Do you have a bunch of VHS tapes that you’ve been slowly replacing with DVDs over the past few years? Or perhaps you’ve simply decided not to spend the money to replace them but just try to keep that VHS player humming along?

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

It will pay for itself if you have about 10 or more VHS tapes.

While 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:

1. Plextor ConvertX Digital Video Converter - The ConvertX Digital VIdeo Converter lets you record your VHS tapes, and other video outputs, into DivX or MPEG-4 before burning it to DVD. The ConvertX box plugs into your computer and also comes bundled with software. Its built-in compression software allows you to store 2 hours of video on a CD, or 10 hours on a DVD. Costs about $55.

2. CopyThis! Digital Video Enhancer - The CopyThis converter can enhance the quality of your VHS tapes during conversion. The enhancement features include noise reduction to improve picture quality as well as turningthe movies into black and white! Unfortunately, CopyThis does not make this product any more, but you may be able to find a second-hand unit.

video converter

3. Honestech’s VHS to DVD 4.0 Deluxe - This is also a converter box and it is able to convert practically any analog source into many digital formats such as MPEG, AVI, MP3, etc. The included software is quite simple to use and has two levels: beginner and advanced. In beginner mode, a few mouse clicks will get you started converting VHS tape to a DVD.

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.

4. Panasonic DMR-EZxxx VHS & DVD Recorders - Panasonic has a line up of DVD to VHS recorders that play both formats. As it has slots for both, it also allows to record from one format to the other. This is different from the other 3 products featured above, as it actually acts as a player, rather than just a converter, and has the option to play a variety of formats including all the DVD formats, and even JPG files from a SD card. It also does not come with any bundled software. It can even upscale to 1080p. We’ve decided to rank this number one for its slew of features, but unfortunately it does have a price tag to match (approx $170).

You can find the Plextor, Honestech and Panasonic products easily on your gadget shopping hunts. Try Amazon.com a reputable online store with a very reasonable price.
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