Hey,
I was wondering how so many people have shows on dvd, or VCD. I have so many shows that I would love to have on dvd just to save space. Do they sell dvd players that are able to record or What? :wave:

To record shows onto DVD, you will need to buy a DVD recorder. These are sold between $300-$400 at ebay, and higher in stores. If you just do a search at ebay for "DVD recorder" I am sure you will find several.
I have one and am in the process of putting my shows onto DVD. You can usually find recordable DVD's online for under a buck, but you will need to buy them in bulk to get them that cheap.

Good luck

We're contemplating investing in a DVD burner, too. My question is this: when you make a copy of a VHS tape, what is the quality of the DVD you make from it? Do you lose some sharpness like you would when you copy a video onto another video (a generation down)?

Thanks a bunch!

:wave:

Originally posted by Agent 13
We're contemplating investing in a DVD burner, too. My question is this: when you make a copy of a VHS tape, what is the quality of the DVD you make from it? Do you lose some sharpness like you would when you copy a video onto another video (a generation down)?

Thanks a bunch!

:wave:

Good question! About the sharpness, well there are four options to chose from (at least on my machine there is). XP- which will record an hour long ONE disk. It is the best way to record for sharpness, but you can get poor real fast by doing this lol. SP, LP and EP mode are the same time as they are on a VCR. But I have noticed that if you try to record a good VHS tape onto DVD using EP mode, it looks awful. You *must* be ready to record all vhs tapes onto DVD in SP mode to make them look as good as they do on VHS. If you record onto DVD by using XP or SP, there shouldn't be much generation loss. I just started using my machine, but those are the things I have noticed. Good luck!

Originally posted by videotrading
Good question! About the sharpness, well there are four options to chose from (at least on my machine there is). XP- which will record an hour long ONE disk. It is the best way to record for sharpness, but you can get poor real fast by doing this lol. SP, LP and EP mode are the same time as they are on a VCR. But I have noticed that if you try to record a good VHS tape onto DVD using EP mode, it looks awful. You *must* be ready to record all vhs tapes onto DVD in SP mode to make them look as good as they do on VHS. If you record onto DVD by using XP or SP, there shouldn't be much generation loss. I just started using my machine, but those are the things I have noticed. Good luck!

I have a couple more questions for you, if you will. What brand do you have? And... is there such a machine that will burn VCDs from DVD/VHS (I'd think that this would be cheaper than a DVD burner).

Thank you sooooooooo much for your help!

Originally posted by Agent 13
I have a couple more questions for you, if you will. What brand do you have? And... is there such a machine that will burn VCDs from DVD/VHS (I'd think that this would be cheaper than a DVD burner).

Thank you sooooooooo much for your help!

Isn't that what a screen capture machine is, if I'm not mistaken? There only $50 :). I don't know if you can get them in stores, but I know of people getting them from ebay, if you trust that sort of thing. As for the dvd's I know you can buy cd programs that rip your dvd to put on to VCD, those run about $30, I think.

Originally posted by x rocker-grl x
Isn't that what a screen capture machine is, if I'm not mistaken? There only $50 :). I don't know if you can get them in stores, but I know of people getting them from ebay, if you trust that sort of thing. As for the dvd's I know you can buy cd programs that rip your dvd to put on to VCD, those run about $30, I think.

I looked up "screen capture machine" on ebay, and nothing came up. How would I look for one there? (Forgive my computer illiterate brain, here :-)

Is there some way of making VCDs from videos without being attached to your computer, as a stand alone? What would such a machine be called, if not a "screen capture machine"?

Thanks a bunch!

:wave:

Are you able to record shows straight from the tv onto a Dvd?
Or can you only dub shows that you already have on vhs?

Originally posted by Talk2Me
Are you able to record shows straight from the tv onto a Dvd?
Or can you only dub shows that you already have on vhs?

You can record from the TV too.

Originally posted by Agent 13
What brand do you have?

I have two of the Panasonic DMR-E30 models and am very happy with them thusfar.

Originally posted by videotrading
Good question! About the sharpness, well there are four options to chose from (at least on my machine there is). XP- which will record an hour long ONE disk. It is the best way to record for sharpness, but you can get poor real fast by doing this lol. SP, LP and EP mode are the same time as they are on a VCR. But I have noticed that if you try to record a good VHS tape onto DVD using EP mode, it looks awful. You *must* be ready to record all vhs tapes onto DVD in SP mode to make them look as good as they do on VHS. If you record onto DVD by using XP or SP, there shouldn't be much generation loss. I just started using my machine, but those are the things I have noticed. Good luck!

The speed I record in depends on what I'm recording. If its something I like to watch on occassion but don't care about all that much, I'll use EP mode. Mostly, I use LP mode. But if it's something I really, really love OR the quality of the original content is less than ideal, then I use SP mode to preserve it as much as I can.

Also, I found discs at www.shop4tech.com fairly priced. If you buy them in bulk, they can come out to about 65 cents per disc. They are generic though, not brand name...but I haven't had any problems with them at all yet.

Another cool thing is that you can create DVD chapters and titles for each episode you record so you don't have to fast forward or rewind. Just click on the chapter number and, voila, you are there! :thumbsup:

Originally posted by GrapeJelly
I have two of the Panasonic DMR-E30 models and am very happy with them thusfar.

Grape Jelly,

Can you make VCDs with the Panasonic DMR-E30 or just DVDs?

Thanks!

:wave:

Originally posted by Agent 13
Grape Jelly,

Can you make VCDs with the Panasonic DMR-E30 or just DVDs?

Thanks!

:wave:

:wave:

Just DVD-Rs as far as I know...you might want to double check with someone else on that one though ;)

Originally posted by GrapeJelly
:wave:

Just DVD-Rs as far as I know...you might want to double check with someone else on that one though ;)

Thanks, Grape Jelly, for all of your advice. I appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions. :wave:

Originally posted by GrapeJelly
:wave:

Just DVD-Rs as far as I know...you might want to double check with someone else on that one though ;)

Thanks, Grape Jelly, for all of your advice. I appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions. :wave:

There is a company called Terapin that sells stand alone vcd recorders. I have one and i also have a stand alone dvd burner. They both work fine.