I have a huge pile of tax paperwork that I really need to avoid get moving on, so I'm going to ask a consumer-electronics question.
I've been dragging my feet on backing up VHS videos or converting them to DVD. The only use I'd have for conversion to DVD would be the five hours of baby-to-kid growth currently moldering away on VHS video. However I can also see the advantage of converting all her VHS videos to DVD and freeing up a little storage in that rat's nest she calls a TV cabinet.
Page 26 of the Feb 06 Family Handyman magazine shows a "Dazzle". It's "just" an A/D converter between a VCR & PC with software to clean up & edit the video. Presumably it can also be used to add a root menu to the DVD that you eventually burn, and I can appreciate the utility of feeding VHS or VHS-C onto a DVD with a menu for easy viewing by adoring grandparents.
Our new desktop is a cheap Compaq with an AMD 3400 64-bit chip (I know, 32 useless bits of processing power) and 512 MB RAM. No graphics card-- that's emulated in RAM. It has about 140 GB left on the 200 GB HD, and I could move things around with another 60 GB HD if I needed to clear additional room. I'm hoping to learn that converting VHS video to DVD requires at least an additional GB or two of RAM or a spare HD or some other unnecessary gimme vital hardware. But speed isn't of the essence if I can set things up and let it run overnight.
I know that PC DVD burners only manipulate a dye and not a metal dimple. I'd back the DVD up on a HD and I'd probably even burn a new DVD every few years. And I have decade-old VHS tapes that still work fine. I'm just looking for a more convenient & compact storage medium that doesn't need an archaic piece of gear for playback.
What have you guys used? The Dazzle gizmo appears to be $30-$150 (depending on the flavor) and I'm not that sensitive to its price range. Is it worth it? Is there even a need for a special piece of hardware or can I just plug the VCR directly into the PC? Is there another system that makes the conversion as easy as this one appears to be?
I've been dragging my feet on backing up VHS videos or converting them to DVD. The only use I'd have for conversion to DVD would be the five hours of baby-to-kid growth currently moldering away on VHS video. However I can also see the advantage of converting all her VHS videos to DVD and freeing up a little storage in that rat's nest she calls a TV cabinet.
Page 26 of the Feb 06 Family Handyman magazine shows a "Dazzle". It's "just" an A/D converter between a VCR & PC with software to clean up & edit the video. Presumably it can also be used to add a root menu to the DVD that you eventually burn, and I can appreciate the utility of feeding VHS or VHS-C onto a DVD with a menu for easy viewing by adoring grandparents.
Our new desktop is a cheap Compaq with an AMD 3400 64-bit chip (I know, 32 useless bits of processing power) and 512 MB RAM. No graphics card-- that's emulated in RAM. It has about 140 GB left on the 200 GB HD, and I could move things around with another 60 GB HD if I needed to clear additional room. I'm hoping to learn that converting VHS video to DVD requires at least an additional GB or two of RAM or a spare HD or some other unnecessary gimme vital hardware. But speed isn't of the essence if I can set things up and let it run overnight.
I know that PC DVD burners only manipulate a dye and not a metal dimple. I'd back the DVD up on a HD and I'd probably even burn a new DVD every few years. And I have decade-old VHS tapes that still work fine. I'm just looking for a more convenient & compact storage medium that doesn't need an archaic piece of gear for playback.
What have you guys used? The Dazzle gizmo appears to be $30-$150 (depending on the flavor) and I'm not that sensitive to its price range. Is it worth it? Is there even a need for a special piece of hardware or can I just plug the VCR directly into the PC? Is there another system that makes the conversion as easy as this one appears to be?