Over the last few years I have converted a considerable amount of VHS tapes over to DVD+/-R mainly using a PC. The over-view below is the computer set-up that I used to use covert most of my VHS tapes to DVD-/+R.
I use a JVC HR-S7965EK connected to a DVD recorder these days, for the quickness, but the hardware described below has been a well used, and reliable, set-up.
This is a dedicated Video Cassette Recorder for my PC. Purchased in February 2005, this VCR has a Digital Noise Reduction and Time Base Corrector which combined gives a vastly improved playback picture as it cleans up the Chroma noise and can solve jitter errors in the video. Also see VHS Capture Comparison page.
There may be occasions where I need to use a different VCR. As a back-up I have a Panasonic NVHD-90, a Panasonic NV-HV61 and, as a last resort, a Sony SVO-1520P.
...connected via composite Scart to phono (video only) to...
This is a further Time Base Corrector. The Datavideo TBC is a further enhancement which can help with problems that the JVC's TBC can not deal with, the main one being signal synchronisation errors which can cause problems with the Canopus ADVC-50 in the form of dropped frames and picture freezing. The Datavideo TBC will receive the video signal from the VCR and send a completely synchronised signal to the capture device. This will also remove Macrovison copy protection from protected tapes. Expensive item!
...connected via composite phono to...
(Item purchased second hand on ebay) The Datavideo TBC-100, whilst solving one problem, does soften the picture slightly and also causes a slight washing out of the colour. The Copymate can restore about 95% of what has been lost. Watched back on a television, the lost detail is not noticeable. The Copymate also has a stabiliser button which, as far as I can tell so far, doesn't have any effect on anything.
...connected via composite phono (and audio direct from VCR) to...
This is an analogue to digital video converter. It does all the work for the PC in converting the signal from the VCR or TV receiver to digital video. The video and audio are locked, so there is never an issue with the sound not being in sync with the picture on the final video file. A firewire port on the PC is required to use the Canopus. Separate capture software is required (See below). I must mention that the ADVC-50 is no longer made and has been replaced by the ADVC-55.
...connected via firewire to the PC.
Now that the hardware is there the next stage is to capture the VHS tape to the PC, encode to MPEG2, edit and burn to DVDR. The software I have used for these tasks is reviewed here.