Watash, I'm with you. I have found a few that Fred Meyer (Northwest department store) carries, and some are coming down to the $300 range. They have a VHS deck and a DVD/CD writer. I'm hesitant to install new stuff in this ancient computer, and am hoping that a stand-alone unit will do what I want to with my VHS tapes. It's ironic that since all of this hullabaloo about VHS tapes "will disintegrate," it has been shown that the DVD's will probably deteriorate sooner than the tapes. Some are inferior in physical construction and will delaminate in time. What to do, what to do??
Something to keep in mind from my current experience is that for every HOUR of tape will take about 20GB of hardrive. Another thing I like about the Pinnacle Systems (who makes Studio 9) also has a large range of solution to help such as devices to hook your older analog systems to your PC and then use their software to edit. Follow this link for examples: http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage_n.asp?Product_ID=1885&Langue_ID=7