Digitising VHS tapes

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EviLClouD

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#306593 6-Aug-2023 10:41

Hey all, looking for some advice on how to best digitise VHS tapes.

Probably looking at between 10-20 tapes.

Is something like this the best way to go about it?

https://www.computerlounge.co.nz/shop/peripherals/cables-/-adapters/display/elgato-video-capture-for-mac-pc-or-ipad

Or are there better options out there for cheaper?

Appreciate any tips or advice.

Thanks in advance

Wombat1

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#3112342 6-Aug-2023 11:42

That will work fine, though that’s a bit pricy, I have had good success with one of those $10 ones from Aliexpress. To get the best results use a good quality vcr player, preferably 6 heads with s-video output.

EviLClouD

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#3112359 6-Aug-2023 12:00

Thanks will check those out. I dont have a cd drive and notice they all come with software on a cd - do you know if there is a downloadable version of the software or do i need to buy a cd drive?

I have one a Sony SLV-D940P…i assume this should be ok for the job?
https://www.sony.com.au/electronics/support/res/manuals/2109/21092281M.pdf

richms

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#3112417 6-Aug-2023 15:54

The last device I got off aliexpress for composite to USB just shows as a camera, and needed no drivers or anything and just worked in OBS to capture the video.

Did have issues where it would go slightly out of sync with the audio if there was a dropout on the tape where a new recording was done over an old one, but that was easy enough to fix in premiere when I was editing it.

It was about $8 from memory. Just one of the clone looking easycap things.

Richard rich.ms

EviLClouD

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#3112448 6-Aug-2023 17:21

richms:
The last device I got off aliexpress for composite to USB just shows as a camera, and needed no drivers or anything and just worked in OBS to capture the video.

Did have issues where it would go slightly out of sync with the audio if there was a dropout on the tape where a new recording was done over an old one, but that was easy enough to fix in premiere when I was editing it.

It was about $8 from memory. Just one of the clone looking easycap things.

Thanks will give that a try.
Is OBS - Open Broadcaster Software?

In terms of exported video quality i assume they would all be quite similar regardless of the capture device used? As in VHS itself wasn’t that high quality?
Are there any export settings or features to look out for ie mpeg4 vs mpeg2 etc?

huckster

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#3112460 6-Aug-2023 18:29

Where are you? MIL has a VHS machine with a DVD slot that can go from former to latter.

Not used day-to-day so could be available for a loan.

EviLClouD

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#3112479 6-Aug-2023 20:40

huckster:
Where are you? MIL has a VHS machine with a DVD slot that can go from former to latter.

Not used day-to-day so could be available for a loan.

Thanks but I’m hoping to digitalise it so it can be stored on pc / online. I don’t have a dvd drive either so it might be easier if i give one of those aliexpress adaptors a try first

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Nate001

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#3112481 6-Aug-2023 20:46

I got this from PBTech a few years ago and it worked fine from VHS to Macbook. Shows up in QuickPlayer as a capture device.

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/TVNHGR1128700/Hauppauge-UPC00610-USB-Live2-video-capture-for-PC

richms

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#3112665 7-Aug-2023 10:35

EviLClouD:
richms:

The last device I got off aliexpress for composite to USB just shows as a camera, and needed no drivers or anything and just worked in OBS to capture the video.

Did have issues where it would go slightly out of sync with the audio if there was a dropout on the tape where a new recording was done over an old one, but that was easy enough to fix in premiere when I was editing it.

It was about $8 from memory. Just one of the clone looking easycap things.

Thanks will give that a try.
Is OBS - Open Broadcaster Software?

In terms of exported video quality i assume they would all be quite similar regardless of the capture device used? As in VHS itself wasn’t that high quality?
Are there any export settings or features to look out for ie mpeg4 vs mpeg2 etc?

You can export in a crapload of codecs and formats, you just make a layout for the resolution file you want, add a source which you pick the capture card and you can stretch and scale it so that you move the flapping junk at the bottom of a VHS tape outside the image area so you don't have to see it.

I usually just export it at the native capture resolution and do the cropping later on when editing it in premiere.

You can use anything that records video from a camera, so long as it has the options dialog to choose which input and video format, I already had OBS installed and it was easy enough.

Richard rich.ms

EviLClouD

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#3115795 14-Aug-2023 17:25

richms:
You can export in a crapload of codecs and formats, you just make a layout for the resolution file you want, add a source which you pick the capture card and you can stretch and scale it so that you move the flapping junk at the bottom of a VHS tape outside the image area so you don't have to see it.

I usually just export it at the native capture resolution and do the cropping later on when editing it in premiere.

You can use anything that records video from a camera, so long as it has the options dialog to choose which input and video format, I already had OBS installed and it was easy enough.

Thanks for the clarification!
Is it worth ‘upscaling’ the video?
If so, do you know if this can be done in premiere pro or do i need one of those external hdmi upscaler devices?

networkn

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#3333456 20-Jan-2025 12:36

I'm looking for the easiest simple way to digitise around 50 VHS tapes into digital format, understanding I have zero video editing skills and very little knowledge of video.

I am not even sure how much disk space 1 tape would consume.

Just want the best quality, more or less plug and play solution without paying someone $20-35 a tape to do it for us.

What are the current recommendations. Would prefer something that has software included and is idiot proof.

richms

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#3333628 20-Jan-2025 16:48

Find a panasonic DVD recorder VHS combo deck.

When a friend was doing it, that was the best one at handling dropouts and wiggly video on VHS tapes. Going from the analog out of a VHS deck to a capture box would blank totally when there was an area of tape that was iffy. The panasonic did a great job recording it with minimal disturbance outside the staticy line that was caused by the tape damage.

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froob

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#3333763 20-Jan-2025 18:40

I used an Elgato Video Capture USB dongle to do this a few years back - was very straightforward and gave good results: https://www.elgato.com/ww/en/p/video-capture

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JimmyH

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#3334308 21-Jan-2025 20:55

I did this a few years ago now. If you really want to get into it, a user by the name LordSmurf has some very detailed posts on videohelp.com where he goes quite deep into the rabbit hole of how to get the "perfect" capture.

Where I got to was that the easiest method was to connect a VHS player's outputs to the input of a hard drive DVD recorder. Trim the recording when done and then burn a disc, which can then easily be ripped to a computer, recompressed and whatnot. That worked fine for me.

I got somewhat higher quality results by using a relatively good consumer grade capture device (Hauppauge HD PVR Model 1212 if I remember correctly) hooked up to a computer. Quality was somewhat better, although to be honest it was quite hard to tell the difference compared to the DVD recorder for most material, and it gave me .MP4 output. The Hauppauge unit was quite well rated in reviews, and from memory it cost about $30 than the Elgato unit linked above but was likely substantially higher quality - qood quality hardware encoding and it could also capture analogue 720p and 1080i etc.

Past that point it's a real maze of best VHS units, time-base correctors, high-end capture devices, and lots of messing round with codecs and post-processing software tools. Older posts on Videohelp are good for learning about that. But I decided not to go there. It looked to me like investing a lot of time and money for only a very marginal quality lift, with diminishing returns setting in quite quickly, and I didn't care enough about the footage in question to bother going there.