Ritker did you get a PAL VCR? Have you thought it might might be easier/cheaper to send the tapes to someone in Europe to do the capture for you, or is the material too valuable to risk posting? I've been considering getting an SVHS model myself for some other capture projects, I'd be happy to do it for you once I've finished my LD cap.
DanielB the lighthouse thing is an extremely old story, didn't realise it appeared in a TV ad. It was funny first time it was emailed to me (about 10 years ago). Completely bogus, of course (Snopes).