I have a friend whose father wants to buy a new PC for the purpose of converting old home movies to DVD.

The movies are not the highest of quality so an inexpensive capture card added to the PC should do the trick.

What would be the best card to use (TV Wonder, Happauge ect..).

Will any of these cards come with the appropriate software? He will be using legal software so price is a factor.

What about getting a windows media center PC since they come with capture cards.

I have no experience converting home movies to DVD so any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

You ask for inexpensive, then mention Media Center? LOL!

OK, you have lots of choices, so how cheap is "cheap"?

BTW, if his "home movies" just happen to appear as though they have Macrovision protection, he'll probably want the Turtle Beach Video Advantage, you can read the review at THG.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

Any Windows Media Center Edition pc on the market today should be able to do this job, and do it well. This is the kind of stuff WMCE was designed for.

Alternatively, a box with a fairly powerful CPU (Intel 3.0 Ghz, AMD 3000+), a brand name video caputer card or TV tuner card, and a large hard drive should give you all the tools you need for this job.

Another alternative is to use a miniDV camcorder that has an analogue video in port (composite or s-video) and 1394 port out. Connect the VCR to the miniDV camcorder with a composite or s-video cable. Then connect the miniDV camcorder to the pc with a 1394 cable.

Start the VCR, play the VHS tape, and the miniDV camcorder will convert the analogue video to digital, and when the digital video gets to the pc, it is recorded in digital directly on the hard drive.

Not all miniDV camcorders can do this, for obvious reasons concerning copying of copyrighted VHS movies. Most miniDV camcorders lack an analogue video in port. Most have analogue video out.

Two very good miniDV camcorders that have this functionality are the Panasonic PV-GS120 and PV-GS200, both of which are 3CCD types, which produce excellent video. Unfortunately, Panasonic has discontinued both models (can you guess why?), and replaced them with models that lack analogue video in ports.

Thanks

I also see that Liteon makes a VHS DVD+RW Recorder combo (LVC 9006) on sale for $220 that has gotten some good reviews.

Very limitted editing/menu options, but five stars for ease of use

He could quickly convert all his home movies then edit then at his leisure from the DVDs.

Not sure what software to recommend for that though.

Subject: Re: VHS to DVD on the cheap?

Not sure that's the best route. Once converted to DVD, I think you will have limited options to go back to edit them later (other than basic splicing, chopping scenes, etc.)

I'm using Pinnacle Stuido 9 Plus. The reviews are good but a lot of people report problems with bugs, etc. I have a good system, and have had no problems at all.

There is a bit of a learning curve because it does have some advanced features. I use it for VHS home movies to DVD and the quality is great. Prices just dropped too, around $100 for the internal card, breakout box (to connect VHS to) and all the editing software you need.

Just make sure the computer can handle it. Video work is demanding. Don't use the PC for anything else while it's capturing video, or while you edit it. I shut down all background programs and disconnect my ethernet cable so I have no internet access. Haven't had a problem yet and, as I said, very pleased with quality.



<i> DFI Lanparty Ultra, Venice 3200+, Leadtek 6600GT Extreme, Antec TP 2.0 550W, 1GB OCZ Gold, WD 160gb SATA 3.0gb/s(x2), Maxtor 60gb IDE, Pinnacle AV/DV Deluxe, Lite-On 1693S DVD, Logitech X530 </i>