Anybody know a quick n easy way to transfer VHS to computer?

Bluesgeetar · Post by **Bluesgeetar** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 9:12 am

I collect celebrity guitar instruction videos and I just landed one I had been trying to get for a while cause it's been discontinued a while back. I want to transfer the video (which is on VHS) to my computer via VCR. Anybody know a quick and easy way to transfer VHS tapes from the VCR to a computer and keep the quality good?

Eargasm · Post by **Eargasm** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 9:36 am

Bg, the best way would be to use an A/V to DV bridge, like this guy here:

http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC55/index.php

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/3 ... gital.html

The other thing you could do if you don't want to spend the $220, is to use a camcorder with a firewire jack. Basically you run AV outputs (S - video preferably, along with left and right RCA) from the VCR output to the camcorder A/V inputs, and then run a firewire cable from the camcorder to your computer. Some camcorders will let the VCR signal "play through" to your computer, but for others you will have to first record the signal to the DV tape in the camcorder, then play that to the computer.
Heads up though - remember that you need a big harddrive for this stuff (I would use an external drive that I could later (re)format) because 5 minutes of DV signal = 1G of harddrive space.

playazincs · Post by **playazincs** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:01 pm

Video capture card.

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 10:19 pm

This is a nightmare journey I undertook earlier this year, it takes huge amounts of your hard drive and almost every program is flawed in some way, believe me I have loads of killer vhs that I want on tape, but until I get a second computer and by the way it takes, forever, I will have to leave it, I can do it with the huge memory of my present computer, but it is such a frustrating process, you think it would be easier,

check out some reviews of the programs and you will see what I mean I tried a Pinacle and a free Vegas from Sony but only ever made one dvd, in hours of attempts.
yngwie308

Eargasm · Post by **Eargasm** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:38 am

yngwie308 wrote:This is a nightmare journey I undertook earlier this year, it takes huge amounts of your hard drive and almost every program is flawed in some way, believe me I have loads of killer vhs that I want on tape, but until I get a second computer and by the way it takes, forever, I will have to leave it, I can do it with the huge memory of my present computer, but it is such a frustrating process, you think it would be easier, check out some reviews of the programs and you will see what I mean I tried a Pinacle and a free Vegas from Sony but only ever made one dvd, in hours of attempts.
yngwie308

+100K!!
I was heavily into DV for a while. Spent over 10K on gear...for editing I used Final Cut Pro, Premier and Avid...pulled different areas of hair from my scalp with each one. I was barely able to complete a decent final product (and I was GOOD at it) every time I tried due to the bugs. Then I get to DVD Authoring! WTF!
Not worth doing, sold everything and got out of it. I'll wait 'til they get this shit down (the programs) in 10 years or so, thank you very much...

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:29 pm

They only way to remain sane is to get a standalone DVD / VHS dubbing deck. I have one and was able to dupe a Brain May Star licks VHS to DVD. Haven't had much time to try more but it seems to be the way.

Yngwie Dave and I are gonna make some headway while he's in town for the Amp Show. BTW, did I forget to mention that Dave?

Blast · Post by **Blast** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:16 pm

I have been in the process of converting 20 years of home movies to DVD. But everytime I try to convert a factory VHS I get the ol' "you can't copy this" message. I tried two Dazzle models on my Dell but that didn't work. Finally bought a VHS/DVD recorder. Still can't get past the copyguard problem but doing factory tapes is not my priority.

For home movies after I convert the tape to a DVD-RW I put it in the computer and import it to Nero (came with my DVD burner- glad I bought a better-than-cheapo DVD burner to get it, too). Although I could have continued to use the VHS/DVD recorder for editing, I remove all the gooblydegook created by the tape and make chapters and a menu with Nero. I could throw in additional audio track(s) and it comes with a large array of video effects I could add but I keep it simple. My little Dell is only the basic 2400 so its slow as hell (and maybe thats why I could never capture video with it) but I am progressing. I only put 1 hour of video on each DVD for top quality- they REALLY look good! The DVD's look exactly like the tape until you freeze-frame and then they look even better!

Was using Pinnacle Studio 6 (came with the Dazzle) for awhile but was so long ago I don't know why I stopped. As I remember it did some things better than Nero and other things not.

As playazincs said, a video capture card would be great, I just have yet to make one work. I recommend a VHS/DVD recorder- they're getting cheap. Good luck with your project, Blues...

NitroLiq · Post by **NitroLiq** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 3:35 pm

Eargasm wrote:The other thing you could do if you don't want to spend the $220, is to use a camcorder with a firewire jack. Basically you run AV outputs (S - video preferably, along with left and right RCA) from the VCR output to the camcorder A/V inputs, and then run a firewire cable from the camcorder to your computer. Some camcorders will let the VCR signal "play through" to your computer, but for others you will have to first record the signal to the DV tape in the camcorder, then play that to the computer.
Heads up though - remember that you need a big harddrive for this stuff (I would use an external drive that I could later (re)format) because 5 minutes of DV signal = 1G of harddrive space.

+1 This is how I've done it in the past, editing a couple of music videos for a friend's band. Two typical pop songs came out to a couple of GB. Haven't messed around with DVD creation though I just bought a burner and have Nero. I usually go VCR > old Sony 120 digital hi8 > firewire out into computer/Premiere. The worst thing for me is wading through the gazillion codecs and file formats find the best compromise for filesize vs. quality....more of an issue if you're creating for the web.

Bluesgeetar · Post by **Bluesgeetar** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:02 pm

NY Chief wrote:They only way to remain sane is to get a standalone DVD / VHS dubbing deck. I have one and was able to dupe a Brain May Star licks VHS to DVD. Haven't had much time to try more but it seems to be the way.

Maybe I'll try this method. What was the quality like on that Brian May video after you dubbed it on the standalone? I also have that May video and was gonna do that one too.

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 6:57 pm

Not too bad. It's watchable. The quality of the original VHS tape will have a bigger say in the final quality then the conversion process.