audioaudio90 Messages: 623 Registered: October 2010
Illuminati (1st Degree)
You have a couple options. You can use a service and pay someone to do it for you. If you want to do it yourself, you can use a capture card and your computer but you will need to have a lot of space on your hard drive.
Audioaudio90, how does the capture card work? I am assuming you connect the VCR and the computer somehow. Is the capture card installed through a media drive or inside the processor?
gofar99 Messages: 1902 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi Some capture cards are available as external USB connected devices. You feed the video and audio into the device and software supplied with the device will make a digital copy. Some programs will allow you to make DVDs of the files. Be aware though that the copy process takes place in real time and the copy process can be lengthy as well. There are some standalone devices that have a VCR and DVD recorder in one case. They were quite common a few years ago and would allow you to put in a non-copy protected video tape and make a DVD of it all in one process. I seem to recall they were by Magnavox and Panasonic and were in the $200 range. Personally I would rather put the video on a hard drive first and then edit it if needed and then send it to a disk. The external video cards were about $60-100 and made by several companies. I would probably go that route. Be aware though that you need to verify that your PC has a good enough processor, ram and large enough drive. Video eats up drive space at an enormous rate.
It's really a lot more affordable to take you cassette into Walgreens or Walmart. They will transfer the tape for you. It usually has to be sent out and takes about a week. Video stores like Blockbuster or Family Video can also transfer them for you.
It's really a lot more affordable to take you cassette into Walgreens or Walmart. They will transfer the tape for you. It usually has to be sent out and takes about a week. Video stores like Blockbuster or Family Video can also transfer them for you.
I didn't know Walgreens and Walmart did VHS to DVD transfers. That is pretty neat. I haven't seen a Blockbuster or Family Video around in a few years now.
RustyC Messages: 44 Registered: July 2013 Location: AL
Baron
Just let me chime in here with one warning. Do not do not do not buy one of those all in one units that allegedly let you play either VHS or DVD and allegedly will convert one to the other for you. I've owned two now. They were both mediocre at even playing either the VHS or the DVD. They were complicated to hook up and to use. And the transfer quality was abysmal. I think it must just be asking too much to put both those technologies in one moderate-sized box and do them well at a consumer-level price.
I agree with turning them over to a professional. Both my sister and I have had things converted (8mm movies, VHS and old photos) into nice DVDs. We used some mail order company, but I've heard that Walgreens will do it fine.
Samuel Messages: 45 Registered: January 2014 Location: USA
Baron
My local pharmacy used to offer transfer services-VHS, audio cassette and so on. I'm not sure if they still do, but we used them and were pleased. The cost of buying the equipment for a one off use just didn't make sense.
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