Still have a bunch of VHS tapes hanging around that you’re not ready to get rid of? I can’t really imagine why you wouldn’t go ahead and convert them to DVD, but let’s say you’re not willing to able to do that. Or that you have a parent or grandparent who refuses to get a disc player because they’re attached to their VCR. No problem—today in the Amazon Gold Box you’ll find a Panasonic Blu-ray/VHS combo player, so that you can enjoy the latest technology and your favorite Luddite can still watch VHS tapes.
It’s the best of both worlds! Or at least a compromise you can live with.
Mir, can you recommend a good place to convert special VHS tapes to DVD? I’ve been reluctant to send away my daughter’s baby tapes to just anyone.
Walgreen’s has a service for home-movie type stuff.
However, a lot of my VHS are things I taped off of HBO back in the day, or actual store-bought movies. I don’t believe a service will change those over, and I don’t have spare cash to buy equipment or oodles of hours to spend doing the transfers. And then we’d have to pay for a Tivo or DVR type service, because we could no longer tape shows to watch on our VHS for free. I tell you, it’s all some kind of plot to keep us in debt, by THE MAN! ;-D
MomCat — there are a few very solid options out there available to do the conversions yourself. You need the kit (which would include both hardware, which is a connection to the computer so you can plug in your VCR, and software for editing, basic upconversion, and recording to a DVD burner drive). All you need is a computer with DVD burning capability, some blank DVD’s, and the time to do them. The danger here is no worse than any time you would play the tapes in your VCR for any other reason.
Forgot to add: I work p/t at a big box retailer, at which you can get such a kit for around $70-$100. May not be cheap on the surface, but might be competitive vs. having it done…
Yes, what Frank said. I wouldn’t send mine away, either, but the home kits are pretty good and not difficult to use.