VHS to DVD without a PC - Sony DVDirect VRD-MC5

If you hate computers, here's an easy to way to transfer your VHS tapes, or any analog or DV video source, to DVDs -- the Sony VRD-MC5 DVDirect. The video quality is excellent, and you can likely find one for much less than the cost of getting your tapes professionally digitized.
Time flow:
0:00 I hate computers
0:46 Introduction the DVDirect
3:09 Handycam owners only
5:15 MiniDV / Digital8
11:34 Hi8 / Video8
12:59 VHS
16:13 Computers & video games
17:55 Technical details
18:50 Ripping the DVDs
21:03 Ouch!
#retrotech #VHS #DVD

[@wardman21]

I love that you're getting your money's worth with those transitions.

[@the_kombinator]

It's some sort of service?

[@wardman21]

@@the_kombinator he bought the catalog

[@the_kombinator]

@@wardman21 I'm still not following - catalog of? From where? What is it called?

[@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse]

​@@the_kombinatordefunct nowadays, I recall

[@thewubmachine840]

And i like the blue theme on transitions

[@marcoflorianefinger6937]

When someone says to me that DVDs and Blu-rays are obsolete, I always say Netflix took down Inuyasha because their licence expired. This can happen with everything

[@dlarge6502]

I was jumping for joy when I saw that an Anime I wanted to rewatch from the 90's was on Amazon Prime. I started watching it, finally managing to understand it (in the 90's I didn't quite get all of it). 3 episodes in, they took it down. I bought the DVD instead.

[@ConsumerDV]

Torrent.

[@harisalic2568]

Having a dvd collection is too big of a hassle nowadays, I prefer having a nas with video files + jellyfin so that I have my media library organized nearly

[@tsakeboya]

Absolutely goated anime

[@dlarge6502]

@@ConsumerDV Torrent is blocked in the UK. I haven't heard of anyone using it for years, it's dead here. Yes, you could use a VPN but I work in IT so know how far I trust a VPN that isn't my own.

[@allissondiego1989]

All of those recordings are precious. I always look at the date and think about how old I was and where I was at the time. I also think about those people and what might have happened to them.

[@the_kombinator]

You can easily get even CD-Rs in Staples, Amazon, etc. DVD is nowhere near obsolete - organizations wanting to push it out in favour of streaming are wanting you to swallow and accept the "you won't own anything and be happy." As far as digitizing tape, I use an ATI capture card on an old XP rig. I made enough money doing that in college and uni ;)

[@slipknotboy555]

They're "obsolete" in the sense that Blu Rays and even UHD discs are a thing, and they're (obviously) much higher quality. But yeah, DVDs are still sold and stuff. They're like 480p, though, heh.

[@tgheretford]

Just today, a video game publisher disabled the video game people paid up to $60 for because it wasn't making them enough money. Thankfully with physical media, the game publisher can't come into my home and take my purchase away. Same with video and audio content. The only reason why they're doing this is for control, paywalling and greater profit at our expense. I'm now even seeing the same model being applied to physical goods where you pay for a licence and pay again an ongoing subscription fee to use that product that can be revoked at any time and incorporate planned obsolescence by design.

[@necropink9200]

​@@tgheretfordIn that case if paying for games and movies isn't owning them then piracy isn't stealing.

[@JessicaFEREM]

"If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing"

[@oscarcacnio8418]

As far as digitizing tape went, did you even use any sort of time-base correction?

[@twocvbloke]

Nah, physical media's not obsolete, that's just the streaming services telling us that, cos they would rather we hand over money for something we can't keep... :P

[@alanrogs3990]

and they will have control over what you watch. I have a Roku and most of the free films are total trash (to me) I will also not subscribe to any pay service. I prefer films made over 40 years ago.

[@romangiertych5198]

Physical media is not obsolete. Blu-ray is not obsolete. DVDs are.

[@alanrogs3990]

@@romangiertych5198 Yes, blu-ray is still superior to streaming video.

[@soulslip]

@@romangiertych5198lmao DVDS are NOT obsolete lol they still sell them lmao 😂

[@romangiertych5198]

@@soulslip Because ignorants buy them.

[@SparkyDabs]

I bought one of these on Facebook to transfer my old home movies from vhs to dvd, and I have to say this machine is fantastic! For about half a year I offered a service to locals in my area to transfer their tapes to dvd for $5 a piece. I had people bringing me 20-30 tapes at a time! It was great! but it was so time consuming. I had to watch the video almost all the time to make sure it wasn't just recording a blank screen or someone's tv recording from 20 years ago. I wasn't doing it for the money, I learned a lot along the way and helped many people save their memories for future generations. I also picked up a quick copier on eBay, to make duplicates for people who wanted multiple copies. I still have both machines and two rather good vhs players that I will continue to use and cherish.

[@kensims4086]

Lots of my discs are rotting away, always keep your master tapes.

[@TechGuyBeau]

i dunno why i laughed so hard at 0:22 when the disk fell out

[@nomeanlol]

"I hate computers" Finally someone has the courage to say it.

[@niceguy01]

Computer are good depending on what your using them for. 🤨🤦🏻‍♂️

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

As a microelectronics engineer, i can confirm. Computers are a nightmare.

[@niceguy01]

@@hyperturbotechnomike why do you say that?

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

@@niceguy01 The hardware side of computers is mostly fine, but most software sucks, especially nowadays.

[@GoldSrc_]

Man, CCD footage looks so smooth and rock solid. And yeah, DVDs are still sold, I always laugh when people claim that DVDs are obsolete, sites like DMM still sell lots of DVDs of the adult variety lol.

[@Denvermorgan2000]

It might be convenient to have a digital download.But there's still something to be said for owning a hard copy.It's yours and nobody else's.

[@Blackadder75]

@@Denvermorgan2000 a digital file on my own hard disk (or ssd) is also mine and nobody can take it away . as long as it is not on somebody else's cloud server I feel pretty safe owning my files. Every decade or so I copy them to new drives, and I have never lost anything important to me since 1997. And by making my own file server I can even access all of that anywhere in the world

[@ConsumerDV]

@@Blackadder75 Exactly. A file is a hard copy.

[@Kalvinjj]

Heck in the anime community it ain't going anywhere. Just last year I bough an anime movie (Wataten Precious Friends) in Blu Ray, a late 2022 movie with early 2023 physical release mind you, and it was still available in DVD form as well. The OST CDs (heh, 40+ years still kickin') I bought of that movie also came with a DVD (27 years and still kickin'). Now then, thinking back at it... Eve Blu Ray is getting quite old at now about 18 years old, but still nothing to scoff at. Heck, quite a lot of content out there still doesn't push it's limits.

[@alphabeets]

That DV with its high frame rate really looks good even today.

[@maltreatedpony]

I'm so impressed at how that guy tripped off that travelator!

[@j0shdee]

7:42 - translation for those who need it - (Go ahead) Yellow, (Go ahead) silver, (Go ahead) and white and- (no, [just] white!) (Go ahead) white and all the colors on the Z350 sports car! ([unintelligible]) Or I’ll stay- [she complains here] - (Go ahead) white and all the colors on this sporty Z350! - (Go ahead) XTerras for adventurers* like you! *gendered M/F (I really wonder how you got this clip, this place looks oddly familiar… LA?)

[@AltimaNEO]

I wonder who she is?

[@jul1440]

"Mostang...Mustang"

[@vwestlife]

Orange, CA. The tapes were from Douglas Nissan of Orange, before they got busted for fraud.

[@bubexpress5435]

@@vwestlifehey vwestlife you should do more videos on other audiocrazy cassette boomboxes to see if the use a higher quality CSG mechanism

[@ChannelConnorsWinnipeg]

“I hate computers” Couldn’t be farther from the truth

[@DataDashy]

I hate people but love computers

[@thewubmachine840]

I hate Nissan cars with CVT but love automatic transmissions on Honda, Toyota, Lexus, VW, etc. and yes its April Fools Day.

[@cheeseparis1]

Weakerthans has entered the chat 🎶I... hate... Winnipeg.

[@alanrogs3990]

Farther or further?

[@zangl2955]

I think most people who love computers also hate them a bit.

[@derekdresser9214]

Great now I'm trying to acquire yet another obscure product I never knew existed before today

[@themaritimegirl]

What a nifty little rig! And presumably it's doing time base correction too.

[@flemishdog]

Absolutely no TBC on the one I had. It made it pause recording a lot.

[@Nutz0]

My thought exactly. I built a rack filled with expensive stuff including a tbc to do this about 25 years ago. That sony is a little gem!

[@thevacdude]

That car salesman video was from 2005. I know because the Xterra was new for '05, and the 350Z had been out for about 2 years by then. That Mustang was only about 4-5 years old or so.

[@user-te6jv6pw9q]

I used to transfer DV video to DVD recorder and the quality is way better than PC capture card. I can say this one is also a DVD recorder but it's SO COOL.

[@emancaindec9731]

I remember seeing this same exact device on a Sony Magazine catalog back in around the late 2000s. Now I've finally see it in action at this video really blows my mind on how it's still practical, advanced, and depending who you ask, it's still a very handy gadget to own especially if you're into analog camcorders. Thank you for the video Kevin! Hopefully youll upload the future video you've mentioned at the end of the video.

[@JumpingSpiderDesign]

9:07 I loved the hefty ol' DCR-TRV - it was the cheapest digital camcorder at the time, and compatible Hi8 cassettes were plentiful. Still works, even the battery. Plus the awesome IR mode meant I could walk around in the dark like an idiot pretending I had night vision. Great video, as always!

[@ryanrichardson2957]

I can’t thank you enough for this video. I had transferred old home movies on cheap software a few years ago and the quality wasn’t good, but at least they were preserved was my mentality. I saw this video and it actually motivated me enough to find one(I actually got the next model up without the s video) and start the whole process over again.

[@marsilies]

I bought one of these at work for transferring MiniDV tapes, since I liked going directly from digital DV to digital DVD, without analog steps in the middle. The built-in screen was a bonus so I didn't need a separate TV setup. I could just start the recording and come back later when it finished. In addition to the later VRD-MC6 mentioned in the video, there's also the earlier VRD-MC1 and VRD-MC3 recorders, but I think the VRD-MC5 had some advantage over them, which I can no longer recall. It may be I just wanted a new one, and the VRD-MC5 was the cheapest one I could find new. One feature not mentioned is if you don't have a DVD-ROM drive, you can use a standard USB B cable to plug the VRD-MC5 into your laptop/PC, and it will operate like an external PC DVD-ROM burner. So you can rip discs using it, or even burn other content from your computer using it. The card readers also showed up on the PC, so you can use it as a card reader.

[@quijohnjinn]

Just love your uploads !

[@detectivedreams]

Thank you, thank you very much for your videos, love, time, and passion you share with us. I specially enjoy the little details or unaware items that catches your attention, your sensitivity to talk about them and show in fully disclosure. Also your voice and way to speak creates a relaxed and interested vibe, very very enjoyable. Sometimes i play your videos for sleeping, BUT not because they are boring, which they aren't ! It's because in some way you transmit some calmness that helps me to deal with my daily anxiety. Please do not take this like something negative, because it's the opposite. Sometimes we need some calm and time to focus and put interest in watching content, specially the kind you post in your channel, which is very engaging. So please keep up with your videos, your passion and love. In a virtual way, you transmit loads of them. Thanks a lot again ❤

[@TheOriginalCollectorA1303]

This is a great converter, it’s a Sony! I’d definitely get something like this alongside a PowerMac for FireWire and hard drive backups, it’s nice that the video is the actual source video and not something converted. Old Sony equipment is still awesome, plus having a DVD backup alongside a digital file once you copy it over, is a nice bonus to have. Great video!

[@Mac84]

Excellent detailed review about this and it's capabilities. I'm curious to see the recording device you teased at the end. Keep up the great work!

[@TheLtData]

What a nice machine! And so versatile. Great video!

[@JarrydHall]

Sony analog capture devices had fantastic time base correction. What a difference that makes for analog tape sources with any clock drift. If Sony made a device like this that could record to an SD Card, did H.264 or H.265 HEVC and supported 50i > 50p with Bob deinterlace image processing, I’d buy one in a heartbeat. I’m having to use a DV camera with a good analog input and time base corrector > Mac to help digitise old analog video sources correctly.

[@SirPreissMC]

Have the same setup. It's the best that you can get at home when ripping VHS tapes.

[@JarrydHall]

@@SirPreissMC absolutely agree. I like being able to save as ProRes422 native res and frame rate, and then from there build out a processed HEVC so that way if there’s ever something critically wrong with the process in future it’s very easy to go back and batch correct.

[@eDoc2020]

@@JarrydHall If you're using DV as an intermediate then keep your reference copy as DV. There's no need to mess with ProRes.

[@JarrydHall]

@@eDoc2020 I agree to one point (it is reference) but on the other hand DV playback is getting harder every year.

[@eDoc2020]

@@JarrydHall I'm talking about DV-coded files on the computer, not miniDV tapes. libavcodec (the software VLC and ffmpeg use) has supported DV literally for decades and it's not going to drop support anytime soon. You're always going to be able to convert DV-AVI to ProRes using free software. Since it's a lossy conversion _and_ takes up significantly more space, why not avoid it whenever possible? For general applications HEVC can have the same visual quality as ProRes at something like 1/8 the filesize. Only convert to ProRes if you need perfect instant scrubbing for editing _and_ your editing software can't handle DV.

[@AMDRADEONRUBY]

Nice a new video! i love VHS to DVD videos. 10/10 for your channel! Quality stuff we have here.

[@joonglegamer9898]

Yet again you surpass all of our expectations finding those obscure devices we never knew existed or knew we needed in our lives.

[@tman8876]

Just found one of these brand new in box in the trash. I’m surprised I didn’t even know they existed. I would’ve killed for one of these when they were new lol. Thanks for the video dude, brought me up to speed

[@raythomas4812]

If I had known about this gadget - I would have definatley brought one . I miss the days when SONY invented stuff you may want ...Great Video

[@hughjanus6975]

I haven't seen the movie maker interface in years. Thanks for the throwback.

[@digiprez77]

I personally made these things valuable a few years after they stopped making them. To explain, I started a job as a video coordinator for a D1 soccer program and it was my responsibility to get a copy of the game to the away team. The teams played in an outdoor stadium with zero A/V equipment. They had a team laptop to record onto and then they would burn a DVD which took about 30 min. They usually had to mail the DVD to the away team the next day. I had been using a DVDirect for years. I could give the other team a DVD right away. The first time it happened I handed it to the opposing team manager right after the game and he was flummoxed. I told him about the unit. Word spread to other teams and because they weren't in stores anymore the prices on EBAY got crazy. They were going for $1,000 used at one point if I remember correctly. All the other teams had them by the next season.

[@MVVblog]

This is one of the best options for digitizing analog videos because the video signal remains unchanged. Even in digital form, it continues to be an interlaced SD video format, either PAL or NTSC, playable on both PC and dedicated CRT televisions. To do even better than this, you need to buy some professional video capture cards and hope to make them work.

[@alphabeets]

The video signal changes from analog voltages then is digitized of course. Digitizing means the signal is stepped and is no longer super smooth continuous analog voltages.

[@5argetech56]

We don't make mistakes. we have happy accidents! --Bob Ross

[@Butterscott_NJ]

My grandfather was computer illiterate, he would've LOVED one of these. A little device to burn all of his Video 8's and DVs to a DVD? He spent so much money getting them done at Costco.

[@NotCamBlack]

Great video! And perfect timing as I've just started digitizing a bunch of old tapes with a Sony RDR-VX535 combo unit. Looks like the process is pretty much the same on this unit! The only difference is I'm using a program called MakeMKV to rip the DVDs.

[@Mrcharrio]

I used to use one of those DVD/VHS Hybrids which worked pretty well. You can still find them used from time to time. Later on I ripped those DVDs to my Hard Drives just to have them in an easier to use format.

[@groupexman]

great video as always

[@scott8919]

I kept expecting you to take the white packaging off but then realized, no, that's actually the device.

[@PrankZabba]

I miss having a dvd recorder. Never made it through all my tapes before it died. Must've made 400+ DVDs in. But I'd love to get one of these to finish burning the rest of my tapes.

[@TheSergeyJW]

I bought myself a panasonic dmr-es15 dvd recorder last year for cheap. Works like a charm. If your VCR doesn't have TBC I would highly recommend the one I have or dmr-es10. These models have a built in TBC-like feature that fixes playback on wobbly tapes. It saved a tape with my childhood memories that was unusable before. Much better playback in general, less signal loss on old tapes. I actually capture my tapes to a computer with an old TV Tuner/capture card thingy, while only passing the signal through this DVD recorder. But this feature would work when just recording DVDs too.

[@stereophonicstuff]

This was a fantastic all-encompassing review. The DVDirect has been my best kept secret for my analog video transfer work. I still use a D8 Handycam to convert analog 8mm and Hi8 to digital over FireWire and then capture the “digitized” output using my PC, but for redundancy (and because it’s so simple), I also use the DVDirect to record the composite output from the camcorder to DVD at the same time. I’ll still ultimately burn a DVD using the DV-AVI file I captured on my PC, but the DVDirect’s results usually track pretty closely with the quality of the PC-involved way. It’s a shame my VRD-MC6 lacks an S video input, however, as that would undoubtedly yield even better results. Seeing my almost 10-year-old video on my VRD-MC6 linked here (that was nowhere near as extensive as yours on the MC5) came as a pleasant surprise. Time sure flies!

[@cheeseparis1]

Great device! thanks for the demo.

[@beverpix]

DeeeeVeeeeDeeeee ... Sorry couldn''t resist 😊 Love your vids. Greetz from Holland!

[@dlarge6502]

I totally agree. I love computers, particularly old ones. I love microcontrollers and would love to program a PIC microcontroller using nothing newer than DOS and preferably older. I used to digitise my VHS tapes etc using a TV card in my PC, as well as the Iomega Buzz which was SCSI based and encoded MPEG1 on the fly. But with the mess you can get into, with capture cards that cant handle a dirty signal etc, I settled on using DVD recorders. I use them to record and archive live TV. I use them to edit too as although YMMV with the features of any particular recorder, some have excellent frame accurate editing. The recorded TV or digitised VHS tapes might simply be burned to DVD+R for archival, or to give to family or be finally taken to the PC for ripping and further editing or encoding as needed. I do the same for audio with a CD Recorder, and a flash based audio recorder for much longer stuff that wont fit on a CD. Computers are great when you can employ the algorithms to do amazing things. But if you are simply capturing, why not used devices that were actually *designed* to do just that. Although I'll copy my miniDV tapes via the PC and firewire, these standalone devices can do it too and they were designed to. It's like using a toaster, an appliance to make toast vs writing code for a Raspberry Pi to do the same thing. Anyone who has seen Red Dwarf will know what an A.I in a toaster will experience :D kzbin.info/www/bejne/goPUkIZ3qrZ3m8U

[@equallywrong]

Gotten anymore Heartburn America magazines lately? Sure would to know what kind of crap they are trying to unload nowadays.

[@TechHowden]

I just went on their website and i’d say the stuff is even worse now than when he made that video about it.

[@NightimeDemon]

​@@TechHowden I don't know if I should be horrified or impressed.

[@SafetyServbot]

My wife found one of these for about $25 at a resale store today and now I'm here!

[@LightTheUnicorn]

It looks to do a really good job of it too, what a nice little thing.

[@ShawnTewes]

I have the previous model (VRD-MC3) which is very similar if not near identical to this version, except for a few cosmetic differences as far as appearance goes. The analog inputs had a flaw in that on the recorded DVD, the video would tend to be a few frames ahead of the audio, even with the latest firmware, and it would always cut down the black level making certain sources appear darker (i.e. dv over s-video or more modern game consoles). Using firewire, however, never had sync problems nor did it alter the source, so sometimes I would run analog sources through a MiniDV camcorder's input, then firewire out to the MC3. However, as these devices were aimed at consumers looking to digitise VHS or video 8, this was a good feature since it brought the black level down from 7.5 ire on vhs, closer to 0 ire or "digital black", so that on computers and other digital displays black's looked normal and not washed out. I suspect the MC5 does the same, and judging by your samples the sync issue has been fixed.

[@MacXpert74]

I'm quite impressed with the quality of the conversion. It looks better than most video's I've seen that people did with computer video capture devices. I guess the Sony device does some 'digital magic' to optimize the video conversion.

[@dlarge6502]

It's the same with cars. If you buy a read made one, it runs well and does the job well. You could cobble together your own... You will then have anything from a soap box racer to a kit car that took you years to put together and ages longer to work out the kinks. When I started digitising my home videos in the early 00's I cobbled together a solution with my PC and capture cards. Many do today and if you like the voyage of discovery and don't mind buying really expensive stuff based on opinions that may not pan out then you can still cobble together a solution and you will learn loads about video standards and colour ranges etc. Interesting stuff. Then if you are like me after doing all that you realise that the best thing is to buy something that was designed to do that job, can be had second hand for practically nothing and although there are models to avoid and some points to learn about they tend to get it done pretty well.

[@MacXpert74]

@@dlarge6502Yeah, most of the conversions I've seen were done with stuff like an elgato video capture device or something similar. I think what mostly goes wrong is that the video is not properly de-interlaced. The Sony device does this by default I guess.

[@Cyber_Horse_Studios87]

It’s stuff like this that help me remember that the months it took to back up every VHS I own was worth it.

[@mannhimself]

I miss my dvd recorder from 2005, got me through college using it as a cable tuner for my hitachi hand me down tv that went up to ch 36 on catv.

[@SirPreissMC]

Predicting the next video is about analog/digital pass through via digital camcorders 😎 This method will give you very good capturing results if the camcorder has TBC build in.

[@kevinblanco3244]

Can’t wait for the follow up video of this , the analog straight to USB hard drive

[@kevinh96]

I picked one of these up on Ebay for £19.99 (UK Pounds) with free shipping last year. I expected at that price it might be faulty even though the seller said it worked but no, it worked and still works perfectly. I was the only bidder on it too, which seems to be unusual as these units can sometimes go for quite a bit.

[@Markimark151]

I used to have this, I bought it from Best Buy for digitizing video from camcorders, and I did my uncle’s wedding on that recorder. But the biggest problem I had with this, was finalizing discs is so slow and it didn’t work with DVD+RW discs. I prefer using a versatile DVD recorder that lets me add more content. I use a Pioneer external DVD recorder for my computer to save video recordings from my phone to DVDs!

[@vwestlife]

This one does support DVD+RW.

[@Markimark151]

⁠​⁠@@vwestlifeit depends on the model revision. Rewritable discs didn’t work on an older model.

[@DGGamer_]

I bought the same exact model of this DVDirect machine complete in box at a local thrift store for only $20! It works well as a backup digitizer. The prices on amazon and eBay are crazy though.

[@npgtom]

I used one of these to covert my 8mm tapes to dvds. Worked great!

[@erik61801]

i have an MC1 it found it at goodwill for 20 bucks like 14 years ago. its pretty awesome. Have had to use it as a boot drive on old computers a half a dozen times.

[@sheppardpat47]

This is REALLY cool. 🙏

[@willyblonka1813]

The footage you showed was amazing

[@greatquux]

I’ve gone through a lot of my family’s old tapes recently, a lot recorded when camcorders were new and fascinating objects. I’m torn between the utter uselessness of most of it, and the pure fascination of watching a long ago moment in time captured forever.

[@willyblonka1813]

@@greatquux i think the appreciation of it can become the enjoyment, thats how its become for me. Also some of the most useless stuff to me feels the most human sometimes.

[@dennman6]

​@willyblon Back in the 70s and 80s when I was using super 8 movie cameras and 35 mm film. I would often catch family members and friends in candid shots. My grandfather once said to me later " I notice you get pictures of people when they're least aware of it. And that's when you should, because you get 'em in their natural element!" So the "useless" type of videos that are being referenced here oftentimes give you a more accurate picture of your inner circle and family members. And i'm glad that I have those type of things in my family Archive.

[@willyblonka1813]

@@dennman6 beautiful way of putting it, life is beautiful

[@yanks1fan09]

I have this unit. I bought it brand new from Best Buy. It's a great little unit. I was able to transfer a lot of homemade videos of my family on it.

[@justapeasant8949]

That is a one neat thing about Japan. There, physical format are above the streaming services👍👏

[@coboldelphi]

Yep, DVD rentals are still a common thing.

[@harisalic2568]

Japan is living in the year 2000 since 1980

[@Raptor50aus]

I recently repaired the Sony HDR-HC3 HDV Handycam, the first model to have either tape or HDD. Great Handycam and very similar to my Sony 4K Handycam a few years later.

[@Nutz0]

Yeah I still own a sony z5 pro hdv/cf card camcorder. The lens and sensor are fantastic!

[@animalhouse8849]

What a fun ride. I never even knew this type of product existed.

[@mattcintosh2]

There are a lot of set top DVD recorders made by companies such as Lite-on, Sony, Panasonic, etc that you basically plug in the source in the back, hit play and record. SOME of the combo dvd/vcr units will record to dvd, but most dont

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video...👍

[@alanrogs3990]

Soon some movies are either going to be edited or not available due to not being "correct" so it's best to buy and keep your BR or DVD discs.

[@asgeirnorheim8653]

Hi. I bought a Sony hdr sr 12e hd (1080i), video camera in the 2006 ish? Not sure.. And the dvd recorder later. At the time, I didn’t have, and didn’t want a pc. But you didn’t mention: With the usb cable, I can record in hd, using “avchd” function. Using a ordinary dvd r disc, it rooms approximately 32 min, in 1080i quality! And having a blu ray player, who have avcd playback functionality. It was working brilliant for me! The picture quality on the disc is almost better than direct from the camera. And the camera and the recorder still works😎😎

[@schmatzler]

15:43 Hey, I watched that movie last week! It still holds up very well today. :D

[@StuffJason437]

Cheap and more effective than those so-called 'transfer' companies, and the quality is lot higher over firewire compared to composite so lot clearer image. If you get Windows Media player on Windows 10, you can rip those DVD's straight to .avi video file and there are other pieces software that rip DVD's and convert them straight to mp4 as well without any additional software.

[@David-gr8rh]

What an excellent video indeed, great Sony product. I mostly noticed the stunning car sales lady and her lovely belly ha.

[@Recordology]

This little thing is genius!

[@wright96d]

I’ve seen one of these at an old job! I don’t think we ever used it, though. Just captured to DV and converted to DVD MPEG2 using MediaEncoder and burned with Encore.

[@AnalogOcean]

I have this and its still working great...

[@lezlienewlands1337]

Neat little device! Whenever I have to do any VHS to DVD transfer work I have a 6 head LG combination VHS/DVD unit sending the signal over composite to a Panasonic BWT-955's internal HDD, which I can then burn out to DVD or even BluRays. 2TB of recording space helps a lot. I also have a Sony RDR-HXD890 as a backup machine should I need to record from a DV device or S-Video.

[@shplangerz9886]

i wanted one of these so badly back then

[@steveshaw-gr1wc]

excellent find-Teachmoan has nothing on you except for that delightful British accent

[@GAnimeRO]

I really need to get one of these used, the quality of the recording is so amazing! And it can do both, PAL and NTSC. So far I've only found it new for 300€ though and that's not a price I'm willing to pay. It's an amazing product though!

[@butters3063]

funny you had a 411 tape in the intro, im in the process of digitizing my 411vm collection :)

[@paulb4uk]

Great bit of kit ,all the ones in the uk ebay are listed far more than they will ever sell for .

[@RetroPC]

I have one of these devices! I completely intend on using it to transfer all my family VHS tapes to DVD, and then eventually to digital.

[@Ale.K7]

Interesting device, didn't know these existed!

[@flemishdog]

I used one of these for a bit because I like digitize tapes using a DVD recorder. The only reason I stopped using it was because Sony DVD recorders have a nasty habit of "pausing" recordings when the signal switches or becomes too weak, which meant a lot of "skips" on stuff I captured (mostly Betamax tapes that are getting along in years). I prefer Panasonic DVD Recorders because they have built in TBCs which stops them pausing during problematic spots on the tape.

[@adamgenard3188]

Couldn't agree more. I've used many DVD recorders over the years and in terms of quality, Panasonic was the gold standard. In addition to the TBC you mentioned with hardly any skips, the bitrates/compression and the features pretty much blew everybody else out of the water. Their built-in noise reduction was fantastic [for the time] and that phenomenal "flexible recording" feature where you could input the recording length and it would calculate the remainder of the disc space and record in the highest possible bitrate. You weren't locked into a few recording "modes" with huge steps in quality.

[@louis-philippeletourneau7689]

I just bought one for 75$ can. I will be able to backup all my family videos. This is awesome :)

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

For analogue audio to memory card, you can use some inexpensive Sony dictaphones for the task as some have a line in feature! It’s like having your very own minidisc recorder without the mechanical bits or finding a disc 😃 Watch out though as they may have no manual recording level controls!

[@liljasere]

I acquired one of these out of an old ridgid seesnake drain camera I bought years ago it’s in a pelican case and has its own power supply using a sealed lead acid

[@linoleumful]

I love computers, and involving them in digitizing process is mandatory for me, because the digitized picture should be processed (at least cropping the black edges and the crumpled bottom). Sometimes - de-grained too. And de-noised sound, of course. And if it's DVD, I'm not even talking about menu authoring.

[@VinylPro]

fully agreed 0:26 - DVD and other "optical' s" still have a futhure !

[@coondogtheman]

Im thinking of getting a device like this but it will have to record to a digital file format like mp4 and be immune to macrovision. Hearing that sonic the hedgehog music brought back memories when I played this game at a friend's house. Early 90s.

[@kristofkolesar383]

VHS quality is acutally much better that what most people say these days. The reason behind this, is that they only see those "VHS effect" videos, and never seen real VHS footage. If you're one of them, get some education.

[@OuterTapes]

@vwestlife, would you consider getting this one is still worth it and the ADC converter on board does excellent job (compared to USB grabbers of course), or I should build a mini PC for the purpose of digitizing? I am a person which actively uses analog camera as sort of artistic expression and I do have a Canopus deciated capture card with PCI slot.

[@LKComputes]

saw this in my feed and said out loud "yo new vwestlife video lets go" and now my family is looking at me funny

[@seasonstudios]

What a great little piece of gear that has come and gone. I hadn't even heard of this thing but leave it to Sony and at the time it was out of my price range anyway. I was wondering why have a dv input if the final output is just MPEG 2? Have you recorded samples of the same tape using both composite and dv inputs to see if there is a marked difference?

[@kalayongyuanOK]

This model is common in Malaysia so maybe considering getting this someday to digitise my laserdiscs despite already have some decent capture devices such as BMD Intensity Shuttle, Matrox MX02 MINI and Pinnacle Avid 6 capture device.

[@marsilies]

Or you could go really crazy and use a Domesday Duplicator along with ld-decode . The YT channel Tech Tangent has a pair of videos going over using those to "rip" Laserdiscs.

[@8_Bit]

The Sega Genesis audio sounded better than I'm used to!

[@geoffgunn9673]

VHS to dvd is easy with the right machine. Combo dvd burner/vhs player unit does it easily for me

[@Mrshoujo]

I use a Magnavox MWR10D6 DVD recorder. It latches well onto bendy Nth generation copied signals rendering some anime fansubs watchable finally! I had to get a GoDVD copy prevention remover box for false detection. And the quality is excellent. I'm still glad I bought a USB video capture device because it lets me feed composite video through Windows XP. For ripping, I recommend Red Fox (previously known as AnyDVD) & Clone DVD2 for copying / ripping because it fixes the source DVD structure when writing the copy. And then Handbrake for MP4 conversion.

[@mayorifujino]

I agree, it's not a real computer it it doesn't have a CD/DVD

[@PilotInCommand777]

Interestingly, I bought a bunch of stuff at a storage auction and got some of these. I also got a vrd-mc1 2 of a model vrd-mc10. They are in sealed boxes and I didn't open them yet. Thought they were just drives.