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nickyj182

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 12, 2002
180
0
Morehead, KY
I have an old VHS tape of my Dad playing pool that I would love to put on DVD for him. I am well aware of the Analog converters I could buy to get the tape on my mac, but I would like to avoid purchasing one just for this one task. Are there any major businesses out there that I could tape the tape to and pay them to have it moved to DVD? Thanks in advance!
 

mscriv

macrumors 601
Aug 14, 2008
4,923
602
Dallas, Texas
The other thing you can try is to see if anyone in the family has a digital video camera with a bypass feature. We had an older Sony Digital 8 video camera where I could pass through things playing on a VCR to a computer. This would convert the video from analog to digital in the process.

Another option would be to use a DVD recorder. Some are dual deck with a VHS bay built into them. We own one like this that will do one touch conversion from VHS to DVD.
 

MacNut

macrumors Core
Jan 4, 2002
22,995
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CT
Your going to want to make a high quality master before burning out to DVD. Doing a straight VHS to DVD burn will be very compressed.
 

UlsterApple

macrumors regular
Aug 22, 2011
106
0
Northern Ireland
Doing a straight VHS to DVD burn will be very compressed.

I do that all the time, straight from VHS to DVD on the same machine - one plays, one records. Quality on the DVD is as good as the original tape. The DVD can then be copied to my Mac and edited or processed to enhance the picture before final burning or uploading. It's the most cost-effective method of copying years of VHS memories.
 

MacNut

macrumors Core
Jan 4, 2002
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I do that all the time, straight from VHS to DVD on the same machine - one plays, one records. Quality on the DVD is as good as the original tape. The DVD can then be copied to my Mac and edited or processed to enhance the picture before final burning or uploading. It's the most cost-effective method of copying years of VHS memories.
Once you burn to DVD you lose quality, do a master DV burn first then edit it.
 

MacNut

macrumors Core
Jan 4, 2002
22,995
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What's a VHS? That said:



No you won't. VHS quality is far below DVD quality. You won't lose any quality whatsoever.
The second you master out to DVD you lose quality, always do a hard master first and make your changes and burn to DVD.
 

GoreVidal

macrumors 6502a
Jun 19, 2011
597
0
The second you master out to DVD you lose quality, always do a hard master first and make your changes and burn to DVD.

No. Again, VHS is lower quality than the lowest default DVD encoding. If you mean to create a RAW version of a capture, THEN burn it to DVD, then I agree. But you'll notice absolutely no difference going straight from VHS to DVD burn. I have done it dozens of times.
 

MacNut

macrumors Core
Jan 4, 2002
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No. Again, VHS is lower quality than the lowest default DVD encoding. If you mean to create a RAW version of a capture, THEN burn it to DVD, then I agree. But you'll notice absolutely no difference going straight from VHS to DVD burn. I have done it dozens of times.

I agree with that. If you want to do any editing though don't burn to DVD first. If you are just archiving a straight DVD burn is fine. I am still not convinced that DVD is a good long term archival source though. I would still have a raw master stored somewhere and then burn as many DVDs as you want.
 

MusicEnthusiast

macrumors 6502
Jun 23, 2010
442
53
Los Angeles
I agree with that. If you want to do any editing though don't burn to DVD first. If you are just archiving a straight DVD burn is fine. I am still not convinced that DVD is a good long term archival source though. I would still have a raw master stored somewhere and then burn as many DVDs as you want.

What program do you use? And is there an alternative for Windows that I could do this for (so those I know who don't have Macs can use it too?)
 

MacNut

macrumors Core
Jan 4, 2002
22,995
9,971
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What program do you use? And is there an alternative for Windows that I could do this for (so those I know who don't have Macs can use it too?)
Basically you wan't to capture the analog and convert it to digital, any firewire camcorder will have a pass through that you can hook up the VCR too and then send the video out. Once its in the computer any editing software will allow you to master out.
 
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