I have many vhs tapes (and of course, a vhs player) which I want to copy to dvd. I have a Sony DVD writer and Xcopy Platinum. How do I proceed and do I need another product to make these work?
I am also trying to copy my store-bought VHS tapes to a DVD recorder to preserve what I paid for. When I try to copy them, it gives me a "recording prohibited" reading. How can I do this, I am also a newbie at all this. I have found a few products that say they work, but does anyone have any input on one particular product? And, do they really work to remove the copy protection?
Here is some of the basic things to get started. You will need a video card or capture device of some type with RCA video and audio input jacks on it to hook the VCR outputs to. The card or capture device usually will come with some software to get the VHS tape onto the HD. Home movies are not copy protected so this next item is for store bought movie tapes. You need a Macrovision remover or stablizer that has to go in the video line between the VCR and capture device to remove the copy guard. They cost between $50.---$100. Just do a Google search for Macrovision removers and you should get several hits on it. Once set up, you capture the vhs tape to your HD. It will usually end up in AVI file format. This needs converted to proper DVD format before it can be burned as a DVD. Here is a guide for that part. http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/convert_avi_to_dvd.cfm The AVI to DVD conversion can also be done with NeroVisionExpress or DVD Santa. This should get you started in the right direction. It takes time and has several steps but can be done. Good luck. Jerry
Forgot the last answer, Here is a link to a macrovision remover that I read works well. However I have not used it myself so I'm not sure how good it actually is. http://www.dimax.com.ua. Jerry
i have used a converter made by ads technologies called dvdexpress (not dvdxcopy express) it is a box that you plug any device with a/v cables into and the it converts that to usb and it comes with some cool programs for video editing (add menus, make scene selections, much more) anyways you can get this i know for sure at the walmart supercenters for $79 and i have never had to remove any kind of protection this way and i copyed over 300 vhs that i own.
Hi, What kind of quality does the transfer make from VHS to DVD with this device? Is it at least as good as the original VHS picture?
or...another option....go to plextor.com....buy their MX402u....$150.....you can plug in anything has rca jacks....i am converting home movies on vhs....this will let you burn them directly to dvd...or you can put in on your HD...and edit it later..comes with intervideo win dvd creator..neat pgm....the quality is exactly what is on the tapes....and you don't need any pgm to convert the files to mpeg...the converter does it automatically...mpeg2...mpeg4...or divx...easy to use
the quality for the ads technologies converter is exactly what the vhs is and it puts it on your harddrive in mpeg format also and you can make movie without editing or or you can make menus and scene selections with the ulead video studio or the ulead movie factory that both come with it. and it is only $79 not $150
Better yet try one of the freeware programs like DVDDecrypter, if you already have a capture card. I use a Daytek standalone PVR30 however, and it has a hack to disengage the macrovision protection. It can be the best purchase you make right now as the recording quality beats the s**t out of VHS. DVD+RW disks are cheaper than tapes too.
DVD Decryptor is for ripping dvd not vhs transfers. Vhs is an anolog source which MUST be converted to digital source for computer use. That's why you need, somewhere in the signal chain, a convertor. Then this converted/encoded signal is saved to your HD. Depending on the product you buy, the converted signal will come out as avi or mpeg digital format. At this point you will have a digital copy of your vhs tape ready for you to process thru a software program(s) in order to burn onto dvd.
Sorry about that, got my threads a bit confused, as I am doing both DVD and VHS transfers right now. However, does anyone offer any more info on current state of the ADS product? Does it make sense to buy one for the clean up filtering it offers? My Leadtek card is fine for actual off air capture, but the filters in my ULead VS7 software are pretty limited. Early reviews of ADS were not so great, so does anyone have any comments about the current model on rebate at Tiger?
This question is a followup to a message posted by rhino351 regarding ADS Technologies DVDxpress. I am trying to get setup to copy my store bought VHS collection to DVD. My question is: What do I need hard/software to make this work? I assume a DVD burner, the DVDexpress box, and a VHS. Is any other software required? I have read that some software is required to get past the Macrovision/recording prohibited issue. Is this necessary with the DVDxpress? I am new to this thanks for the help. I also want to copy my home movies that are on miniDV to DVD. But, I don't see this to be a major issue since the Handycam should not have the recording prohibited issues.
If you want to backup your OWN VHS, here is a tip using a camcorder as a buffer: You need a VHS player, a digital camcorder with firewire and a PC. 1. Connect the camcorder to the VHS player using the A/V cable(s). 2. Connect the camcorder to the PC using the firewire port. 3. Start the camcorder in "play" mode 4. On the camcorder verify the menu "A/V to DV" to be ON 5. Take out the cassette from the camcorder. 6. Play the tape from the VHS player. 7. Start any capture program on the PC. Backup the captured movie as you like DVD, DivX etc….
the software all comes with the converter. it will give you the capture program, Ulead video studio and Ulead movie factory, these are great programs that can do more that just capture. you can also use this to record cable or satellite and the go in and take out the commercials and add menus and scene selections. and this converter must get rid of the protection by itself because i have never had a problem after converting almost 300 of my own vhs to dvd.
I purchased dvd xpress, connected the vcr to the xpress box and the xpress box to the back of my computer USB port. When I push play on my VCR, it runs for about 5 sec's then shuts itself off. What am I doing wrong? Or is this part of the protection, not letting me copy? I have the Radeon 9550 AGP card in the computer now (if this matters). Is there some way to hook the dvd xpress up to my dvd recorder to burn directly from the vcr? Someone help me, please. I don't have a lot of $ to buy more products. Thank you!!
What brand of PVR are you using? My Daytek P30 has a hack code to disable the Macrovision, but other machines are not so lucky. I don't habitually copy commercial tapes to DVD, but I have successfully copied a couple or so that I want to keep in better condition for the future. It doesn't seem to work as well for DVD to DVD duping. For what it is worth, for copying my vast libary of off-air concert tapes, I now hook up my VCR to the Daytek PVR and record in HQ. The copies are amazing, much better than when I was dicking around with ULead, WinFast, or some of the other capture programs. I take the resultant +RW to the computer and extract the digital content with TMPGEnc DVD AUthor, which I now find to be the best menuing program by far. Remove the commercials, add some essentail chapters and create a front end title from the video itself, and bingo, the perfect archive. If the HQ (one hour) mode proves too much for the final cut, I shrink the file using DVDShrink. For those who complain about the lack of background images in TDA, try placing one of your own "stills" in the first clip. The fact that TDA allows you to enlarge the title clip to almost full screen size, means you can use the custom menu feature without worrying too much about the limited background selection. The rest of the editing features are awesome and rendering compliant digital files is quite fast compared to some other programs. Carry on converting!
i think it might have something to do with your vcr i use the cheapest vcr i could find and leave it hooked up in my computer room it is an emerson from walmart cost about $30.00. try to unhook your vcr from the box and see if it still shuts off, because there is no way for the vcr to know what the converter is doing, the signal only goes out not back in the vcr to tell it anything. my gues would be the vcr.
I have found this on the Plextor site. http://www.plextor.com/english/products/ConvertX-AV100U.htm 1) Does anybody have clue on whether this digitalizer/box can overrun the Macromedia copy protection... Also, I see this product only converts to MPEG 1 and 2. 2) Is it a necessary asset to be able to convert directly to avi, divx, or MPEG4. As far as I can see MPEG 1/2 have the least compression> the highest quality, and you can spend your life converting afterwards with any software if you want. Please help me! I'm a desperate newby and I need to get some converting started. 3) PS.: which types of jacks are more appropriate on a digitalizer: a/v or rca?
Bite the bullet and go up to the 402 units if you want to go with Plextor. The 100 unit is not a hardware encoder and won't offer you the flexibility of the 402. The 402's are now shipping with Ulead Video Studio 8 too which is a plus. The Encoder engine in Ulead is Mainconcept. Divx and mpeg 4 will (imo) have more prominence as the demand for smaller video sizes increases. As far as Macrovision goes, Plextor is kind of mum about it with good reason. My experience has been with the M402U and it does not recognize Macrovision on 90% of the vhs material I've done so far. I did have a 2000 release that the 402 needed help with. At the time I used a Sima Copy This filter to "defeat" the Macrovision. Keep in mind there is always going to be exceptions with Macrovision protected tapes but most of the time my material passed right thru the 402 without notice. The quality of vhs is such that the difference between s-video and composite is not a HUGE notice. You can get a little better control over sharpness and color if you happen to be using additional signal hardware when using s-video.
Thanks a lot. Here come some more questions from an unexperienced user: 1) What do the "units" (> 100 vs. 402) stand for. What is their function? 2) I found this at Radioshack: http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/Pro...ioShack&category=VideoCapture&product=2516499 Why is it so much cheaper than the plextor products. Is it any good? 3)How.Do.The.ADS.technology.And.plextor.products.compare.?They.seem.to.feature.the.same.functions.just.as.the.Radioshack.product.does.too..Do.the.price.differences.affect.the.encryption.quality.or.is.it.more.a.matter.of.the.brand's.prestige... Finally, 4)Will.a.computer.automatically.detect.signals.coming.in.from.USB2?.Or...will.the.software.do.this.or.how.do.you.let.your.computer.know.that.you.want.to.record.the.video-signals.from.the.usb.jack. If.the.answer.is.the.software,just.say."123".. Ps:sorry.my.space.button.has.stopped.working. Thanks.in.advance
