i have a load of video tapes with tv shows on and i want to transfer them to DVD. is there anywhere i can pay to get this done for me? i can't be bothered to do it myself? Any stores specialise in this??

Google will find you plenty of places that do this but they are expensive and won't transfer copyright material. If you can't be bothered to do it your self dump them in the bin, VHS often looks even worse after DVD transfer unless you use the 1hr high quality mode due to the fact that its noisy nature makes it difficult to encode.

My local chemist does it. They can do it to BluRay as well, and put cine film onto disc.

When I purchased my first DVD/HDD recorder one of the first things I did was set about transferring my collection of videos.Did a few,got bored with how long it took,(you copy them in 'real-time'),wasn't impressed with the quality.
So I gave up and took them down the tip.
Bin them is the best idea

If you don't want them, then I could gt adverts etc from them for my YouTube channel (same username as here)

Max Speilmans do it.

http://maxphoto.co.uk/video_to_dvd/

What about using this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-DVR2...7550852&sr=1-1
Bit expensive but has freeview and also is a PVR.
You would want a used machine.
It should be easy and would save going to a place.
Though wonder what sort of prices the places cost?

I've a lot of VHS tapes of film noir classics I've had for decades.
I could get them transferred, but I won't bother. The reproduction is quite good and storage is no problem.

Is someone having a laugh almost £1500 for a machine that doesn't even have a hard drive? I bought a Toshiba 3 in 1 machine a couple of years ago. Freeview tuner, Hard drive recording and VHS deck.Works brilliantly sure there must be something similar about nowadays.

They will do your home movies but not copyright material. The OP refers to TV shows remember and copying them would be illegal. Someone may say it's illegal at home as well but if it's for domestic use I can't see anyone bothering about it.

It all depends what you mean by "a load of video tapes".

If you are talking about a small number then paid somebody to do it for you.

If it's a considerable number then it may pay you to buy a DVD/VHS Combi and do it yourself.

If you wish to retain the video quality then copying will one hour's worth recording to one DVD. If you are not concerned about video quality then you can cram say four hours worth of video onto one DVD.

I had hundreds of VHS videos which I transferred across. Sony TV/VHS Combi to Sony Hard Disk DVD Recorder to Dell Inspiron Desktop where I did the final editing and archiving.

I now have two methods which I can use,
Sony VCR that I got off Ebay recording on to a Toshiba DVD recorder from 2004 which can set the exact bitrate for the recording, I usually get about 90 minutes on a DVD-R which I then take and rip to a MP4 file using Handbrake (or for a very easy program you can use ImToo DVD Ripper).

The other method is an El Gato Game Capture HD USB device coupled with a RCA (yellow, red and white) to HDMI adapter, this records VHS tapes straight to MP4 format using the El Gato Game Capture HD software, this has definitely become the favourite method. I have a lot of VHS recordings still and I'm mainly interested in getting old channel clips and adverts over to digital as well as some home recorded stuff.

Transferred some NTSC format american VHS tapes for a cousin's girlfriend this way that he had of a late relative who was a musician. She had a whole box of tapes of this person and I offered the favour of converting them to MP4 files, however after an evening where we recorded some she wanted me to "cut and paste" what we had recorded and for me to delete it from my computer!, I went through with it but I wasn't happy but when I'd dropped them home and returned I simply used an undelete programme to recover the recordings and then the next day told her and my cousin that I wanted to keep them and that I had. I did these recordings as a favour and all I really wanted in return was at least to be allowed to keep them just as personal copies, it was just a TV interview on a local Californian station from the 90's and a couple of music videos was we got through, but I got them and will always have them, but now they'll have to pay however much the professional service will want or figure out how to do the rest themselves all because they wouldn't let me have a personal copy too, but we're happy to come round my flat and use my computer to record something they wouldn't even allow me to have!

Since I waffled on about that anecdote about doing them the favour of recording their VHS tapes and them not even allowing me to retain a copy afterwards (which I guess I wasn't trusted with not to put on Youtube or copy to other friends) that still annoys me a week later, I'll put it in a more condensed way.

You can get a cheap VCR off Ebay and record to a DVD recorder, usually needing to set it to the higher quality mode because lower bitrates on the DVD seem more like generational loss, but when I used the high quality mode it seemed to preserve the VHS picture perfectly on the DVD. On the Toshiba I got 90 minutes, I used 2 DVD-Rs for 1 VHS tape in most cases. Most VHS footage is likely to be in 4:3 aspect ratio rather than 16:9, you need to set the DVD recorder to record in 4:3 ideally. When you've finalised the DVD, you rip it on the computer with something like Handbrake or ImToo DVD Ripper. Aspect Ratios can be a nuiscance but if the DVD has already been recorded as 4:3, Handbrake and ImToo should automatically output in this format.

Whilst video files can be all sorts of aspect ratios, DVD Video can only ever be either 4:3 or 16:9, to help you convert VHS tapes hopefully your DVD recorder can let you choose to either record in 4:3 or 16:9, but on some DVD recorders I must admit I couldn't even find where to set it, and many don't allow you to set the record quality exactly like my old Toshiba where you actually put in a desired bitrate for the DVD recording. If your DVD recorder doesn't let you record in anything other than 16:9 you have to use Handbrake to make a video file in 4:3.


A capture card such as El Gato or Haupaugge can be used, as El Gato only has a HDMI input I needed to get a device which would convert either SCART or RCA leads (yellow, red and white) to HDMI, luckily they are fairly cheap on Ebay at about £15, a SCART to HDMI upscaler is more expensive at around £30.

The Sony VCR I've used to convert tapes from I got for only £15 on Ebay, and last week even managed to convert NTSC (mainly used in the US) tapes with it using the El Gato Capture, NTSC tapes didn't work with the DVD recorder because of a framerate clash I think.

The problem is that the OP said he couldn't be bothered to do any of this. So unless he wishes to retain a VHS machine to play them on I think the wheelie bin beckons.

I have a pro SVHS deck which has built in tracking correction (using a regular consumer VHS deck will be worse)

I captured this LP tape (LP being poor quality) and can create .mp4 or can burn to dvd if needed.

https://youtu.be/gmkBAq6PbJ4

note, added a blur around the pillar boxes to make it more immersive and 'widescreeny'

Yes but the OP says he can't be bothered, are you offering to do that for him?

Yes i could be, depends on the OPs budget, how many tapes / hours of footage he needs converting,

You could always PM him quoting a rate. Transferring copyright material would be illegal of course but that's up to the pair of you.