transferring Video Tape to DVD- is it easy?

[robbase]

I have been "warned" video tapes go bad after about 20 years so I should I convert them (home videos) to DVD. I have limited technology skills, is this easy to do or should I pay someone to do it. A place I found converts 2 hr tapes to DVD for $9.99.
Ideas? input? thanks

[Anne_in_VA]

It depends on what type of tapes are you using - VHS, Beta, etc. and how many you have. You can buy a VHS to DVD recorder which is pretty easy to use. We had over 200 VHS tapes and I bought DH one of the recorders about a year ago and he's now converted all of ours.

[robbase]

Mine are VHS tapes

[Anne_in_VA]

VHS tapes are pretty easy to transfer if you've got a recorder. The one I bought was about $150 - $175 (I don't remember exactly how much it was). If you've only got a few you may want to send them out to be done, but if you've got a lot then it may be worth it to buy the recorder.

One thing to be aware of is some VHS tapes we had that we'd bought were coded so that we couldn't copy them onto DVD's.

[TD2K]

At $9.99 unless you have a lot of tapes to convert over it's likely not going to make sense to buy a lot of hardware. I had a local shop convert a PAL VHS tape over to DVD, that though was quite a bit more expensive. $9.99 seems a great deal if they do a good job.

[robbase]

I have about 30 home vide tapes. A friend of mine turned me on to a multiformat device that play / records both Video to DVD and vice versa among other things, I am looking into something similar to the below. Anyone have experience with something like that? Anne- is that something similar to what you used?

www.bestbuy.com/site/LG+-+Multiformat+DVD-R/-RW/%2BR/%2BRW/RAM+Recorder/4-Head+Hi-Fi+VCR+Combo/8715367.p?skuId=8715367&id=1199496732454

[Anne_in_VA]

rob - for only that many videos I wouldn't be bothered buying that item unless you think you'll use it more than for just transferring VHS tapes to DVD's. The one at your link looks similar to the one I bought.