I just picked up a Dvd recorder at a flea market, I have a VCR, I would like to convert some old tapes I have to DVD, what is th best way to go about this, what cables will I need etc. etc.

You will probably need a black box as the video is out of phase due to the copyright protection on the VHS tapes that cause the recorded movie to appear blue.

Am not familiar with the black box, could you help a little further?

Look up 'Macrovision'. That's how commercial VHS tapes are 'protected'.

durkinjt;I'm guessing by DVD recorder you mean a standalone set top.
You need to run it through a converter to strip the Macrovision copyright protection & possible some other protection as well.This is only on commercial VHS movie tapes.
The one I have & I think the best one is Dimax Grex.This is not a cheap unit but I think does as good a job as you are going to get.
Keep in mind the best you can expect is as good a picture as the VHS has when played in a VCR.Although they usually are some sharper.
I'm sure there are people that could load the files in a computer & improve them further.That is more than I know how to do so I will let others advise you on that.
I haven't checked but I think it would be as legal to backup a factory commercial VHS tape to DVD as it is with the commercial DVD disc.So my advice is for that type backup.

What type of cables, co-axial or the white, yellow, red type?

Wheteher you use coax rf conector or W,Y,R (composite)there will be Macrovision copy protection.

This is a video stabilizer I use, model 200.
It works well.

http://www.checkhere22.com/stabilizer/

Hi CDuncle;I haven't tried the unit you are using .Have you tried the Dimax Grex?
http://www.xdimax.com/grex/grex.html

From their web site it looks like a good unit. It can handle component video, but I did not see too many VCR using that output. My unit is only for S-video and composite.
They list and guarantee all kind of recorders to be compatible so it may be a better choice.
I use mine to download to PC and use editing and DVD creation (menu, chapters) there.

I haven't done much VHS to DVD lately, but here's some food for thought err..I mean reading,
http://www.biline.ca/macrovision.htm
http://www.nepadigital.com/mv/

I use the Hauppauge PVR-150 and it handles most macrovision vhs transfers to pc, ready for editing.....

Interesting articles.
I do not use any capture card. I use a firewire port and my Sony DV-camera as analogue to digital converter 1:1, about 35GB for an hour of video.
Than edit (crop) overscan distortion and author DVD, it works just fine.

Yeah best way to transfer via firewire ,except not sure what the OP's actual PC specs and or if firewire is an option for him/her... I don't do much vcr to dvd these days.....
Cheers!