It seems this forum thread is the current updated place for this subject, however sorry if I don't see anything new that's true, practical, or readily available. C,mon After Dawn! What I see here has either been removed, prohibited, or clearly unclear. (Is that a pun intended?) I posted the following in After Dawn "Copy protected VHS to DVD and VHS" on the March 18th but no bites to date. I have a large collection of VHS tapes, both home made and commercial, some of which have macro vision or other sort of copy guard which of course prevents copying. I have bought and own all of them and want to preserve them (back up) on DVD. Here and elsewhere I have seen discussions about appropriate devices to do the job, vhs-vhs, vhs-dvd, dvd-vhs, vhs-computer HD, and so on. But no one seems certain about how well any of the devices work or what kind of job they do. It seems to me my best (and simplest) bet is transfer from vhs to computer HD (while removing any kind of copy guard that may be employed) so I can then use DVD fab 8, So Think DVD maker, or other software to burn DVD's. However none of the suggestions in discussions I've seen seem sure, current, reliable, or applicable for my use, and often the devices refereed to have been discontinued, removed, or are obsolete or no longer available. I can understand why as vhs continues to disappear and new technology replaces that medium, not to mention that copying commercial video is a controversial subject...(almost untouchable). But I only want to protect the VHS tape I paid for and have no intention to resell or profit in any way. So I would appreciate an answer from someone here who has good knowledge of such a transfer device I describe which is currently available and works well for all VHS tapes regardless of the type of copy guard used. If someone has alternate suggestions it would appreciated and I would be interested in any advice or additional discussion though it seems I've decided on what I actually should use. Thanks all.
VHS tapes that have Macrovision protection - and not all commercial tapes do (Disney tapes do) can be copied either to a DVD recorder with a so called video stabilizer between the tape output and the recorder input. Alternatively if you have a capture card on the PC that ignores Macrovision (I use an older Hauppauge card for this) it's also possible. Generally the card makers don't advertise the fact - you find out from the various Forums.
Thanks for the reply, not getting much from anyone else. I've seen you post this before but there seems to be a problem finding any (retailer) who still offers the "so called video stabilizer". Here's a wholesaler that has one I was told does remove any copy guard or macrovision http://www.evertek.com/viewpart.asp?auto=26340&cm_mmc=Evertek-_-email-_-NA28.AUG.06-_-MD-002 but I don't know if it really does. Do you? Anyway this wholesaler sells only to resellers and I closed my business years ago...no longer have a vendors. Or do you have a source for one that you know works? As for the capture cards I've had a lot of trouble with those...bugs and all I am not sure I should look for more trouble with another Hauppauge. Besides I've found the quality of what I can get with capture cards seems to be less than USB video transfer stabilizer devices. Reviews of those from old forums when the devices were still available were pretty good. Thanks again for the reply. Can you followup up on this?
I used to feed the Copy protected tapes though a SONY Beta machine. It eliminated Macrovision. Hey Sony assholes... Jeff
I use an Optex Video Stabilizer that was bought from Radio Shack 15 years ago. Someone you know must have one of these kicking around because they were popular for backing up VCR tapes. Here's a link that seems current. http://www.henrys.ca/17227-OPTEX-ELECTROHOME-VO760-VIDEO-STABILIZER.aspx
i had the same problem copying protected VHS tapes then I discovered that a pinnacle Dazzle DVC 100 will capture copy protected VHS Tapes without a problemsand so far I've copied around 25 Disney films without any problems, I alsao use Nero Vision to edit out any unwanted parts and to burn to DVD.
I purchased a Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator and it copied all my shop bought Disney videos(40 in total) without any problem, its simple to work, after the video was captured I used Nero Vision in Nero 10 to transfer it to DVD.
Thanks for your reply Mick. I'll try to check it out. Does that Pinnacle version you got save the video to the hard drive? There are several Pinnacle versions and I want to save to computer first, then burn to DVD. Also, can you tell me the copy quality you realized compared to the original?
The label on the bottom of my Pinnacle product says its an DVC100 Rev. 1.1 Yes you save it to your hard drive and you can use Pinnacle to burn to disc but I prefer Nero Vision, also the copy quality is the same as the tape youre copying but it can be tweaked in Pinnacle( adjusting brightness,contrast,saturation,hue as its being copied0 or adjusted in Nero Vision when editing then burn to DVD. I am delighted with the results that Ive acheived with Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator and Nero Vision
