I need some basic advice. Can anyone recommend a decent, entry-level DVD burner/analog-capture device? I just want to transfer old home videos from VHS to DVD. I'm not interested in advanced effects or premium-quality movies (the VHS tapes were not shot with the best camera), and basic editing functionality would be a plus, but not necessary. I've been considering the HP movie-writer and the Pinnacle Dazzle capture device (I would buy a separate DVD burner for this), but the online reviews of each have been mixed. I can't tell if the bad reviews are because these devices are not good for advanced users or because they really are not suited even for my basic needs. I also have been considering buying a camcorder which, I read, can also function as an analog capture device (VCR to camcorder to computer). Which of these, if any, can handle my simple needs? (I'm running a 2.19 GHz, 256 MB RAM computer.) I appreciate any advice you can give.
Here is what I did, it works. No too fancy. Pinnacle sells a "kit" that has the current version of their studio software, mine was version 8, and a computer card that has analog and firewire inputs. You can connect a VCR to the Analog inputs, start the tape and capture the tape to an AVI file on the HD. Now that it's captured, you can use Pinnacle to add soundtracks, music, edit etc. Fun but time consuming. You can then use Pinnacle or Nero or ????? to recode the AVI file to burn to DVD, VCD or SVCD. I use this all of the time. It is NOT one click stuff, it takes time and a LOT of harddisk space. But the cost of the kit was less than 300.00 and you can capture analog and direct from Digital Camcorders. Have fun and let us know how it worked out.
