Sorry to ask this question on this forum, but I need an alternative suggestion to Nero 7. I have Nero 7 Ultra Edition and I'm sticking with it -- and I will need help with it. However, I need something else for my father-in-law -- he could never handle Nero and all it's capabilities. He needs to copy over 100 VHS tapes onto DVDs, and maybe do a little video editing and authoring. For him, I need something simple to burn DV-AVI (NTSC) files from Movie Maker, or MPG files created by Womble Video Wizard, or VOB, IFO and BUP files in a VIDEO_TS folder from DVDLab or TMPGEnc Author or MPEG files created by a Hauppauge capture card. Sorry, but I haven't figured out which of these programs he will be using yet -- likely all except maybe the DVDLab, which again may be too heavy for him to use. So could anyone suggest an alternative DVD burner that will handle the above burning -- something really simple to operate for someone that is 80 years old and not computer literate. I am looking for one program that will handle everything. Oh yes, also need to be able to copy and backup files, but I imagine most burners should do that. I could run all of this stuff down myself, but I need to have all of this stuff laid out by Thanksgiving when I visit him in WI and try to train him to handle all the archiving of his tapes, and I am running out of time. As for Nero 7, I have only been using it for a couple of weeks now, and could also stand some advice on how to get up to speed on its use somewhat quickly. I know using it is the right answer, but as I said, I am running out of time. Thanks for listening.
I would get him a set top dvd recorder that is hackable (ilo 04 or liteon)for this. Would be the most easy for him to go from vhs to dvd with one. Check out the dvd recorder forum a bit further down on this forum to see what others are doing with them. I myself have 3 and use them all the time. The ilo 04 versions are non compliant for the drm thats coming.
Try VSO DivxToDVD (shareware version): http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/vso_divxtodvd.cfm Happy DVD burning!
I have to agree with whompus - I only have one - but if you get a video stabalizer for it - you really should be able to use any brand dvd-recorder. This is way easier than trying to do it on the computer. The most your F-I-L will have to do is SET the recorder for how long he wants the recording to be anywhere from 1-6 hours for each dvd disk. And make sure he FINALIZES each disk which usually takes all of ONE Minute. And hook the vcr up to the dvd-recorder through the video stabilazer - Bam!
yep, i use liteon dvd recorder to transfer my old vhs tapes to dvd and it works like a charm. And it's also very handy when it comes to transfering vinyl records to cds too. @ whompus, is there a way to connect a 'stereo/cassette player' to my liteon dvd recorder to record from cassette to cds without crashing the dvd recorder?
What's the general quality of the DVDs recorded by these recorders, say compared to using a Hauppauge capture card to read the VHS tape to the hard drive in MPG format -- and then using somethng like Nero or some other burner to copy the Hauppauge-created MPG file to DVD. I know it is a funny to put it, but many of these VHS tapes are very old, and may not be of very good quality, and I don't want to make them any worse that the may already be.
What I have found is without video some recorders seem to want to lookup from time to time. So to get around this I just feed it video from vcr as tv signial and the audio from the audio source then bring the rw to comp and use dvd audio ripper to get just the audio from it. About the vcr to dvd recordable you will find that most (with lsi chipset and maybe more) (my 3 are lsi) will clean up the video for you better then a capture on the comp without higher end capture cards.
I find the quality of the DVD-from-tape made on a standalone recorder to be the same quality as the original tape.Some are good some are so-so. Recording off-the-air to disk results are equal to the original broadcast -if I keep the content to 2 hours per disk, after that it drops off. The RAM disk option is more convenient than the tedious formatting procedure required for DVD+/-r . Presently using a Panasonic DMRES20.I tried a Samsung but the results were unacceptable (freezing momentarily) on any other player except the original.
In my experience with the quality - sometimes the dvd actually ends up looking better than the tape did (i am not technically inclined enough to know why this happens) - but my eye has not failed me ... sometimes, if the vhs tape is just really in bad shape, the quality is going to be bad also - but it is never worse! It is either the same, or better - and the better your vhs tape is - the better the dvd quality will be ... also keep in mind - with most of these type players - they will only take either -R ... OR ... +R ... there are very few out there that will do both.
This thread title does not reflect the direction this thread has taken. I'm sorry, I didn't remember all of the comments on this thread, because I just started a new thread on this stand-alone DVD recorders issue. So let me ask a question along those lines here, trying not to make this a repost. If the stand-alone recorders are so great, why are there so many people going through the pain of going through their PC to do the conversion from VHS-to-DVD -- the pain of so many software problems, the cost, the complications, if there is no real advantage of doing so.
rnsmithad Maybe we misunderstood what you were asking. In your original question you asked this: QUOTE:[bold]"So could anyone suggest an alternative DVD burner that will handle the above burning -- something really simple to operate for someone that is 80 years old and not computer literate"[/bold] END QUOTE This is the question that many of us answered - apparently that is not what you wre wanting OR you still need additional alternatives and you still want to utilize the computer as your first option. Now I am going back and re-reading what you have written and you do have multiple questions based around this issue. In addition, you are now asking, another question which seems to be different from the previous ones. I have no knowledge of a computer dvd burner that is going to do what you ask WITHOUT USING some type of software. You asked what would be [bold]EASY FOR an 80 year.[/bold] To many of us - this is what is easy - it doenst get any easier than that, and he would not have to tackle with SOFTWARE - which is what you mentioned as your main concern. Apparently, the options/alternative we gave are not helpful for what you need so, hopefully someone else reading your post, can help you with what you need - which is [bold]Software related only - alternative - as given your thread Title - something other than Nero.[/bold]
OK, sorry my original post was not clear. Originally, I was wanting a software alternative to Nero for burning DVDs (created with DVDLab Author, Womble MPEG Video Wizard, for instance) -- something much easier than Nero to operate -- which I am still looking for by the way. However, many of the responses seemed to be, forget the PC and software approach and just go buy a stand-alone DVD recorder. This is where I thought we switched streams, because I became concerned/interested in the difference in quality of DVDs produced on a PC with the help of capture cards or devices and that of the quality of the DVDs burned on a stand-alone DVD recorder. I was looking for justification, from a quality basis, of the difference between these two approaches, to choose one over the other. So, is the quality and flexibility of DVDs produced on a PC better, and if it is, is it worth the hassle it takes to produce a DVD on a PC. [edit: typos.]
Ok, I think I see where you are going with this part - (and this is just my opinion - hopefully some others will respond too) 1) I have used WINdvd Creator - it is very straight foward - no frills, but I have to say I noticed that the VCR tapes take ALOT OF GIG on the HD when wanting to convert to DVD (that may happen regardless of what software you use though. I cant comment alot on some of the other softwares I have with the capability because I have used them for camcorder tape conversion to dvd (as oppssed to vhs) - but on the notion and belief that they are similar, The dvd from the computer conversion looks better than the tape. (but I said the same thing about the stand alone in an earlier post - because it is also true) 2) Comparing comp vs. stand-alone conversion: With the fact that I have converted tapes via computer and via stand alone recorders - I do not notice the quality of the computer conversion being incredibly better than the conversion from the stand alone. If quality is the absolute most important thing to you though, I would say the the computer may have a [bold]slight and very slight advantage.[/bold] Now lets look at some other pro's and con's. [bold]The amount of TIME it takes me to convert ANY type of tape to DVD via computer is an extremely long process. Whereas with the stand alone, it is in real time - period (much faster).[/bold] With the computer dvd conversion, you may have less problems w/ compatibility w/ other dvd players. Also, if you are wanting to do something EXTRA (ie: add special menues, music, pictures etc into the converted dvd - the computer will be much more flexible with (any)type of software - whereas most stand alones will not offer much flexibilty - you can make menus but they tend to be limited. Oh yes, and one more thing - why didnt I think of this before - [bold]Sony makes a dvd writer that you can use via computer AND / OR stand alone - it cost about $250 (maybe less now or if you get it on sale). You may want to check into it. That could be the device that gives you all the flexibilty you are looking for with what you are trying to accomplish.[/bold] ---------- Oh and your last question - is it worth the hassle to do it on the pc - In my opinion - NO! Not if you are just wanting to preserve the vhs tapes and you are doing a no frills type of conversion - I would definitely go with the stand alone ... you can do some editing and authoring on the stand alone - when you use re-writables. I hope that i have helped in some type of way - I wish I could be more informative software wise but I can only speak of what I know.
zhelpz- Yes, it helps a lot -- and that is just exactly the kind of information I was after. Thanks. If anyone has other opinions or experience, let me know also. Thanks zhelpz.
