How do you copy a vhs to DVD?

Answer 1

Deliberately bypassing technology put in place to protect copyrighted material is illegal under terms of Section 1201 (Circumvention of copyright protection systems) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

"(a) VIOLATIONS REGARDING CIRCUMVENTION OF TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURES- (1)(A) No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title"

Additionally if WikiAnswers were to provide you with information which would allow copyright to be bypassed, there is the possibility of a charge of contributory infringement. In Felton v RIAA: Corley v. Universal the mere posting of a link to a computer program that can be used to circumvent technical protection measures was held to be a violation of the DMCA. [Universal v. Corley (2d Ciruit cite)]

Answer 2

Apart from a dedicated machine, you can use a computer equipped with a DVD writer as it's optical drive.

You will need a capture card or dongle, that accepts the video and audio from the output sockets on the back of the VCR.

Using windows 'movie maker', or other suitable video editing software (sometimes bundled with the capture card), you can play the video into the computer, edit the finished result, add chapters etc. Then burn it onto a DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW or DVD+RW disc.