Best way to convert Home VHS movies to digital?

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Magnum626

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I have a bunch of old VHS home movies that I want to transfer to digital format. What's the best way to do this?

Will a simple sony DVD recorder be the best way?
 
I think there is a VHS player out there that you can buy, its not that expensive, if memory serves me I think it was under $100 maybe even $50, bit it has a USB connection and drivers I believe for windows. You simply connect it to your computer, install the software, then play your tapes and the software encodes them onto the computer, probably in divx format or some other format. Not the most elegant solution, but it works, so I've heard.
 
Unfortunately i don't have any suggestions, but I recently read at the avs forums that the conversion can be trickier than most people think, and that conversion quality can vary a lot.

I bet that VideoHelp or their forums would have a decent/easy solution for under $200, or hopefully well under $200.

If i find a good related discussion i'll link it here for you.
 
The quickest and easiest is using a stand alone DVD-Recorder.
The main drawback is that you can't edit the video, you can pause the DVD-R and do simple cuts but no fine tuning stuff.

If you want to capture and edit on the PC then you need a device that can convert analog to digital, like a Camcorder. some camcorders can take in an analog input and then output via firewire to the computer.
There are also plenty of analog to USB devices, I have only used one, a Pinnacle and it was decent.
At our studio, we use Matrox Capture/Editing cards to record analog video and convert it to digital.
 
After watching the videos the other day they're a bit grainy. I want something that'll preserve or improve the quality as much as possible. I don't mind spending over $200 if it's 'worth' it. A lot of my poor google searches are often old options. I'll check out the videohelp forums.

I want to be able to edit them however. So a simple Recorder may not be the option I want.

What are my options for video capture/editing cards under $250? Seems like there's a wide range of options out there and I have no idea where to begin in picking one.
 
At work I have a vcr connected to a moviebox dv firewire capture box. Basically you connect the vcr via yellow red white to the capture box. Then you connect the capture box to your computer via firewire. You then import the video in real time to Adobe premier. The avi files are 12-14 gb in size. You can then edit them as needed and compress them into what ever format you need. A couple of things, the capture box has to be firewire. Premier will not capture via usb. Second, it has to be captured in real time, so 2 hours worth of video will take at least 2 hours to capture. Third, it takes a shit ton of space and a fairly powerful machine to be effective at crunching down the avi's into smaller formats. Good luck. Oh, the capture box is no longer available, you would have to pick one up off eBay.
 
Magnum626 said:
I have a bunch of old VHS home movies that I want to transfer to digital format. What's the best way to do this?

Will a simple sony DVD recorder be the best way?
Click to expand...

Since you have a VHS player all you need is a TV tuner.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116031

Connect the VHS output the the tuner input. Install the capture software. While you are playing the VHS, install the tuner.

Do a manual record of each tape. edit with your favorite software.
 
Really? All I need is that little adapter? Can I use other software to capture other than what comes with the device?

Is the quality any different from other devices. This is what has me confused, what's the difference between an inexpensive device like this compared to the more expensive ones as far as capabilities and video capture quality.
 
There's only so much cleanup you can do with VHS tapes too, there's no way to make them look 'HD', but a there's ways to clean the image and make it compressed for DVD
 
The quality of the capture device and the quality/condition of the VCR and tapes will be the main factors determining quality. If you have or can get your hands on a good 4 head VCR you're in pretty good shape. Look around on CL and you can probably get a top of the line VCR for under $100. You'll want to clean it. Analog capture/tuner devices aren't as plentiful as they used to be, but good ones can still be had by looking around. Find one that has a composite input (Yellow RCA), this will work alot better than using the cable (RF) connection. VHS stores composite video, so there is no better connection to use. Hauppauge is a good name in this arena. I'd personally look for a used one, again a great one can probably be had for under $100.

The capture device may or may not have it's own audio capture facility on board, so you may also need to get a L/R RCA to mini headphone jack cable to connect the VCR to your PCs audio input.

As for software, I'm assuming you're running Windows, and I don't really know alot about this type of software on that platform other than to say there are many options to choose from. This is a pretty challenging task if you want to do it properly, involving real time capture of a buttload of data and subsequent editing and reencoding of said buttload. Your computer will need some power, and you will need some patience.
 
The more research I do it seems the more confused I'm getting. My VCR is in very good shape. I'll purchase a head cleaner before I start the transfer. I don't expect HD quality but I want it as clean as possible I suppose.

My VCR has an S-Video output, would that be better than the RCA connections?

Maybe I'll just purchase the Canopus I posted in my first link and call it a day. I have over a dozen vhs tapes that I want to transfer. Can't replace memories on those things. I figure $200 bucks one time spent instead of me giving myself headaches reading all about different transfer methods.

Anyone have any experience with Canopus?
 
I've worked with Canopus products in the past and they were very good. I think one of the cards I used was the DV Raptor.

Not sure what software comes with that device, but if you want a copy of Edius Neo, I'll sell you my copy cheap. Current version is Edius Neo 3, so it's 2 versions back but still works great.
I am so used to Premiere Pro that Edius just feels strange to me.
Both are available for nonrestrictive 30 day trials.

this is what it looks like across my 3 screens using the left screen as the Output Monitor.
edius-layout3.jpg


and Premiere Pro CS5
editor-2010.jpg


How far away to do you live from Virginia Beach, VA? We are going to sell one of our editing systems, it is a turn-key Matrox RT.X100 based machine with Windows XP and Premiere.
Would be perfect for what you are doing. We won't ship the machine but we will ship the editing card and software.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVdU5SvXj80&feature=related
 
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Magnum626 said:
Really? All I need is that little adapter? Can I use other software to capture other than what comes with the device?

Is the quality any different from other devices. This is what has me confused, what's the difference between an inexpensive device like this compared to the more expensive ones as far as capabilities and video capture quality.
Click to expand...

That is all you need. Yes, you can use different software with the device. If the capture software allows you to select different file formats, select one that you have an editor for.

The signal from your VCR will be very strong and noise free. I don't think there will be any difference in quality among the various tuners you might purchase. I don't think that there will be much difference among S-video, RF, or composite inputs. Use what you have. If you don't like the results, buy something else and try that.

The various tuners all have adjustments. I use mine as it comes from the box only selecting the highest quality (least compression; largest file size) coding option. There is a difference between hardware and software coding, but that only affects the CPU usage. At worse software coding will make the computer sluggish. That should not matter for this project.

---

I have a old Vbox tuner (PCI), RF connection. I used to use that to transfer from VCR to digital. The capture from that was the same quality as playing the VCR directly to a TV.
 
You probably won't gain from S-Video over composite, as VHS only carries a composite signal anyway. Try both and see which looks best to you, but I'd say not much difference. There WILL be a difference if you use RF however. Don't do that. It's unnecessary loss, noticeable even by blind fuckers watching VHS. If your VCR is good, then you're good to go. I'd probably go a little further than just a cleaning tape on something that old, maybe some rubbing alcohol, q tips and a screwdriver. But I'm a little weird about doing things correctly, most people don't share that problem. If you can get a good deal on a quality capture card, take it. That will be the biggest factor determining the final quality of your output.
 
I didn't realize there were sooooo many different ways to do this.

So which is the better of my choices?

Is the canopus considered an external vid capture card? It comes with the Edius software. Is it worth the money?

Should I just get a capture card specifically for the transfer? Which is cheaper than the canopus and find a copy of some video editing software?

Is the real trick the software or the type of card/converter?

Is the quality the same from a 200 system vs just a usb adapter thing?

I had no idea this would be such a difficult decision on what to use or how...
 
Keep in mind that it's only VHS, so don't waste your time by processing it to 720p or higher. 480p via S-VHS should be the best you capture at. I recently did this for work. We have some training and inspection videos on VHS my boss wanted to convert to digital. I used the Pinnacle Dazzle and the free Windows Live Movie Maker program. (You may have to download it from Microsoft. Just google it and get the link).
 
I used to use PowerVCRII and a Dazzle firewire external adapter. I also used it to convert a few laserdiscs that I did not have in any other format
 
I know its been a while but I've been busy transferring from vhs to avi. I purchased the Canopus ADVC 110.

Now my next question, I want to burn these to a BD since there's more space than a DVD. What format am I converting it to so I can play it on my BD player?

thanks again
 
Magnum626 said:
I know its been a while but I've been busy transferring from vhs to avi. I purchased the Canopus ADVC 110.

Now my next question, I want to burn these to a BD since there's more space than a DVD. What format am I converting it to so I can play it on my BD player?

thanks again
Click to expand...

you will be converting the videos to DVD Compliant MPEG-2.
 
Thanks Zepher. So I'm able to use the BD as a data disc and play the movies through the computer but not through my Sony Blu ray player. What am I missing here?

I was using Sony Vegas but I didnt see an option for DVD Compliant MPEG-2, just MPEG-2.

Sorry for the noobish questions, maybe it's not even possible to burn MPEG-2 to a BD and expect it to play thinking it's a DVD?
 
BluRay does allow SD video to be stored as video so you could play it in a BluRay player. And you could fit alot of 480p video on a BD-R, not sure what kind of software you'd use to author it. MPEG2 is a valid codec for BluRay video afaik but you might need it to meet certain constraints. From what I see on Wikipedia it must be 720x480 (NTSC) or 720x576 (PAL) and may be MPEG-2 Part 2, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, or SMPTE VC-1.
 
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If you are just converting to digital and not going to edit it just get a dvd recorder that has a vcr . Make a dvd directly from the Vhs tape.
 
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