Im wondering whats the best way to get my tapes from vhs, onto a disc, like a dvd, so I can watch them on me laptop. We have got a digital movie camerea, and her indoors reckons it can be done with that somehow. But im interested to know if I can buy a dvd recorder for the telly, and plug the video in it somehow, then record the films from tape to disk. Does anybody know if this can be done?
it can as long as the video you are taping is not copyrighted which means it will aslo be protected you can get a lead to overcome this but by law you only allowed to backup any media that you own the original too on your own taped stuff there aint a problem i use a phillips 890 and a Mustek R100B-5 to back up the originals i own but you will have to ask at a good pc shop for the lead if you explain what you want it for i am sure you will find 1ebay also have them as well
Galaxian (Dave)
Dave, is that a dvd installed in a pc youre on about? or onre of the ones that go under the telly? Im wondering because you mention a pc shop.
You can buy stand alone DVD recorder mal for the TV, cheap ones start at about £150, what he is talking about is, if you for instance hire a DVD for exmple, it has a copyright on it, and use’s something called macrovision protection, so if you try and record it, you will get problems like a flashing picture or something.
On most DVD players there are ways to disable the macrovision, and then you can record original DVD’s, but in your case you need not to worry about that.
You will need a scart output on your VCR for best results, you can record it with the normal RF cable, but if its a stereo recording you will only get mono on the DVD.
Try currys for a DVD recorder they start at about £150 click here
The other way of doing it, is to buy a DVD writer for your pc, get a TV card or something that can be used to capture video and record it to PC as an mpeg then stick it on a DVD, but buying the stand alone job is most likely to be your best option, then you can do away with VHS altogether 
Edited to bring thread back to correct width - Coffeeholic
Cheers Chris, im sure youre right marra, but I’ll get her indoors to read that post and translate it for me, she sets the clock on the video ect 
Hows it going anyway? aint seen you round for a bit.
Yeh not bad mate, moved house at the beginning of July and the new gaff didnt have a phone line installed until yesterday, so ive been through cold turkey of no internet for a month 
oh yeah, I remember you told me about the new gaff, well, youre up an running now though M8!
sorry mal yea both i said above are standalone units but gurner has got it right i also use pc to do it which gives you better quality you just need to use right software on pc reason i said pc shop is for the macromedia cable or you can also get a box cable is about £30 box which is a lot better is about £50 but both do the job
Galaxian (Dave)
Mal you can plug it straight in to the back of your pc providing you have a video capture card or a tv card and burn them off with either a dvd writer or a normal cd writer and burn them to vcd its just the same as dvd but not compressed as much so you might need 2 of 3 discs to put anything on.
As for tv if thats what you want to record, buy a tv card record the programmes to your hard drive and burn them the same way.
Thanks lads, I appreciate all the info, even though right now a lot of it is going over the top! the mrs is good with this stuff tho, to think, all im after right now is for me tgo get hell drivers from vhs to dvd! 
Mal, try this
£10 delivered
Jules
Boots O’Lead:
£10 delivered
Jules
Mal is a Truck driver not a banker! 
He only wants to know how he can copy Corry when he is away, so releaving him of boredom while he spends his so called free time while he is guarding his truck from the beasts of the night! 
maybe a pm is in order if anyone has any old recordings that they are willing to post!
Nice one Ian, in with both feet again. How do you manage to eat your breakfast when you’re too busy chewing your toenalis
Seriously though, if you check the link it will take you to the play.com (my favourite DVD shop) entry for Hell Drivers. This will either be remastered for DVD or the recording will be from the master copy. The sound is dolby digital 1.0 (mono) which means the soundtrack should sound as it did when it was first made. It’s in 16:9 format (widescreen) which is probably the original format. The extras include an interview with Stanley Baker and a location report.
Or you can record an old tape and have VHS quality picture and probably degraded sound.
Recording from the TV is ok for your soaps and the like, but I prefer my films to be the best quality available and I just thought I’d give Mal the opportunity to get a good copy of the film at a reasonable price.
By the way, I have no connection to play.com and receive no commision for recommending them so why should I put it in a PM 
cheers
Jules
Slightly off-topic to Mal’s request, but a word of warning to anyone considering the Humax DVR-8000T freeview set-top box with 20 hours recording capacity on it’s HD, I bought one instead of a conventional video recorder as the 20hrs recording would be well handy for when I’m away all week. It is highly rated in all the related mags and websites but I’ve had nothing but trouble with mine and it’s going back this weekend.
It might seem like a bargain at £150, but I can assure you you’re wasting your money. 
I love reading Mal’s posts You can actually hear his West Midland accent when you read them