I have this old Italian movie that I loved as a kid and would like to share with my own children... I've wondered for awhile now how to transfer it from VHS to DVD. (It's not available for purchase on DVD, which would've been my first recourse. So it's up to me as a DIYer.)

cavalierex

Any advice for us poor shnoobs with hours and hours of home movies of the kiddies on miniDV tapes, and with no working camera to use as a player to get them into a digital format? Every time I approach this project and see my decaying stack of irreplaceable video tapes on my shelf, I'm overcome with shame....

bradnh

I did all mine, and have done it for a couple other people. It is a huge drain on your hard drive resources (depending on how much video you have), and the DVD format is not [as] editable as other formats which are generally too large to put on DVD. As well, while there is alot of freeware and open source out there for this kind of thing - after several hours of learning curve, headaches and loss of sound sync... I ended up buying DVD Lab Studio to make my DVDs & menus, and tmpgenc to compress to a size that will fit on a DVD. These two programs have been well worth the money I paid for them.
Its fun, and not that hard - but it is very time consuming and creating a polished product is learning intensive.
Good luck!

asl4u

To digitize direct to your Mac, consider the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid, $99.

cronick

The easiest and least expensive way is to get a DVD/VCR recorder (under $100) and just pop in the tape and burn directly to a blank disc. You can always edit them later.

Skyler's Daddy

As Skyler's Daddy said, easiest approach is a set top DVD recorder. Pop in a DVD-R put a tape in the VCR, hit play, hit record on the DVD recorder, wait 2-6 hours, label with a sharpie, you're done. If you have a stack of tapes you want the process as simple as possible, mucking around with video capture devices, and editing software doesn't do that. You might not get a pretty menu, but does it really matter? Typically recorders mark chapters every 5 minutes so you can index multiple recordings on the same disc in that manner if you don't want to sit and hit stop / record to create a new track.

I recommend using the highest quality mode possible (a 1-2 hour mode and not 6+ hours) to minimize compression artifacts.

Our recorder was ~$200 a couple years ago but will also playback MPEG-4 files on DVD's, and has an HDMI out connection with included cable, so we use it as an upsampling player on our new HDTV. Very much worth the money we paid.

Oh, and it's also useful for timeshifting shows if you don't download them because it's more convenient than a VCR, and cheaper than a TiVo.

Sometimes the DVD-VR mode that it records in isn't 100% with other players, but doing a lossless run through DVD-shrink will fix that.

Our recorder also has a DV in port, so bradnh, see if you can borrow a MiniDV camera or player from someone, then you can plug it in digitally to the recorder, and the recorder can even control the camera, so when you hit record, it will start playing the tape.

johnsmith1234

I was recently recruited to do this for my wife's family. The holder of the tapes had bought a LiteOn DVD recorder, which I hoped would make the whole process very easy. After creating the first DVD (compiled from a half dozen old tapes), I popped it into my DVD player to find that it wouldn't play. I popped it into my pc and found the reason: It was completely non-standard DVD file structure, and nothing else could play or rip it. Since I need to make multiple copies of these discs, I had to fall back on my secondary method: capturing to my MiniDV camcorder, and pulling it to the pc over Firewire. It's taking FOREVER!

bostonguy

Although using a set-top DVD recorder is a good idea, don't forget the Macrovision copy protection built into most (if not all) DVD recorders. Macrovision should only block you from transferring a protected VHS tape. In my experience, it also kicks in intermittently on poor quality tapes as well. This makes it very difficult to transfer a home made tape that is viewable but not of perfect quality.

Matthew Reed

I've had an Archos PMA400 for a while now. I don't use it all that much anymore as a PMP, but it's great for hooking up to a VCR to digitize VHS tapes!

adamitico

i have used the "analog passthru" feature of my camcorder with good success for this. Connect VCR composite out to camcorder and then camcorder to PC over firewire. The biggest problem I had was with the tracking setting on VCR was very difficult to adjust and get completely "streak-free" results for the entire length of the tape.

daftary

Many Liteon recorders are hackable to remove Macrovision blocking.

bostonguy: Could DVD-Shrink read it?

johnsmith1234

For stuff that you consider heirloom, it pays to at least do a high-quality transfer to DVD. But better to bring it onto your computer where you can edit it and output in multiple formats.

Keep in mind that most recordable discs (DVD-R & CD-R) have an unpredictable and relatively short lifespan (you'll be lucky if it lasts 5-10 years). So pass out as many copies as you can, save it in as many ways as you can (hard disk, DVD, online backup, etc., maybe even small flash drives for a couple of bucks each). Certain gold- or silver-based DVD-Rs will last longer, but you are still relying on proper care and no scratches.

Logical Extremes

we have the pinnacle studio break-out box with version 9 and/or 10. You can go straight to DVD, but only if you know exactly how long. We import the raw video into pinnacle and then piece it together.

keep an eye on dropped frames..it means the audio and video aren't synching.

and yes, it does take a long time, but it's worth it.

karlawithak

I recently found a tape on eBay of my late mother being interviewed for a TV show about 20 years ago. I transferred it to DVD by hauling the VCR into the office and connecting it through my WinTV unit. I then used the WinTV capture software to save the output as an .AVI file, and Movavi Video Suite to transfer it to a DVD. Of course, the transfer had to be done in real time, but it was worth the wait.

infmom

Actually, the easiest way to get digital copies of VHS movies you own is to download DVD rips from BitTorrent. Most are very high quality, and since you have already paid for the right of owning the movie when you bought the VHS tape, the legality is a little less questionable.

limitedmage

@limitedmage: What, all of my family's home movies are already posted on torrent sites?? Amazing! That's what this article is about, not studio movies after all.

We have a small collection of VHS stuff, just picked up a brochure at Costco this weekend to have them do it. I'll try a few & see if it's worth the minimal cost.

FubarGuy

I thought I might try this sometime. I've got some old Starlicks videos that you can't get any more. I have a Sharp DVD player/hard drive recorder and I think it's possible to take the out from the VHS player straight to an input on the HD recorder. From there you can burn straight to a DVD in the machine.

Of course, in reality, it might be a little more complicated.

da5id_nz

@bradnh:
Just use the MiniDV camcorder connected to a Firewire interface, or worst-case, video into a TV card. Look on eBay for a miniDV camcorder with junky optics and working tape transport.

dmoisan

I've digitized VHS tapes in two ways. One hacky way, one easy way. I did the hacky way with an ADS Pyro Firewire to Video box and some freeware on my PC (VirtualDub) to Sonic DVDit. Worked great for cartoons taped off the air, not so great for workflow or time consumed.

2nd time around I used WinTV and a tuner card to feed video from my VCR almost directly into my DVD software, Ulead MovieFactory. Much, much better (though I hate Ulead).

dmoisan

I think DVD is going away soon. In fact, I'm convertig all of my DVDs back to VHS. When they stop making DVD players soon, I'll have the last laugh.

-thegrumpyadmin.com

thegrumpyadmin

Since I have multiple computers in my house, I digitized my VHS on one machine with an external hard drive connected to it. After every couple tapes, I swapped out the external for another one and plugged it original into my comp with a DVD burner. This prevents some choppiness in the video capture and allows you to run a system extensive program like Nero at the same time (assuming your have 2 externals and 2 computers, which if you don't, you should get them).

x68507

I've been snapping up VHS tapes of things that more than likely aren't coming out on DVD for the purpose of converting them (and then turning around and selling the tapes on eBay, neener neener), and just picked up one of these for $5 along the way:

[www.buy.com]

Methinks I'll have to start converting 'em soon. Sounds like it should be surprisingly easy, actually.

drjayphd

We have a combo VHS/DVD recorder. We made one copy of a family VHS (Thanksgiving type tape); we wanted to do it again and stop earlier, it wouldn't let us. I remember there being a copy protection scheme that wouldn't let you make a copy of a copy (originals have some bit set to zero, copies to 1) - but thought it was for discs only, not VHS tape. Any one else hit that problem?

TimHare

I did this for my parent's old Beta home movies. Used a thrift store Beta (lucky, lucky find) and a video capture card - all went very well but it is time consuming.

Used whatever software came with the video capture card to grab the footage then MyDvd LE (came with the computer) to burn.

Depending on your processor it can take forever - squeezing video through a Celeron D is a "set it and walk away for a couple hours" sort of event.

friendlynerd

I second just buying a VHS->DVD burner/player.

Half the fun of watching old family videos is the footage of feet or a wall. I mean honestly, why edit?

:P

Myles

My Tivo has a DVD burner. Just transfer the recoding the Tivo and then record to DVD. Those with a Tivo that does not have a burner can transfer recordings to the Tivo from the VCR, transfer the recordings from the Tivo to your PC using TivoToGo/Desktop and then burn to a DVD.

gottwhat

or you could use a service like Life Preserver (www.digitallifepreserver.com) or My Movie Transfer (www.mymovietransfer.com). Just saying...

thedazellama

@TimHare: Sounds like it's just an antipiracy measure taken by your machine's manufacturer? Can you try to set up a second VHS machine to record from?

quail

Ages ago I tried a Pinnacle dongle with software to make transfer to DVD but the audio would go out of sync in no time. When prices got cheap I bought a Panasonic VHS/DVD recorder that has an auto record button. Pop in the tape and a blank DVD and it records creating chapters where it senses the tape's start and stops. Editing in chapter breaks is a pain and until you finalize the disc it won't play in anything but the DVD recorder. Once the transfer is complete I made and ISO image of the disc and created multiple copies for interested parties.

quail

I have been doing this on my Mac for the past few months -- transferring VHS-only commercial releases to a digital format and backing up my home videos on an external hard drive and DVDs. You can get name brand 320GB hard drives for $75-100 if you look around a bit, and you'll need them -- video takes up a LOT of space.

I connected my VCR to a cheap digital camcorder and then plugged a Firewire cable into the camcorder and my computer, and then used a free program called Vidi [www.versiontracker.com] to capture the video. Once I had all of the raw materials as 1.9 GB files in the DV format, I imported them into iMovie, plugged in the chapters, and burned the project to a no-frills DVD without menus using Toast. The camcorder cost $100 and Toast is $80, so it may be more expensive than the DVD recorder option but much more flexible.

brenhow

Perhaps the most convenient way to convert VHS tapes is by using a PVR/DVD combo unit. These units have both a hard drive and a DVD burner, so after recording videos onto the hard drive, you can burn them onto DVDs.

I have a Pioneer DVR-541H and converting even extra-long SLP-speed tapes has been a breeze. Simply connect the VHS player to the PVR's A/V-in jacks, set the PVR to record from A/V, start the VHS, press Record on the PVR, and set the timer to 6 hours (for SLP tapes). You can then just leave the units running while you're off to work. Afterwards you can do some minor edits on the captured video before burning it into DVD.

artilano

@gottwhat:
I have a Humax Tivo (with the DVD recorder) and if I pull in a video from my camcorder the Tivo blocks me from recording it to the Dvd.

I think the same happens when I upload one with TivoGoBack (an app that puts shows back on the tivo to watch).

bobm

Here's my problem: my capture card (ADS Tech DVD Xpress) leaves the 4 VHS overscan lines at the bottom of the screen, but the bundled software doesn't crop them out. Suck!

Is there any lo-cost video editing software that will easily do this? Pinnacle Studio 10 won't...

kloepelm