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.
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.
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.
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.