VHS tapes and DVDs

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. I don't have XP Media Center
Edition, I think it's just the normal edition. Sorry! People in this
section seemed to know a ton about this kind of stuff, so I thought *maybe*
it was a good place to ask my questions.

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?

Thank you so much!
From,
Chrono1st
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: VHS tapes and DVDs
    ... Digital Media Edition to accomplish your goal. ... I'd like to copy these VHS tapes to DVDs. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: VHS tapes and DVDs
    ... My friend has many, many old VHS tapes, of recorded sports events and other things. ... I'd like to copy these VHS tapes to DVDs. ... 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. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • RE: VHS tapes and DVDs
    ... DVDs are NOT as permanent as you may think. ... I'd like to copy these VHS tapes to DVDs. ... to perfectly cut out all the commercials, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: old Disney movie videos (VHS) available
    ... We are keeping all our VHS tapes because we have so many of them in our ... It would be expensive to replace them with DVDs. ... Prev by Date: ...
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  • RE: VHS tapes and DVDs
    ... Buy a combined DVD recorder and VHS tape player and do it that way. ... I'd like to copy these VHS tapes to DVDs. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter)