Video tape - PAL to NTSC.

MAC_Addy

This is a far shot, but does anyone on here have any experience in converting video tapes?

Let me explain a little. I'm originally from England, been over in the states for about 8 years now. My mother has a lot of video tapes from when us young-uns were growing up. Obviously since the US has NTSC they won't play in a regular DVD player.

What I'd like to do is convert all the tapes over to my hard drive and then onto DVD. Also, keeping a backup of the original tape on my HDD in case the dvd goes missing or what not.

I have looked online and it's plagued with companies offering the service. I'd much rather do this myself.

I'd probably need to find some hardware to actually play the video tape first, any recommendations?

swild

Amazon.com: Honestech VHS to DVD 5.0 Deluxe: Software

this is interesting. I was planning on doing this myself several years ago when I couldn't find a couple of my favorite movies on DVD. I lucked out and found a spanish edition that wasn't dubbed so I never went through with it.

This looks to do everything. I would see if you could find some reviews.

MAC_Addy

I'll still probably need a PAL VCR though, looks like they're around $199. Also, I wonder if this product will accept a PAL signal?

swild

this particular one says its for us, however, there is probably a similar product on amazon.co.uk.

VCR:
Panasonic NV-HD640 VHS VCR Video Plus+ Recorder Nicam Hi Fi Stereo PAL & NTSC | eBay

you would have to pay a little more for shipping, but it would be far less than paying for a PAL VCR from the US.

swild

you also may be able to find a hardware device like this:
Amazon.com: Toshiba DVR620 DVD/VHS Recorder, Black: Electronics

that would burn straight to DVD and then you could copy to a HDD. It might be a cheaper option if you can find a PAL version.

MAC_Addy

Perfect find on the ebay.co.uk store! I might have grab that off there.