How do you suggest I best import and edit many portions of old VHS?

Question

I read the recent postings on digitizing the multiple DVD's and found that to be quite interesting and enlightening. I have searched through the archives but didn't run into a posting with exactly my question and I apologize because I know there are bound to be others with the same question. This is what I have and want to do: Vista with an external Seagate attached via USB 2. I have Adobe Premier Elements 3 but I am willing to purchase another form of software and another form of external drive. I do have a Firewire port.
I have a box of old VHS tapes of my kid's dance recitals, ball games, etc... the tapes are very long but often only have small portions of interest on them and now that my kids are older they are only interested in the 5 minutes of themselves. I would like to import the video and burn to dvd the pertinent portions of the VHS.
I need to know both the suggested hardware to use to hook to the computer... and what software do you suggest that I use to edit the footage.Or, maybe you have some other suggestions.
I have used Premier quite a bit. I have never used enormous files like an endless dance recital so I hope that you tell me there is a way I could perhaps find a device that would allow me to view and only digitize the portions I want... or, perhaps it would be better to take these tapes somewhere and have them made into a DVD and then would there be a way to only import a portion of them that way? These are NOT world class videos...(in fact, 20 years later I realize how badly I was wasting my money!! HA!)
Have I been clear in what I need and the kind of advice I am asking for?
Thank you for any advice you might offer me.

Answer 1

Here's what I did, more as an accident, rather than a thought out process to spend big bucks, or get the best possible quality on conversion.
I had a bunch of old analog tapes, just like you, and always thought it would be very kool to get them in a format I can use and loaded onto my PC.
When I purchased my DV Handycam, one of the options I looked for was "Analog Passthru" capabilities. This basically allows you to hook up an analog device like a VCR and copy video to your Handycam.
Desktop "DVD Writers" typically have analog hook-ups and basically can do the same thing.
With this capability, I then slowly went thru the process of moving all my old tapes onto my PC.
Did it work, yes it did.
Was it easy, yes it was (as far as cable hook-up).
Was it tedious and somewhat time consuming, yes, yes, and yes.
But over time I did get all my old tapes onto my PC and in a format that was primed for editing. (You can also do some bulk editing of source during the conversion).
As far as quality, considering the video source and conversion method, I was quite pleased with the end result, and anyone who views the clips (on PC or TV), has a hard time seeing the differences between the end product and the source.
Would a dedicated HW device like Canopus have given better quality, most likely yes, but for my purposes, the one time use to just move my tapes was not cost effective. The purchase of a Cam with passthru, or a DVD Writer, worked just fine and could be used for other things.
(One caveat, with Canopus or a HW bridge setup, the process is much quicker as it allows going from analog directly to DV-AVI. And DV-AVI is the format goal for easy editing with PE7).
One thing for sure, my family and friends get a hugh kick out of seeing themselves (as they've grown older over the years).
And no one ever complains about the quality of the videos...