Thread: VHS to DVD question

I have a fair number of old VHS movies that have never made it to a DVD release. Before the VHS tapes degrade completely, I want to copy them to DVD. I bought a magnavox VHS/DVD recorder to do this, as my old VCR is on its last legs. I did a few VHS to DVD transfers on the new machine just fine. Then I came across some VHS tapes that say they are copy protected. I'd forgotten that VHS tapes even had this. If I could buy these on DVD or blu ray, I would, rather than go for a poorer quality VHS to DVD transfer but I don't have that option. Looking into the problem I see there are various devices that supposedly get around the copy protection and let you record the tape to DVD. Does anyone have any recommendations for the cheapest and simplest to get the job done? Or are there options to record these to a media device, like a hard drive/media recorder? thanks

I'm surprised such devices are still available, considering how small the VHS market is, and how even DVD is yielding much of it's market to Blu-ray. Yet, I am in the same boat.

supposedly there's a device called a digital video stabilizer that you can hook up between the VHS and the DVD recorder to solve the copy protection problem. They seem to run from 30$ up. If anyone has a recommendation on these I'd appreciate it.

That is old analog Macrovision.
I believe a PC video card with video-in (capture) works around that.
But I haven't done this in a very long time.

Diogen.

There are some cheap pc capture cards available now since the digital transformation. They only handle NTSC input so they're no longer in demand, but most have either analog or s-video connections. You could record directly to one of them and then burn the DVD.

Originally Posted by sansha

I have a fair number of old VHS movies that have never made it to a DVD release. Before the VHS tapes degrade completely, I want to copy them to DVD. I bought a magnavox VHS/DVD recorder to do this, as my old VCR is on its last legs. I did a few VHS to DVD transfers on the new machine just fine. Then I came across some VHS tapes that say they are copy protected. I'd forgotten that VHS tapes even had this. If I could buy these on DVD or blu ray, I would, rather than go for a poorer quality VHS to DVD transfer but I don't have that option. Looking into the problem I see there are various devices that supposedly get around the copy protection and let you record the tape to DVD. Does anyone have any recommendations for the cheapest and simplest to get the job done? Or are there options to record these to a media device, like a hard drive/media recorder? thanks

I had the same problem . Many tapes never made it to DVD and I didn't want my tape to break . They have many Digital Video Stabilizers and I've tried many of them. The only one I found that removes 100 percent of it is the Digital Video Stabilizer made by Polytron Model 360-20. I got mine on Ebay for $29. It was the only one to remove the protection 100 percent. The Others still showed a trace of it.

The Funny thing about that protection is the very early VHS tapes put out by the studio didn't have them. Then the VCR became cheaper and so did blank tapes. So they put Macrovision on them to try to stop it.

As for trying to capture it on a pc card or whatever I've had mixed results. It's lots of work. You would be better off with the Digital Video Stabilizer.

Thanks for the recommendation.

Does this look like the one you mean? It doesn't have a manufacturer or model #


VCR DIGITAL VIDEO STABILIZER - eBay (item 280558507302 end time Sep-12-10 21:05:35 PDT)

Originally Posted by sansha

Thanks for the recommendation.

Does this look like the one you mean? It doesn't have a manufacturer or model #


VCR DIGITAL VIDEO STABILIZER - eBay (item 280558507302 end time Sep-12-10 21:05:35 PDT)

It looks the same. Yes. I got mine from gac_wholesale on ebay. Do a search for them on search and see if they have any left.

You should also look at the Canopus devices made by Grass Valley (if my memories good). You should consider getting something with a TBC (time base corrector) - this makes sure audio & video are synced. They are expensive. It's been awhile since I've seen the specs so I can't remember if they do anything for the copy guard.

I have a Hauppauge HVR 1600. This captures fine but 3rd party software is difficult. One of the better ones recommended are Virtual Dub & Virtual Dub Mod (they are open source or freeware). I'm still trying to figure them out. I have Pinnacle Studio 14 but it doesn't recognize the capture card nor my C: drive nor my F: drive You also have to be able to convert the captured video (in .TS) to a format Pinnacle recognizes - even though .TS is an industry standard .... ooops ..... sorry .... got carried away! LOL!