Possible to copy from VHS player/recorder to DVD player/recorder? [Archive]

View Full Version : Possible to copy from VHS player/recorder to DVD player/recorder?

keys

27th July 2007, 13:27

If this is such a laughably dumb question then please do feel free to laugh - but.....

If I have a VHS player/recorder and a DVD player/recorder, can I stick a VHS tape in the VHS player/recorder and a blank disc in the DVD player/recorder, hook up the two players/recorders together, hit play on the video and record on the DVD?

I know that video/DVD combis do this but what about seperates - or is that a real dumbass question?

Guest

27th July 2007, 13:55

If you are talking about commercial tapes, they may have Macrovision protection and most DVD recorders will refuse to copy them.

Without Macrovision, things will work fine.

GrofLuigi

27th July 2007, 13:57

Dr.Khron

27th July 2007, 15:56

They sell hardware filters for filtering out macrovision... you just plug it into the Coax inbewteen the VCR and DVD units.

Bewarned: VCR footage often looks like crap when digtized to DVD. In my experience it depends on how the DVD recorder encodes the analog signal.

If you want to clean up the footage with AviSynth filters, you can do it the hard way, using the tools discussed in these forums.

keys

27th July 2007, 23:02

Okay well knowing that it is possible then - a quick follow up question.....

Generally speaking, am I going to get better picture quality hooking up the video player/recorder to a video capture card than as otherwise described above? Or not? I am looking for ease of use but I'll use a capture card if it'll give better quality.

Guest

28th July 2007, 02:19

IMHO, given the poor quality of VHS to start with, the difference won't be significant.

keys

28th July 2007, 10:00

I think I know the answer of this before I ask - but I'm seeking clarification really.....

Given that the VHS tape I have isn't of good quality to start off with, is it advisable to use a good quality video player/recorder rather than a bog standard video player recorder? Will using a better video player/recorder give me slightly better results? (As I say the tape is not good to start with).

Guest

28th July 2007, 13:43

A top quality player can give better results than an el-cheapo. It may track better, which will be really obvious if the tape is dodgy. It's frequency response will be better, etc. It's for you to decide if the difference justifies the cost differential. If you can't see any obvious issues when playing your tape with your current VCR, it's probably not worth trying a higher-quality unit. YMMV

FlimsyFeet

31st July 2007, 11:04

To give you some idea, I once tested a pro deck against a consumer deck. You can see the images in this post:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=824683#post824683