I have been working on a project to convert various VHS recordings of personal past events to DVD's. The software I am using was a gift but I have had nothing but problems and yet to be successful in completing a conversion. The software I am using was a Dazzle product (Digital Video Creator 100) to capture and convert the VHS recording. Once converted, the program uses DVDComplete for adding chapters, etc and then building the DVD and burning it. It seems that I am down to the final steps after converting the files but am unable to get the project file to burn to a DVD. When I try to do the burn process, the screen always shows "invalid disc" and never lets me direct the path to an external burn drive I purchased to allow for DVD-R discs.

Anyone have experience with this software? Dazzle had been purchased by Pinnacle a while back and has discontinued any technical support other than online support which has been totally worthless. I tried working with this software a while back but didn't seem to have the right computer system so I put it away. Now I have upgraded my system but still can't seem to get the process to work.

I am at the point of dumping this software and trying something else. One aspect I liked about is was being able to create and input title pages through a story board setting, adding various special effect options for transitioning the title pages, etc. I don't necessarily want to just copy a VHS file "as is" directly to DVD but want to be able to do some editing/adding.

Thanks in advance for any input or feedback from you experts on this site.

I'd start with narrowing down the possibilities through a process of elimination. Can you burn DVDs in other ways? Try using the program to burn a video file already on the computer. Check the saved video. That kinda stuff.

Larry is right on point working backwards. I have no experience with Dazzle but do burn DVD movies.

I input my vhs through a camcorder that can convert to avi and input via firewire. This works rather well. Software makes a huge difference in editing and authoring. Two of the more popular are Adobe Premiere Elements and Pinnacle Studio 9 (there are others of course). Each of these are available as free trial downloads.

Working on video can be extremely taxing on a PC. Rendering can take many hours.

SNIP

I just converted my wedding video from VHS to DVD yesterday actually.

* All I did was take an s-video lead (and a couple of RCA audio leads) out of my A/V system in the living room (with the amp switched to the S-VHS player of course), and plugged the other end into my video card's A/V input.

* Then I used the program that came with my video card, "ASUS Digital VCR" to record the incomming signal to an MPG file.

* Then I used "Video ReDo" to edit the file into the parts I wanted on each DVD.

* Then I used Nero Vision to add menu's etc and create the disc images for each DVD.

* Then I burnt the images to DVD using Nero.

There may be other options out there that will give you a better quality output, but since this was my first attempt at it, I just wanted to make it work. I didn't really care how it worked, as long as I could tell my wife at the end of the process, that there was a few backups of the wedding video spread around the place on DVD, she's happy, so I'm happy ;-)

Cheers,

Ben

I recently bought the external HP DVD Writer that is as simple as it gets. It's firewire\USB2 compatible and has S Video & Composite inputs right on the back. I put an old VCR right next to it (actually under my printer) and fired up the software that came with the DVD recorder. Pop in a video tape and the software prompts you right through the process. You can copy 1 or more tapes in a row-- stop and go as you wish. You can burn right to the DVD or choose to save the video on the hard drive, edit it and burn later.

I didn't even look at the manual yet, but there are options for quality ( 1or 2 hours\dvd) and I've burned some at both settings with very little difference noticeable on my70"Sony LCD!

May not be the best, but certainly simple-- and as an external, you can move it around! I only wish it had the new "LightScribe" labeling feature HP is touting because that looks nice, although the media is probably way overpriced!

I think the easiest way is to use a professional transfer service. I used Digital Conversions for my last VHS to DVD project, it was a present for my parents anniversary. Here's a link to their website http://convertmymovies.com The video quality was much better than the DVDs I made using my Movie Box, and you can design your own title & chapter menus on thier site. Its pretty cool.

Personally, I use This. It's really quite simple and actually looks good, too.

We use a VITEC card to do our capturing, straight to MPEG2. We typically encode 720x480 VBR 4500-6000 KBps. Gives you about 2 hrs per 4.5 GB disc. If it goes over, you can always DVD Shrink it once you've got it in VOB format.

For editing, we use VideoReDo. Fast, accurate, and easy-to-use.

For DVD authoring, it's dvdauthor all the way. It's free, bit of a learning curve, but you have full control. However, there are a number of dvdauthor GUI's that make it a snap to use.

Good luck!

after almost 3 years the OP probaly has it all figured out

lol

and he didn't include his email address in the profile so we could clue him in. Look for a few more of these....

At least the origin of these posts is harmless. I've googled things and been referred to old threads here, and I think that's where this came from.

Funny but I was doing the google thing last year for the same reason. Now six months later, I hate Dazzle, spent easily 2-3 Gs on a HTPC and now I record it all. I guess I should be truthfull here and say I never did get to recording the Hi8 tapes to DVD. I've sure had fun recording everything else though.

john

Honestly, the easiest way to do it is grab a standalone DVD recorder.