Copying videos to CD/DVD format

[MTOW]

I have a couple of 'treasured' VHS tapes I'd like to convert to CD or DVD, but I have little or no idea of how to go about doing so.

I don't have a video camera, just a pretty basic Hitachi VHS video player/recorder. I have an internal TV/video WDM capture card and a copy of Adobe Premier 6.0.

My other problem is that my computers are both quite old - an Athlon 700 with 512 MB of RAM and a P3 450 with 320MB of RAM.) The TV/video capture card is currently set up on the P3, as it caused all sorts of conflicts on the Athlon, so obviously, I'd prefer to use the P3 if that's possible (I could up the RAM on it if that would help).

So, to my questios:

1. How do I go about copying a VHS tape to CD or DVD? (Some of the tapes are quite short, and should fit onto a single CD.)

2. Do either of my setups have enough 'grunt' to carry out the job? (I do have quite a bit of free space on secondary hard drives.)

I'd also prefer to copy to my HD and then be able to edit out a few ads rather than copy 'on the fly', but that would be icing on the cake and isn't absolutely necessary.

A third question comes to mind. Could anyone talk me through what's involved in copying audio cassettes into a format that could be read by an iPOD?

[TheOddOne]

I'd say DEFINITELY the BEST solution is to buy a dedicated DVD recorder. Prices are now as low as £130. I bought a JVC a year ago and it's been great. We transfer old VHS, record our old camcorder tapes and use as a TV programme recorder in the usual way. Ours can even playback while recording (DVD-RAM) so you can fast-forward through the ads. You can usually edit on the machine as well. It's probably worth paying a bit more and getting a machine that's got more 'whistles & bells'. Ours can also play discs of JPEGs so we can watch high-quality stills from the digital camera on the telly - better than getting the screen and projector out.

The only issues apparently might be compatability between some recorders and other playback-only machines. DVDs I've produced play OK on my sister's play-only machine she bought in ASDA for £29.99 so I guess that should be mostly all right.

Cheers,
TheOddOne

[Jhieminga]

A third question comes to mind. Could anyone talk me through what's involved in copying audio cassettes into a format that could be read by an iPOD?

Have a look at this page: http://www.mp3.com/tech/tutorials_00000002.php
It explains how to get a LP converted to MP3, but the same story applies to cassettes as well. The main piece of software you'll need is Goldwave (http://www.goldwave.com/), which records the audio on your PC so that it can be converted further.