Converting VHS tapes to Digital Media

My family probably has hundreds of old VHS tapes, we have a VHS/DVD player, which converts them, quite painfully,you must watch the whole tape, and then the formatting and saving isn't so smooth, I was wondering if anyone could suggest a VHS converter to put them directly on a hard drive, preferably cheap (under $100 would be nice, assuming I have the computer and HDD)since DVDs are already on their way out, and converting video formats is much easier than converting media along with its content, easily.

converter dvd vhs mp4 video media

asked Apr 22 '12 at 17:30

pjob797
2.6k●38●49●82

One Answer:

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since VHS does not have any HD content, you can simply connect a VCR up to a cheap $12 easycap and rip the content to your PC by just recording the realtime playback.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EasyCAP-DC60-v2-1C-TV-DVD-VHS-Video-Audio-Capture-Vista-/280761987188?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415eb7f074

It will take a while since you have to record everything in real time

answered Apr 22 '12 at 18:01

Razor512
15.6k●34●80●242

Yeah, i was hoping against odds there was a way to fast forward record it, but save at a normal speed, but I'd rather use an easy cap than vhs-dvd then trying to format with the right video information etc, thanks for the link and advice though

(Apr 22 '12 at 18:04) pjob797

You can't do that since VHS is analog and must be recorded to digital format in real time.

(Apr 22 '12 at 20:03) nickjuly4

I meant, it would record it faster, and then the end product would be slowed down, but i figured that it wouldn't exist/work/be practical

(Apr 22 '12 at 21:36) pjob797

usually if you fast forward, the VCR will still push out 30FPS so you cant really fast forward then slow down the recorded content.

I checked some dedicated transfer devices such as the ion VCR to USB which is designed for backing up VHS tapes, and it still rips the content is real time, so if the video is 1 hour long, then it will take an hour to record (worst of all, it cost like $170 when all it is it a standard VCR with a tool similar to an easycap built in.

I think it may be a limitation off trying to read a VHS at a really high speed, probably generates static which ruins the picture.

(Apr 22 '12 at 23:51) Razor512

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