"G Hardy" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
. ..
"Dave" wrote in message

Thanks for the advice, folks. Though I still don't feel
any the wiser. I don't want to edit tapes, DVD's or
anything else. But I have a small number of tapes which
have programmes I want to watch on them still. These I
would like to be able to either watch direct or copy to
DVD & then watch.

Then you need a DVD recorder, hard drive optional, to
hook to the output of your VHS player.

Alternatively, if you have a DVD player on your PC and a
DVD writer in your PC, just get a £20 USB "DVD maker" -
these are little analogue converters that will encode*
"on the fly", and you can burn the resulting MPEG file
direct to DVDR.

IME, these can be very iffy. Stand-alone DVD recorders solve a lot of
problems.

"Dave" wrote in message

Thanks again, but I'm just getting more and more
confused. Perhaps I didn't word my last message very
well. Let's start from the top again.

What I have - a VCR that I bought used 7 years ago and is
now starting to show signs of its age. I also have a
stack of videos containing programmes I've recorded. Some
I want to keep, most I just want to watch and discard.

What I want - a digital recorder that will:

a. Take the place of the VCR in allowing me to record
programmes and watch them later.

IOW, a stand-alone DVD-based video recorder.

b. Allow some connection between the VCR and the TV so I
can watch the tapes I have.

IOW, a stand-alone DVD-based video recorder.


c. Allow me to watch one programme while recording
another, both possibly coming through my SKY box.

IOW, a stand-alone DVD-based video recorder.

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
. ..
"G Hardy" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
. ..
"Dave" wrote in message

Thanks for the advice, folks. Though I still don't feel
any the wiser. I don't want to edit tapes, DVD's or
anything else. But I have a small number of tapes which
have programmes I want to watch on them still. These I
would like to be able to either watch direct or copy to
DVD & then watch.

Then you need a DVD recorder, hard drive optional, to
hook to the output of your VHS player.

Alternatively, if you have a DVD player on your PC and a
DVD writer in your PC, just get a £20 USB "DVD maker" -
these are little analogue converters that will encode*
"on the fly", and you can burn the resulting MPEG file
direct to DVDR.

IME, these can be very iffy. Stand-alone DVD recorders solve a lot of
problems.

The one I bought from Aldi for £30 is pretty good. Its quality is better
than my previous attempt at analogue to digital conversion, in which used a
PD150 to convert to DVD via DV. I got a similar one through ebay for £20 but
it can't handle interlaced footage.

It's not as if the OP's source material is of particularly good quality -
and it's not as if the resulting DVDs are archive material - it's just a way
of watching tape without the hassle of handling the tapes.

If you have a big collection of prerecorded tapes, there's an added benefit
that these little USB devices bypass Macrovision, which helps protect your
investment. it's possible that the standalone DVD recorders do this too, but
it's something someone else will need to test & confirm.

Dave wrote:


What I want - a digital recorder that will:

a. Take the place of the VCR in allowing me to record programmes and watch
them later.

b. Allow some connection between the VCR and the TV so I can watch the
tapes I have.

c. Allow me to watch one programme while recording another, both possibly
coming through my SKY box.

Is this possible? If not would I be better to buy a new VCR and wait until
something like SKY+ actually works reliably.


You want a Philips HD/DVD recorder. eg DVDR3300H (Analogue tuner)

You can copy all your VHSs to HD and copy to DVD if yuo want (having ediited
them)
You can record one programme while watching another, or RGB in from SKY