Bootable VHS-to-DVD application CD

Hello,

I just now joined the Knoppix forum and this is my first post, so please don't get too upset if I look like a newbie--I am a newbie, both to Linux and to the forum.

I began to consider Linux as an OS soon after I bought my first computer, and when I built a barebones computer I tried to figure a way to get Slackware to run on it without a hard drive. It seemed like a neat idea but I didn't succeed and gave it up because a local Linux user group advised that it would be difficult even for an expert, and why would anyone want to run the OS from the CD anyway? About a year later I found out about Knoppix.

I'm posting because I searched this site and couldn't find any reference to what I'm looking for: a customized Knoppix which would be a stand-alone, bootable, VHS-to-DVD converter. In other words, an application CD that anyone could simply put in the CD drive, restart the computer, and use it to copy VHS home movies to a DVD regardless of the OS on the hard drive. Obviously the computer would have to have hardware sufficient to do the job, such as a video digitizer and a DVD burner, not to mention sufficient RAM and room on the hard drive for digitized video. But computers that meet those requirements are at the high end of standard now.

There are tens of millions of people who raised families during the VHS camcorder era, who have VHS tapes of their families which they would like to transpose to DVDs on their new computer. My brother is one such. He recently bought a new computer which has a DVD burner, specifically to convert his VHS tapes. Unfortunately Windows XP falls way short of being able to do the job, as does the commercial boxed software he tried.

So the ideal I seek is a CD which would boot from the CD drive of any PC, recognize the hardware that is available, decide if it is sufficient for the purpose, configure it if it is, and provide a very easy to use GUI for someone who is not a geek to use to do one thing: transpose VHS movies to DVD. Knoppix's comprehensive hardware detection and configuration capability makes it a perfect foundation upon which to build such an application.

The emphasis would be on simplicity of use with the bare minimum of editing options. Basically, you would boot the CD and, assuming it could find the harware to do it, it would tell you to put a blank DVD in the drive, start the VCR and click 'transfer to DVD' or some such.

What do you all think, is this something that would not be worth the trouble? I know that open-source software exists which could be integrated to do it. What sort of issues need to be addressed to make it work? For instance, is it possible for Knoppix to use unused space on an NTFS formatted drive?

Thanks for your time.

P.S. I think now that perhaps this should have been posted in the Customizing and Remastering forum. If so, would someone tell me the best way to move it?