I'm an expert at this because I work for a TV production company that does home video duplications/conversions to/from DVD on the side (to complement our production business as well as to make a few extra bucks on the side). I've done tons of transfers from VHS to DVD (including my own stuff) over the past seven years, for myself as well as for clients and personal friends.
If you know anybody that works at a video place that does duplications/DVD conversions I'd first try to ask them if they can do you the favor (either over an extended period of time or after hours). They're the people that are more likely to have the three elements needed for a perfect VHS-to-DVD transfer: a professional playback unit, a Time-Base Corrector and a pro-sumer (or higher) DVD-recording device. TBC's are ideal to smoth and clean the image a bit, but realistically it's a tool only hardcore videophiles or people in the industry could have access to. So long as the VHS playback unit offers steady playback and the composite cables are solid (few VHS units have S-Video outputs, but if they had them I'd certainly go with those) the transfer shouldn't be a problem unless the material on the VHS is out-of-synch or badly recorded (flaws that will be magnified on the DVD recording and be permanent). Another variable: audio. If you can mix and equalize the audio to minimize hissing (which is present on almost any non-stereo VHS recording) you can end up with some pretty sweet sound. I actually re-recorded a large number of DVD's from Adam Nedeff's collection in real-time because his discs would not duplicate into digital clones, and in the process I EQ'ed them to excellent results. The '$100K Name That Tune w/Tom Kennedy' DVD's I made sound better than the originals I borrowed from Adam (and look about the same). Then again, I used for playback a $1,200 S-VHS professional VHS deck that had a built-in TBC (like this one only mine is a Panasonic and has all kinds of bells & whistles:
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=3989737).
Also remember that, like VHS, DVD has different speed recordings (1 hr, 2hr, 4hr, 6hr, etc.) but that if you try to record more than two hours on a DVD you're exceeding the format's ideal capacity and have to tolerate a noticeable drop-off in the quality of the moving picture (digital noise, artifacts and edge-enhancements galore). If you have something that doesn't look so good on VHS then it doesn't make sense to transfer it to DVD at a 3/4/6 hr mode to make it lose even more quality; the more bad the original material the more reason to record it at either 1hr (XP mode, the highest-quality recording) or 2hr mode (SP, the still-acceptable 2 hr mode). On the other hand B&W shows that aren't bad quality recordings (like, say, stuff recorded off of TV like 'What's My Line?') can be transferred to the DVD format's 4hr mode and it will still look fine.
DO NOT EVER RECORD ANYTHING IN THE 6 HR MODE ON A DVD (OR SOMETHING IN COLOR OR FAST-MOVING AT 4 HR MODE)[/u] or the primary benefit of the VHS-DVD transfer (the retention of the quality of the recorded image without further degradation after repeated use, unlike VHS which loses a little bit of its quality with every playback session).
[quote name=\'MrBuddwing\' post=\'119645\' date=\'May 28 2006, 01:18 PM\']
1. Apparently, DVDs are on their way out - technology marching forward, and all that. Which wouldn't necessarily bother me - I never threw away my vinyl phonograph records or quarter-inch magnetic audio recordings - but I'm a tad concerned about the technology becoming so obsolete in a relatively short time, and whether I would have easy access to that technology if my equipment were to break down. (Yeah, I know, go to eBay.)[/quote]
Consumer DVD recording technology has become standarized and come down so much in price that you'd be a fool not to utilize it now. You said it yourself: just because you're updating your VHS collection to DVD doesn't mean you throw away the tapes; you're just transferring them to format that will not degrade from repeated use as quickly as analog videotapes. We're at least at the halfway point of the DVD format's lifespan (and yes, you're coming a little late to the party) so recording/playback equipment will be with us at least until 2011 (if not longer). DVD is the new VHS, and we're still using VHS long after that technology has been considered past its prime, right? Better DVD recording technology is coming, but the one out right now is perfect for what we want to use it for: preserve barely-seen analog broadcasts that aren't readily available for purchase or broadcast. DVD is also analog-friendly and compatible with most regular TV's and low-end HDTV's, which are still what is most prevalent in most American homes instead of the high-resolution HDTV monitors that degrade the standard analog video signal as badly as Silverman degraded gameshows during its tenure as network boss.
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DVD's are also not going anywhere because (1) HD-DVD & Blue Ray technology (the heir apparents to the format) are about to wage a battle for marketshare that will take a minimum of two years to clear things up (most consumers are planning to stick to DVD's), (2) the benefits of the two new formats will only be visible on material coded specifically to take advantage of higher display resolutions (network TV shows, live sporting events, pre-recorded HD-DVD/BR movies, etc.) and (3) there are no affordable HD-DVD/BR recording devices in the foreseeable future (heck, most HDTV videophiles are getting excited about the upcoming PlayStation 3 videogame system because it will offer a bare-bones BR playback unit for
ONLY $600). With a good source VHS deck and a good brand name stand-alone DVD recorder (I wouldn't go double-deck unless I was buying something over $200 to ensure quality) you're as golden as you'll be for the next few years unless you're willing to spring for thousands of dollars for HTPC and professional de-interlacers (a format using high-end PC drives/software to emulate analog signals or HD one's on HD displays)... but that's another thread entirely!
2. My second, more major concern is: How long do burn-them-yourself DVDs last? The short-lived laserdisc revolution taught us the dangers of laser rot, but I'm worried about speculation that the DVDs you burn yourself may last only a decade or two before they start becoming unreadable. Something to do with the fact that do-it-yourself DVDs involve a heat process that converts dyes in the disk (this apparently is not an issue with professionally mastered DVDs).
DVD's will last as long as you can handle them with care. They're more fragile than VHS in that, if you scratch or damage the data portion of the disc, you might lose huge portions of the disc instead of just a few minutes of a VHS (which can be tossed and the broken videotape re-attached if you know what you're doing). Also, the codec (i.e. coding algorythms) of cheaper DVD recording machines from the likes of Coby, Sansui (Adam Nedeff's recording brand of choice) or any cheap-ass Korean DVD recorder is prone to use software compression to try to minimize the cost of its components. Brand-name recorders (Panasonic, Sony, Pioneer, etc.) are likely to use proprietary MPEG-2 coding mechanisms that, at least in practice (and at the expense of a few extra hundred bucks) result in a much reliable home DVD recording that is less prone to malfunction. No home recorded DVD will work on every DVD playback unit on the market, but using a good DVD recorder ensures more compatibility and reliability than using a cheap-ass brand.
Just ask Adam! :-)
