Re: VHS tapes and DVDs

Chrono1st wrote:

Wow, I am completely and totally overwhelmed by the amount of
information
here, it's scarying me. Even the mere act of putting this thread into
the correct discussion group was beyond me, so I just opted to be safe
and go
with "general". Sorry....

What I'd like to do is:
My friend has many, many old VHS tapes, of recorded sports events and
other
things. I'd like copies of his tapes, and told him that since we're
going to go and copy fourty odd tapes anyway, why not covert them to a
better format? You know, tapes go bad over time, etc.

So, I'd like to copy these VHS tapes to DVDs. I'd also like to edit
them, to perfectly cut out all the commercials, while leaving the
events themselves
intact. Also, if possible (I have NO idea if it is possible), I'd
like to
improve the quality of the videos. So, covert to DVD, cut out all
unnecessary stuff like commercials, and if possible, make even better
quality.

The problem is, I am almost totally computer illiterate. I tried
looking around this forum for the same question, and I found it
several times. Unfortunately, many people were responding to the
questions with acronyms,
which I didn't understand at all. Anytime someone uses an acronym, I
am just
like "huh?" and become confused. Again, sorry.

Can anyone explain this to me, part by part? Please explain as if you
were
talking to a small child, with overbearing amounts of details. I'm
assuming I'm going to need to buy several different things to do this,
but I don't
know what, obviously. Some sort of hardware for turning the VHS into
computer data I'd guess, but I don't have ANY idea what hardware that
would
be, which brands are best, etc. Money isn't so important, I'd rather
buy
something high-quality that records the VHS perfectly. Aside from
that, I'm assuming I'll need some kind of program to actually edit the
data once it's
on my computer (for cutting out the commercials and such). Again,
don't know
which program is best. I've been hearing people mentioning something
called Movie Maker, but I don't know what that is, or if that is what
I want. Finally, after transfering the VHS to my computer and editing
them, I need to
burn them on to DVDs, right? Of course, again I don't know what
hardware I
need for that. Like before, I'd like to buy the highest quality
hardware, so
the DVDs turn out at the highest quality that they possibly can.
Which brand would be ideal for this?

I guess you can divide my quest into three parts - VHS to computer,
editing
data, computer to DVD. Any help people can give is greatly
appreciated. Stepping me through it slowly and thoroughly would leave
me unspeakably
happy. Thank you all for your time. Also, sorry I wrote such an
absurdly
long post..... I guess I wanted to be thorough explaining everything.

Oh, a small thing - I keep hearing that VHS tapes take up crazy amount
of
space. Some of these sporting events, even with commercials out, will
be
hours long, I'd wager. Is it possible to put the entire event on a
single
DVD? Do any sort of "super-DVDs" exist that hold more data or
something?


Since you say you are not computer-savvy, the smartest thing to do would
be to look in your local Yellow Pages for a company that converts tapes
to DVD and just let them do it for you.

If you still want to do it yourself, then start by reading the
information at some of the links this Google search turned up:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=convert+VHS+to+DVD&btnG=Search

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
.

Relevant Pages

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    ... I have a cheap Sharp VHS machine that has been going strong for years and years now. ... If it dies and I can't replace it, which I doubt will be the case for another 5-10 years, I won't shed a tear because anything important we have on VHS is also on DVD, which isn't much. ... I would wager the availability of VHS players is likely a very small component of their decision to replace the tapes with DVDs. ... After all I can still buy floppy drives and disks at just about any computer store and I bet I will still be able to buy them 10 years from now. ...
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    ... Granted, VHS is still very much alive, but it is rapidly being replaced by ... DVD for a number of reasons. ... First is permanence; tapes stretch and degrade ... watch said video on your computer as well as your TV. ...
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  • Re: Making DVDs
    ... This past summer I was faced with the issue of paring down the combine VHS ... Since I bought a DVD ... We were already members of Netflix and several local libraries. ... going to keep the machine but I found that it would not make tapes or DVD's ...
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    ... Use Google and keep queries to 3-4 words (convert vhs to dvd). ... I'd like to copy these VHS tapes to DVDs. ... Some sort of hardware for turning the VHS into ...
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