Well, what's on the tape is analog so 720x480 doesn't really apply. However, your most likely capture formats will be digital 720x480 so perhaps the distinction doesn't really matter.

The output from the VHS player is composite. Changing it to S-Video afterwards can't improve the signal and in fact adds another conversion to the signal chain so will probably degrade it. Stick with composite.

What device are you using that goes from analog video to USB? Whatever it is, it's probably garbage (sorry to say). I've never met a USB video capture device that was worth anything more than a doorstop. Generally you want to look for something that converts Analog video into a DV signal and then capture through firewire (just like you would from your MiniDV camcorder). There's a whole series of Sony TRV camcorders with a "passthrough" feature that can do this for you, and many are available on ebay for under $50. Failing that, record from VHS to DVD using your DVD recorder, then import that disc into Vegas. That will probably produce far better results than the USB device. Heck, some DVD records have a firewire port and some of them are even bi-directional, so it might be possible that your DVD recorder can do the direct conversion for you. Can you post the make & model of both your DVD recorder and the USB device? We can look up some details for you.

Thank you Musicvid for the information.
Thank you Kelly for the advice and help. Wish I would have asked before I acted..:/ I bought a Hauppauge (dollar if you can tell me how to pronounce that) USB-Live 2 Analog Video Digitizer model 610 from Wal-Mart. It has the three composite cables and a S-Video cable on one side, and a USB on the other, with some gizmo in between. My VHS player is a cheap RCA AccuSearch Four Head Hi-Fi Stereo, and the DVD player is a RCA DRC8005N DVD +R/+RW Recorder. From what you say, I guess I will just come straight in with the composite cables. Do you know of any software that would be good for importing NON-COPYRIGHTED video that way? Thanks again as always. Cin

Haw - pawzh (soft buzzing G sound), apparently named after the town where one of the company principals grew up, or something like that. (Send the dollar to your local kids charity, please!)

There doesn't appear to be any firewire jack on your DVD recorder, so that idea is out. But, i still believe you'll get better results by recording to a DVD first, then importing that into Vegas.

However, if you want to try the Hauppauge device, it should have come with some sort of rudimentary capture software. It will probably save the video as an MPEG file which will probably be usable in Vegas.

REALLY, WTF??!!! Musicvid,

You know him, you love him, we can't live without him. That's our musicvid!!

"[EDIT: Quote deleted]"

Since it is now legal in the US to make one copy of a copyrighted video for personal use under some circumstances, I am floored and perplexed at the magnitude of that overreaction to a simple disclaimer.

You have to understand my background and past professional memberships to understand that sentence, and it was neither personal nor presumptive.That is the stock answer I give to anyone asking for copying advice on these forums or in the classroom. The fact that I, and a few friends here, have made at least a small portion of our livelihoods from producing, marketing, and distributing licensed creative works makes that disclaimer both appropriate and dispassionate (it's not about you, Cin).

All I can do is apologize fully for the way you took my statement, and offer to never respond to one of your posts again. I had not assumed anything about your intentions, just stated two simple facts, and any perception of accusation in any context is imaginary. I have been entirely consistent in my responses to this question over the years (actually 40+ in the business), and I do not let personal considerations affect that, only professional ones, despite all of my imperfections and past mistakes.

If you can look past that sentence or take in context, you will find that the advice I gave is worth considering, alongside that from Kelly and others whom I respect equally.
Best of luck.

Thanks Kelly for the lesson in phonics. I've seen that name many times, but had no idea. :) As for your dollar, I provide several hundred dollars a month in money and services to disadvantaged children, so your request will be easy to comply with. :) As I mentioned above, and you noted, it did come with a very rudimentary software that lets me import only as mpeg1 or 2. Guess I will go with the mpeg2 if I go that route? If I do as you suggested and first burn them to DVD, will I then be working with .vob files, and would that be better than the other method with mpeg2 files? Thanks again for the help. Cin

Musicvid, I saw nothing in my original or previous posts that would warrant a 'disclaimer' from you or anyone else. All that really defines us in this life is our values, morals, principles, and integrity, everything else is pretty much just BS. So when someone implies that I might be stealing something, that strikes at the very soul and essence of who I am. Without going into details or boring you with some long dissertation, let me just assure you that I would be the LAST (I repeat...LAST) person to steal anything from anyone. I have devoted my life from a very early age to philanthropy, almost to a fault. We all have 'buttons', and mine is if someone questions my integrity. I'm sorry if it came across as an over reaction, but in reality it was an under reaction compared to how it made me feel. As for not helping me any further, that would be your choice. I have always respected your knowledge, opinions, and devotion to this board. Cin

The disclaimer was not personal, but professional as stated. It's like McDonalds telling you their coffee is hot, even though you already know that. Sometimes I too take things personally that were never intended that way. It seems to get magnified on the internet.

I once had a similar conversation with a judge (who was playing horn under contract in a licensed production). He thanked me for being consistent.
;?)

I've got two different set-top DVD recorders. Both of them, in the 6 hour mode, blow away every cheap USB converter i've ever seen for quality of video. In the 2 hour mode they are far, far better than VHS, and in the 1 hour mode they look as good as uncompressed video.

As far as editing the resulting .VOB files, it's been discovered that if you drag the .IFO file to the timeline, Vegas adds the entire contents of the DVD as one single clip and it can then be edited very handily.

I'll point out that most DVD recorders provide two different recording modes. One is "DVD-RAM" and this is a mode you want to avoid! The purpose of this mode is to allow you to do extremely basic editing right in the recorder, but it generates a non-DVD compliant format that you won't be able to import elsewhere. The other mode is the one you want, but what it is called differs from one recorder to the next. Poke through the setup menus until you find "DVD-RAM", and make sure the other option is selected.

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If i may address the "misunderstanding" ... please liken Musicvid's disclaimer to a speed limit sign. He is merely mentioning the rules, just as a speed limit sign tells you that you're not allowed to go above a certain speed. The sign isn't put there under the assumption that you are going to break the law, but merely to remind you what the law is.

Thanks Kelly for all the time and thought you put into this for me, I really appreciate it. I love the idea of burning DVD's on the 1 hour setting (you know me, nothing more important than quality). It will also allow me to archive them without piles of tapes and boxes! I can't wait to give it a try later tonight. I will definitely let you know how it turns out. :)
As for the 'misunderstanding', I now realize it wasn't a personal attack. However, I still believe that such a 'disclaimer' is useless and offensive..... (to some). It seems to assume the worst in everyone based on the actions of a few. What if the next time I post to help someone i put in a disclaimer something like: 'sure, I can help you with that, as long as you aren't making child pornography. Are youuuuuuuu??' First, if they were, they wouldn't say, and secondly it's rather presumptive and insulting at best. Cin

DVD RAM files are "usually" recorded in .vro format, which one can run through VideoRedo Plus and mux to .mpg for use in Vegas / DVDA. It's a relatively quick and painless process that I recommend even if you're using conventional DVD blanks. If you're going to be recording from a bunch of tapes, DVD-RAM is more economical.

Or record on DVD-RW or DVD+RW, depending on compatibility with the recorder.

Mine will record DVD-RAM format .vro files on standard DVD-RW media. Strange, i know, but it doesn't actually violate any physical laws. On the other hand, i don't know if it will actually record on DVD-RAM media. I've never tried it.

Thank you Musicvid, TOG62, and Kelly for all the sugestions and help. As far as discs go, I bought this DVD recorder years ago. I put it in the closet unopened until now. I still had the receipt taped to it and it's dated 12/28/04 :0 Guess that means I've been procrastinating just a bit!! Anyway, I think that was the time when everyone was fighting over that whole DVD format thing of + or -, so this one is only compatibale with DVD+R and DVD+RW. Luckily I bought a whole big spindle of the DVD+R discs at the same time I bought the machine. I did as suggested and burned a 4 minute clip on the one hour setting, and I couldn't begin to tell you how happy I am with the results!!! It look 10 times better than using that funny named thing I wasted my money on. When I open the disc in Windows explorer, it shows a bunch of .vob clips with the VLC symbol and I am able to double click them and play them in Windows media player. When I go into Vegas and go to import media, even though I have 'show all media files' I get absolutely nothing?? So I went to 'Project' >' Import DVD camcorder disc' (even though it isn't one) and that worked. I then tried the drag the .ifo method, and that worked good as well, other than there are several of them. So, the final problems I have are.....Is there a way for Vegas to see and import the clips via the usual method? Since I can't get Vegas to see the clips on the disc, I am unable to use the 'Match Media' method that I use for setting all my projects properties, so I don't know what to set them to. Once I copy a disc from VHS, is there a program in Windows 7 or cheap out there, that will let me just copy my non-copyrighted ;) disc to another, so I don't have to do the VHS thing again? On a personal note, looking at some of these tapes has brought lots of smiles and tears. I haven't looked at them since the day they were made, and I have forgotten 90% of what is there. I came across a ton of wonderful heart warming video of children that I had spent years with before they died. They were so young, healthy, happy, and full of fun and life. I was wondering if I should give that video to the parents, as they have never seen it, or would it be too painful and I should just let sleeping dogs lie...? I tried to imagine if a child of mine died what I would want, but I'm not sure. I think I would want to see every smile and laugh, but to see them again as I have never seen them before..........I just don't know. Maybe I will call the parents and ask them...........Thanks again everyone. Cin

You can see VOB files in Import or Match settings by typing *.* in the file name box.

There's probably no need to match settings. A standard project set to NTSC DV (or PAL, if that's your flavor) will match the format on the disc exactly. In the extremely off chance it doesn't match exactly then it does match the format you're going to burned the edited versions in and that's even more important than matching the source.

Once you've got a DVD with the video on it you can copy DVD->DVD with most any disc burning software. I use Nero and it's got an almost-one-click function for that (it's only one click if you have two DVD drives, otherwise you have to click a second time to tell it you've taken out the original and put in a blank).

As far as the families are concerned, you can always send them a little friendly note telling them you've come across the videos and ask if they'd like them. I'm sure many will say yes. Some will say no or not respond. At least that way it's their choice and their opportunity. I doubt any of them would object to being informed about it.

Run your recorded disc through VideoRedo Plus and save as mpg first.

Sorry it took so long to respond and say 'thank you', but it hasn't been going so good. I was waiting until I had it all figured out, but apparently that's not going to be anytime soon........Thanks TOG62 for that great tip, you guys kill me with some of this stuff you come up with. It worked like a charm, and I find it helps in other situations and programs as well. I will remember that one! Thanks Kelly for all your help and support. I went to Nero's website and they have a simple DVD copier for free, so I got it and it seems to work great. Took your advice on the letters/phone calls and three families so far couldn't be happier (well sort of, if you know what I mean). Thank you Musicvid for your help. I looked at that VideoRedo, and it sounds like it might be very helpful in what I'm trying to do, but I wasn't too sure what your post meant. Maybe if I had the program, it would make more sense?
I'm really frustrated because I can't get the VHS to DVD, other than a few minutes here and there. It keeps stoping and gives me a message that says 'insufficient signal' when I'm trying to record, even though there is enough signal to watch it on the TV. Then some times it won't 'finalize' what is there, so I can't get it on my computer. Other times it tells me to try cleaning my brand new disc to see if that helps...... :( I've tried two different brands of DVD's, but no luck. Because the recorder is so old, in the instructions it recommends 2.4X discs, but all I could find are 16X. Could that be the problem? There just has to be an easier way. I've worked on this off and on for a couple of weeks, and had hoped to be done by now........Thanks again for all the great help. Cin

Hello Kelly , My computer crashed and I lost my software. I was using Nero 7.0 to burn my DVDs and was very pleased with it. Is there something else that I should look at to do this task?

thanks , Billy

Billy, i still use Nero (although i'm still on version 6.3). I can't imagine why you'd want to go with anything else if you've got Nero available. Download it again and register it with your original serial number.