A Round-up of DVD to VHS Converters

Posted by admin

May 13, 2009

Replacing VHS tapes with DVDs can be an expensive project.

One cost-effective alternative is to get a VHS to DVD converter and do it yourself.

If you have more than 10 or so VHS tapes, it will pay for itself.

You may have seen some of these or other similar products on gizmo blogs, we've decided to put together a list of top choices for you. Here are 4 such products:

#4. Plextor ConvertX Digital Video Converter - The ConvertX allows you to record your VHS tapes, and other video outputs, into DivX or MPEG-4 before burning it to DVD. Just plug the ConvertX box into your computer and away you go. Costs about $55.

3. CopyThis! Digital Video Enhancer - The CopyThis converter can enhance the quality of your VHS tapes during conversion. Enhancement features include noise reduction and black and white vintage effects. Unfortunately, this product is no longer made, but you may be able to find one on eBay.

2. Honestech’s VHS to DVD 3.0 Deluxe - This is also a converter box and it is able to convert practically any analog source into a myriad of digital formats such as MPEG, AVI, MP3, etc. The included software is quite simple to use and has 2 modes: advanced and beginner. For example, in easy mode, a video can be converted to DVD in just a few mouse clicks.

There are advanced features like video editing. VHS to DVD is a good value for the money and easy to get started with. VHS to DVD costs approx $50. You can read a full review of VHS to DVD 3.0 Deluxe here.

1. Panasonic DMR-EZxxx VHS & DVD Recorders - Panasonic is one of the vendors that decided to simply bridge both formats by having a device that plays (and records)both! As it has slots for both, it also allows to record from one format to the other (although we’re not quite sure why you’d want to downgrade your DVDs). As opposed to the other 3 units, this does not have a software component, and it does playback as well, including for example, JPG files from an SD card. It can even upscale to 1080p. We've decided to rank this number 1 for its slew of features, but unfortunately it does have a price tag to match (about $170).

Except for the CopyThis product, you can find the others quite easily on your shopping for gadgets hunts.