Easiest Way To Transfer Old Tapes To DVD?

[#1]

I have a USB device that allows me to plug in my camera to my PC to convert old tapes to digital. But I was wondering if there is an easier way?
I looked at an old (few pounds in my local charity shop) dvd recorder but that falls at the first fence because as usual with all these things, lot of different connections "out" but nothing useful "in".
Any ideas?

[#2]

I guess that it would also come down to the software, as well as the hardware involved
Either way
If software is set up correctly
It should just be a plug & play / record to HDD or other storage media
That said
Knowing Windows, it will not be ,as straight forward

[#3]

Simplest way is with a standalone dvd recorder, but if the tapes are pre-recorded then you need one that had builtin macrovision removal.
I have a unit that flashing with the Australian f/w did this 
You then just play through the dvd and record.
Otherwise you need to record to mpeg 2 or you then need to re-encode before writing to dvd.
All this assumes you want a dvd that can be played in a standalone player. If you want a divx/mkv/etc dvd then pc is the way to go.