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Converting videos on VHS & VHS-C tapes to pc video


Speedster

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I've got about 25 yrs worth of family videos on VHS and VHS-C (mini VHS) tapes that I want to transfer to my computer in pc video file format.  Any recommendations for hardware and software that work well for doing this?

I can already transfer the video from tape to DVD, but I'd rather convert directly to pc files since I'd want to do some video editing and upload some of the videos to youtube.  Plus they'd be easier to copy to flash drives and external hard drives for other family members.

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I use a dvd and vcr transfer recorder to put in dvd format. And then convert the avi file to the computer mp4 I believe.

cant remember the program but it plays a Jamaican tune when finished.

At one time I had a video/ tv card and I believe there was a way to do the same thing through that while playing the tape but it took a few devices and cable types so I just used the afformentioned method.

I no longer have any vhs tape to convert but I did send in some 8mm reels to a company in Buffalo NY to get converted to video format.

Google that and maybe call them and ask them if possible to do what you were seeking. They were very nice on the phone. Just last year.

JR

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VHS is VERY low resolution compared to today's HD and better capture devices. I captured most of mine years ago with a Dazzle capture card at 640 by 480  progressive format and they turned out pretty good. 

If I were to do it again today, I would probably capture at HD  1020 progressive just to be sure I had captured every possible detail. At least 720p

A lot will depend on the quality of the output of your VHS player, because of its age and original build quality.. You will have to buy a capture device or card and it will need to have the same connections as your playback device, probably RCA red white and yellow.  Red is right audio, white is left audio ( assuming stereo content), and yellow is composite video. 

Something like this would work, but I have no recent  direct knowledge of these products so you will need to research carefully to get the features you need. Most are USB so make sure they support the fastest transfer rate your pc will allow. at least USB 2.0 preferably.

https://www.amazon.com/Roxio-Easy-Plus-Video-Converter/dp/B006GOFW3E/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?hvadid=269675872951&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9013386&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=b&hvrand=439241280778011078&hvtargid=kwd-2413540243&keywords=vhs+to+pc+converter&qid=1550262839&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&tag=googhydr-20&psc=1

The next possibility is a paid service, Search online for conversion houses, and see what the costs are. Bear in mind what you are going to spend in time and money to do it yourself, and compare the costs. Remember the capture is a real time operation so you have to sit through every minute of tape.

Finally you can look into ripping your DVD's using some of the technically illegal tools found on the internet. Not going to say any more about that.

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Roxio products are usually great. I used most of their conversion tools over the years. Never used that setup linked above but it is similar to what I was speaking of above. Should work great if your system meets the requirements.

JR

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Me, I'd just do a direct copy to DVD, then convert on the computer, having to play the tape and sit at the computer to wait for each segment to finish and then copy can get to be quite tedious, I did this with a few years ago. 

And will never do it that way again, once converted I use Nero software to convert it to MPG files, I then converted the DVD .VOB files that eat up anywhere from a little over 3GB to 4.7GB to MPG files, they are smaller than MP4 files, I have converted to both types, and the MP4 files are sometimes LARGER than the original file I converted!  Most of the 3.x to 4.7GB files I have converted are all less than 1GB in size using Nero software for the final conversion output.

I still have a ton of VHS tapes, but can't seem to find anyone that sells new VHS units, I really do not want to buy a used one, tried that once and it just ate up and destroyed the tape, just glad it was an old TEST tape that really had nothing important on it. 

Did a search on Best Buy and they show VHS Players/Recorders in their drop down when you do a search, but they have no such thing, it just pops up the hardware and software devices to copy from your own existing VHS player/recorder {if you have one}.

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Thanks for the suggestions everyone.  I can already convert VHS to DVD using a unit that's a DVD and VHS recorder/player.  I have 2 working units hooked up to 2 TVs and have used them to successfully create DVDs from VHS and VHS-C tapes in the past.  But since I want everything in PC file format anyway, I'd rather "eliminate the middle man" and just go directly from VHS to PC video file, and save the time that it takes to rip/convert DVD to pc. 

I'm now looking into devices like this that connect to my VHS player (or camcorder) and allow direct transfer/conversion to pc video file.

https://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Video-Capture-Digitise-iPad/dp/B0029U2YSA/ref=sr_1_10?keywords=vhs+to+pc+file&qid=1550307900&s=gateway&sr=8-10

I know it'll be a lot of work and take a lot of time, but these days I have more time than money.  So paying a service to do the transfer/conversion is out of the question.  I'll do a little more research before buying anything, but the reviews & ratings are very good on the device in the link above, so very good chance that I'll end up buying it.

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8 hours ago, Speedster said:

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.  I can already convert VHS to DVD using a unit that's a DVD and VHS recorder/player.  I have 2 working units hooked up to 2 TVs and have used them to successfully create DVDs from VHS and VHS-C tapes in the past.  But since I want everything in PC file format anyway, I'd rather "eliminate the middle man" and just go directly from VHS to PC video file, and save the time that it takes to rip/convert DVD to pc. 

I'm now looking into devices like this that connect to my VHS player (or camcorder) and allow direct transfer/conversion to pc video file.

https://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Video-Capture-Digitise-iPad/dp/B0029U2YSA/ref=sr_1_10?keywords=vhs+to+pc+file&qid=1550307900&s=gateway&sr=8-10

I know it'll be a lot of work and take a lot of time, but these days I have more time than money.  So paying a service to do the transfer/conversion is out of the question.  I'll do a little more research before buying anything, but the reviews & ratings are very good on the device in the link above, so very good chance that I'll end up buying it.

If you're using Windows 10, that's where the reviews{1 star reviews} are that deal with that operating system, and apparently there a lot of issues and problems.  And a few say "run, run as fast as you can away from this product if using Windows 10".  Might want to check out all those negative reviews before committing to this particular product if using Windows 10.   You might just be buying something that's unusable!

I always read the lesser ratings before I buy anything, so I know what to expect, and from what I read here, glad I don't use Windows 10 and have stayed with Windows 7!

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13 hours ago, Orville said:

If you're using Windows 10, that's where the reviews{1 star reviews} are that deal with that operating system, and apparently there a lot of issues and problems.  And a few say "run, run as fast as you can away from this product if using Windows 10".  Might want to check out all those negative reviews before committing to this particular product if using Windows 10.   You might just be buying something that's unusable!

I always read the lesser ratings before I buy anything, so I know what to expect, and from what I read here, glad I don't use Windows 10 and have stayed with Windows 7!

I did see some of those bad reviews mentioning Win 10, but I'm not worried because I have several desktops and laptops that are still running Win 7.  One of the Win 7 desktops has an Intel Core i7 processor with 24 GB of RAM, and a few others meet the minimum requirements for that Elgato device & software.   I purposely didn't upgrade all of our computers to Win 10 because of situations like this where software works fine on some older versions of Windows, but crashes and burns on Win 10. 

So if I decide to get that Elgato device, I'll probably do the video transfers on the Win 7 i7 desktop, save the video files to a 10 GB external hard drive, and do the video editing on my new super-fast HP desktop that has an AMD Ryzen 7 processor

We never have a shortage of usable computers in our house because I work in IT, and I always have multiple desktops and laptops, and can always do a clean installation of Win 7 or Win 10 on any of the computers in our house.  If I get nostalgic, I can even install Win XP lol!   (One of my Microsoft certifications is for Windows XP, but for obvious reasons I don't list that on my resume anymore!)

Working on computers is a fun hobby, but after a while you end with up so many desktops, laptops, keyboards, mice, hard drives, DVD drives, video cards, cords, cables, & RAM sticks all over the place (I call it my "computer clutter").  So every few years I have to put an ad on Craigslist to get rid of older computers & hardware.  It's amazing how many people want to come and pick up old computers & components, even if they don't work anymore. 

 

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3 hours ago, Speedster said:

I did see some of those bad reviews mentioning Win 10, but I'm not worried because I have several desktops and laptops that are still running Win 7.  One of the Win 7 desktops has an Intel Core i7 processor with 24 GB of RAM, and a few others meet the minimum requirements for that Elgato device & software.   I purposely didn't upgrade all of our computers to Win 10 because of situations like this where software works fine on some older versions of Windows, but crashes and burns on Win 10. 

So if I decide to get that Elgato device, I'll probably do the video transfers on the Win 7 i7 desktop, save the video files to a 10 GB external hard drive, and do the video editing on my new super-fast HP desktop that has an AMD Ryzen 7 processor

We never have a shortage of usable computers in our house because I work in IT, and I always have multiple desktops and laptops, and can always do a clean installation of Win 7 or Win 10 on any of the computers in our house.  If I get nostalgic, I can even install Win XP lol!   (One of my Microsoft certifications is for Windows XP, but for obvious reasons I don't list that on my resume anymore!)

Working on computers is a fun hobby, but after a while you end with up so many desktops, laptops, keyboards, mice, hard drives, DVD drives, video cards, cords, cables, & RAM sticks all over the place (I call it my "computer clutter").  So every few years I have to put an ad on Craigslist to get rid of older computers & hardware.  It's amazing how many people want to come and pick up old computers & components, even if they don't work anymore. 

 

That's good, glad to hear you've got that issue "well covered" with all those computers! :)

 I used to have that "computer clutter" issue too.   Cleaned out a lot of it, still have 2 broken laptops, 1 doesn't work any longer, the 2nd one does, but the screen is damaged {my wife dropped it off a table by accident, got herself tangled in the power cords, and as she was attempting to untangle herself, PLOP. Tried to tell her to unplug the power cable from the computer first, but before I could get it out, TOO LATE!}  Was attempting to try and repair the one with the broken screen from the other that has a good one, but after getting into the broken one, I gave up on that idea a long time ago.   Just too flimsy a connection for me to want to try and unsolder and fool with by soldering in to the other.  Plus being different manufacturers, the one may not even be compatible with the other.  Another reason I gave up on that idea.

If it weren't for the broken screen, that old Toshiba would be a good one for my LOR Test Computer   But I think the cost of a new screen would probably cost more to replace than just buying another, but used, laptop.  I can use an external monitor with the laptop and it will work, but for use outside and testing my display, that just won't work. LOL

I have another monitor, but it has developed some strange issues with colored ars on ut when in operation and those bars are solid, so you can't see what's under them.  Keep hoping I can find a way to correct that issue myself, but that too, has been non-productive.

I think used replacements might be the answer for that.  But I'd buy at a local computer repair shop and see how ell it works first.

 

 

 

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