Recommendations for VHS to Digital conversion (ideally Christchurch based)

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Recommendations for VHS to Digital conversion (ideally Christchurch based)

landcruiserguy

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#265655 3-Feb-2020 21:31

I have some VHS tapes from 2000, back when a video camera cost $2k, we called the resulting end product home movies and everyone was freaking out about how the y2k bug was going to end civilisation.

Now we are in 2020, the next Samsung phone with the exciting new camera will cost $2k, we call the resulting end product footage and everyone is freaking out about how Donald Trump is going to end civilisation.

I would like to reive a simpler time and to that end I am hoping to convert my VHS trapes to some kind of digital storage, ideally in the cloud.

Does anyone have the equipment for the conversion (2 tapes) or a recommendation for a conversion service in Christchurch? I am hoping to get this done by the end of the week. Happy to provide a bottle of appreciation to someone if they can do they conversion.

Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#2412138 3-Feb-2020 22:53

Hey mate, you could try http://www.acevideo.co.nz/ - they are based in Christchurch and have been around for decades.

I'd like to use their services too, however my late father's home video collection runs to over 400 tapes (all catalogued meticulously) so there is a serious budgetary issue when dealing with that volume... One day I will setup a system at home to do this myself before the tapes degrade any further.

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Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#2412142 3-Feb-2020 23:43

You've actually prompted me to finally do something about my own predicament. After a bit of research online this evening I have just ordered a Diamond VHS to Digital converter cable and software from Amazon for around $86 delivered.

I'm not sure what Ace Video charges for a single tape conversion, but another NZ company charges around $30, so $86 seems like good value for the volume of tapes I am staring down the barrel of, and CNET gave this one a pretty good review.

Luckily I also kept my dad's state of the art (in the 1990's) Mitsubishi Black Diamond VHS player lol. It even has NICAM stereo (queue the oohs and ahhhs)

siyuan

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#2412143 4-Feb-2020 00:16

I don't really like the quality of those conversion adapters, usually the compression is really bad and you lose a lot of details. I've personally done a similar project myself converting a couple V8 tapes using a Sony D8 camcorder. From memory there's RCA input on the camera, so you can also convert VHS with the camera that way. The advantage of this approach is that you are recording the VHS in uncompressed video format, you can then compress the video with modern video encoders (e.g. Handbrake) for much better quality. It also allows you to do video editing if you are into that.

Unfortunately Sony D8's might be a bit hard to find, if you were in Auckland I'd gladly help you convert those tapes. Speaking of which, I don't even have a working VCR anymore...

landcruiserguy

765 posts

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#2412189 4-Feb-2020 05:55

Thanks guys. Jaycar sell this which would work if you also picked up a vhs player from the eco shop.

https://www.jaycar.co.nz/usb-2-0-dvd-maker/p/XC4867

I did find Ace Video but no mention of prices on their web site. These guys ate $30 a tape and as I have two tapes (not 400) I think I will go with them in the hope of a better conversion than I would do.

http://dvm.co.nz/dvd-conversion.html

sen8or

1758 posts

Uber Geek

#2412214 4-Feb-2020 08:21

I have used both Ace video & Ascot to convert several tapes.

Ace converted our wedding video from 20+ years ago, was on Beta tape, they did an excellent job, Ascot also converted our wedding tape (from VHS, they were unable to do the beta) and it was pretty crap. Now given the tape is 20+ years old and just VHS, I'm not going to say that the result was their fault, it could very well have been down to the source material, but, when my wife wanted another tape converted from her unitech days, we went to Ace and she was happy with the result.

I think we paid around $30-40 per tape. Was absolutely worth it.

Lias

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#2412287 4-Feb-2020 10:28

Probably well out of budget and while their is an office down your way the AV work is done in Wellington, but http://www.micrographics.co.nz/digitise/digitise-services/digital-capture/audiovisual/

And yes they can do Beta, Super8, Reel to Reel, etc etc.

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1101

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#2412863 5-Feb-2020 10:24

Buy an old style DVD Recorder box on trademe .
Connect VCR(VHS player) to DVD Recorder and begin the process , transfering to DVD .
Just push a few buttons. No software to install .

Ive done plenty that way, will be cheap if you have alot of tapes to convert.
Dont expect quality, VHS tapes will be pretty crappy quality by todays standards, especially if they have degraded a bit allready .

landcruiserguy

765 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2412974 5-Feb-2020 12:08

1101:

Buy an old style DVD Recorder box on trademe .
Connect VCR(VHS player) to DVD Recorder and begin the process , transfering to DVD .
Just push a few buttons. No software to install .

Ive done plenty that way, will be cheap if you have alot of tapes to convert.
Dont expect quality, VHS tapes will be pretty crappy quality by todays standards, especially if they have degraded a bit allready .

Haven't owned a VCR for a while now...

landcruiserguy

765 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2412975 5-Feb-2020 12:10

I got my tape done by the DVM guys. They did it same day, didn't charge for the second tape that just turned out to be shortland street.

http://dvm.co.nz/dvd-conversion.html

The quality isn't great and it's a bit blocky which makes me think the conversion hardware isn't awesome. I don't have anything to compare it to obviously so I don't think DVM is any worse than the others. There is a possibility that ACE Video is better than average.

Goosey

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#2413041 5-Feb-2020 13:25

Quality is only as good as the original recording and you would be paying big money if you wanted to correct that.

Ace Video is good...they have a lot of old high tech gear still in working order. I remember seeing their 'dubbing wall'.... a dozen or so high end VCRs fit for purpose...to make duplicates.

Anyhow... Pitch and Pixel also do conversions (they recently acquired Ascot TV and Video).

Goosey

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#2413042 5-Feb-2020 13:27

Goosey:

Quality is only as good as the original recording and you would be paying big money if you wanted to correct that.

(remembering VCRs quality would be designed for 4:3 square box.... not the wide screens we have these days. I would assume one has to adjust the TV settings on new panels to reflect it is playing 'old school'...else the new panels will want to over compensate the picture).

Ace Video is good...they have a lot of old high tech gear still in working order. I remember seeing their 'dubbing wall'.... a dozen or so high end VCRs fit for purpose...to make duplicates.

Anyhow... Pitch and Pixel also do conversions (they recently acquired Ascot TV and Video).

ANglEAUT

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#2413887 6-Feb-2020 22:09

Thanks for the company recommendations.

I'm Auckland based & need some 8mm tapes converted.

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

JaseNZ

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#2413889 6-Feb-2020 22:15

Ace are great, we got an old 8mm video that I recorded back in the 90's put onto a flash drive.

Surprised the video was still good to be honest, lasted quite awhile and a lot of moves in various boxes.

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bfginger

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#2413912 6-Feb-2020 23:32

Are there any capture devices still available that can record raw interlaced video from RCA composite and S-VHS instead of streaming in 25fps compressed MPEG?

1101

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#2415486 10-Feb-2020 10:34

landcruiserguy:

The quality isn't great and it's a bit blocky which makes me think the conversion hardware isn't awesome. ...

People forget just how bad old VHS taps are . Hi Res TV & digtial quality TV wasnt a thing back then .
Also, could have been an issues with the orignal VHS machine , making things even worse when played on a different machine for conversion.
Also have issues with tape & recording degradation over time

It will be the source material (your tapes) that are the issue, not the conversion .
When I converted a dozen VHS tapes, the quality from some of those old tapes was shocking (some were OK )

:-)