Duplication of VHS tapes

[blueraven]

I prob have around 3k movies on VHS.

whats the cheapest and whats the best(quality) way to make digital copies of all of them.

I did some looking abt a yr ago or so. I found sw that is real slow but could work as long as I bhght a video card. You played the VHS to the card and it converted it.

Any newer and faster ways these days?

BR

[bob1029]

As far as I know, the vhs tape has to be played back in real-time as it is not a digital format, so you are looking at a lengthy process with any method. The question is which one is the most convenient.

[Sonnie]

Yeah... I know of no easy method with VHS tapes, not to mention almost all of my VHS tapes are hardly worth recording the video tape has degraded so much. We had a few, but we just picked our favorites and purchased DVDs. We joined clubs and looked for bargains... usually averaging only a few dollars for the majority of the VHS tapes we replaced.

[Bob_99]

While my number of VHS tapes are much lower, I can echo Sonnie's comment. This is one of the drawbacks of fast changing technology. Plus, add in the changes in music (tape, cassette, CD) and one day you realize that you have a small outdated fortune sitting on your shelves. Fortunately, I lot of the good outdated movies do show up in the bargain bins or in bargain packs at the local stores.

Bob

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

eBay’s a good way to pick up DVDs on the cheap. Just watch out for the commercial sellers who try to slaughter you on shipping.

Regards,
Wayne

[Bob_99]

eBay’s a good way to pick up DVDs on the cheap.

Needless to say, but I will anyway, watch out for pirated stuff. My friend bought on e-bay what looked like a legitimate complete series of 'West Wing". The ONLY problem, on the DVD itself, it was marked "WEAT WING" . Funny in a strange way.

Bob

[Mike P.]

My wife has every Disney VHS cartoon tape ever made. To convert them to DVD we bought a Panasonic DMR-ES35V combination VHS player/DVD recorder. Although it states it's Dual Layer compatible, you must "close" the first layer before recording on the second layer. The machine does a good job.

[tonyvdb]

The drawback with recording to DVDr is that most do not have a long shelf life (some better than others) I have heard some last as little as 2 years. You will end up spending more on the whole process than its worth. Just go out and buy them on DVD and save yourself the time and trouble. I have a really good Sony Duel layer DVD recorder and it works great but the process is time consuming.

[salvasol]

Bob_99 wrote:

..., I lot of the good outdated movies do show up in the bargain bins or in bargain packs at the local stores...

Yeah, that's what I always do ... look for bargains ...

But we still have some VHS that we won't find anywhere as DVD's ..... .....