Home movies

[visakbnb]

I am interested in putting my family movies on a dvd. I have an HP with a 200GB drive, dvd burner and somekind of hp software for photo imaging. I want to hook up my vcr to the computer and burn a dvd. What kind of card interface do I need?
thanks

[ROMMELL2004]

you will need an capture card you can find them on newegg.com for $40.00-$1000 and a good processor would be nice also to convert the video files to dvd format.

[visakbnb]

Thanks, I do have a amd athlon 3200 processor. 1GB ram, 200G hard drive.
So now I'll check the capture cards at newegg.
Thank you

[reboot]

If you want to do it right, you should have a TBC like the Canopus ADVC-100.
If you want to do everything with software, then any $20 card will do, but it will take you much longer.
The fastest way is to purchase a standalone dvd recorder.

[visakbnb]

thanks reboot,
I will look into this canopus advc-100, would I need it also if i have a stand alone dvd recorder?

[reboot]

Nope. The ADVC-100 is for VHS (and DV Cam) capture. It adjusts the source input, so your computer get's a clean signal to record.
If you have a DVD Recorder, just take the disk it made, and edit it on the computer, then reauthor.
If you just have a cheap capture card, you won't be able to copy some VHS because of copy protect stuff. The Canopus card takes care of that.

[visakbnb]

Thanks abunch again, Would it make any differnce if my vcr is a beta?
Say for instance going from the vcr straight to the dvd recorder?
Thanks you have been very helpful..................

[reboot]

Doesn't matter at all if it's Beta or VHS. The recorder takes care of the copying process.
If you want to do any editing though, I would suggest the ADVC-100 instead, then capture from the Beta directly to the computer, edit, then compile and burn to dvdr.
You can also capture live TV through the ADVC-100, via the tuner on the VCR.

[visakbnb]

okay, let me see if I have this straight................(I hope to do some editing)
from vcr(beta) to advc 100 to computer. Then do my editing and burn a dvd
Option two
from vcr(beta) to dvd recorder.
Sounds too simple!!!............ but I need to try it, my family movies are like 20 years old on beta tape, heck the tapes might not be any good!!!!!!!
Thanks again reboot!

[reboot]

That's two of the options.
The first allows much more flexibility without wasting time. You can easily edit, add audio, transitions, etc.
The second means, you have to load the disk onto the computer, then edit, in essence, doubling the number of disks you use, unless you only use DVDRW.
Personally, I prefer the ADVC-100 as the best interface.
If you don't want to do any editing, then a standalone recorder is quicker.
The third option is to go cheap, and get a $20 capture card. Capture from VCR to computer, edit, encode, author, burn.
It's more time consuming, but you have a LOT more control over the whole process, and total cost is less than $30, because all the software you need is free.

[visakbnb]

Thank you Reboot, you have been very helpful-----
say by the chance would you know the pocedure on setting mac numbers into a linksys wireless router?
thank you
bruce

[reboot]

Heh...no, sorry. Linksys has an extensive tutorial on their site though, with pictures. :D