If you started shooting videos of the family before the advent of digital camcorders, chances are good you have a lot of analog tapes on the shelf - VHS, 8-millimeter, maybe even old Betamaxes. (...) So I was intrigued by a new $300 Sony hybrid drive called DVDirect. If you want the basics, it functions as a standalone DVD recorder: Just put a blank disc into the drive, hook it to your video camera and press the playback key.

Read the complete story . (Seattle Times)