1st: Buy a Stand Alone DVD Recorder(Toshiba rd-xs32) and record directly to DVD from Tape
2nd: Buy a miniDV(sony DCR-HC30 or JVC GR-D72) with Passthru, dump on to computer thru firewire, edit, use some software to render and convert AVI to MPEG2, burn to DVD using some softerware package.
3rd: Buy a capture card(Pinnacle studio AD/DV 9 or ADS Instant DVD + DV) with bundled software and do all of the steps in my 2nd choice to get a final dvd product.
I have well over 30 home movies which are on VHS and some of which are 20 years old.
Which of the 3 choices would be the least painstaking and most reliable(ref to dropped frames and audio out of sync)to preserve the videos.
I am trying to stay within $400 for non camcorder type purchases.
What are your suggestions for equipment and software. My system is a 1.33GHz with a little over 700MHz ram and AMD processor.
Choice 1 is the best. Very practical, and unless you want to devote a whole lot of time in editing, I'd pass on #2 or #3. Let's face it, there is a reason why there are folks out there that get paid to do this kind of work
With the current configuration of your computer, the editing, encoding and burning will take a whole lot of time. You will need at least a 3GHz with 1 Gig RAM. Did I mention that encoding takes a whole lot of time?
#1 is straight shot, from VHS direct to DVD, no mess no fuss. cheers
