Burning VHS videos to DVD

I have some old and treasured VHS videos not available on DVD taking up room I would like to transfer to DVD. Can this be done using a computer or will copy protection prevent this? If it can be done what do I need?

It certainly can be done, but you need some sort of video capture device for input from the VCR for starters. Many video cards have this ability, but certainly not all. Then you need to decide if you want the video viewable only on a computer, or if you want the video playable on a stand alone DVD player. Of course this requires additional software and effort.

So, when you thought about these a bit, you need to get back to us. We would also need info on your video card, and what sort of capabilities your target DVD player has. Can it handle DivX format for instance?

The process really isn't difficult, but it is pretty time consuming and can cost you some money for hardware and software.

Unlikely any copy protection will come into play. As slgrieb indicated you need a capture card. They are about 100 dollars for a reasonable one here.
Ati makes very reasonably priced, decent quality ones. Capture in mpeg quality.
Then you need a software to burn to dvd

There is a device here in the States called a "Dazzle" that ought to help a bit.

Post 'em to me Angie, I have the stuff to do it... just one word of warning, VHS quality is very poor compared to putting it on DVD, transferring to DVD does not improve the quality.

Thank you for the replies and for your kind offer Noo.

I have decided in view of what is involved and that transferring to DVD will not improve quality to keep them as they are because there are about 50 of them some music but most are my late husband's steam railway collection which I enjoy too. I have a combo VHS play/record and DVD play machine and am planning to buy a DVD recorder for the TV as they are under £100 now.

FWIW my computer has a 256MB Nvidia G Force 6800 card with DV out and it has two firewire connections.

Still worth considering the transfer because tape is very impermanent. A malfunction in your VCR can damage or destroy a tape in seconds. So can heat or magnetic fields. I understand these tapes are important to you. If it is strictly for you own use, the process is simple. Capture and burn for computer use.

I'm sorry if I made this sound more intimidating than it really is; I didn't understand why you wanted to do the transfer.

I second the comment about the life limit of tapes. They do deteriorate with time, and having a backup to another medium is as valuable as having your data backed up in case a hard drive fails.

MorseLady, if you're planning to get a DVD recorder anyway, make sure you get one that will make recordings from external A/V, not just from its internal tuner, and you'd be able to back up your tapes that way. Your options for editing would be more limited than you'd get using a computer, unless you get a recorder with its own hard drive. They cost more, but have the advantage of making the initial recordings to hard drive, then give you a certain degree of flexibility transferring to the final DVD.

Another thing to remember, DVD RW (re-writable) isn't a reliable long-term medium, and requires the highest laser power to read and write. So the cheaper DVD recorders that just use DVD-RW disks as re-usable media tend to have short laser life. This is another reason to justify using a hard drive recorder if you expect to do much recording for time-shifting purposes. You avoid short laser life by only burning the material you want to keep onto more reliable "R" (write-once) disks.

something like this is what you need. Or go for something with a freeview tuner inbuilt. Two inbuilt tuners allow you to watch one while recording the other.

I am not recommending any particular recorder (I am still trying to decide which one I want myself), the above is just an example of the class of device you want if you go with Platypus' excellent suggestion.

I have a Emerson DVD-R/-RW player. hooks to tv just like a vhs recorder.
I record movies to DVD through tv signal. I have cable tv so I can go to showtime,HBO and others that do not have commercials to have to stop each time commercial starts. It also has option to record from VHS to DVD
tried it once and looked like original. I do not have too many VHS tapes.