VHS Capture

I used to have an old Plextor ConvertX (external capture device), but it's not compatible with Win 7 so I can't use it anymore. It used to work fairly well, although for some reason when it captured from VHS there was always a distortion line at the bottom of the capture.

If you're want to do it lazy man style, they sell VHS/DVD recorder hybrids where you plop the tape in one side and the DVD-R in the other side and it does it automatically. Those go for $150 ish from what I've seen at places like Costco. Most capture cards or external devices are going to have analog inputs vs. coaxial. Awhile back I tried to look for options and found a few in the $50-$80 range, but no clue on the quality of them. You can find them on Amazon and at Best Buy pretty readily.

The big thing is to make sure whatever device you get has an efficient capture codec, especially if your plan is to xfer old home movies that take up an entire 2-4 hour+ VHS tape.

I don't recall if the haupaugge <sp> has inputs that can do it but that would be the easiest option if it does.

I know places like Costco will do it, but they charge like $20 per 2 hr tape or something. If you only have 1 or 2 tapes, it might worth it. If you have lots, you'll save more money (but not time) doing it yourself.

Alternately, but a unit from Costco, copy all your VHS tapes, return it the next week. A little dishonest, but you're pretty much never going to use the thing again once all your tapes are converted. No use holding onto the device forever.

If your VCR can output S-Video, you can grab an old AGP video card with Video In likethisone and use it to rip your stuff.

gogusrl_sl said:

If your VCR can output S-Video, you can grab an old AGP video card with Video In likethisone and use it to rip your stuff.

Click to expand...

Might be pretty hard to find something to plug it into...

If you're want to do it lazy man style, they sell VHS/DVD recorder hybrids where you plop the tape in one side and the DVD-R in the other side and it does it automatically. Those go for $150 ish from what I've seen at places like Costco. Most capture cards or external devices are going to have analog inputs vs. coaxial. Awhile back I tried to look for options and found a few in the $50-$80 range, but no clue on the quality of them. You can find them on Amazon and at Best Buy pretty readily.

Click to expand...

Last summer my dad decided to convert all our old VHS tapes (family movies plus other misc. videos) into DVD format. He went to K-Mart and bought one of those converting machines and ran it 24/7 for a week. After he was finished he returned it for a full refund. Free conversion. Normally I'd feel bad about doing something like but fuck K-Mart and the ghetto/homeless people who live there.

So that may be an option for anyone who is looking for an easy way to convert on the cheap.