Just trying to get an idea on the best solution for a bunch of video tapes that I have & trying to get them digitized for storage. There some converters on the market that you can hook up to your vcr & hook back into your 'puter, but I wonder which is the best one Please provide input!!!
I've used a few in the past; don't worry about the quality of video because you'll get the same quality from every single product, remember it's VHS... just don't expect to improve the picture quality just because it's being transferred digitaly. Just make sure it's reliable, if it doesn't work or it doesn't come out as you see it on VHS, just return it and get another one. Don't spend more than $50 for this though.
My first one ever was this dinosaur: http://www.computervideogear.com/usb/ads-instant-dvd-plus-dv.htm The latest one I've used is this Pinnacle product that I've set up for my uncle to do exactly what you want to do. It was the first time I've used this one but it worked just right. If you read the reviews, some are having problems, but it's mostly due to compatibility issues: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815144028 In between these two products, I've used brands such as Leadtek, Hauppauge, Iogear, etc... That reminds me, if you plan to doing a lot of converting, you may also want to look into TV tuner cards... but that's a whole different monster. That's why you have to make sure that whatever you get, you do your research and make sure that its compatible with all your hardware. Good luck.
Bump I purchased an easyCAP and it works like a charm....it was cheap to....so I convert VHS to *.mpg on Windows, but if you the right kernel it can be done in Linux