VHS era is winding down

Los Angeles Times ^ | December 22, 2008 | Geoff Boucher

[afraidfortherepublic]

I have been looking at a VHS to DVD recording unit (well, I did last year). After reading the instructions I found that they were designed to copy your OWN VHS tapes, but not commercial one. Does anybody know of a unit that will allow me to transfer my VHS movie collection to DVD?

I have a collection of specially chosen favorite movies that I have purchased for family viewing. Naturally, most of them are VHS. I doubt that I could replace them on DVD.

You used to be able to copy a commercial VHS to VHS tape by covering the hole with Scotch tape. Can you do the same thing to DVD?

Sorry for the dumb questions, but I am technology challenged. I hate to invest in a recorder if it will not do what I want.

[ConservativeStatement]

I have come across that, too, so perhaps someone else can better answer the question. I was told three-to-four years ago to avoid purchasing a DVD/VCR combo because the parts are delicate, but my dad (in his 80’s) wanted to provide the grandchildren with DVD copies of home movies, thus, the unit was bought. Unfortunately, it is a delicate product as we both have been through multiple units. Perhaps, the technology has improved but it is on the backburner right now.

[afraidfortherepublic]

If you have any VHS tapes whose content you’ll want to watch in 20 years, transfer them now to digital formats. Don’t bother transferring material that is commercially available, because DVD’s an BD’s are much better. Just concentrate on tranferring home video.

Do you mean that I have to buy all my movies over again? Perhaps it is just easier to hang onto a VHS player.

[Paleo Conservative]

Do you mean that I have to buy all my movies over again? Perhaps it is just easier to hang onto a VHS player.

Just get a firewire video capture device for about $100 and transfer them to a hard drive. Then you can burn them to DVD's if you want. Use your best remaining VHS deck especially a VHS Hi-Fi or Super VHS for making the transfers, and remember to clean the heads and tape path first.

http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/standard/overview.html

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=firewire+video+capture+&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

[Paleo Conservative]

I have been looking at a VHS to DVD recording unit (well, I did last year). After reading the instructions I found that they were designed to copy your OWN VHS tapes, but not commercial one. Does anybody know of a unit that will allow me to transfer my VHS movie collection to DVD?

I wouldn't get one of those stand alone machines. All you need is a firewire or USB video capture device and capture the video to the hard drive of a computer. Besides saving money, you have more control of the results using the bundled software that comes with these devices (or third party software) than you do with a combo VHS/DVD machine. Go to my comment #64 for more information.

You have the right to convert your VHS tapes for personal use but not for commercial use. I would keep the tapes or at least scan the boxes of the tapes on a flatbed scanner as evidence that you own them.

[Paleo Conservative]

You used to be able to copy a commercial VHS to VHS tape by covering the hole with Scotch tape. Can you do the same thing to DVD?

Sorry for the dumb questions, but I am technology challenged. I hate to invest in a recorder if it will not do what I want.

Be very careful about what you misremember. The purpose putting adhesive tape over the write protect notch of a VHS tape is to allow recording over a tape whose notch has been removed. Prerecorded tapes are sold in cassettes that have the notch removed in order to protect the recording from accidental erasure or over-recording. It is not a device for protecting the copyright of the material on the tape.

[Paleo Conservative]

I have a DVD recorder that doesn’t read about half the discs I insert. I got a movie for Christmas and the player didn’t read that. It is frustrating.

How old is the DVD reader/recorder? Have you ever cleaned the laser and the reading device with a cleaning disc?

[ConservativeStatement]

I returned and exchanged this particular model more than four times as I recall. At one point, I was told to keep the last of the broken machines because of the many problems. I have one that plays but doesn’t record, and one that is very tempermental. An example on the latter, I taped something from the TV without a problem. Hours later, I placed a pre-recorded disc (movie) and it failed to read. Sometimes it reads a blank DVD and at other times, it doesn’t.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Do you mean that I have to buy all my movies over again? Perhaps it is just easier to hang onto a VHS player. Just get a firewire video capture device for about $100 and transfer them to a hard drive. Then you can burn them to DVD's if you want. Use your best remaining VHS deck especially a VHS Hi-Fi or Super VHS for making the transfers, and remember to clean the heads and tape path first. http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/standard/overview.html http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=firewire+video+capture+&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

Please forgive me for being such a technodunce! I have never heard of such a device, and I'm intrigued. However, I need a little more info. Will my VHS player play a tape standing alone? IOW, can I disconnnect my VHS player from the TV (I have the choice of 2) and bring it upstairs to my computer and manage this operation from there, even though I do not have a TV in the same room? If so, this sounds like a workable (and cheap) solution. I also have a few family tapes that I would like to preserve on DVD. My late brother in law put all of my husband's family home movies on VHS -- including some brief shots of our wedding and my children when they were tiny. He gave us the tape the year before he died.