I'm new at this so be patient. Upon reviewing forums concerning this subject, I have discovered that one can do said conversion utilizing a computer at some exceedingly high costs in the $400.00 range. Without appearing rude I have to ask the question, why would someone want to go this route, when DVD recorders which replace the old VCRs are starting to flood the marketplace, under such manufacturers such as Daytek, Electrohome, Curtis, Magnavox at prices ranging from as little as $99.99 to $175.00 CDN. Is there a quality compromise when using these recorders? More details about this conversion would be appreciated in regards to my above mentioned question.
The standalone DVD recorders are more convenient inasmuch as they don't tie up the PC, however the combo units (VCR+DVD Recorder) won't allow you to backup a tape that has Macrovision protection - neither will the single unit - except that you can use a video stabilizer to to bypass that problem.This is not possible with the combos. The PC capture cards sometimes suffer from dropped frames, which causes sync problems in the video.They also require large amounts of HD space which is a potential expense - not to mention that they always specify the PC that you didn't expect to buy for a few years - but you can edit the video before saving to disk - that's a nuisance with the standalone units inasmuch as you have little control before recording and to post process the video cancels out the convenience.
Inasmuch as the use of a PC to do the conversions, it has been said that it takes a very strong computer to do this. What kind of computer resources and specs are we looking at? http://search.live.com/images/resul...nnovation.com/images/HDD%20DVD%20Recorder.jpg
A TiVo also makes a great analog to digital converter. It ignores the Macrovision and makes a mpeg file that can be moved to your PC using the free TiVo2go software. I get about 11 hours of "best" quality from VHS tapes on my $50 TiVo.
Not sure where you got the $400 number. A good PCI capture card can be had for less than $100. "it has been said that it takes a very strong computer to do this. What kind of computer resources and specs are we looking at? " If you buy a capture card with hardware mpeg2 encoding you don't have to worry about dropped frames or your PC's specs. All the processing is done on the capture card, the horsepower of your CPU has nothing to do with it. DVD recorders are convenient, capture cards are more flexible.
Hi all, I’m looking to backup my old VHS movies to DVD [under fair use] before my VCR gives up the ghost and don't want to buy another as I don’t want to spend more money on a fading video format [VCR]. I have a standalone DVDR w/HDD but it “sees” the Macrovision coming from my VCR and won’t record them. I know there are standalone devices [Dimax’s Grex or DVD Red and Sima products] to bypass but I thought it might be smarter to spend that money on a good video capture card. My questions are: If I purchase a video capture card for my pc will my pc/video capture card also “see” the Macrovision and not record? If so, is there a program such as DVDFab Decryptor or DVD Decryptor or others that will circumvent the Macrovision? Or is there a better way to do this? I am running XP Home w/SP2. Thanks in advance for any/all help, Daniel
