Any Services to Transfer VHS to DVD?

[Czar]

This may or may not be off topic here but I am taking a chance

I have quite a large collection of commercial studio VHS tape titles and know that some of my favorites will most likely never see the light of a DVD incarnation. So... I am asking if there are any services out there that will transfer VHS tapes to DVD for a fee for such "archiving" of tapes?
If so, can you e-mail me and/or post the link if it is allowed? Thanks!

[Taxi]

I would imagine that DVD is a bit too new for this kind of thing.

I wonder if you could use a DVD-ROM burner to make a movie-only DVD that would play in a DVD player. That would be some cool software. It may exist, I dunno.

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Taxi
DVDFile Administrator
taxi@dvdfile.com

[Czar]

Taxi,

There are special units out on the market for home use to burn DVD's but the cost is still around $1,000. A far cry from the $10,000 they started out at a little over a year ago! The standard DVD-ROM is for playback only (as far as I know) but there may be some software to convert the process. I just don't think that it could handle multi-layers when burning and you would have to have LOADS of memory to do this I am sure to avoid the choppiness of scene panning that I get on my computer unit?

Any more ideas out there.. got to be someone or some service with one of these units at hand... hmmmmm?????

[clortho]

I contacted a dvd authoring facility a while back (don't recall the name) for converting some home video vhs to dvd. They wanted upwards of 5 grand, so there went that idea. But a friend of mine and I came up with an idea. He has an ati video card that has the capability to compress any incoming signal to mpeg2 in real time. I figure if I do that, I've been looking at DVDit! for authoring the menus and such, perhaps the actual pressing would cost much less. Not a solution for you, I know, but thought the story might steer you in a new direction.

Clortho

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I am the Keymaster
clortho@hotmail.com

[Czar]

Originally posted by clortho:
But a friend of mine and I came up with an idea. He has an ati video card that has the capability to compress any incoming signal to mpeg2 in real time. I figure if I do that, I've been looking at DVDit!

True, but then how would I transfer those realtime images to DVD? Maybe I should just wait until the recorders come down more in price. $1,000 is where DVD's started in at for high ends and suspect there will be cheaper models to follow?

[CaptBungles]

Sounds a lot like a conversation we were having in the Star Wars area a few moons ago.

Funny, over there, everyone was trying to say that it would be *illegal* to have a 3rd party "burn" a DVD of a movie which you legally own a copy of (ie Star Wars on laser disk with AC-3). I still maintain that it wouldn't be illegal to have someone else do it for you - if you legally own the original and you get the copy as well... And you KEEP both, not sell the copy to someone else or anything like that.

Sounds like a great business opportuniy to me!

[Czar]

I guess the studios want a chance to rip you off twice.

[Enzian]

You "guess"?

[Dominik Pfleghaar]

This is from the DVD FAQ:

[5.8] How do I copy my home videos/movies/slides to DVD?
If you're rich enough, put together a system with the following components
- a video digitizer ($200-$10,000)
- an MPEG-2 video encoder ($150-$35,000)
- a Dolby Digital audio encoder ($800-$5,000)
- a DVD-Video authoring application ($500-$70,000)
- a DVD-R recorder ($5,000)
Then take the following steps
- digitize the audio and video from VHS, Hi8, DV, or whatever (for slides, use a scanner; for film, get it transferred to tape or digital video at a camera shop or video company)
- encode the video into MPEG-2 (make sure the display frame rate is set to 29.97 for NTSC or 25 for PAL)
- encode the audio into Dolby Digital (or, if your video is short enough that you have room on the disc, format the audio as 48kHz PCM)
- bring the video and audio clips into the DVD-Video authoring program
- create a menu or two if you're ambitious, and link the menu buttons to your video clips
- if you're converting slides, use the slideshow feature or turn them into menus (most authoring systems will read TIFF, JPEG, or PhotoShop files)
- create some chapter points if you're really ambitious (if your authoring program supports this)
- write your finished gem out to a DVD-R ($30)
Otherwise, if you're like most of us and you make less money in year than Bill Gates does in a day, then wait until sometime in 2001 when all the above functionality is available for only a few thousand dollars. Or, in the meantime, find someone who has the above system and will transfer your video for a reasonable fee. Here are a few choices.
- HomeMovie.com. Up to 2 hours for $100.
- (Wedding DVD no longer offers the service.)
Or, if MPEG-1 video quality is sufficient for your needs, get MPEG-1 encoding software and a CD-R/RW formatting application that supports Video CD (such as Easy CD Creator or Toast from Adaptec, InternetDiscWriter from Query, MPEG Maker-2 from VITEC, Nero Burning ROM from Ahead, NTI CD-Maker from NTI, or WinOnCD from Cequadrat). Quality won't be as good, and playing time won't be as long, but software, hardware, and blank discs will be much cheaper. Just make sure that any players you intend to play the disc on can read CD-Rs (see 2.4.3) and can play Video CDs (see 2.4.5). A variation on this strategy is to make Super Video CDs (see 2.4.6), which have better quality but shorter playing time. SVCD support is being added to a few of the authoring/formatting tools listed above.

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Unca Dom
dvdfile.com Administrator
pfleghaar@dvdfile.com
My dvd collection

[Czar]

Must have been an old FAQ entry

I have found a couple different recorders (and sure there are others like the $1,000 home theater version I was speaking of) far LESS than what you quoted. Here are a couple examples and links that range on both ends of the spectrum:

Pioneer DVR S201DVD $4,500 You will need software to go with that but we all know how to get it... right?

http://www.profeel.com/dvrs201.htm

Also QPS Que! P13 $644. It says it will record DVD movies in MPEG-2 for playback on monitor or TV in full screen.

http://www.ecost.com/sales/detail.asp?dpno=48277&catalog_id=63&store=ecost&& set_id=10§ion=purchase


Czar


[This message has been edited by Czar (edited 07-25-2000).]