Converting VHS tapes to DVDs?

[LSUmom4kids]

We have lots of VHS tapes bought over the years that would keep the kids entertained on the 10+ hr. road trip to WDW in August. I'd rather not have to LUG the tv/vhs combo unit in the van - takes up too much space and all kids would have to agree on same movie.

Is there a way to convert the vhs tapes to dvd so that each kid could watch his "own" movie on his personal dvd player with headphones? Most of the vhs tapes are disney; some are not.

Is there a company or service out there that could do this for me? Or is there a "user friendly" machine that I could buy or rent that would convert the tapes to cds (or is it DVDs - I personally don't understand the difference!)

I'm not too good connecting wires from the tv to the vcr so the process needs to be super easy for me to understand.

any suggestions?

 

[txvjc]

If they were home movies you could take them to a camera shop (like Wolf Camera) and they would transfer them for you...but since it is copyrighted material your prob gonna be out of luck unless you have your own DVD burner...then the quality will be sub-par...and you'll be walking a very thin legal line

 

[LSUmom4kids]

So even if I BOUGHT the original movies at FULL PRICE, I'm not "allowed" to convert it to CD/DVD's? I have no intention of selling these - they are for my personal use - I promise! Technology has changed and I'd rather not have to pay FULL PRICE for the same movies I already own.

If anyone knows how this can be done, please send me a PM. I wouldn't want you to get "FLAMED" by the copyright police....

If there is a way to connect the vhs/tv/dvd computer burner? (I'm just thinking "outloud".)

 

[txvjc]

yeah it stinks you have to replace you VHS with DVD, but some ruin it for all, however have 3 suggestions for you:

1) yes, you can hook up your vcr to computer to dub VHS, not a real easy process if you don't have the right stuff though

2) borrow movies from friends with kids...thats what i do...this way my DD can watch movies diffrent from what she already has...just make a list of what you borrowed

3) your local library should have a large selection of kid DVD's that you can rent for free...I do this on a regular basis also

 

[cornflkgrl]

You can hook the vhs up to the computer (if you have a dvd) and record that way but it is something that takes hours/days. It is not something where you could just zip through 2 or 3 movies and have them for your trip. I would reccomend purchasing the dvd's or renting them, it will ultimately save you time and probably money anyway.
As far as hiring someone to do it, that would be so expensive you would be much better off just buying all the movies on dvd.

 

[dawnball]

It can be done, but it isn't cheap, it isn't legal, and it's time consuming. If you're going to do something illegal - get a netflix subscription and dupe the dvds. It's a heck of a lot faster and easier. Cheaper too. Mind you, it's illegal and unethical, but it's easy.

 

[MyGoofy26]

I have a DVD recorder that I can't live without, LOL! You can find them for around $100 or so you catch a good sale (much cheaper than you could ever pay someone do record that many shows) It's just a matter of hooking your VCR up to the recorder and recording in real time. Takes awhile, but if you're doing something else around the house you can set it up to record and come back and check on it every so often. These are nicer than the DVD burners on a computer (although I love those too) because you don't really lose any quality in the conversion.

Blank DVDs are getting pretty cheap. I can fairly regularly find spindles of 100 DVDs for $20

 

[muffyn]

I have a DVD recorder that I can't live without, LOL! You can find them for around $100 or so you catch a good sale (much cheaper than you could ever pay someone do record that many shows) It's just a matter of hooking your VCR up to the recorder and recording in real time. Takes awhile, but if you're doing something else around the house you can set it up to record and come back and check on it every so often. These are nicer than the DVD burners on a computer (although I love those too) because you don't really lose any quality in the conversion.

Blank DVDs are getting pretty cheap. I can fairly regularly find spindles of 100 DVDs for $20

I also have a dvd recorder..
bought it to put old family betas on dvd's.
it is sooooooooo easy to copy vhs tapes & stuff over to it & make dvd's.
you can't do the fancy stuff they can on the computer,,,,,,, but unless you have tons of time & creativity, you won't spend a lot of time doing that anyway.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

As others have stated, it is a violation if US copyright law to make duplicate copies of movies, even if you own a copy of the movie. The process of copying home video to DVD requires hooking up a few wires to a DVD recorder. Or you can purchase a video interface for your computer if you have a DVD burner on it. Either way take a while to set up properly and it will be time consuming.

I would recommend getting a NetFlix or BlockBuster Online subscription for a month and renting the DVDs that you'd like to have for the kids during the trip. When the trip is over, return the DVDs and cancel the subscription. It will cost you about $17 for a 1-month subscription to rent 3 movies at a time. This would be cheaper than buying the replacement DVDs and much less complicated than trying to make copies.

 

[ncbyrne]

If I bought one of those machines can I copy Hi8 video cassettes to DVD, or only VHS tapes.

 

[LeslieG]

I was just going to ask the same question about Hi8 video to DVD.

 

[Mac and Us]

We just bought a Panasonic DVD recorder/ VHS recorder at Best Buy for $359. You can burn a DVD from the VHS or a VHS from a DVD.

 

[hncg57c]

I believe you can transfer a Hi8 to a DVD. I don't think they have an adapter to change it into a VHS, so you have to directly connect your camcorder to the DVD burner.

 

[hsmamato2]

OOHH!! Are you saying that with a dvd recorder, I can hook up my old camcorder and play the tapes through there, and burn them onto dvd's? If I can do that, i would buy one! I've been trying to find a cost effective way to do this for years!

 

[Good Ol Gal]

OOHH!! Are you saying that with a dvd recorder, I can hook up my old camcorder and play the tapes through there, and burn them onto dvd's? If I can do that, i would buy one! I've been trying to find a cost effective way to do this for years!

that's what you can do

 

[chrissyt27]

On Martha Stewart yesterday they had a new machine that is coming out that looks pretty easy. It isn’t out yet, but you stick it right in and record it to the DVD. It was the Sony DVD Direct works on its own, or in conjunction with a computer, and also allows a transfer of video or camcorder images into digital files.
http://www.sonyburners.com/dvdirect/

The guest on the show was Popular Science magazine’s Suzanne Kantra, and she said that as long as the tape was yours you could copy it. I thought she was wrong, but that is what she said. She did a tape that Martha had made with a large pumpkin she had grown and Martha asked if it was illegal to copy other tapes for personal use and she said no.


My boyfriend is going to try to take old home videos and put them in his VCR and record them onto his TIVO type machine, not that brand though, and then he has it hooked up to his computer where he can edit them. We haven’t done it yet so we will see if it works.

 

[timandlesley]

My husband does this for his business at a VERY reasonable cost, PM me if you want info.

 

[timandlesley]

I was just going to ask the same question about Hi8 video to DVD.

As I stated my husband does this for his business for a reasonable price and he can do the casettes that come with camcorders or the VHS tapes for home movies.

 

[jeepgirl30]

We bought a DVD recorder. Some DVDs are protected and will not allow us to copy. I have heard there is software to override this but I'm not comfortable with that stage yet!

The ones we can copy we do, ones we can't we don't. We just play the movie from the vhs and record onto the dvd. Its simple.

We did buy a dvd/vhs combo but didn't like it.

I looked into paying someone for this service and it was pricey. I figured buying the dvd recorder was less expensive. We can record the OnDemand movies for the kids too.

 

[LSUmom4kids]

Blank DVDs are getting pretty cheap. I can fairly regularly find spindles of 100 DVDs for $20

Please tell me EXACTLY what kind of blank DVDs I need to buy - all those initials: R, or RW... too confusing.

I also have some camcorder recordings that I'd like to record onto DVDs for safe keeping.