Converting VCRs to DVDs

I have a Mac Pro Quad with the updgraded video card (ATI 1600)and it has iMovie on it. I have about 6 or 7 old family VCRs that I would like to convert to DVDs. I don't need pristine quality...just OK would be fine. What hardware/software to I need to do this? Since I will only be using it for this project, I'd like not to spend a fortune (just spent it on my new MacPro). I don't have a digital camcorder.
MacPro Mac OS X (10.4.9) 3gb RAM

Hi Anthony,
Are you hooked on Internet by Cable? I'm asking since you could actually purchase either the EyeTV 250 or the ConvertX for Mac. Both of those PVRs (Personal Video Recorders) are bundled with EyeTV 2.0 which lets you watch and record TV programs.
You can also transfer your VHS tapes on DVDs with both of those PVRs which gives them more than only one use for the unit. I use the ConvertX for Mac often to record TV programs and to transfer VHS tapes to DVDs.
In my case, I think I should have purchased the EyeTV 250 instead of the ConvertX for Mac from Plextor since the EyeTV supposedly can give better quality.
But, maybe David Hall8's Canopus will give you a better VHS transfer quality. I don't know since I haven't used that product. I don't think you can record from Cable TV with that device though. It would be a single use device but maybe better quality for VHS transfers?
Hopefully this info has been usefull.
Rio.

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How to convert VCR Tape to DVD on MACbook Pro?

Any insight into how to convert VCR tapes to DVD on Macbook Pro would be much appreciated!

The first question is: how to get video into your Mac?
My answer is: use a DV camcorder as a translator. Most Canons and Sonys do this. Here are some general steps:
1. connect the video and audio outputs of your VCR to the input jacks of the camcorder. (If the video is on an S-video jack instead of the conventional yellow phono jack, it will be a little bit better quality.)
2. Using your camcorder's menu, set it to "AV IN->DV OUT". This will vary according to the model of your DVCAM. One hint: all camcorders have a 3-position camera/off/play(vcr) switch. In this application, most of them use the PLAY position.
3. Connect the DV out of the camcorder to a firewire port on the Mac. This requires the cable that comes with the camera...it's a mini-firewire on one end, and a regular firewire 400 on the other. (If your Mac has only a FW 800 jack, you may need another adapter.)
4. Turn on the DVCAM. Usually, iMovie will automatically open and be ready to record...if not, start it.
5. Hit PLAY on the VHS machine. You should see the video in the iMovie window. When you see what you want to save, press iMovie's button to start recording. You're free to edit the movie in any way you want.
When you have enough for a DVD, save it and use iDVD to burn a disc.
Alternatively, if you want to save a step, you can skip the iMovie step and just open up iDVD and select the feature...I forget the exact name...but it's like "Quick Movie" that will just save it as one stream.

Request Assistance - Converting VHS and DVDs for Apple TV

I have an Apple TV and love it. My mission is to take my old VCRs and DVDs, convert them and place them in my Apple TV Library. I have run into a snag however when the movies is multiple tapes or DVDs. Up to now I have been simply posting them as Part 1, Part 2, etc but that is clumsy and makes my menu in Apple TV very large.
Is there a method for splicing these tapes and DVDs into one large movie? I have tried using iMovie 08 (I will have 09 in early February), but it keeps crashing as the films are too long (3+ hours).
Has anyone else attempted to do what I want to do and have you been successful? If so what software did you use?
Any help would be appreciated.

I have probably 200 home movies and 50 hollywood movies in my TV, and it definitely helps to have some organization.
I have found that I can go to the Movies section in iTunes, from the source pane on the left. You will see a list of all your movies. Pick one of the three you would like to organize together. Right-click (or control-click) and select "Get Info". Now go to the "Video" section and type in the name you want to organize this 3-part movie into in the field called "Show Name". You can also type an episode number if you want. Under "Sorting" you can also put the Show name in. Click "OK". Repeat this for your other 2 portions, and they will all show up under the "Show Name" on the TV.
For example, I have 14 videos from a recent trip to Turkey and Greece all under one show, and I have Godfather 1,2,3 all under Godfather.

Converting VHS to DVD with preserved closed captions

Can this be done via DV capture?
I'm trying to convert some of my old out of print VHS tapes to DVD, since they are obscure enough to probably never see an official DVD release. I figured firewire/DV would be perfect for the job because...well, my Mac already has that built-in. My intended workflow is to capture via DV using an ADS Pyro A/V Link analog->DV converter box (see tip below if you're trying something similar by the way).
Anyway, being the quasi-perfectionist that I am, I'd like to make as close a copy to the original as possible, preserving the closed captions. In researching this I've found that this data is stored in "line 21" which is normally not a viewable portion of the video signal, rather like metadata. I have read that DV does support this data in the "VAUX" data area, however before I even begin, I am concerned that any step of my intended workflow might not preserve this data (reencoding in the converter box, transferring into iMovie/FCP, reencoding onto DVD). I presume that any amount of editing to the captured video will hose the captions if they are preserved, but I'd only shorten the black padding at the beginning and ending of the program if anything, which I can't imagine would scramble it too bad.
I have read many suggestions of just manually transposing the CC text to subtitles instead, however since the DVD spec does support true closed captions, I figure it's gotta be possible somehow.
I'd like to be able to do this without purchasing a PCI capture card. And I'd also like to be able to do this without spending $6000 on a certain Mac captioning app (a ridiculous price for functionality which in my opinion should be free). I've seen some pretty cheap VCR+DVD combo standalone units on the market, but I'd like to think my Mac, as expensive as it was, will suffice.
Am I asking too much? Should I just give it a try to see if everything magically works? And if my current setup is not up to this task, what sort of setup would I need to realize my goal?
(Tip: By the way, if anyone is trying to convert VHS to DVD with a similar setup, be warned that the marketers of such analog->DV converter boxes generally don't mention that you'll also need a time base corrector (TBC) to do anything useful with less-than-perfect analog source video; I've found that without such a device, the video tends to drop frames like mad on rough spots of the source tape [I'm talking drops measured in seconds]. Too bad TBCs cost more than the converter box itself usually. Odd that those VCR+DVD combo boxes ostensibly must have a built-in TBC by definition, and yet often are cheaper than a standalone TBC...)
Power Mac G4 dual 867 Mirrored Drive Doors Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Ok well I tested it by going VCR->DV converter->iMovie->iDVD, and the closed captions were lost at some point. The tape does have closed captions when played in the VCR, and I know my DVD player displays closed captions properly (I tested a commercial disc both in the Mac and in a standalone DVD player and those showed captions), but the DVD I created doesn't display closed captions either in the Mac DVD Player or the standalone unit.
So...anyone think maybe importing into Final Cut Pro and burning with DVD Studio Pro would work better for this than iMovie? I imagine there would be no difference (since iDVD uses the same Compressor app as DVDSP).
So I guess I'm stuck. At this point I can't even use the DVD/VCR dub machine since it won't allow dubbing of copy-protected tapes (even though this tape will likely never see a DVD release and it's crappy VHS quality anyway and it's just for my own personal use as a backup)...any suggestions?

VCR To DVD Via MBP?

Hello,
A friend of mine is considering buying a MBP for use in editing old VCR tapes of home movies and recording the final product to DVDs. This is an area completely new to me. If it wasn't for the editing aspect a VCR to DVD recorder might be a better bet. Can anyone offer any suggestions on what interfaces are needed to provide input from a VCR to the MBP and whether iMovie software is adequate for the task?
Thanks,
Don Rieg

Elgato provides several boxes which convert S-Video and RCA audio as well as standard Cable-TV signals which can be transmitted via video out from the VCR to Firewire. http://www.elgato.com/
I used theirs to convert my home movies to a usable format for DVD creation. Together with Roxio Toast I was able to create DVDs.
Note, DVD media itself doesn't have very great reliability as of yet. For better reliability it is good to replace a hard drive every year or two with the content. You can burn to DVD every so often. http://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia/ explains the status of DVD quality pretty well.

How to convert VCR tapes to computer

How to convert VCR and 8mm tapes to computer

The first question is: how to get video into your Mac?
My answer is: use a DV camcorder as a translator. Most Canons and Sonys do this. Here are some general steps:
1. connect the video and audio outputs of your VCR to the input jacks of the camcorder. (If the video is on an S-video jack instead of the conventional yellow phono jack, it will be a little bit better quality.)
2. Using your camcorder's menu, set it to "AV IN->DV OUT". This will vary according to the model of your DVCAM. One hint: all camcorders have a 3-position camera/off/play(vcr) switch. In this application, most of them use the PLAY position.
3. Connect the DV out of the camcorder to a firewire port on the Mac. This requires the cable that comes with the camera...it's a mini-firewire on one end, and a regular firewire 400 on the other. (If your Mac has only a FW 800 jack, you may need another adapter.)
4. Turn on the DVCAM. Usually, iMovie will automatically open and be ready to record...if not, start it.
5. Hit PLAY on the VHS machine. You should see the video in the iMovie window. When you see what you want to save, press iMovie's button to start recording. You're free to edit the movie in any way you want.
When you have enough for a DVD, save it and use iDVD to burn a disc.
Alternatively, if you want to save a step, you can skip the iMovie step and just open up iDVD and select the feature...I forget the exact name...but it's like "Quick Movie" that will just save it as one stream.

How do you convert PC-ripped DVDs using a Mac?

Got a question about converting/burning video DVDs from PC to Mac.
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I used a program (UnRarX I think) to convert these to a standard .iso disc, with a VIDEO_TS folder that seemed to play just fine using DVD Player program. I then tried burning that folder to a playable DVD (using the Freeware program Liquid CD; Toast seems to be freezing up on me/not doing so for some reason...).
However, when I tried playing the burned disc in my DVD player, every chapter was jumping/skipping, like someone was using the DVD as a **** turntable (please, no hip-hop references...).
Anyway I've never had this problem with any other .isos/VIDEO_TS folders I've tried burning to DVD, so I know it's got to be an issue with my having had to convert it.
Any (serious) explanations for why this may be?? Any suggestions for any other programs I can use to convert/burn the original rip so it'll play properly?
Thank you!!

Any suggestions for any other programs I can use to convert/burn the original rip so it'll play properly?
http://videomonkey.org/Video_Monkey/About.html

How can I convert my Tiger DVD into a CD without spending more money?

How can I convert my Tiger DVD into a CD without spending more money and time? I've spent over seven hours trying to upgrade an iMac 350 Hz OS 9.1 to Tiger. I have changed the iMac firmware to 4.1.9, but found that my Panther disc was only an OSX Upgrade, although the 3 cds are labeled as Installation Discs. Since I have a Tiger disc I thought I would use that. Unfortunately, my iMac only reads CDs, not DVDs. I tried networking the iMac to my G5, but upon shutdown, the OSX disc cannot be accessed. I copied the DVD files to my iMac hard drive, but again, the OSX disc cannot be accessed after shutdown.
Is there a way I can burn a CD from the files of my Tiger DVD to get this task accomplished?

Excuse me, but I never thought of that, nor did I have any intention of trying to rip off your company.
I purchased four iPods for my family this Christmas. I have six iMacs just sitting around not being used. I thought that I would turn one into an iPod work station, so everyone can use one computer to recharge and hook up to iTunes 7.
Unfortunately, iTunes does not work very well in OS9. Apple decided not to continue to support OS9 very well. I’ve spent several hours attempting to upgrade the iMac so I could set up iTunes 7. Unfortunately, my 3 Panther Installation Discs were mislabeled, and did not allow me to install OSX over OS9. My OSX 10.2.7 Installation Disc is a DVD, and my Tiger Installation disc is a DVD. Neither usable to update the iMac.
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If you could show me an easier way to run iTunes 7 on the iMac I wouldn't be as ****** off as I am at Apple for not supporting the 9 older computers I own with usable help and upgrades.

How to convert video and dvd for iPod

1. Download, install and run PQ DVD to iPod Video Converter. It can convert from DVD, Tivo, DivX, MPEG, WMV, AVI, RealMedia and many more to iPod Video.
(PQ DVD to iPod Video Converter Download)
2. Click "Open ..." button and choose a video file or DVD disc to open. Wait for the movie to start playing in the preview window.
3. Based on the aspect ration of the video source PQ DVD to iPod Video Converter will choose the best resolution for the output iPod video. Nevertheless you can select a resolution of your choice to stretch/squash the picture. Alternatively, you can choose a Crop Mode to cut unimportant parts of the video (like top/bottom black bars or subtitles).
You can also adjust the desired quality to reduce the output size of the movie.
In the preview window you will see what the resulting movie will look like.
When you have set the desired settings simple click on the "Record it" button to convert the video/DVD.
Depending on the settings a 60 minutes video is converted on average for 15 minutes.
4. When the process finishes you can test the recorded video file on your PC using QuickTime to see if it works well.
Then launch iTunes, add the recorded file into the library and update iPod (under iTunes' File menu). And have a nice time!
Additional Settings
1. Video Settings
Video Frame Rate
Known as Frame Per Second (FPS). It refers to the number of pictures displayed in 1 second in order to form continuous motions. The default frame rate is 15 fps. You may choose 24fps to get more continuos motions.
When selecting higher fps, increase the movie quality and size a little. This is because more frames need some amount of additional motion data to be stored.
Brightness Level
Increase the level to make video appear brighter on your iPod screen. The default is level 0 (No brightness change from the original video).
2. Audio Options
Audio Quality
There are 6 audio quality modes to choose: 32kbps Mono, 48kbps Mono, 48Kbps Stereo, 64Kbps Stereo, 96Kbps Stereo, 128Kbps Stereo.
Audio Bitrate (in Kbits per second)
Audio bitrate refers to how many data storage is allocated to store audio signals. The higher audio
bitrate, the better audio quality.
Audio Volume
You can change output audio volume in "Output Settings" dialog. The default volume level is 5 (original volume).
Stereo to Mono
When the output audio is set to Mono, you can choose which stereo channel (of input source) to be copied into the Mono channel (output). It is useful for some video sources (e.g. VCD) which use the left, right channels for different languages or for karaoke.
3. DVD subtitle(subpicture), language
It is recommended to use the native DVD menu in the preview panel to set subtitle(subpicture) and language. (Click "DVD menu" button on the right to show native DVD menu in the preview panel) You may also change the subtitle(subpicture), language in the program's Options menu, but there are some DVDs that require the change must be made in the native DVD menu instead of the program's menu.
Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows ME

Thank you for your posting, which is very helpful, however it will be better if you can post on the Video forum as well
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=807
By the way, I must say that it is a very good post

IPod Classic 160GB film library sync problem - trying to sync films that have converted from purchased DVD to mp4 format locally, not purchases from the online store - all other libraries sync perfect - why?

Hello Apple and the iTunes Windows PC users community.
I am trying to sync films that I have converted from purchased DVD to mp4 format locally, not purchases from the online store. The mp4s all appear and play successfully in my iTunes application but will not sync across to the iPod film library folder.
For your information: I am using iTunes 11.1.3.8 on a Windows 7 64bit machine with 500GB hard disk and 8GB of Ram in the UK.
I have restored the iPod classic 160GB three times now to see if it was a hardware problem with no joy. Each time all the music restores properly as do the podcasts and all the items in TV programmes all appear to sync and work fine.
I have also tried to copy films into the TV Programmes to get around it with no joy. They always go to the films section to start with. It is just the Films library that does not sync - all others work perfectly. As a last resort I have uninstalled and re-installed iTunes with no joy either.
I am technically savvy and have gone through the itunes and ipod settings but nothing appears to make a difference - This is the first time I have had to post here as I can usually solve the majority of the ipod anomilies but this one has me flummoxed.
Has the film encoding type changed in the newest itunes update? - Has this happened to anybody else and is it a hardware, software, or operating system problem.

Having uninstalled the current version 11.1.3.8 and loaded and older version of iTunes 10.7.0.21 I can now categorically confirm that the newest update seems to be causing the problem as the films and TV Programmes are syncing perfectly on this older version.
If you are going to do this please dont forget to remove the ' iTunes Library.itl' file as this stops the older versions from running as I've just found out

How to convert a whole dvd (not seperate chapters)

hi there .i use hand brake to rip dvd since i guess videora doesn´t work with mac.but handbrake wouldn´t convert dvd as a whole file.is there any free programs to convert a whole dvd as one file with the wished subtitles.thanx in advance

thanx for encourgagement. i did some ripping but it was more like episodes of series like south park n stuff that u can choose in a dvd.but in hand brake u r supposed to choose the longest episode to convert the all dvd but it would only convert the chapter u choose..

I need to know the best, safest way to convert video for Mac. I just had home movies converted to a DVD format a realize now that I need another step to burn them to my computer.

I just had home movies converted to a DVD format a realize now that I need another step to burn them to my computer. This is for a Christmas present! Help.

I don't think you need to use a ripper program to read a home movie DVD. Those are primarily for copy-protected commercial DVDs, right?
I think you just need to transcode the DVD files using a utility like Handbrake, which is free and fast.
http://handbrake.fr/details.php

Does QuickTime Pro convert an ISO DVD movie to an mp4?

I'm thinking about purchasing the Pro version of QuickTime; but what I REALLY want to do is convert some ISO DVD Image files to the QuickTime mp4 format so I can put it on my iPod or view it with my AppleTV.
Does anyone out there know if this is possible BEFORE I spend money on this?
Thanks,

Does anyone out there know if this is possible BEFORE I spend money on this?
QT does not support "muxed" MPEG2/PCM or MPEG2/AC3 au either purchase the QT MPEG-2 Playback Component ($19.99) and download the free MPEG Streamclip app or use the free HandBrake app to convert your DVD imaged content MP4/M4V content for playback on mobile devices.

Is quality better with software for converting VHS to DVD than using an actual converter?

Is quality better with software for converting VHS to DVD than using an actual converter?

Not sure what you mean by "actual converter".
If you mean if you just played a VHS tape to a DVD recorder and recorded like that... You will get close to the quality of the VHS.
If you have a good capture software and hardware you might be able to clean the video and audio up. But VHS is pretty limited in quality.

Convert swf to dvd format

what is the most efficient way to convert swf to dvd
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I think they mean to convert flash content into a type of
file to use for dvd authoring/burning. "Efficient" is a relative
term when it comes to what you want to do. The best answer
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never been good. I use GeoVid's Flash to Video Encoder
http://www.geovid.com/Flash_to_Video_Encoder_PRO/
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http://www.flashants.com/root/index.shtml
Each performs relatively well. From that, you can use the exported
video and place into whatever dvd burning application you
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Converting VCRs to DVDs

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