How to transfer the content of VHS video onto DVD

There's lots of ways to do this. Probably the easiest way is just to purchase one of those combination VHS/DVD recorders that can burn the content of your video tape directly to a DVD. You can probably get one in the $200 to $300 range. Editing options will be limited in this case though. Here is one at Amazon that looks good that costs $275: Panasonic DMR-ES45VS DVD Recorder / VCR Combo . These can also work as a 'Tivo' and copy stuff to DVD off the TV. I should get one of these.

The other way is to purchase a video card for your PC and a DVD burner and do everything on your PC. You would get a video card that can capture video, such as the "All-in-one" Video Cards from ATI. With this, you hook up your VCR to the card via RCA cables and use software such as Windows Movie Maker 2 to play back and capture the video onto your hard drive. Then once you have the video on your hard drive, you can use a variety of different products to edit and then burn the video onto DVD. With this option you have maximum control over the whole process but its harder and more time consuming than the first option. You need a pretty beefy PC for this but I do it with a 1.3 MHz P4 with 512KB RAM and it works OK. Would be much better if I had at least 1 GB RAM and a faster processor.