Need some suggestions

[AtomicMoose]

I have a client that is looking for equipment to be able to rip all of his old audio/VHS stuff onto his PC.

I was wondering what you all would suggest.

Here is specifically what he wants to be able to do:

VHS ---> PC
Old Cassettes ---> PC
Vinyl ---> PC

Basically, he is asking for hardware that would take many different kinds of inputs and rip the music to mp3 or what-have-you.

Give me some idears, please.

Links and such are a good thing.

 

[towert7]

Well, since all of those are analog, you can feed them directly to the computer with the execption of the vinyl. If his vinyl player does not have a built in amp to bring the voltage to "line level", then an external amp will most likely be required (most vinyl players are not line level).

Anyways, this is called real time capture, and is the cheapest way to go about it. (There may be other things out there which work diffrently, but expect to pay $$$++).

All you would need to do is somehow connect each piece of equipment to your friends sound card. Since those three devices you listed usually have a pair of RCA jacks for stereo, you can buy an RCA to 3.5mm Mini cable:example.
Connect that to the sound card input, and just have him use audio software to record from the input on his soundcard. Again, like I said, this is real time capture, so you start recording, then you start the device (ex, push play on the cassette deck). Depending on how large of a collection this guy has, it might take a while ^_^.

You can also connect all the devices up to a preamp or receiver and just make one connection to the computer's sound card input instead of having to change cables when you want to use a diffrent device.

To capture video from the VHS, you use a similar method, execpt with video capture software and a video capture card (the software should also be able to capture audio at the same time).

~Hope this helps moose, fold on!

<edit>Just wanted to also show you something like this http://www.zzounds.com/item--TASDP01FX/view--Front+View . It may make life a little eaiser for your client.</edit>

 

[AdamW]

Being lazy, I'd be inclined to go out and find an old stereo receiver / amp with a built-in phono stage and some kind of monitor output (shouldn't be very hard to find one cheap, they were standard equipment in the 1970s / 1980s). See, for example, this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NAD-3150-AMPLIF...857567660QQcategoryZ14973QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

note the description mentions a "pre-out" (which would be a line-level output you can connect to the PC's line in) and a "phono" input (which is what you need to connect a record player). This will give you a handy box you can plug all the stuff you want to record from into. Run its output into the computer and life should be easy.