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Topic: Copying Audio & VIdeo cassettes to CDs a d DVDs |
steve takacs
From:
beijing, china via pittsburgh (deceased)
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Posted 24 May 2017 4:25 am |
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| Are there machines anyone would suggest to copy audio and video cassettes to CDs and DVD? Thanks, Stevet |
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Bill A. Moore
From:
Silver City, New Mexico, USA
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Posted 24 May 2017 6:45 am
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| I use an interface to copy to my computer, (problem is, it's in real time). |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 24 May 2017 9:38 am
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I have a standalone model that has both a VHS tape reader and a DVD reader/burner. But, its an old model and not made anymore. Don't even know if a new model is made. Another option is a VHS player and separate DVD player/burner. You can use a PC but its a convoluted process on the PC and the PC is tied up for the entire period of loading the VHS data and then burning the DVD and making sure you properly finalize the DVD so a standard DVD player will play it. Best option is the standalone units.
For audio tapes, you can "record" them to the PC (save them as WAV files to the hard drive). Then burn audio CD's with the PC's burner drive. You will need a program such as the free "Audacity" for copying "recording" the tapes from the tape player to the PC. |
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Nicholas Ackron
From:
Daytona Beach
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Posted 6 Jun 2017 7:42 pm
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| I have a Samsung DVD/VHS converter that my wife bought me about 6yrs ago from Kmart. Check Best Buy and places like that. |
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John Bresler R.I.P.
From:
Thornton, Colorado
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Posted 7 Jun 2017 9:08 am
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I use Roxio "VHS to DVD" computer software which works great and I don't need any extra hardware. It comes with the necessary cables. It also comes with a program to record audio only.
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Ollin Landers
From:
Willow Springs, NC
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Posted 8 Jun 2017 5:56 am
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DISCLAIMER
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I did this over 10 years ago and hardware and software have come a long way since then.
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The GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out) law applies here.
If you expect to get digital quality from an analogue source you will be disappointed.
I've done a great deal of digitizing Audio Cassettes and Vinyl. All it requires is some time and a good audio card that has quality Digital Audio Converters (DAC's). Even a PC with a built in sound card will do a reasonable job.
There is still the process of "splitting" the tracks and removing the pops, clicks and tape hiss. EQ'ng the converted files for best quality etc... Audacity is a great FREE program to do this.
Then either play the digital files or use a program to burn to CD.
On the other hand -------------------
I researched, studied, experimented and spent a lot of time and money copying just a few VHS to DVD.
If you are trying to copy commercial VHS tape (movies) to DVD the process is difficult and most of the modern VHS players had copy protection chips. All things considered it's actually cheaper to purchase them again on DVD.
Non-commercial VHS like your own home movies and even some instructional VHS is usually not a problem.
I digitized all my instructional material using a Professional VHS player I purchased, used. It had all kinds of syncing and video stabilization chips built in. This allowed me to get the cleanest video output possible.
Even then the results were less than stellar. The copy is only as good as the source. Most of my tapes were old, stretched, and worn. I found there was very little I could do to clean them up.
That said, I'm very happy I did it. At the time I did mine I used a professional video card made just for video capture.
I connected the VHS player to the card and used PC capture software.
The problem with this method or any PC capture is the time involved. The copy process happens in real time. So the process is very time intensive. You need a lot of hard drive space and a PC that can keep up with the video stream.
If you have just a few tapes it may be more practical and cost effective to have them professionally digitized to get the best results. There are services out there that can do it quite reasonably. I don't know if they will do this for copyrighted tapes.
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Zum SD-12 Black, Zum SD-12 Burly Elm Several B-Bender Tele's and a lot of other gear I can't play.
I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol and wild women. The other half I wasted. W.C. Fields |
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Tony Oresteen
From:
Georgia, USA
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Posted 10 Jun 2017 5:15 pm
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+5 on using Audacity for cassette copies. I bought a used mid to high range STEREO cassette deck (cheap) and run the audio through my Delta 1010 audio interface and capture it to the hard drive. Then I use Audacity to break out individual songs. I then convert the wav files to MP3 files and use MP3TAG application to set the tags & embed the artwork in each MP3 FILE. Then I import them into iTunes and onto my iPod.
I have never copied VHS tape to DVDs. If it's a commercial movie I just buy a used DVD copy off of ebay. The quality is better than any copy you can make from a VHS tape. For those titles that are not available in DVD I have an old VHS player that I use to watch them.
As Ollin said, consider using a comercial service to copy your personal movies.
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Tony
Newnan, GA
Too many guitars, not enough time to play
'72 Sho-Bud 6139, '71 Marlen 210
'78 Fender Stringmaster Quad black
PedalMaster D8 |
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