Page 1 of Will DVD recorders record pre-purchased films from VHS ?

I mean if I bought a movie on video say ten years (or whenever) ago will a DVD recorder be able to record it onto DVD ? If not, does the old sticky-tape over the slot trick work, used when recording from TV onto pre-purchased films ?
Any help appreciated.
(Information regarding both +RW and -RAM players would be welcome)

As long as Macrovision is disabled, then it will recored pre-recorded VHS to DVD.

Have a look on www.techtronics.com at the recordable DVD players and you should get a bit more info there.

I`ve got a panasonic dmr-hs2 modded to multi region, and it copies prerecorder vhs tapes fine to either HDD or DVD

"As long as Macrovision is disabled, then it will recored pre-recorded VHS to DVD."

Not so, unfortunately.

The Macrovision protection only stops you from copying to analogue VHS video tape. A separate type of copy protection, called CGMS/A, is used to prevent people from making digital recordings - most recent commercial VHS films are protected with CGMS/A as well as Macrovision.

A Macrovision removal box is therefore of no use when copying to DVD, unless the box is also capable of removing CGMS/A (most aren`t). Look for the words `suitable for use with DVD recorders` (or similar) when buying one of these removers.

Mike

Surely it`s a waste of an expensive DVD-R disc and DVD technology to transfer ropey old VHS recordingings to DVD?
If you do want to copy VHS onto disc it`s better in my opinion to transfer to Video CD using CD-R which can be purchased for about 20p each and will take upto 80mins of reasonal quality (at least as good or if not better than VHS, playable in your DVD player , takes up much less space on the shelf than DVD and won`t degrade, jam-up in the machine or accidently get erased) .

Surely it`s a waste of an expensive DVD-R disc and DVD technology to transfer ropey old VHS recordingings to DVD?
If you do want to copy VHS onto disc it`s better in my opinion to transfer to Video CD using CD-R which can be purchased for about 20p each and will take upto 80mins of reasonal quality (at least as good or if not better than VHS, playable in your DVD player , takes up much less space on the shelf than DVD and won`t degrade, jam-up in the machine or accidently get erased) .

Will DVD recorders be able to record films from NTSC VHS tapes as most VCR`s convert NTSC to PAL60 which cant be recorded

thanks for the help. what`s the best way to record to VCD ?

You can do it with a video capture card in your pc linked to your vcr and suitable vcd writing software.
I use Nero myself which gives good results most times (good also for transferring internet downloads onto vcd discs, which you can play on your dvd player).
You can also buy standalone vcd recorders [usually far eastern imports - they go for VCD alot out there - available from dealers like Lektropacks] which will record SVCD and VCD discs in `realtime` from the telly, dvd, vcr or any other video source.