VHS Recording to DVD with Onestep DVD

qbansmokr

Registered
I want an easy way to burn VHS tapes directly to dvd. I have a conventional VHS player that I can connect to my mac via a Blackmagicdesign video recorder but it still takes multiple steps to convert, then save, then format, then burn a dvd. According to idvd you can connect your camcorder to your mac and use the onestep DVD option to burn a dvd. Can that same option be used to burn from a VHS player???
 
The main reason that this is NOT as simple as you would like - your VHS tapes have to be converted to digital first.
Most camcorders sold in the last 10 years provide a digital output, so the transfer to a DVD is several steps shorter.
But, you would need a camcorder that will play your tapes, and also has a digital output. You CAN connect whatever you use to play your VHS tapes to an analog to digital video converter box, such as those sold by Canopus.
http://www.amazon.com/Canopus-77010150100-ADVC110-Converter/dp/B00030ATTO

Far simpler (particularly if you have a large number of VCR tapes to transfer) is to purchase a DVD recorder. You can then copy directly off your VHS tapes, without any need for a computer.

Various alternatives here: http://www.bing.com/search?q=convert+VHS+to+DVD+with+iDVD&form=APMCS1
 
DeltaMac,
Thanks for the response. I was hoping for a simpler solution but I guess not. I have the hardware to import and convert the VHS tapes to digital format using the Blackmagicdesign Video Recorder. This is a reasonable alternative to many of the convertors on the market, and works very well. All three steps, converting, using imovie and then idvd, all take hours to accomplish. I have used a VHS to DVD recorder but they are still clunky and editing is nearly impossible.
Thanks
 
I will just add that I have Elgato and it works very, very well. You can do some simple editing like trimming the beginning and ending. You still have to move what you "got" to a movie program--like iMovie--but the benefit for that is you can then create chapters and the like.

The "problem" you are always going to have is the time it takes to render--go from iMovie to iDVD then finish the rendering. As some of my
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posts/threads on the subject, this allows for wonderful opportunities for the program to crash halfway through an 8 hour to 20 hour process
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I believe that is a simple problem of processor--when I do it on my current Macbook Pro I really max-out the processors. If you have a top-of-the-line MacPro with about 3X the processing . . . power? . . . the benchmarks are ~3x greater--you still are cutting the process to 2-7 hours.

--J.D.
 
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