, leaving that little hole that exists in cassettes that you can record to. ;)
 
IF the tapes are prerecorded movies that are available in DVD video or Blue ray, buy them. If the VHS are home movies of your children growing up. Spend the money and get them converted. You can do it yourself. If you have a computer that is 3 years old or newer you probably have a DVD burner. Now you need some form of video capture card.
The cost is the time it takes to capture and author a DVD. For someone to capture a 1 hour home video tape, its one hour, then about 30 minutes to make the chapters and then about half an hour to compress and burn the dvd. So thats 2 hours labour per tape. Thats why its so expensive.

Frank
 
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