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.htmlhttp://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.