Desktop for Converting VHS tapes to DVD

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retexan599

New Member
I am planning to buy the Dell XPS 410 with this video card: VIDEO CARD 256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro. I am assuming I will be able to feed my analog VCR output into this card for purposes of using Vista Movie Maker and Vista DVD Maker. Other features I am buying are:
Intel® Core™ 2 E6420
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
I am mainly trying to see if I have forgotten something important. How does this look re my VHS to DVD task? Thanks
 
As cheap as combo VHS / DVD units are why would you want to tie up a 'puter with all that?
You can get a unit to dub those over for cheap.

HERE is just a few at walmart, and I saw some nice units at Bestbuy a while back as well.

I have about 750 VHS I plan to dub over too, so I was looking into this about a month ago, all in all I came to the conclusion it would be simpler and cheaper just to get a combo unit, and have at it.
 
Be sure you realize you must get a RECORDER. A plain combo won't work.

And as the others said, the Radeon only has TV-Out. If you want to capture using your computer, you do need some form of capture card. Though in the end a DVD-Recorder is very nice. I typically record things on DVD-RW's then rip the DVD, clip the ends, then re-burn it to a DVD-R. With the right software you could also add titles or whatever.
 
The_Other_One said:
Be sure you realize you must get a RECORDER. A plain combo won't work.

And as the others said, the Radeon only has TV-Out. If you want to capture using your computer, you do need some form of capture card. Though in the end a DVD-Recorder is very nice. I typically record things on DVD-RW's then rip the DVD, clip the ends, then re-burn it to a DVD-R. With the right software you could also add titles or whatever.
Click to expand...

Freedom said:
As cheap as combo VHS / DVD units are why would you want to tie up a 'puter with all that?
You can get a unit to dub those over for cheap.

HERE is just a few at walmart, and I saw some nice units at Bestbuy a while back as well.

I have about 750 VHS I plan to dub over too, so I was looking into this about a month ago, all in all I came to the conclusion it would be simpler and cheaper just to get a combo unit, and have at it.
Click to expand...

madtownidiot said:
There's no analog input for that video card. You'll need an analog video capture card like this : http://www.nlesystems.com/_e/DECKLINK/product/BDLKSP/DeckLink_SP.htm
There are cheaper ones than that, but because you're going to buy a dell none of them will work. You can't install aftermarket PCI hardware in dell computers
Click to expand...

Thanks for the good advice! My thought about using a plain DVD recorder: I will be wanting to edit the videotape footage before committing it to a DVD. That will include deleting sections, adding titles, and information to provide context. Not sure I can do that with a plain VHS to DVD recorder and assuming I will need computer software for the task.
 
What I tend to do with my recorder, I'll record Mythbusters (got to love that show!) 2 to 4 shows on a DVD-RW. Afterwards, I'll load it on my computer using TMPGEnc DVD Author and cut out the commercials and any extra junk. Then I simply burn it to a DVD-R and format my RW for the next set of shows ;)
 
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