Is it worth buying?

[Wardy]

Hello, first post here.

 

I like many of you have VHS tapes which are now getting to old to keep. Therefore i am looking for a suitable, quick and easy product to help me. I have heard mixed reviews from Roxio and going onto this forum has increased my doubts.

 

Is it worth buying or is there better products out there???

 

Regards

 

Wardy

[REDWAGON]

Hello, first post here.

 

I like many of you have VHS tapes which are now getting to old to keep. Therefore i am looking for a suitable, quick and easy product to help me. I have heard mixed reviews from Roxio and going onto this forum has increased my doubts.

 

Is it worth buying or is there better products out there???

 

Regards

 

Wardy

 

I have had the VHStoDVD program for some time now and I have captured maybe 20 of my old VHS tapes to the computer using it and everyone has work fine. Sometimes the capture when burned to a dVD isn't as good a quality as I would have liked but that's definitely NOT the programs fault. That was because some of my VHS tapes were pretty worn out to begin with.

 

To me, if the program is installed properly and you have all the capture device and cables hooked up correctly, it will capture great. Including programs from the TV or VCR player. If you don't already have Roxio C2010, then I would suggest that the Roxio VHStoDVD program is well worth the money.

 

One thing I have found out though when capturing from my VCR player, start the VCR player first and then click on the pause button. Then, click on the begin record button in the program. That way you won't miss any of the beginning of the tape. The end of the tape isn't that critical as far as stopping the recording as even if you go past the end of the tape, you can alway edit the end part you don't want out of the capture. I guess the beginning of the tape would be the same if you started the VCR before it gets to the actual part you want before you hit the pause button. So if you started the capture beforte the actual tape content you want, again you can always edit that part out too.

 

Frank...

[bimicher]

Well, Grandpa, I agree with you regarding not seeing posts here by folks that are pleased with their VHS to DVD product, but you said "depending on what you want to do..." What I want to do is transfer all my VHS tapes with movies that I've recorded from TV to a DVD. I've had this program since September 2009 and I have yet to get a movie on a DVD. How long should it take to burn a DVD? Is it done in real time....well, that's too long, I've got hundreds of VHS tapes.

 

 

Wardy, you sound as frustrated as I am with my VHS to DVD program. I've checked the internet and there are other products available that will do the same as this Roxio program, but, as you asked about Roxio..."are they worth it?" I've had my program since September of 2009 and I have yet to burn a successful DVD off of the VHS tapes that I have recorded movies from TV.

 

There is no such thing as burning VHS video to a DVD in "real time" and that applies to every video software on the market.

 

You obviously have no idea whats involved in getting the video from a VHS tape to a DVD. You do not simply transfer the video direct from a VHS to a DVD.

The video has to be first transferred to you hard drive, which obviously cannot be faster then "real time". While transferring it has to be converted from analog video to a digital format which is done by the USB capture device. Once it has been captured to your hard drive it then has to converted (or encoded) into a format that is compliant with DVD video structure. Only then can the actual burn to DVD process begin. The actual burn process is usually not that long and depends on your burner. What requires time is the encoding of the video and for a 60 minute video that can take upt to 3 or 4 hours, depending on your system.

[REDWAGON]

Walt is absolutely correct. I think this attachment will probably indicate the proper steps to burning a captured VCR tape to a DVD---

 

Frank...

[Wardy]

Basically, i want to do as it says on the tin. Copy some old home videos onto my external hard drive and then create long lasting DVD's. I am asking if it is worth paying £30 for. Or is it a waste of time. Obviously the more experienced users out there will say its easy, but with the amount of problems caused by this device on the forum are worrying to say the least.

[Elliott1983]

I bought VHS to DVD a little over a month ago, and have to say that despite some teething problems, that were more to do with the age of my computer rather than anything else, I have been extremely pleased with the product.

 

Of course it is time consuming, but I've got round some of that by encoding the files whilst I'm at the football on a Saturday afternoon or leaving it running whilst I'm at work.

[imadj]

There is no such thing as burning VHS video to a DVD in "real time" and that applies to every video software on the market.

 

You obviously have no idea whats involved in getting the video from a VHS tape to a DVD. You do not simply transfer the video direct from a VHS to a DVD.

The video has to be first transferred to you hard drive, which obviously cannot be faster then "real time". While transferring it has to be converted from analog video to a digital format which is done by the USB capture device. Once it has been captured to your hard drive it then has to converted (or encoded) into a format that is compliant with DVD video structure. Only then can the actual burn to DVD process begin. The actual burn process is usually not that long and depends on your burner. What requires time is the encoding of the video and for a 60 minute video that can take upt to 3 or 4 hours, depending on your system.

You say that I have no idea what's involved, I have followed the instruction book step by step. I first captured the VSH tape to my computer and then...that's where the burning process goes goofy. Since I posted that comment I have finally burned a CD of an old Marx Brother's movie that I taped from TV but every few minutes the pictures jerks. The original VHS tape does not! The sound is not affected, however. What do you think may cause that? What I am expecting from my VHS2DVD program is a DVD that is as good as my VHS tape, no matter how poor the VHS tape quality may be. I did find that encoding the VHS took several hours and that does not please me. I expected that to be faster also. My computer is only a couple of years old. The one thing that I don't like about my computer is that the operating system is Vista. I wish I had stayed with XP. Vista does seem to be a slower Operating System.

Oh, one more thing. I contacted Roxio and told them that I was perfectly happy with the old Roxio Creator 9 Program that I have had for years that I convert my LPs and Audio Cassettes to CD with and they told me I should uninstall that program and keep the new VHS2DVD program because it also converts LPs and Audio Cassettes to CD which I did. That seemed to help, although I don't understand why.

[bimicher]

You say that I have no idea what's involved, I have followed the instruction book step by step. I first captured the VSH tape to my computer and then...that's where the burning process goes goofy. Since I posted that comment I have finally burned a CD of an old Marx Brother's movie that I taped from TV but every few minutes the pictures jerks. The original VHS tape does not! The sound is not affected, however. What do you think may cause that? What I am expecting from my VHS2DVD program is a DVD that is as good as my VHS tape, no matter how poor the VHS tape quality may be. I did find that encoding the VHS took several hours and that does not please me. I expected that to be faster also. My computer is only a couple of years old. The one thing that I don't like about my computer is that the operating system is Vista. I wish I had stayed with XP. Vista does seem to be a slower Operating System.

Oh, one more thing. I contacted Roxio and told them that I was perfectly happy with the old Roxio Creator 9 Program that I have had for years that I convert my LPs and Audio Cassettes to CD with and they told me I should uninstall that program and keep the new VHS2DVD program because it also converts LPs and Audio Cassettes to CD which I did. That seemed to help, although I don't understand why.

 

 

If you really did burn that Marx movie to a CD then you will have crappy video Or did you mean DVD when you posted CD?

 

There is a lot of information missing from your post that might explain why you are getting poor video? To what format did you capture? Did you shut down running applications while capturing? Did you play the video after capturing? Does it have the problem already? When burning the DVD what quality setting did you use? If you used the default setting "fit to disc" you get crappy results. Use HQ quality. If the movie is longer then 60 minutes it will not fit on a DVD at HQ quality. In that case, burn to an image file (iso) and later use "Burn Image File to Disc" to burn the file to a DVD. This does a much better job of compressing the video to fit then any of the other quality settings.

 

Encoding takes a long time: depending on your system, 1 hour of video can take from 1 to 4 hours. Vista will not have much effect on encoding time.

 

Listing you system specs, especially your video card is recommended.

[imadj]

Walt is absolutely correct. I think this attachment will probably indicate the proper steps to burning a captured VCR tape to a DVD---

 

Frank...

Thanks for your input. I will review my procedure to insure that I have followed those steps. What I did not expect was for the encoding to take so long. That is a hugh disappointment to me. I have had a Roxio Creator 9 program for years and it is so easy to use, I expected all their programs to be as user friendly but I don't find the VHS2DVD to be so.

 

If you really did burn that Marx movie to a CD then you will have crappy video Or did you mean DVD when you posted CD?

 

There is a lot of information missing from your post that might explain why you are getting poor video? To what format did you capture? Did you shut down running applications while capturing? Did you play the video after capturing? Does it have the problem already? When burning the DVD what quality setting did you use? If you used the default setting "fit to disc" you get crappy results. Use HQ quality. If the movie is longer then 60 minutes it will not fit on a DVD at HQ quality. In that case, burn to an image file (iso) and later use "Burn Image File to Disc" to burn the file to a DVD. This does a much better job of compressing the video to fit then any of the other quality settings.

 

Encoding takes a long time: depending on your system, 1 hour of video can take from 1 to 4 hours. Vista will not have much effect on encoding time.

 

Listing you system specs, especially your video card is recommended.

OOPS DVD is what I meant. Now let me see if I can answer your questions in the order you asked them. As to what format did I use? I don't remember. What format do you suggest? I did not know that I should shut down running applications, but I don't think there were any running except perhaps in the background and I am not savvy enough to know how to stop those or to even know what is running in the background. Of course, I have heard of programs running in the background...but I don't even know how to "see" what they are. Now..on to the next question. Did I play the video after capturing? I don't think I did. But when I would go to begin what I thought was the burn DVD process, the video would start up without me doing anything when that process would open. Next you asked "When burning the DVD what quality setting did you use?" To that I would have to say I don't recall. All my movies will be longer than 60 minutes so I will have to do as you suggest by burning to an image file and then "Burn Image File to Disc" although I don't understand what that is. And finally...encoding time! With so many VHS movies to burn to DVD this will take the rest of my life. I have over 300 old movies on VHS. Can any other program that you know about do a faster job?

[grandpabruce]

Wardy, you won't generally see posts here, by folks who are not having problems with the software. The software works fine, but depending on what you want to do, it may be worthwhile to get Creator 2010 and the Roxio USB Capture Device.

[grandpabruce]

Basically, i want to do as it says on the tin. Copy some old home videos onto my external hard drive and then create long lasting DVD's. I am asking if it is worth paying £30 for. Or is it a waste of time. Obviously the more experienced users out there will say its easy, but with the amount of problems caused by this device on the forum are worrying to say the least.

 

It isn't a waste time. The software will do what you want.

 

[imadj]

Wardy, you won't generally see posts here, by folks who are not having problems with the software. The software works fine, but depending on what you want to do, it may be worthwhile to get Creator 2010 and the Roxio USB Capture Device.

Well, Grandpa, I agree with you regarding not seeing posts here by folks that are pleased with their VHS to DVD product, but you said "depending on what you want to do..." What I want to do is transfer all my VHS tapes with movies that I've recorded from TV to a DVD. I've had this program since September 2009 and I have yet to get a movie on a DVD. How long should it take to burn a DVD? Is it done in real time....well, that's too long, I've got hundreds of VHS tapes.

 

Hello, first post here.

 

I like many of you have VHS tapes which are now getting to old to keep. Therefore i am looking for a suitable, quick and easy product to help me. I have heard mixed reviews from Roxio and going onto this forum has increased my doubts.

 

Is it worth buying or is there better products out there???

 

Regards

 

Wardy

Wardy, you sound as frustrated as I am with my VHS to DVD program. I've checked the internet and there are other products available that will do the same as this Roxio program, but, as you asked about Roxio..."are they worth it?" I've had my program since September of 2009 and I have yet to burn a successful DVD off of the VHS tapes that I have recorded movies from TV.

 

 

[REDWAGON]

This product is almost worthless. If you have limited video and computer skills it will only make you wish you had taken your VCRs to a commercial outfit to have them copied. I have been puzzling with the twisted "logic" created by Roxio in this product and have reached the conclusion that this is really just a scam to get money from you. What should - and could - be an easy and logical exercise has turned into an experience in pure frustration. If Roxio had enlisted real street-level users in their testing phase they would have gone back to the drawing board.

 

Wardy:

In your original post you only asked if this software was worth buying or not. So far you have done nothing to tell us how you are going about capturing the video from your VCR to your computer. If you would give some information as to exactly what you are doing as far as the enitial installation of the software to how you have the capture device and all the cables hooked up between your VCR and your computer, we might be able to solve whatever problem you are having.

 

Have no idea what you are describing when you are puzzled with "Twisted logic". Once the program is installed correctly it is pretty simple to capture video to your computer for further use. Your information as to exactly how you are going about capturing would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Frank...