Video cassettes have essentially become a thing of the past, completely obsolete in the wake of DVDs and even newer Blu-ray discs. If you have some VHS tapes you purchased in video stores before the late-1990s, you may be at a loss what to do with them, since VHS players are pretty much a dead technology. However, with a little ingenuity, you can convert those VHS tapes to DVD, using a variety of methods.
Instructions
Using an External DVD Burner
1. Make sure the VCR and external DVD burner are both hooked up to power sources (most likely a typical power outlet) and are near enough to each other that a video cable can connect them.
2. Connect the VCR's video/audio outputs, which are typically found on the back of the device and are color-coded yellow (video), white (audio) and red (audio), to the video inputs of the DVD burner, using the RCA video/audio cable.
3. Insert the cassette you wish to record to DVD into the VCR and a blank DVD disc into the external DVD burner.
4. Press "Burn" on the external DVD burner, or whichever button begins the burning process. (You may need to consult the owner's manual to your DVD burner for instructions specific to your model.)
5. Press "Play" on the VCR. The video will begin streaming through the cables to the DVD burner, which will burn it to the blank DVD.
Using a Computer
6. Insert the video capture card into your computer's PCI card slot and install any software that came with it.
7. Connect the VCR's video/audio output, which is typically located on the back, to the video/audio input of the video capture card using an RCA video/audio cable.
8. Run the capture card's software, which should record the images entering the card through the RCA cables.
9. Insert a video cassette into the VCR and a blank DVD into the computer's DVD burner. As the tape plays, the capture card and software will convert the video into a digital file.
10. Add the newly created digital file to a DVD and burn it using DVD-burning software, which is usually provided on your computer.
Tags: video audio, capture card, audio cable, capture card software, card software, Connect video