Problem Copying VHS Tapes to Hard Drive or DVD

I'm using a new SONY VGC RA842G computer (Media Center) and an old (6+ yrs) VHS tape player. The tape player only has 2 outputs: Cable and RCA Jacks, eg., white, yellow and red. Neither input type is often recognized by the computer - or - when it occasionally recognizes one of them the video will play/record for a few minutes/seconds and then the Program freezes. I have tried "Click to DVD", "Cyberlink's Power Director" and Windows Media Center Recording. I know the computer is pretty much state of the art so it must be me doing something wrong. Any ideas what? Thanks.

What kind of Video Input do you have in the Media Center pc of yours?

If you are planning to do alot of VHS tapes, might I suggest getting a decently priced NEW vhs player? or there are dedicated devices (I'm sure HP makes one) that are designed especially for VHS-->DVD Convertions.

You need to have decent capture hardware such as:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102352

or:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116616

And,of course, software that supports capturing video.

The VCR is use is a JVC that's about 8 years old. I have salvaged more than 50 of my old VHS tapes using it and capturing with my ATI All In Wonder video card... :)

Thanks for all the help but I gave up and bought a new combo DVD/VHS recorder to solve my problem. You would think that a state-of-the-consumer-art big horsepower machine like the VGC RA 842G would record from VHS so it must be operator error. Thanks again for your responses!