Recording old video tapes to DVD ?

[rags]

Hello,

I need some advice on this so please help !

I currently own a Sony laptop which has an inbuilt DVD recorder and a Sony Digital camcorder. I need to transfer the following onto DVD -

1. Some old VHS tapes
2. A few HI8 Video camera tapes and
3. some digital video tapes (recorded on my current video camera).

TBH I dont have a clue where to start with this. What cables will I need ? Will I be able to do all of this on my laptop. Bl**dy hell I dont even know what DVD recordable discs to buy (I know there are a few formats around)!

I have been promising my wife that I am going to do this for the last three months and I am about to get my arse kicked if I dont sort it out quicktime !

I have transfered loads of old VHS tapes and 8mm tapes to DVD useing my Sony Digital Camcorder and my PC, it took me months of research but it is routine now.
It will only work if your camera has DV in, otherwise a TV card will work but the quality is not as good.
I use VideoStudio 8 as my editing and burning software.
The camera is connected to my PC useing i-linc but USB should do.
The VHS recorder is connected to the camera with an AV lead via a scart adapter which has AV red/yellow/white connections and an input/output switch.
I have a small portable TV to monitor what the VHS recorder is playing.
Useing this setup I can record directly to the editing software from the VHS recorder, or indeed the TV, and once edited burn directly onto DVD.
I use DVD+R and DVD-R media which will play on DVD players or PC.
The DV tapes recorded on your current camera are no problem, just connect to your PC or I assume the laptop can be fitted with an i-linc(IEEE 1394 card) or USB might work, copy the tape to the editing software the burn to DVD.
The 8mm tapes are a bit more difficult. I borrowed an old 8mm camera, did a straight transfer to my DV camcorder useing an AV connector and then copied them to my PC for editing and burning.
I'm shure someone else will come up with an alternate soloution but it works for me.

[rags]

Originally Posted by hao

I have transfered loads of old VHS tapes and 8mm tapes to DVD useing my Sony Digital Camcorder and my PC, it took me months of research but it is routine now.
It will only work if your camera has DV in, otherwise a TV card will work but the quality is not as good.
I use VideoStudio 8 as my editing and burning software.
The camera is connected to my PC useing i-linc but USB should do.
The VHS recorder is connected to the camera with an AV lead via a scart adapter which has AV red/yellow/white connections and an input/output switch.
I have a small portable TV to monitor what the VHS recorder is playing.
Useing this setup I can record directly to the editing software from the VHS recorder, or indeed the TV, and once edited burn directly onto DVD.
I use DVD+R and DVD-R media which will play on DVD players or PC.
The DV tapes recorded on your current camera are no problem, just connect to your PC or I assume the laptop can be fitted with an i-linc(IEEE 1394 card) or USB might work, copy the tape to the editing software the burn to DVD.
The 8mm tapes are a bit more difficult. I borrowed an old 8mm camera, did a straight transfer to my DV camcorder useing an AV connector and then copied them to my PC for editing and burning.
I'm shure someone else will come up with an alternate soloution but it works for me.

Thanks. My laptop does have i link so I will buy the necessary cable to connect it to the camera. Just also checked the camera does have DV in (Sony PC105).

Can you please explain or give me a link to the AV lead via scart adapter I need to connect it to the VCR. Do you mean a scart to 3 phono lead - if so I have one of these as well.

After reading your post I was looking at this -

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...ssthrough.mspx

Is this similar to what you are talking about ?

[redsox_mark]

I’ve done this as well (nice summary, Hao). I also needed to buy one of these SCART adapters; the reason being that on my VCR (and I think this is common), the video inputs that you would normally plug your camcorder into are input only. Usually, it is only one of the SCART connections on the VCR which does output.

I got further fooled by the fact that my camcorder came with a SCART to phono thing that looked like it would do the job, but it also only supported input, not output.

One with a switch does both…

Here is a link to one…

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...ce=14&doy=23m1

[TobyW]

I too have transferred old recordings from an analog camera, and from a VHS machine, to a PC using a digital camera as the capture device. In my case the camera is a Panasonic with analog in, DV out, and the ability to pass through (if you don't insert a tape in the camera).

The only problem I found was that any drop-outs on the old tapes caused somewhat longer gaps in the files captured on the PC, and they also threw the lip-sync off. Otherwise it worked well.