Roxio Easy VHS to DVD

Want to know how to transfer movies from VHS to DVD? Roxio Easy VHS to DVD can help reclaim your unwatched family VHS videos.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD consists of a digital capture device (a small slim black unit resembling a USB flash drive) and the Roxio Adaptor which features a mini USB connector, with audio, S-video and Composite connectors to attach to your VCR.

We found the Roxio Easy VHS to DVD kit really easy to use. Once we'd installed the software, we plugged the Roxio Capture device into our PC's USB port and connected the Roxio Adaptor.

An RCA cable is required to connect to the audio and video ports of the Roxio Adaptor. Roxio gives you a choice of S-video or Composite on the Roxio Easy VHS to DVD adaptor, and recommends the superior S-video.

Our only issue with the Roxio Easy VHS to DVD kit was the length of the cable to the Roxio Adaptor. At just 5in long, we found we had to manoeuvre our VCR and laptop very close together to get connected. This would prove even trickier for desktop PC users.

From the software's window you choose to add titles to the ‘movie' you will create, as well as the media type you are burning to. You also need to choose the quality at which you capture the video. In Roxio Easy VHS to DVD there are three options, Normal, Good and Best quality. We found we could only choose between Best and Good Quality (720x527 or 352x576 respectively) as Normal Quality was greyed out.

As soon as you press play on the VCR, the content is displayed in a window on your PC. Pressing the Capture Now button will start the process. You're also given the option to stop the capture and fast forward to a new point before you start a new session. When you're ready and have captured everything you need, simply press Finish, insert a DVD into your drive and the digitised content is burnt to disc. Roxio Easy VHS to DVD is that simple.

We were impressed with the digitised version Roxio Easy VHS to DVD produced on DVD. It looked as clear as viewing the original VCR on the same screen, with no jumps during playback.

Alternatively, with Roxio Easy VHS to DVD you can digitise video and store it on your hard drive, allowing you to edit before burning to DVD later. This is done by selecting the Capture Video option rather than the Plug and Burn option. Then it's a case of again selecting the quality you want to capture at. Five options are available, ranging from MPEG-1 files at 352x288 resolution and a datarate of 1.12Mbps, to MPEG-2 files of 720x556 and 8Mbps datarate.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD also lets you digitise just audio, such as LPs and cassettes, and burn them to CD. The procedure works in the same way, except you need only the audio connector on the Roxio Adaptor. Simply attach this to the output sockets of your cassette deck or record player.