I would like to transfer some films on video tape to VCDs .I can find information on everything except how to connect the video recorder to the PC. What type of cable would I need. I am using Nero 6 and I believe that it will do the job,all I need is the cable(hopefully).
Ray

I think you will find that you need more than just a cable to do what you want and that you will need to investigate video capture methods. follow this url for more information:
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/capture

Like all things you get what you pay for with these, the cheaper ones do not give as good results in terms of resolution, compression and framerate.

Perhaps you are 'lucky' and video card has a capture facility although these often give poor quality results. I use a Pinnacle DC10+, this was less than £100 some time ago but is rather fragile in use although it can be coaxed ito giving half decent results.

Software will be less of a problem, and as you say nero may be all you need.

Thanks Dave I'll have a look at that site. Thanks for the info:
Ray

nero will do the job alright. so long as the avi or mpg file is sampled at the appropriate rates it will create a vcd no problem. i have no dvd writer so i don't know about that side of things.

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the info but I still don't know how to connect the video to the PC. Any ideas.

You are going to need some sort of analogue video capture device for your PC. Options are a VIVO graphics card (Video In, Video Out) which has the extra silicon and connectors on the main graphics card, or a PCI card, which includes some of the higher spec. TV tuner cards (make sure it's one that can record whole programmes and not just clips), or a USB version of either the straight capture card or the TV card. Whatever device you use will need (and should come with) video capture and editing software, to give you the mpeg files for Nero to burn to SVCD.

How you connect will depend on the available sockets on the VCR and your choice of capture device, at a guess you will need a scart to composite video adapter and a set of a/v cables, as well as a spare line-in socket on your sound card and 3.5mm stereo jackplug to audio cable adapter for the sound feed. If you can use S Video in preference to composite, do! Maplins have all the cables and adapters, most likely your local computer fair will have them too.

Try to see some results of (s)vcd before going to all the trouble, my own opinion is that VCD is very poor quality. If possible hang on and buy a stand alone DVD recorder, the prices will tumble over the next few months, and the picture quality knocks spots off VCD.

Many thanks to comeons, adrianhants and gary.braybrook. You have given me all the info I need. I have been to Maplins before and find they are quite forthcoming with info, and they also have everything anyone could need.
Thanks again
rneal