Customer Reviews

VHS To DVD 4.0 Deluxe [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have searched long for a good transfer mechanism to get my old video tapes transferred and this does a moderately good job of it. Be forewarned though, this sort of transfer uses a LOT of CPU resources. If your machine is not up to snuff it won't even matter how good the medium is. I have WinVista and a Core 2 Duo processor with 3 GB of DDR2 RAM and during the capture process the machine uses virtually all the processors resources. You will likely encounter some stuttering in both video and audio quality but you have some measure of control over quality so can reduce this by downgrading your settings. If going from VHS straight to WMV the quality will suffer from lots of stutter. I found its best to import VHS as MPEG (DVD Single Layer) and you can always then edit this for things like YouTube, etc.
This is an extremely EASY device to use so if you are in the market for something simple and hassle-free this is a great product. Its not as versatile as some others out there but for its price it gets the job done.

I was concerned that my desktop HP PC with only 1GB of memory running Vista could keep up with recording using the capture device. So, I set up a special userid just for the conversion process with a stripped down desktop. It had no trouble converting a camcorder created VCR tape to the single sided DVD format. There was a little skipping problem when recording directly to WMV format on a two hour tape. I ended up converting more than 15 two hour tapes to DVD using the highest quality (best), which only holds 1:09 on each disk.

Overall, I am very satisfied with VHS to DVD 4.0. Anyone considering using this software should keep in mind that the conversion process is slow and requires patience, but the price is right vs. having a using a professional service. If you just have one or two tapes to convert, then this software would not be cost effective.

Pros:
1. Easy installation and registration
2. Easy to understand panels.
3. Comes with quick start booklet and detailed instruction book (pdf).

Cons:

1. On the "Burn" screen there is no option to create multiple copies of the same DVD. The process must be started over again for each copy, which takes time before the burning actually begins.

Tried to work for a number of years with a Roxio product to get my VHS tapes and home movies into my computer so I could edit them and put them on DVDs. Nearly every time I went to start the process, I'd either have to make changes to my computer or clean install the Roxio product to make it work. What a hassle! The VHS to DVD 4.0 Deluxe, while not a fancy or as complete a product as I might wish, has proven to be a delight. No problems at all with transferring the video to my computer. As it doesn't have many of the editing features I might wish, I do use another software product to final edit my films and burn them to DVD. However, I'm now able to get transfer the video to my computer easily and quickly -- something I was never able to do with the Roxio product. Wish I'd have found this product a couple of years ago. Would certainly have avoided a lot of pain and frustration!

I am impressed with this product.. It does as described after I learned how to use it..I would recommend it to anyone that wants to convert your old family VHS tapes to digital media. At first, I just used the "idiot mode", just plug in a tape, it records, and then burns a dvd..However, some of the transfers did not go well if longer than 1:15, so I cut the recording down to one hour - dividing a VHS tape into 2 parts. Then I tried the advance mode, and after a little learning..and printing out 20 pages off the manual on the DVD,,it works just fine..cuts out unwanted scenes...stuff you don't want your kids to see (ha ha). I have used to put videos on Utube and to DVD..I have a new computer, Vista and lots of memory,so that may of helped avoid any problems..I have put over 60 hours of VHS to digital and am satisifed..I do retransfer to Windows Movie maker for better titles (theirs are not very good) and to put a music sound track on... I would buy again...

I needed a way to connect my PS3 to my PC so I can take some screenshots and I only had 2 days to do this so I searched Amazon for VHS to DVD's and this was the one the best rated products. Next I went to Honestech to make sure Honestech VHS to DVD 4.0 Deluxe was compatible with Windows 7, and it was. So I rushed down to my local Fry's Electronics to pick one up, price was about the same so no problem there.

Problem:
Once everything was installed hardware/software/drivers, I ran the Honestech software and after a few minutes of running my PC just locks up. So I rebooted and tried again, but again my PC locked up, now I am confused since they said it was Windows 7 compatible and I did get the latest software from Honestech site. I first thought it was my PC but after some testing I did discover that it was Honestech software that was locking up my PC.

Solution:
OK so here is what I did to make it all work, forget the Honestech software you don't need it. Go to Honestech site and get the drivers for "HT VIDBOX NW03" this is what comes with the Honestech VHS to DVD 4.0 Deluxe. Download and install the drivers and restart, go into Device Manager and make sure you are not getting any device conflict and that everything is installed right. On Windows 7 the only thing I saw that Windows 7 didn't have drivers for was the audio, so installing these drivers fixed that problem. Now Google Virtualdub, it's a free video editing tool, Open Virtualdub go to File and select Capture AVI. Now under Device go select your USB2.0 VIDBOX NW03 (DirectShow), you should now see video coming from your HT VIDBOX NW03 go to File and select Set Capture File, enter the file name you want your video file to be and where you want to save it and hit save. Now go to Capture and hit Capture Video to start recording, and it Capture Video again to stop recording, that's it you are done.

Conclusion:
While I don't like the software that this product comes with I do like the product itself, and would recommend this to anyone who needs a cheap way of backup or capturing screenshots like I needed to. I just wish someone said they used this with Windows 7 and encountered problems since I looked high and low and could not find anything about peoples PC completely locking up on Windows 7 and I don't have the patience to wait for it to unlock if it's just some buffer problem. I hope this helps those people out there who are using Windows 7.

Pros: - Very easy to use (has modes for beginners and advanced users).
- Performs as advertised (which is acceptable for all but TRUE professional use)
- Comes complete (you do not have to scrounge around looking for cables to use your new 'toy')

Cons: - Output to MP4 is not direct. One must capture and store the video in mpg first. Then convert to mp4 (set up for anIPod!) There is a significant loss of quality in this conversion)
- Cannot be used on BOTH PC and MAC

If I were to buy again, I would still select this good, but not perfect product.

This software is great, but not perfect. Here's a few pros and cons I've discovered while using it.

Pros
*It runs under Windows Vista 32/64 bit
*it's easy to use and simple to set up
*With a network and a PS3 (or probably a newer TV) I can watch my movies from my computer on my TV. I don't need to write anything to disk
*The best feature of all is that this program is not limited to its name. It can also record DVDs and record straight from TV, although the quality can't get any better than the S-Video.
*It overwrites Macrovision! I was worried about this when I bought it - I didn't see any reviews that stated this directly. So I'm letting the world know that if you have old disney movies or even DVDs you would like to make copies of, it will record dispite the secuity features.

Cons
*It automatically splits anything over 1 hr into two files, regardless of HD space. You can use the editing tool to put them back together, but it leaves a hiccup in the file.
*You will need to download a codec to play the .mpeg files (they are free but not too easy to find. I look up forums and people ususally include links to good codec packages)
*The .mpeg files it makes are HUGE, over 5 gigs for a 2 hour movie, even though the quality is still "VHS". You would either need to compress it to fit it on a DVD, have a duel-layer DVD writer, or a lot of HD space to store all the movies.
*At least one of my movies had a video/audio sync problem. It was only near the very end of the movie, though, it it seemed to "reset" itself when people stopped talking for a moment. It never got bad enough that the movie was unwatchable, but just be aware.
*It says the deluxe version also supports "converting HDTV quality video formats" but remember, it will only be as good as its connectors, which is either composite or S-Video.
*It has bugs. There were times that when I didn't save the project, I ended up having to record the movie again. One time it froze as I was trying to save the project. Needless to say I had to re-record it. I would suggest always saving the project file and don't delete it. If you plan on throwing away your VHS player and your old tapes after converting them all to file, and the file gets corrupted (or the DVD gets scratched), you've lost your movie.

In conclusion, I would say that if you have a lot of old VHS to record, especially products that were bought previously (as opposed to made) then this program is for you. If you have VHS that is homemade, I would probably go with the VHS DVD Combo because it can record those things. I didn't have a lot of VHS to record, but some of the movies I did have were rare and I either can't find on DVD or they're up-the-butt expensive, but I'm also using it to put my DVDs on my computer as well, plus I might try to record TV with it, so it was worth it for me. That's why I bought a computer program as opposed to a hardware only system that uses your TV.

This product does exactly what it is supposed to do: link an old VHS camcorder to your PC to covert tapes. The hardware box is small, easy to install and worked immediately (not the case with several other similar devices I tried). The actual software program is functional but really quite basic and limited. I ended up using Cyberlink's PowerDirector which is a really superb Video Editing program but happens to also have a "Capture" function, thus I used it instead of Honest Technology's VHS to DVD 4.0 Deluxe to do the tape-to-computer conversions. Since I was not going directly to DVD perhaps my review is a bit unfair but there it is anyway.

Nice product. Delivers vhs tape to dvd quality. Would be better if tone, color adj. and brightness control were available. Also when doing cassette to cd just a basic copy program. Once again eq. control and noise reduction options would make it better. Overall its ok.

This item was everything that I could ask for it helps transfering my old VHS tapes to DVD very easy and it looks professional when i'm done plus it also helps free up my DVR system by transfering my old programs to DVD it is great, shipping was very fast, and product was better than advertise, I won't ever stop using this item