I have absolutely no idea where this question should go, so the "miscelaneous" forum seems like a good place to start.
There is so much information about the technology available for backing up DVD's, but I can't find anything about backing up a VHS movie. I have a few that are showing some wear and tear and would like to back them up to a DVD (normally not a problem with my home movies, etc), but some VHS's are copy protected.
With the copy protected ones, the video is fed to the recording device (DVD Recorder)through a so called 'Video Enhancer' or 'Video Stabilizer' etc.
Some PC capture cards, ignore the Macrovision and accept the signal without demur.
Stabilizers can be purchased on the WEB and shouldn't cost more than $25-$35 - I use an old 'Optex' unit purchased fifteen years ago from Radio Shack.
Ask people over 30 if they have one laying around.
attar,
thanks for the link and I will start looking for a stabilizer.
in the meantime, I am curious about the procedure for using a computer. I have seen reference to copying a VHS to a computer (you also briefly mention it), I'm curious if you happen to know the steps for importing a VHS tape to a computer (where I would then be able to convert it to a DVD). If you can walk me through the steps for importing one, I'll give it a shot to see whether my computer can capture it without regard to copy-protection.
I use DVD Shrink and DVD decrypter, by the way, to get a file onto a DVD (not sure that's necessary info here, just thought I'd include that bit of info).
I have a HauppaugeHDTV card.
It has inputs for cable/antenna, audio and S-video.
Recording from tape consists of connecting the video, audio and running the software and selecting the video input path and turning on the tape.
The video (in this particular case) is saved as mpeg2 and can be converted to DVD format with any authoring program.
Some tape players do not have S-Video output, in that case a simple RCA to S-Video adapter can be used - although an adapter containing some active electronics would probably be better.
This is North American usage - I'm not familiar with EU SCART.
An alternative to using the native software would be to capture to AVI with Virtualdub.
It's filters (tweak colour, brightness, etc become available at the capture point).
