I have looked through the forums and cannot quite seem to find all the answers I need. Heres my situation which is rather complex, maybe somebody can advise which route(s) I should take:

1. I need to record VHS tapes onto DVD. I was intending to buy/build a new PC from scratch for this task. The guide says that the quality is not the best using a PC, however I read conflicting posts that give me the impression the quality is acceptable. I would like a PC solution which will capture and edit but am concerned about the results I will achieve as I want to get as close to commercial DVD picture quality as I can. How much will I need to spend on a capture card that is good enough for the job? If I go too high I may as well just buy a DVD recorder instead!

2. I am planning to buy a mini DV camcorder (with analogue in) I would like a way of editing my holiday movies and again transferring to DVD. I read that another way of converting VHS to DVD is by recording to mini DV, transferring to PC then burning to DVD. Is this a good quality method? Better than above?

3. I am also looking for a PC multi-media solution for the lounge which will act as a music and DVD player/recorder, PVR etc. Are there any graphics cards/capture cards about that will give a picture on a TV as good as standalone DVD player. Yes I know I could again just buy a DVD recorder, but I want to be able to record Music TV to the hard drive, export the video and music files to an upstairs PC and extract the audio files to mp3s. I do not know of any DVD recorders/PVRs which let you put them on a network (to play all your music collection) or make PC friendly recordings like this.

Can anybody help at all....I'm at a multi media planning loss...I know what I want to do, but theres half a dozen different ways of doing it. I'll spend up to £1000 on building a PC base unit if I need to.

Cheers!!!

Transferring from analogue to digital using a DV cam is probably the least hassle free method. Just make sure your cam has the ability to accept incoming analogue signals.

You can get quality to adequatly replicate the analogue source by using a PC. Indeed, with a dedicated converter such as an ADVC50, you'll have no issues with quality. Problems start when you try to use an old system and/or don't read the manual/have the normal PC driver etc issues .

You'll probably have no worries if you buy a dedicated converter, but you'll minimise potential problems by using your cam.

As for the multimedia system, check out this forum: http://www.videoforums.co.uk/forum14.html

The quality of DVDs played through my system is better than any DVD player I've ever used.

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