Game Shows on VHS to DVD

[Jay Temple]

I bought an iLo, which I believe is the house brand of Wal-Mart. I had to download software to avoid false Copywrite Protect markers, but otherwise the problem I've had is a couple unfinalized disks that went bad, one while it was in the burner and one that hadn't been added to in several months. I found that the four-hour speed was adequate; that is, viewing it on a different DVD player, you couldn't tell that you weren't watching it live. At the six-hour speed, though, I lost some resolution.

[Ian Wallis]

I hope your statement, "DVDs are cheap anyway," doesn't get misunderstood and corrupted into "cheap DVDs."

Hopefully not!  What I meant was you can get packages of 50 or more for around $20 - but I'd definately only go with name brands that have a good repuation - like Maxells, for example.

As a relative newcomer to the digital age, I'm frankly concerned about reports that burn-them-yourself CDs and DVDs may not last long as analog tape. Something to do with the dyes in the discs, and how long they will hold up so the discs will remain readable years from now.

I've heard that too.  I think if you take good care of them, keep them out of light and out of moisture, etc,  they should last long enough to see it through to the next format

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'nWo_Whammy\' post=\'141599\' date=\'Dec 27 2006, 10:26 PM\']
As for media, I've never gone wrong with Imation.
[/quote]
Imation is the best-kept secret in cheap media. I used to buy spools of Imation CD's when I had a Dreamcast, (two spools of 50 for less than $20, and at the time Outpost.com was guaranteeing free next-day delivery if you ordered before 11 AM on the previous day, or something like that) and I would have maybe one coaster on me across two of them.

They, like the legendary Pat O'Brien, are just great.

[narzo]

Reading the thread on problems people are having with the MG DVD got me thinking about those who are burring their old VHS to DVD.  I've had a Panasonic DVD recorder for almost 3 years now and it works great.  Thing is a couple discs, ones I admit I didn't store properly, are now damaged beyond repair.  

While my goal has never been transfer my collection from one media to another I guess I warn everyone not to give away or trade away your old VHS if you indeed burn everything to DVD.  I've got VHS tapes that are 22+ years old that play as good as new but DVD's seem to get screwed up fairly easily.

[Justin Dyer]

I'm glad I saw this thread. I was about to post a message about the same thing. I have probably around 300 tapes. I need to convert them to DVDs. Moving all those tapes earlier this year was a pain. Plus I may be moving to a smaller place where I won't have room to store all those videotape cases and boxes.

It seems like the verdict is that Panasonic VCR->DVD machine (I assume you all are talking about the machines with VCR and DVD in one unit) is the way to go. Avoid Philips, Magavox, and off-brands. As for the DVDs themselves, it seems Maxell is a good name brand.

A couple of concerns:
- Do you lose a generation when you dub from VCR to DVD? (The answer is probably yes.)
- Someone mentioned that DVDs may not last as long as VCR tapes. Is this true?

Dubbing to two hours (which someone said is essential) is going to be a pain. I have lots of T120 and T160 tapes that are in SLP. It is going to require baby-sitting. But I guess that comes with the territory. To convert that many tapes to DVD may take up to a year!

[Ian Wallis]

A couple of concerns:
- Do you lose a generation when you dub from VCR to DVD? (The answer is probably yes.)

From what I've seen, no.  At least it doesn't look like it to me.  If you do, it's not nearly as noticable as dubbing a tape.

Dubbing to two hours (which someone said is essential) is going to be a pain. I have lots of T120 and T160 tapes that are in SLP. It is going to require baby-sitting. But I guess that comes with the territory. To convert that many tapes to DVD may take up to a year!

I think it might take longer than that.  I've been at it for five months, and I'm less than a quarter of the way through...but it's fun!

[pownster]

We'll, I've had a Pioneer DVD Recorder for 3.5 years now (being one of teh first models, it has no HD and only records -R or -RW discs) - and it hasn't missed a beat so far. The only issue I have when dubbing across highly dubbed VHS tapes is that the video signal wil occasionally cut out (leaving the screen black from time to time in the video). I don't know whether this is unique to my recorder - or consistent across all recorders. I only use high quality DVD media - in my case TDK disks (I don't know whether they are available in th US) - I have had practically no problems with corruption or deterioration of discs. I store my disc in the original spools, in a dark, cool location.

Dubbling does take some time - I have transferred roughly half of my original VHS collection across so far (roughly 1000 shows in 3 years). Everything is recorded at SP. But it's worth it - the storage space savings are considerable - and dubbing DVDs to DVDs for trading purposes is much easier and quicker. And you can trade more easily with overseas people who use different TV formats (probably not a big issue for most of you).

Key is:

- Record at SP
- Use good quality media
- Store the media well

Chris Powney.
Melbourne, Australia.

[mcsittel]

[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'141592\' date=\'Dec 27 2006, 09:30 PM\']
I would avoid LiteOn recorders like the plague.  The list of issues is long, with the major ones being that the recorder flat out died after 8 months, LiteOn would do nothing to rectify the issue despite the recorder being under warranty, and the recorder's clock was fast at a rate of about 60 seconds per day.
[/quote]

** I've been using a LiteOn (LVW-5005) for about a year, and while I got my whole collection converted from VHS to DVD in about 3 months (ran the thing 5-6 hours a day), it has its quirks, like the one episode of "1 vs. 100" that it swears is protected content and refused to let me dub from VHS.  Also, sometimes I have to put in 5 or 6 different DVD-Rs before it will accept one as readable for recording.  Most of the rejected ones became DVDs used for writing from the PC, but even some of those weren't readable.  They're Sony DVD-Rs, and while I got a good deal on them at Best Buy, I won't buy them again after I run out because of the high rate of 'coasterism'.

** Another odd thing about the LiteOn: it puts out a TON of interference... it affects the TV sets with lines not unlike those you used to see when the vacuum cleaner was running, and ruins my FM tuner's weaker signals when it's plugged in.  Does anyone else see this with their recorders?  It's a nuisance-recording directly from an over the air signal or on cable results in a serious degradation of signal.  Once I run this LiteOn into the ground, the next recorder will definitely be another brand.

** And to echo the sentiments of other posters: if you haven't started dubbing your VHS collection yet, do *EVERYTHING* as 2 hour SP.  Yes, it will cost more for the media esp. with a big collection, but it's the only way to preserve the quality.

** I encourage those of you who are discussing recorders you use to include the model number so those of us interested in buying one can shop based on the GSF Seal of Approval!

Matt

[MrBuddwing]

[quote name=\'Justin Dyer\' post=\'141771\' date=\'Dec 30 2006, 11:45 PM\']
- Someone mentioned that DVDs may not last as long as VCR tapes. Is this true?
[/quote]

My bad. My point was, we're not certain at this point how long burn-them-yourself DVDs and CDs will last, because the technology is still relatively new. But given reports and rumors of DVDs and CDs that are already unreadable after only a couple of years, attention must be paid. The standard precautions are, use only high-quality DVDs and store them responsibly. Ideally, you'd hold onto the original materials, but for people looking to save space, that may not be practical.

A couple of online articles to check out:

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/specsf...VDlongevity.php

http://hometheater.about.com/cs/dvdlaserdisc/a/aadvdrota.htm

[curtking]

[quote name=\'happyattacks\' post=\'141529\' date=\'Dec 27 2006, 10:27 AM\']
I'd be curious as to the thoughts of others and what method/speed/media you'd reccommend before I go any farther.
[/quote]
Two notes:

1. Blank Media Quality Guide and FAQ is a good guide to which media works and which doesn't.  The short story is this: Brand names don't mean as much as the manufacturer of the media itself.  Once upon a time, TDK used a really good manufacturer to make its media; unfortunately, the last batch I bought was from a different (and less reputable) manufacturer.  The down side to this is that you really can't know for sure who the manufacturer is until you buy a disc.

2. Best Buy has blank Verbatim DVD-Rs on sale this week -- a 25-pack for $6.99.  I've just bought a spindle and checked the manufacturer code -- looks like a good one, though YMMV.

Curt

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'curtking\' post=\'141919\' date=\'Jan 2 2007, 03:18 PM\']1. Blank Media Quality Guide and FAQ is a good guide to which media works and which doesn't.  [/quote]
That excellent website also has a page that should calm some fears among those who keep worrying that the format is unreliable.   Actually, if you've got it in your head to be scared, this article probably isn't going to do anything to change that, but the average user should read it anyway.

A few more thoughts from someone who makes thousands of discs a year for hundreds of very picky customers:

I see several people insisting you use the 2-hour speed.  My experience has been that you're really OK up to the 3-hour speed for most stuff, especially stuff that's originating from crummy old 6-hour VHS tapes in the first place.  

Don't use sticky labels to label your DVDs.  It has a significant impact on the reliablity of the DVD in certain machines.  I only really convinced myself of this fairly recently, so a lot of the really important stuff in my collection is being migrated over to new discs, plus I found myself making a few more replacement copies than usual over the summer when I had a double-whammy of sticky labels and a less-than-perfect batch of discs.  

Today, I only use Taiyo Yuden white inkjet printable blank DVDs, and I print high-quality labels directly onto them with an inexpensive (but kinda hard to find) Epson printer.  I also store my discs individually in full-size cases, which takes up more room (and is more expensive, of course), but they look great on the shelf and they're a lot easier to find than if they were all stacked up in jewel cases.

Basically, just be careful, which is the same advice you got when you were saving your VHS tapes.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'141921\' date=\'Jan 2 2007, 01:02 PM\']
Today, I only use Taiyo Yuden white inkjet printable blank DVDs, and I print high-quality labels directly onto them with an inexpensive (but kinda hard to find) Epson printer.  
[/quote]
FWIW, I've been looking at printers today (my freakin' Epson has the first clog it's ever had in two years of owning it, and if the cleaning stuff I ordered doesn't do the trick, I'm in the market, grrrrr), and I've noticed that more and more printers have the capability to print onto printable blanks. Enough so that if I _do_ get a new one, that's on the must-have feature list.

[Justin Dyer]

I've finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a VCR/DVD combo to convert my tape collection. I have decided on a machine (Panasonic DMR-ES45VS.) Now the question I have is about disks. I have been warned by several not to put labels on the DVDs. (Good thing because that is what I was going to do!) I could have a system where I put numbers on disks and then had the titles in another location. The problem with that is that the document in the other location could get lost or corrupted. I heard something about disks where you can print text on them using a printer. Has anyone had any experience with this? What printer is best? I'd prefer to avoid spending an arm and a leg. The Epson R220/R260 models seem to be popular based on google searches, but the reviews I read say that the ink doesn't last long and is very expensive. I found something called the TEAC P-11 DVD Printer that does nothing but print DVDs/CDs, but that looks kind of cheap. (See link at bottom of post.) Would it be kosher to buy the printer printable disks and write on them with a ballpoint pen? What affordable printer is best for printing on the printable DVDs? Thanks for all the help you all have provided in this topic.

Justin

http://www.discmakers.com/duplicators/prod...vd_printers.asp

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'Justin Dyer\' post=\'142430\' date=\'Jan 7 2007, 10:09 PM\']
Would it be kosher to buy the printer printable disks and write on them with a ballpoint pen?
[/quote]

As far as labeling DVDs (at least single-sided DVDs).  I strongly recommend using a fine point, felt-tipped permanent marker.  Using a ballpoint pen will damage the DVD.

As far as the labels go -- avoid using adhesive labels like the plague.  I've labeled CD's and DVDs and no matter how hard you try, in most cases you will get an air bubble or 2 below the label.  

Depending on how much clearance you have in your computer or DVD player, that little air bubble, or that miniscule extra height created by that label could range from "no problems in playback" to "starts skipping and or freezing up midway into the disc" to "won't play at all".  

I have some labeled CDs that will play vertically in my 51-disc CD carousel changer and horizontally in my Dodge Caravan with no problem.  In my slot-loading computer, the CD will play the first few tracks, starts skipping then freezes up altogether.  In my other car, the CD will play but it cannot eject the CD.

Unless you plan to list more than the show title on the disc (airdate, length, celebrity players, etc...), I'd just number it, put the names of the shows (if you are recording in SP mode, you'll have 3 or 4 shows tops to list), and print a complete listing on paper and affix it to the jewel box of DVD case.

[LocalH]

If you've got a lot of time to kill, you could always get a capture device and do the encoding in software - usually, one can get better results at the same bitrate when you can encode in software. Personally, when I'm encoding to DVD, I use TMPGEnc with a set of profiles called "KDVD". It slightly breaks the DVD spec, but compatibility is still good (from personal experience, it plays fine on an older Sony standalone, a Playstation 2, and a cheap COBY player). With the KDVD profile, I've been able to fit five eps of PYL, without commercials, and in excellent quality, on a single DVD-R. With this method, you can also edit out the commercials at a frame-exact level, allowing you to fit a bit more video on the disc. Myself, I use an NTSC-DV transcoder to capture my video, and then I run it through Avisynth to handle clipping out commercials and denoising.

Another option is to get a dual-layer capable recorder, although the blanks cost a fair amount more than single-layer media. However, DL nearly doubles your raw capacity.

As far as labels, another option is to get a DVD burner capable of writing LightScribe labels. Even if you want to use a standalone recorder to do your actual dubbing, you can use the discs like normal and then write the label on your computer. Once again, the media costs a fair amount more than equivalent non-LightScribe media, but not as much more as DL media.