Transferring Video Cassettes on to DVD

There are many benefits for moving your favourite movies on to DVD from video cassette tape. For one, I have noticed that some of my home movies that I had stored on my video tapes had deteriorated. In some instances, the tape had stuck together and snapped when I tried to play them. What I did then was to open up the cassette tape and mend it by reinserting the end of the tape in the centre of the spool. This is not an ideal situation, but it was a way of getting the cassette to work and recording it directly onto a DVD-RW using a scart cable between the two machines, pressing the "program down" button on the remote control of the DVD recorder until it was picking up the signal from the video machine. I then kept my fingers crossed that the tape would not break again, which thankfully it didn't. In fact, I have had to do this with several of my video tapes and they never broke twice. I think this is because the part of the tape that had perished was the part that was more open to the atmosphere under the flap on the front of the cassette.

I have always been into editing video on my computer, so I wondered if there was any software available that enable me to create menus on my DVDs, just like the professionals do it in Hollowood. And yes, there were several (see list on the right). TMPGEnc DVD Authoring Software from Pegasys I have found is absolutely brilliant. I can copy my video cassettes on to DVD-RW, then take the disk, place it in my computer and this software actually reads it as it is, complete with chapters (although I can turn off chapter-reading if I prefer to put in my own chapters during the editing process). . I can  then edit out anything I do not require frame by frame, and put in my own chapters.  The requirements for this software is Windows XP or 2000 but it really is the easiest video software I have ever used.

If you have any questions about any products on this site or have any comments, please   to email me

Home

 

Pegasys DVD Author for PC

 

Home