This is definitely not the best way to digitize your tapes. For me and what I have right now, it works; but you'll want to do some of your own research! There are lots of ways to do it and some don't cost much more than this method I used! I mostly wanted to share my experience with it. Check out the other comments for more ideas and some better devices you can try. Thanks for watching and for your comments!
Thanks. We digitised all of our favourite VHS recordings using EyeTV on a couple of Macs, starting more than a decade ago. It was really easy to do, even back then, and it saved a lot of shelf space.
While it's easy and cheap, unfortunately the end result is crap. It's better than not having your tapes digitised and risking losing them, but it's worth doing it right.
dude its better to not loose information than wait for some big foureyes nerd to say "its good now" because they don't wanna buy expensive equipment and loose everything in the proccess, if you don't make concessions and forfeits then you'll never be able to use technology
I think it's definitely a fair comment from @NikiDaDude. I've looked into some cards and at some comparison videos and what I have is just more convenient at this time. Of course we won't throw away the tapes, but for right now I wanted them backed up in some way at least. thank you
@@circleinforthecube5170 I said it's better than not having any backups of your tapes, so we don't disagree. However, tape backup should be done "right" and it should be done sooner rather than later because the VHS tapes will not last forever.
@@SpaGOATy Digitizing videos takes a large degree of trial, error and testing. Sometimes you will need to use a few VCRs before a random tape will play back right. I've even gone as far as recording a recently released horror movie on DVD/Blu Ray onto VHS and then digitizing the VHS just so I can watch it in a more "authentic" horror movie aesthetic.
Before abandoning VHS permanently I copied old home movies using a VHS to DVD Recorder. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. Having digital copies allowed me to easily edit some of the material to make improvements.
Those cheap devices are horrible! MPG 1 and sound like 128kbps or even vorst. VHS have 20hz to 20kHz... so this is not even near. need to be 320kbps for mp3. And video 720x520p. Only good devices can do that. So it's best way to save your tapes, and clean VCR heards 😄
Maybe a used dazzle would be decent for a budget device. I believe the original base model was lacking but the later models and likely more common at this point should have those features easy.
@RetroMechanic thanks😅 we still have the tapes but at least they are stored in a format that won't degrade as fast over time. Will look into more variety of devices to see the advantages you are talking about. thanks!
I converted all my stuff at my own VHS digitizing company back in 2008. Make sure you guys use proper settings and framerate. For instance Video cameras recorded 30fps in America and 25fps in Europe interlaced. Several things to keep track of.
@@danwoodson2384 Ah the budget, this is complicated. There are Panasonic WJ AVE 7 that are ok, but try to find one that is functional and tested. AVE 5 are nice too but bandwidth can be limited. If you have budget then Retrotink4K is the way.
@@danwoodson2384 get a Panasonic DVD recorder that has TBC in it, plug your VCR in it, and connect your capture card to the output of the DVD recorder. You'll be passing the video through the Panasonic and it would apply its TBC to your video. Everyone always talks about Panasonic dmr-es15 and es15, so they might be harder to find because of it. But there are MANY other models that also have TBC, you just have to look it up. Look up "DMR TBC comparison" on youtube or something.
It's a shame interlaced video isn't handled well with modern digital files and editing software. I've managed to get Adobe Premiere CS6 to work well enough for it though.
There's a cheap-o box called a "Video stabilizer" that'll bypass that VHS copy protection. They used to sell them for $20.00 back in the day. There should be a ton of them on the used market. Put that between the VCR and the AV-to-HDMI box.
Yeah they don't seem expensive. I'll have to look into that, thanks! This is what was available to me currently but maybe I could do a followup and comparison in the future.
YT keeps reminding me about the 50 or so tapes rotting in the basement. Still waiting for a magical device I can just run the tape through and turn it into a digital scan. Heh, I just imagine blowing a bunch of money on a machine that may breakdown after copying a few tapes so I never bother. I have a lot of telenovelas from Puerto Rico that are basically lost media. Yeah, PR has a really big problem with taking care of its history, they can't even make their greatest film (who Raul Julia cameos in) available in acceptable quality.
I think I have some telenovela tapes that my grandmother recorded from Puerto Rican tv years ago. Even back then I remember the tapes didn’t hold up very well in the Caribbean due to the humidity and salt air.
We did the same with my family’s old tapes. We can only find 2 discs tho. One from vacation, and the other of a soccer match. We can’t find the others but they’re definitely somewhere around the house (likely in the hot press which definitely isn’t the best place to store them so we’ll have to see if that’s them)
We never had analog video cameras of our own, but for a handful of times we got one for loan or rented. The few cassettes from those times I have digitized by using separate VCR and DVD recorder. I set the DVD recorder to use the highest quality (1 hour of video on a 4-GB disc), and after recording copied the video folder on the disc to my computer (I think I literally just copied, because there was no encryption) one hour at a time. They folders can be played with VLC media player off the hard drive, and my only complaint is about the VCR and DVD recorder having had differences in video signal levels, which caused some light areas that were light but not white to appear as fully white. (I did notice this already during the process, but there was no way to adjust the output levels on the VCR nor a way to adjust the input levels on the DVD recorder.
ive tried cheap methods but never cared for the results. if you still have a working vhs then imo a clear click 2 mini or 3.0 works good for the average user. it auto deinterlaced (yadif bob) at 60fps and records good quality h264 files. i rip tapes professionally so i used quite a bit more expensive equipment. if you are wanting the best quality these a whole rabbit hole of what works best which can get up into several thousands in equipment cost depending on your set up.
the hard part is proper de-interlacing to the original 50fps (here in the UK). Handbrake can do it. Digitizing needs to be done in a couple of phases. or maybe these cheap boxes will do proper de-interlacing and fps conversion? By the way, I have the same kit as you, and a more expensive StarTech converter. I still had to Handbrake the output.
My idea was to just use a vcr/DVD recorder and transfer them over to DVD and then rip the dvds with the pc but a capture Card adapter seems so much easier as it skips a few steps
I used a program called ImgBurn to back up my Playstation and Playstation 2 games to my PC, just click Create Image file from disc and I believe that would work with dvds too.
digitized my VHS in the 2000s only way could keep things i want took forever as had to play the video out as recorded on to a PVR then transferred to a DVD and much later ripped on to a Nas only stopped when VHS heads got dirty and threw the machine away as the machines were rubbish compared from the ones from the old days
I need some easy way to digitally scan in old slides. I bought a scanner once. The problem is the slides were from over a period of probably 50 years, from different developers(Kmart, Woolworths, various drug stores, etc.) and they all have different bezel dimensions around the slide. None of them align the same way.
I would just like to say, also am in the hobby of digitizing VHS Tapes as well. I have an AV to USB device and I use USB. I would just like to correct you on a point you made in this video, but you CAN record coprighted movies and TV Shows from VHS. I know because I've done it before. Star Wars for example. The old 1970s Spider-Man TV Show starring Nicholas Hammond. An old Superboy Cartoon Show VHS Tape with 10 episodes on it.
thanks! I've seen a couple people say that now. I tried with a couple of old movies I had so maybe it was something screwy with just those two. Yeah the USB/av system I used isn't the best (apparently possibly the worst way for backup according to some comments) but tbh it's what I can do right now so better than nothing. Maybe I can do a followup video in the future where I do a more preferred method of backup and can do some comparisons side by side. There's lots of videos about this but just wanted to share my experiences with it. Thanks again!
@SpaGOATy do you have an email or social media I can use to talk to you? I'm doing a project to preserve commercials and bumpers from the dayton/ Richmond Indiana area. I ask because of the abc 22 bump that was flashed during your video
of all the vhs tapes I recorded.. was pointless for me as I dL'ed or streamed rippeed off the internet or youtube, no point in me transfering to pc. Much easier to keep music/video as digital format, instead of dealing with cd/vhs/dvds. Dvd is prety easy to rips from collection. If it was something rare that archive/youtube or media apps didn't have, it would be worth it then. I can understand family moments, etc thingss relating, thats about it.
Yeah makes sense. This video was meant more for family tapes. There are definitely way better quality backups out there already for music, movies, etc...
This is the very basic; it’s nice if you don’t care about quality or just like buying junk. Services even are outdated now with what you can do. There’s special cards to get the RF signals and convert that raw data to video. Please if you care do some research or pay for them to be transferred. Those plug and play are really sub par but you accept it because you think oh it’s old video it’ll never look good. Very wrong
Converting officially released VHS movies should be fine. You’re doing the exact same thing plugging your vcr into your laptop as you are plugging your vcr into a tv. The laptop simply just records the video that it’s receiving.
hmm it seems that VHS started as Vertical Helical Standard but changed to Video Home Standard. I only found this through an initial Google search but makes sense as you say that's how they were recorded. I thought data was recorded in a diagonal pattern on the tape but you say the heads are at an angle so that would make it vertical? I'll have to learn more, thanks!
This is definitely not the best way to digitize your tapes. For me and what I have right now, it works; but you'll want to do some of your own research! There are lots of ways to do it and some don't cost much more than this method I used! I mostly wanted to share my experience with it. Check out the other comments for more ideas and some better devices you can try. Thanks for watching and for your comments!
Thanks. We digitised all of our favourite VHS recordings using EyeTV on a couple of Macs, starting more than a decade ago. It was really easy to do, even back then, and it saved a lot of shelf space.
While it's easy and cheap, unfortunately the end result is crap.
It's better than not having your tapes digitised and risking losing them, but it's worth doing it right.
dude its better to not loose information than wait for some big foureyes nerd to say "its good now" because they don't wanna buy expensive equipment and loose everything in the proccess, if you don't make concessions and forfeits then you'll never be able to use technology
I think it's definitely a fair comment from @NikiDaDude. I've looked into some cards and at some comparison videos and what I have is just more convenient at this time. Of course we won't throw away the tapes, but for right now I wanted them backed up in some way at least. thank you
@@circleinforthecube5170 I said it's better than not having any backups of your tapes, so we don't disagree.
However, tape backup should be done "right" and it should be done sooner rather than later because the VHS tapes will not last forever.
@@SpaGOATy Digitizing videos takes a large degree of trial, error and testing. Sometimes you will need to use a few VCRs before a random tape will play back right. I've even gone as far as recording a recently released horror movie on DVD/Blu Ray onto VHS and then digitizing the VHS just so I can watch it in a more "authentic" horror movie aesthetic.
His not a Hipster he is a Data Arqueologist.
Brilliant gift idea. Especially the private TH-cam account. Now your entire family can enjoy them virtually anytime and anywhere.
Before abandoning VHS permanently I copied old home movies using a VHS to DVD Recorder. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. Having digital copies allowed me to easily edit some of the material to make improvements.
Those cheap devices are horrible! MPG 1 and sound like 128kbps or even vorst. VHS have 20hz to 20kHz... so this is not even near. need to be 320kbps for mp3. And video 720x520p. Only good devices can do that. So it's best way to save your tapes, and clean VCR heards 😄
Maybe a used dazzle would be decent for a budget device. I believe the original base model was lacking but the later models and likely more common at this point should have those features easy.
@@matthewzepess5721 If backup method is worst than original, why to do that? When look copy where is mosaic effect etc, it's useless
@RetroMechanic thanks😅 we still have the tapes but at least they are stored in a format that won't degrade as fast over time. Will look into more variety of devices to see the advantages you are talking about. thanks!
Hi-fi tracks only. Linear tracks don't reach 20kHz.
@@debranchelowtone Correct. S-VHS can do 20-20kHz because it's use video drum to store part of audio.
I converted all my stuff at my own VHS digitizing company back in 2008. Make sure you guys use proper settings and framerate. For instance Video cameras recorded 30fps in America and 25fps in Europe interlaced. Several things to keep track of.
This is a great way to bypass Macrovision copy protection on pre recorded tapes.
TIME BASE CORRECTOR
A VCR I have has active video calibration and a video stabilizer. It also has S video outputs. Would you say that would be good for digitizing them?
@@retroryan838 Sometimes "stabilisers" don't work, it is better to give it a try first, but real TBC ensures a stable picture.
I AGREE, but where specifically can I get a TBC (time base corrector) that doesn't break the budget?
@@danwoodson2384 Ah the budget, this is complicated. There are Panasonic WJ AVE 7 that are ok, but try to find one that is functional and tested. AVE 5 are nice too but bandwidth can be limited.
If you have budget then Retrotink4K is the way.
@@danwoodson2384 get a Panasonic DVD recorder that has TBC in it, plug your VCR in it, and connect your capture card to the output of the DVD recorder. You'll be passing the video through the Panasonic and it would apply its TBC to your video. Everyone always talks about Panasonic dmr-es15 and es15, so they might be harder to find because of it. But there are MANY other models that also have TBC, you just have to look it up. Look up "DMR TBC comparison" on youtube or something.
Thanks for the mention!
It's a shame interlaced video isn't handled well with modern digital files and editing software. I've managed to get Adobe Premiere CS6 to work well enough for it though.
I currently use a DVD recorder for this channel's acquisitions but that's a good alternative idea.
Dude that's a really nice Sony VCR I can't even get my hands on one of those.
In Brasil is Mandatory people recorded on VHS and Digitalize after,guys like Fabio Marckezini and Pedro Janov are on TH-cam.
There's a cheap-o box called a "Video stabilizer" that'll bypass that VHS copy protection. They used to sell them for $20.00 back in the day. There should be a ton of them on the used market. Put that between the VCR and the AV-to-HDMI box.
Sony DVDirect VRD-MC5 DVD Recorder
is supposed to be your best option.
Gives the best picture quality and they're not expensive.
Yeah they don't seem expensive. I'll have to look into that, thanks! This is what was available to me currently but maybe I could do a followup and comparison in the future.
@@SpaGOATy
VWestlife beat you to it.
That's where I got the info from.
Not expensive? It's £100 for one that looks like someone threw a brick at it.
@@smittzero8463
I'm talking about in America.
I just looked it up and it's 30 bucks here.
@@smittzero8463
It's like 30 bucks in the states.
YT keeps reminding me about the 50 or so tapes rotting in the basement. Still waiting for a magical device I can just run the tape through and turn it into a digital scan. Heh, I just imagine blowing a bunch of money on a machine that may breakdown after copying a few tapes so I never bother.
I have a lot of telenovelas from Puerto Rico that are basically lost media. Yeah, PR has a really big problem with taking care of its history, they can't even make their greatest film (who Raul Julia cameos in) available in acceptable quality.
I think I have some telenovela tapes that my grandmother recorded from Puerto Rican tv years ago. Even back then I remember the tapes didn’t hold up very well in the Caribbean due to the humidity and salt air.
VHSDecode is the ultimate way to go, but requires tinkering.
We did the same with my family’s old tapes. We can only find 2 discs tho. One from vacation, and the other of a soccer match. We can’t find the others but they’re definitely somewhere around the house (likely in the hot press which definitely isn’t the best place to store them so we’ll have to see if that’s them)
Ain't getting a VCR nowadays without zillions of dollars or inheritance. The lion kingdom transferred 1 tape, 15 years ago, & the hard drive died.
We never had analog video cameras of our own, but for a handful of times we got one for loan or rented. The few cassettes from those times I have digitized by using separate VCR and DVD recorder. I set the DVD recorder to use the highest quality (1 hour of video on a 4-GB disc), and after recording copied the video folder on the disc to my computer (I think I literally just copied, because there was no encryption) one hour at a time. They folders can be played with VLC media player off the hard drive, and my only complaint is about the VCR and DVD recorder having had differences in video signal levels, which caused some light areas that were light but not white to appear as fully white. (I did notice this already during the process, but there was no way to adjust the output levels on the VCR nor a way to adjust the input levels on the DVD recorder.
ive tried cheap methods but never cared for the results. if you still have a working vhs then imo a clear click 2 mini or 3.0 works good for the average user. it auto deinterlaced (yadif bob) at 60fps and records good quality h264 files. i rip tapes professionally so i used quite a bit more expensive equipment. if you are wanting the best quality these a whole rabbit hole of what works best which can get up into several thousands in equipment cost depending on your set up.
the hard part is proper de-interlacing to the original 50fps (here in the UK).
Handbrake can do it. Digitizing needs to be done in a couple of phases.
or maybe these cheap boxes will do proper de-interlacing and fps conversion?
By the way, I have the same kit as you, and a more expensive StarTech converter. I still had to Handbrake the output.
My idea was to just use a vcr/DVD recorder and transfer them over to DVD and then rip the dvds with the pc but a capture Card adapter seems so much easier as it skips a few steps
I put old tapes on DVD, but I don't know how to put them on memory cards or usbs from the DVDs.
I used a program called ImgBurn to back up my Playstation and Playstation 2 games to my PC, just click Create Image file from disc and I believe that would work with dvds too.
You can get a DVD reader for your computer and save it from there
I did this with my tapes a long time ago. I used Roxio DVD converter.
Many years ago i bought a 5$ USB Dongle from China that also removes Macrovision.
I have tapes from the 80s that should be digitized ever sense I saw this video I never cared but now I have them on a SD card so thank you 😄
I used pinnacle studio capture system. and a Pc. It worked good.
How he does it starts at 4:08 in case you know what a VCR is and how all that stuff works
nah you can digitise macrovision tapes (tapes with copyright protections) with this setup iirc
It might be the easiest and the most convenient, but by far, this method gives you the worst quality you can get from those tapes.
By far my favorite video from your channel. I am big into tech and really enjoyed the video and the process
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. This video is a little different from my others but I had fun making it.
Thank you! My mom mentioned wanting to do something like this.
1:02 as the scene zooms in. I'm really getting freaked out by the nutcracker puppet 😵💫
digitized my VHS in the 2000s only way could keep things i want took forever as had to play the video out as recorded on to a PVR then transferred to a DVD and much later ripped on to a Nas
only stopped when VHS heads got dirty and threw the machine away as the machines were rubbish compared from the ones from the old days
It will record purchased films fine, macro vision doesn’t kick in like it did from VCR recording days
I need some easy way to digitally scan in old slides. I bought a scanner once. The problem is the slides were from over a period of probably 50 years, from different developers(Kmart, Woolworths, various drug stores, etc.) and they all have different bezel dimensions around the slide. None of them align the same way.
Great video , I have a few digital 8 camcorder footage to transfer .
Been busy playing with my new 4k pioneer over Xmas 👌👌👌👌
Live births are kind of sick?
I happen to have an Elgato video capture device and I think it’s enough for me when it comes to recording VHS openings.
exactly what I needed. TY
Back in the day there were also VCP's(video cassette players), they didn't record, they just played. I think more people used VCRs instead of VCPs.
I've converted vhs to digital for 20yrs. This is a good cheap method but you can do better. A cheap DVD recorder is a better option.
Cool what model Emerson crt do you use??
I would just like to say, also am in the hobby of digitizing VHS Tapes as well. I have an AV to USB device and I use USB.
I would just like to correct you on a point you made in this video, but you CAN record coprighted movies and TV Shows from VHS. I know because I've done it before.
Star Wars for example.
The old 1970s Spider-Man TV Show starring Nicholas Hammond.
An old Superboy Cartoon Show VHS Tape with 10 episodes on it.
thanks! I've seen a couple people say that now. I tried with a couple of old movies I had so maybe it was something screwy with just those two. Yeah the USB/av system I used isn't the best (apparently possibly the worst way for backup according to some comments) but tbh it's what I can do right now so better than nothing. Maybe I can do a followup video in the future where I do a more preferred method of backup and can do some comparisons side by side. There's lots of videos about this but just wanted to share my experiences with it. Thanks again!
@SpaGOATy do you have an email or social media I can use to talk to you? I'm doing a project to preserve commercials and bumpers from the dayton/ Richmond Indiana area. I ask because of the abc 22 bump that was flashed during your video
You can actually record any vhs tape they don't actually have drm protection at least that I've found
of all the vhs tapes I recorded.. was pointless for me as I dL'ed or streamed rippeed off the internet or youtube, no point in me transfering to pc. Much easier to keep music/video as digital format, instead of dealing with cd/vhs/dvds. Dvd is prety easy to rips from collection.
If it was something rare that archive/youtube or media apps didn't have, it would be worth it then.
I can understand family moments, etc thingss relating, thats about it.
Yeah makes sense. This video was meant more for family tapes. There are definitely way better quality backups out there already for music, movies, etc...
This is the very basic; it’s nice if you don’t care about quality or just like buying junk. Services even are outdated now with what you can do. There’s special cards to get the RF signals and convert that raw data to video. Please if you care do some research or pay for them to be transferred. Those plug and play are really sub par but you accept it because you think oh it’s old video it’ll never look good. Very wrong
0:40 The Two WHAT??
GYAATTTT
I just got a VCR with an HDMI out at a swap meet for 20 bucks. Then bought that amazon device you got, like 4 years ago, it was like 12 dollars then.
Cool, was the vcr with HDMI from the factory or did someone modify it?
@@SpaGOATy It's a VCR/ DVD combo from 2006, and it was from the factory like that. Many of them are. Mine is a Sony, RDRVX535
Converting officially released VHS movies should be fine. You’re doing the exact same thing plugging your vcr into your laptop as you are plugging your vcr into a tv. The laptop simply just records the video that it’s receiving.
I will tray this
I got lord of the rings on dvd
VHS stands for Vertical Helical Standard. The method in which the data is played from the tape, its why the head is at an angle and not vertical.
Video Home System.
hmm it seems that VHS started as Vertical Helical Standard but changed to Video Home Standard. I only found this through an initial Google search but makes sense as you say that's how they were recorded. I thought data was recorded in a diagonal pattern on the tape but you say the heads are at an angle so that would make it vertical? I'll have to learn more, thanks!
Better yet, Velocity Hyper System, I can pull out more from my @ss like you did.
Get to the bloody point.
Some things are better left unremembered.
Dw we will be
get over yourselves, we all know that the quiet part is you're a 4k elitist. your nose picking game is too boring to let it go on.
I subscribed, let's get you to 100. Then 1k subscribers, then 1M. 😊 MERRY CHRISTMAS