VHS to DVD

silkyuk9

I have over 250 VHS tapes in the attic, full of boxing that I collected over 15 years ago. I have over 2500 fights stored on the tapes. Ive had a look and some of the tapes have mold on them now and could well be perishing.

A few years ago I tried something called EasyCap that I plugged into my VHS recorder and connected to my pc. It did not work, could not get a picture.

Looking on Ebay VHS to DVD recorders are still pretty expensive to buy so I was thinking about the route to pc again then taking the movie and putting it onto DVD that way.

Basically I'm looking for some kit, once again to connect my VHS recorder to my pc and just transfer the VHS that way.

Can anyone recommend some gear that will do this. I do not want to spend money on something like EasyCap for it not to work.

Thanks

googler

Standalone DVD recorders, with analogue tuners, can be found for small change on eBay these days, since the digital switchover. Quite a few recent sales for less than a tenner. Here's one for £17.99

If you have the VHS player already, and it has a SCART socket or other video/audio output, all you need is a DVD recorder with matching input socketry, and you're good to go.

As long as the mould isn't on the tape itself, you should be OK, but it might be an idea to clean any off the casework before putting tapes in the player. If there's mould on the tape itself, you're probably best fast-forwarding to a clean section before playing. If there is mould on the tape, it's likely to be only on the semi-exposed section behind the safety flap.

silkyuk9

googler wrote: »

Standalone DVD recorders, with analogue tuners, can be found for small change on eBay these days, since the digital switchover. Quite a few recent sales for less than a tenner. Here's one for £17.99

If you have the VHS player already, and it has a SCART socket or other video/audio output, all you need is a DVD recorder with matching input socketry, and you're good to go.

As long as the mould isn't on the tape itself, you should be OK, but it might be an idea to clean any off the casework before putting tapes in the player. If there's mould on the tape itself, you're probably best fast-forwarding to a clean section before playing. If there is mould on the tape, it's likely to be only on the semi-exposed section behind the safety flap.

I see what you are saying. This means I can watch the VHS on the TV and just press the record button on the DVD player when I want to record part of the VHS, correct?

googler

silkyuk9 wrote: »

I see what you are saying. This means I can watch the VHS on the TV and just press the record button on the DVD player when I want to record part of the VHS, correct?

Yes, you can do this. Ideally, connect the VHS to the input on the DVD recorder, and output from DVD recorder to TV

flashg67

I use the method above. It won't work with 'proper' pre-recorded tapes because of the Macrovision protection, but stuff you've taped yourself from the TV etc will be fine. It's the only reason I keep a DVD recorder around (plus I can permanently save films from my PVR using the same method)

I tried one of the budget easy-cap USB devices and it was useless - really rubbish picture & sound. I've seen people have success with Video to PC conversion, but you'd really need the top quality devices which are expensive.

Lum

For the record I used to do fine capturing from VHS with a £40 PCI card that used the bt878 chipset. In the late 90s and early 00s there were loads of these things being sold under different cheap+nasty unheard-of brands, but the actual chip was good.

It's a bit of a faff with software and drivers, but it can be made to work.

I guess these no-name companies are now reselling cheap+nasty USB crap that doesn't work so well. Oh well that's progress for you.