VHS to CD

You will need to install a video capture card that will convert the video from your VHS player in VCD compatible MPEG1 format. You will also need video editing software to edit your captured footage, and CD-writing software that can create VCDs. Fortunately, the software will come bundled with the video capture card, so that is the only hardware investment you need to make .

I use this : http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_usblive2.html

Gave it a quick look. Didn't see Mac compatible. I bought some thing from Radio Shack that had a disc and was supposed to run from the video to a digitizer and into the computer. Was 50 bucks.

Loaded its program in the HP, but then it died, and I ended up with the Mac that I hardly know about, and so haven't really worked the thing called a Camera Mate.

Maybe somebody else has a report?

I actually myself need to get some of this tech working, and am thankful for the question and will be interested in reports of things to do to get easy control of old tech and new tech processing and editing.

This is also an unsolved problem for me. I went looking maybe 2 years ago, got the recommended Haupage product, only to find that there are big problems doing video capture by USB in ubuntu (set up for firewire). It was too much for me or my tech support to figure out how to change it, so after some hours of fruitless effort, I gave up and returned the device. At the time there was nothing handy in a firewire equivalent, either (at least, not in the local shops).

Have you seen this? : http://www.hauppauge.com/Pages/faq/support_faq_linux.html

Yeah, we need more staff.

Video tape is becoming akin to 78 rpm records.

Its a real drag that computers don't all have something akin to the phono input that long was there for every radio, or amp at the heart of the component system.

I sometimes imagine the component car that had one standard electric motor, but got power from whatever fit to the frame as tech advanced.

Sometimes I know it can be done, and even have stuff lying around to affect it, but run out of space to put it all.

I swear if I was to design a computer or other archaic electronics I'd put all the input ports on the front of it, instead of around back, with decent labeling.

I swear if I was to design a computer or other archaic electronics I'd put all the input ports on the front of it, instead of around back, with decent labeling.

Agree.

I think the marketing people prevent it because it would look untidy with all those cords, but who cares, it would be so much more convenient.

Does anyone know of something that works for PAL?

Tried transferring to DVD from VHS (PAL) and got a large "snow" band across the middle of the picture, even though it could be viewed OK on the computer screen.

Thats sounds (looks!!) like the Macrovision copy protection, pretty certain anyway.....look it up on the web....

There are little boxes that go between the player and the copier that regenerate the original sync signals, often better than it ever was.....then you can copy without problems.....

Maybe a CR4 person near you can simply copy them for you???

Keep in touch.

Just bought a VCR capture unit on EBAY FOR ABOUT $10. I comes with the USB and software. The unit plugs into USB port and the VCR plugs into it. The software will allow you to edit the data and then burn to DVD.

Ok, please let us know when and how you get it to work.

Ed Weldon

cyberguys.com has devices to do this - not too expensive.

eg

Yes use this free software and this USB interface about $30.00 USD

http://www.nchsoftware.com/goldenvideos/index.html

http://www.altoedge.com/usbcapture/index.html

GA from me for the cheapest method that works really well too, I use it regularly....

Really??

How does that work - since the VHS tape is analog and the DVD deck is digital. Mystery Magic at work here.

Its simple, you connect a SCART cable between the two units......the DVD Recorder has also a digitizer in it for the recording of analogue TV. I have a Sony one that does a really great job in that area. Other makes do much the same!!

Furthermore, you should re-read your previous post, it has several errors, one is that CDs are usually 700MB (older ones might be 650MB) for example. Also almost nobody uses VCD anymore as SVCD is also much better....BUT.....with DIVX for example, you can put a complete full length film onto one CD.....quality is about the same as VHS video tape.....so if it came from a Tape, you won't notice much difference, in fact, they are a tiny touch better I find, though I could not say really why, its not logical!!

I suspected that your DVD recorder has a digitizer but you didn't say so. I try not to ASS-U-ME anything.

You are right - the 280 was a typo that I missed. Thanks.

With regard to the other points - we have the OP to thank for this thread going all over the place since OP did not provide enough information. However, if you read between the lines and make some ASS-U-Mtions it appears that OP has an older PC with a CD drive not DVD and no editing or burning software. He also did not tell us what kind of tapes he wants to convert; e.g., commercially produced movies. I tried to keep my post relevant to a poorly worded question.

I have a miniDV recorder that I have used to capture video from a VHS player, and then I downloaded the video from the miniDV to my PC via firewire. Once the miniDV recorder was properly connected to the VHS player, it would give you the ability to operate the VHS player through the miniDV recorder. It was a couple extra steps, but I made due with what I had.

I agree. I have been using a 'refurbished' dvd burner for my collection of old tapes. Not a perfect process, but the discs work in my cheap dvd player, AND in my computer.

hi oilcan13,

This might help solve your problem. Just follow the link

http://shopping.altoedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=15

regards.

I bought a "USB Instant DVD" capture device made by ABS Technologies back in 2001. It is an external box that runs through a USB port - I needed something external to run on a laptop at the time. It has worked fine. I have used it to capture from VHS VCR's as well as DVD players. It has regular RCA inputs, so it will probably take just about any NTSC signal; I don't remember for sure but I think it could be switched to PAL if necessary. It came bundled with some pretty good software for making DVD video. The video was pretty clean, as clean as the VCR could put out from well-used tapes.

For all the USB devices, please be aware that you need USB 2.0 on the computer to work correctly. The devices themselves are usually already USB 2.0!

Although USB1.1 and 2.0 are downwards compatible with each other, when copying Video in real time (as you will be here!) in a reasonable quality, you need the extra speed of 2.0 at both ends of the cable for it to work well for you.....

If the PC is old, make sure that no other programs are running at the same time AND you have plenty of hard disk space already defragged.....

Again not enough information; e.g., what computer are you using [PC or Mac], what Operating System [yes it matters because it will affect the software available] and how much of this do you intend to do. Finally - how long [hrs + minutes] are the VHS tapes that you want to convert.

First things first. CDs will not work. You need to produce DVDs if you intend to view the digitized product on a TV using a DVD player. Further, CDs are only 280 MB capacity - about 75 minutes of audio [MP3] and about 15 minutes of video at 30fps to a VCD. Also be aware of CD + DVD formats. Some DVD drives will burn only selected formats. In any event you should be using only DVD+R or DVD+RW

For low cost consumer projects you cannot go wrong with elgato hardware/software suites for Macs + PCs. These range from about $125 to $250. Very simple connections from the VHS deck to the computer through their conversion device. The latest versions are the size of a cell phone and provide SVideo, composite and component connectors. It sound as though you have an older computer so you may need to buy an older version, e.g., elgato EyeTV on eBay in order to match your system. btw - with elgato you will also be able to record directly from your TV, analog or digital HD.

This is a realtime process so you first record the digitized file to your computer. It is best to have an external scratch drive dedicated to this. Then you have to edit and process that file. elgato provides a slimmed down version of Toast for recording but that is not editing software. On a Mac you have built-in tools and inexpensive iMovie to do the editing. If you want to get fancy and provide chapters and titles etc., you then have to save the file to iDVD. Then you have to burn the the DVD. On a Mac this is a one-click operation - just click on the 'Burn Icon'. On a PC the editing + burning require the acquisition of additional software. However, elgato provides a slimmed down version of Toast to accomplish the burning. It may also include editing software but I cannot speak to that because I have never used it.

Finally the burn is also realtime. You have to be careful not to convert and record a tape that exceeds the capacity of the DVD otherwise after all that time and effort you will end up with a nice shinny coaster.

With regard to the last point. A 4.7GB DVD will accommodate about a 2.0 hr movie. So if you forget about editing and just consider the time to convert, record and burn, the process for a 2 hr movie = about 2.5 hrs per VHS tape. Of course on a fairly new computer with sufficient memory this almost a set and forget process. On older computers you have to monitor the process.

Often we find when no computer designation is given the OP is using a PC as we need specify oddities only

Alert - there is an error in the prior post. CDs typically have a capacity between 680 - 800MB depending format + manufacturer.

Thanks to Andy Germany for pointing this out.

I asked a simple question to the point. I don't think You need to know My life history to answer the question. a simple answer like the majority of the answers would do just fine. but for Your info: I have a HP model# s3507cPC-with DVD burner.running windows vista. It is one year old. I have DVD+R DL 8.5 GB double layer discs. The tapes I would like to transfer are the "Victory at sea" tapes. There are 4 tapes. there is no running time included on the tapes. each tape has apprx. 6 episodes. I believe I will have no problem puting one tape on one disc. I hope this answers Your question.

Everyone else thank You for Your input it is appreciated.

oilcan13

Did you record them yourself, or were they made commercially as there was a copy protection system on commercial VHS tapes......I have forgotten the name of the CP, sorry.

On some DVD recorders you can turn off the effect by some illegal "Hacks" so that you can record without problems....look on the web for the "Hack"....

If you copied them off the TV, then there will be no CP, you can copy safely.....

Thanks Andy:

I purchsed these tapes sometime ago. commercialy produced.

oilcan13

Then (assuming you are ready to copy) try to copy one and look at the results on your TV to see if the copy protection is ruining the picture or not....

By the way, the copy protection (if there) is called Macrovision.....it changes some signals so that a "copier" copies crap. These changed signals do not affect (most) TVs.

In a almost all TV recorders, is a chip looking for these changed signals....and when recording, the picture is made useless....

Hello Andy, yes you are correct about macrovision. The signal is in the vertical blanking.

It affects the AGC circuit in newer vcrs and dvd recorders but not tv's. The pc route it depends on the software.

The macrovision on tapes can be defeated with video stabilizers if there is a problem.

If you have an older tv or one that you can adjust the picture size. In the top few lines of video is where the offending signal is located next to the close caption signal and any time base signals. By adjusting the vertical hold you can see the signal or on monitor tv's the picture is shrunk to see all of the video signal or an oscilloscope.

Charles

I had this same need. I bought Pinnacle's PCI card and software. The card has a Plug-in analog video/audio I/O, which was easy to use. Price was just about $ 130 .

Thanks for the input.

Oilcan13

I have tried this with a couple of low end FireWire products. I always have "dropped frames" problems. After Googling I found out about separate hard drives and various system optimization parameters. I only had partial success with this. I tried both a 32-bit Windows machine and a 64-bit Linux machine. Thus, I have not become a fan of analog encoders with FireWire outputs.

I also have a conventional PCI bus capture card from Pinnacle. I have probably captured a hundred hours of video without a dropped frame. I assume the difference is that this architecture has enough memory on board to overcome minor system latency issues.

I don't know about the "dropped frames" issue with USB based analog capture products. I have a bad feeling that they won't have enough buffer memory to overcome system latency problems.

Hi Bruce,

I can sympathize about the latency issues of inexpensive FireWire A/D interfaces I too experienced this and I learned. I like the greater bandwidth of Firewire and dedicated video SATAII hardware is effective, in the past RAID was very beneficial but the bandwidth of the newer hard may reduce need of it in your setup.

I use Adobe products because no need to worry and the pro software is essentially open source with a few restrictions, after all it needs to be in order to facilitate the myriad setups. Having the capability of extreme editing lends itself to the ease of expression, no worries if it can be done. I use windows O/S; vista was made for me

Thanks for the comment bwire.

Since we are still consistent with the OP's question I'll go ahead and ask for a little more information.

1) Have you 100% gotten rid of the "dropped frames" issue with inexpensive FireWire analog capture devices by just switching to SATA II drives? This would be great, but I have to ask since it sounds too good to be true.

2) What capture device(s) do you successfully use? Did the SATAII drive allow most/all inexpensive FireWire devices to work without dropped frames or is it still necessary to select a specific capture device?

3) I have used Pinnacle Studio and Sony Vegas products but I have not used Adobe products for video. Your comment that Adobe is easy and "pro software is essentially open source" are a sharp contrast to what I expected. I still have nightmares from trying to create good PDF documents with bookmarks, table of contents, etc. I know that this is probably easier now, but I think I paid $199 or $299 (years ago) for Acrobat Writer just to hit brick walls and see all the ads that life would be better with Adobe Exchange, Adobe Distiiler, and others (I think the total was about 6 products to buy). I'll Google Adobe some this evening. Are you using Adobe Premier or some other Adobe package?

Thank you,
Bruce

*I'll Google Adobe some this evening.

Google won't deliver this link http://www.studioadobe.com/ and you will find most of your questions answered also.

Sony Vegas is excellent software and you will find Adobe has similar aspects though more variety has been my experience after gaining familiarity. Yes the package of synergistic elements is preferred or select modules which also interface with consistent values.

You are at a crossroads of sorts, either invest in a low latency interface or build a computer that will perform without through put bottlenecks causing inconsistencies; dropped frames etc..

Get the video into the software then we have the newly released 6GBs SATA hard drives and windows seven is superb.

You will find the following comments and the represented threads interesting as well and the second link contains the type machine for authoritative video processing.

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/37126#comment386573

http://cr4.globalspec.com/comment/471294/Re-Why-Upgrade-to-Windows-7

Canon

GL2 or XH-A1s

Sony security cams very good also.

I purchased a small unit that plugs into a USB port on my computer and then I can attach my VHS camcorder with the RCA jack cords. Works like a charm.. bought it for about $14 on Amazon. I plan to convert all my home movies from VHS to CD

It would probably be a whole lot easier to buy a combo VHS/ DVD recorder and copy to DVD. Panasonic makes some that are relatively inexpensive and extremely easy to operate. This will not work with copy protected VHS.

I did that and bought a Sharp RW 340 years ago. VCR is the weak link. Fouled tape broke that part of the stand alone combo.

Instructions sucked.

Watched some erotica, on the thing and that broke its program.

The vcr part broke too.

Overall that route may not now be the best way to go.

My Teac CD stand alone machine has given better performance.

It still works for instance.

When I even tried to get the Sharp Video to DVD machine supported and fixed by Sharp, support for that by the company seemed non existent.

I dropped my Sony Mini Disc and broke that, and it is difficult to get repaired as well. Guess you do have to send it back to Sony as the regular around town repair shop refused to mess with it, saying it was too small.

Looks to me that according to my experiences, you are best to put all the components together in ways that use your computer. While the stand alone systems I have for inputs to CD, or DVD from analog ware did do some things for me, they sure didn't do it for long regarding the DVD burner machine, and while the Teac CD machine works still I do suspect that it is overall better to know how to input analog into the computer and edit it or duplicate it there.

I've had a Panasonic DMR-EZ24 for over 5 years and have had no problems.

Ckeck out panqasonic.com

The media center PC uses:

The LG GGW-H20L OEM Blu-Ray Disc Rewriter reads and burns High Definition Blu-ray Discs, as well as DVD and CD formats. It supports recording both 50GB and 25GB BD-R and BD-RE discs. This advanced Blu-ray burner will also handle all normal recordable optical media formats including dual layer discs

panasonic