Well, good news! It seems that opinion on the Internets(TM) is that the best thing you can do to capture old VHS tapes is to get a professional or "prosumer" VCR, which I just happen to already have. :) I'm using a JVC SR-V10U, which I believe...
Well, I suppose stranger things have happened, but Somtow Sucharitkul, accomplished writer and composer, has actually contacted Lava Dome Five to see if anyone had copies of the episodes of Dinosaucers that he had written. Well, that rekindled my desire...