Like me you probably have home movies on old vhs tapes waiting to be converted to a digital format (mainly DVD). Old TV shows and precious moments (like my wedding) that I want to preserve. To transfer vhs to dvd, your budget and time you have will probably make an option more appealing.
There are many options when it comes down to it but to transfer vhs to dvd, you basically have these four options:
1 - Paying for the service and let someone else to do it for you. Do a little research in the yellow pages or in Google and I am sure you will find plenty of businesses in your area. This option to transfer vhs to dvd can be very expensive, if like me, you have dozens vhs tapes to transfer. I know I don’t want to keep everything I have on vhs tapes. So there has to be a better option.
2- Buy a VHS - DVD recorder and let it do the conversion of analog to digital video. You can get a brand name recorder (Samsung and Lite-on to name a few) for around $250. Now, acquiring another recorder to plug-in on my audio-video system doesn’t justify the expense. The recorder will just sit there when I have transferred all my vhs tapes to dvd.
3- Use a digital camcorder to capture analog video and then convert to a digital format using your computer. This is another way to transfer vhs to dvd if you are a bit technology savvy. You will also need a DVD burner and software.
4- If I have to watch every tape and make a selection, It makes sense to do the whole thing myself. But if you are not technically inclined or don’t have the time, option number 1 is probably the one you should go with. Most of us have a computer at home that we can use to transfer vhs to dvd. All you need is a capture card or a usb device, some cables, software (free is easy to find), a dvd burner and a vhs player. This solution allows for editing and if later on you discover a drawer full of vhs tapes, you are all set and ready to transfer vhs to dvd almost on the fly.
So, if you are not afraid of hooking a vhs player or camcorder and can install software on your computer, you can transfer your precious analog video memories to DVD. Option number 4 is probably the best to transfer vhs to dvd. You can probably do this for under $200. There are many software options to do the editing and converting for free or under $50. If Windows Movie Maker is already installed on your computer (comes with Windows XP Service Pack 2 - free) you’re halfway there.