How can I burn VCD's from videotape? Which hardware and software do I need?

My computer is a PIII 550 MHz, 128M RAM, built-in 16M VGA, 40G hard disk, CD burner with Nero software. How good is the quality?

Paul Ho, Marrickville, NSW

Your PC should be capable of producing VCD's. However, it's on the edge, so you would want to give it the best chance by doing all the normal things to clean and tune-up the system and have it running lean (no unnecessary software running and certainly no spyware).

I presume that when you say "videotape" you mean analog tape -- probably plain old VHS. The only thing you'll need is a way to get the video in to the PC. You can either buy a video capture card (and plug the VCR in to that) or install a FireWire card (and borrow a digital video camcorder to go between the VCR and the card).

If you mean that you want to transfer from a digital video tape, you'll certainly need the FireWire card.

The quality of VCD production and resolution is such that you should preserve most of the quality of your analog VHS tape. It's generally accepted that VCD is about the same quality as VHS tape.

The next thing to do is search HelpStation for the many pertinent questions and answers, including some excellent advice from readers who produce their own VCD's. Here are some search terms we tried for you. Click on the link to see the search results.

VCD and tape http://www.pcuser.com.au/pcuser/hs2.nsf/SearchResults?OpenForm=&string=VCD+and+tape
VCD http://www.pcuser.com.au/pcuser/hs2.nsf/SearchResults?OpenForm=&String=VCD
firewire card http://www.pcuser.com.au/pcuser/hs2.nsf/SearchResults?OpenForm=&String=firewire+card

Paul Zucker