Convert VHS to Digital - How To Convert Your VHS Tapes #middlesiggy

if you have a box of VHS tapes like this one and would like to convert them to a digital format this video is for you in this demonstration I'm going to use a few different methods to convert VHS videotapes into a digital file on your PC they'll range from a cheap 35 audio and video USB device to the top method using an upscaler and a video capture card for less than three hundred dollars but I think all of these methods are reasonable and frankly these are our memories our Priceless Memories you are only going to do this once and you need to do it before your tapes degrade and you lose those memories forever [Music] I encourage you to watch the whole video and if you find this helpful please convert that subscribe button for me and press the like button below so the YouTube algorithm can bring those videos to others and we can save another forgotten memory locked away and some cardboard box in a corner but right now we'll start with the cheapest option first and work our way to the most expensive method and along the way I will share with you the comparison of the different video captures and also how they stack up against each other I'm not going to go into great depth on any one of the devices and it's software as I'll leave that to another video so I can represent each product appropriately as I feel for the price they're all good but each method does its own or has its own pros and cons to understand the overall process we need to start with a device to play the tapes a vcr and a device that will make the analog and audio and video signals and convert them into a digital form then of course we need your PC or laptop to store the digital video the first method is using a 35 Diamond multimedia vc500 adapter to make this work you need to install the software that came with the device on your computer plug the audio and video cables into the back of your VCR and then plug the other end into the vc500 matching the same colored jacks yellow is for the video white in the left and right sound if your VCR only has one sound jack then just use the white plug as that was the standard then plug the USB into your PC and start up the software choose the proper video format in the US it's the ntsc Type M set the appropriate folders save your video to and what format you would like to save the videos in this case it's DVD then click the red button to begin recording and press play on your VCR now we have to watch the entire video as it plays so go grab a snack or possibly even dinner because well a VHS tape it can hold up to eight hours of video in its longest play mode once your video is done click the stop button on the software and you should have a digital version of your tape now don't forget to stop your VCR and rewind the tape for the next person foreign so the vc500 by default will save the video recording in a 720 by 480 4x3 Square video format which is saved as an impeg2 and for 35 dollars it looks quite nice now my second method is using a very similar device the Elgato video capture USB device which only runs around 85 dollars U.S for the extra 50 bucks frankly it's worth it the software is Superior in many ways and the video quality although it's not earth shattering different I do think it's better I think the main reason for this is the Elgato offers many more output formats and the digital encoder process uses a newer codec and that just makes the video better than the mpeg-2 format it also supports many different formats from the Native 320 by 240 to a 640x480 and even the 720 by 480 format just like the vc500 so the Elgato has a lot more options you can also choose a 4x3 or a 6x9 for each video format and there are editing options and ways to share your video on YouTube and more to use the Elgato video capture USB device just like before plug your audio and video cables into the back of your VCR plug the other end into the Elgato video capture device then plug the other usbn into your PC from there install the software start it up name the memory you're going to capture and choose the aspect ratio most all VHS tapes will be a 4x3 now press the red record button and begin capturing on the PC and then press the play button on your VCR just like before we have to wait for the video play in the Elgato software even has a mute option while it is converting and it will not affect the process at all should you want to mute it and go back and watch one of my other YouTube videos while you're recording it it won't affect anything once it's done then you can press the red record button again and the conversion will stop now this is another way that the Elgato software is better and makes it for the price difference here you can drag the tags at the beginning and the end of the video and this will trim the fuzz and the blue screens from the front and the back of your video so your new digital video looks the best it can move the tags and press the continue button the software will now begin cropping your video for you while it saves a copy to the folder you selected foreign let's take a short look at the differences in the videos here we can see the native original 320 by 240 size and format of the video at the top of the screen this is the original size of a VHS recording the two videos below are the scaled up versions for each of the devices and they're 720x480 capture sizes these scaled up videos are better because when we go to watch this on our computer or on our big screen TV the larger pixel image hopefully will look better and not so blocky when we expand it to the full screen size the Elgato software will provide you with many more output options as the cheaper vc500 really only has the one format if you pay attention to the video differences I don't see an earth shattering quality difference between the Elgato and the bc500 but I did notice that the encoding process of the Elgato software definitely made some of the rough edges smooth and I think this is because of the encoding software as both of them did a good job of upscaling the original 320 by 240 video the Elgato was able to use the more modern algorithm which caused the digital image to look just look better and remember the Elgato software also supports multiple formats and aspect ratios should you want them my final method for this video is using an upscaler and a high definition capture card which will convert the analog signal into a digital one and at the same time take it from a 320 by 240 to a high resolution 1920 by 1080. from there we're going to take the upscale 1080 high definition image and capture it on an Elgato hd60 Pro capture card that's inside my PC there are a few other Elgato capture devices and I will leave a link below should they fit your situation A little better as you might have a laptop and you can't put an add-on card into a laptop so you'll need an external device instead to make this work plug the audio and video cables into the back of the VCR and then plug them into the upscaler device make sure that your upscaler device has power and from here you should be using the HDMI cable out of the upscaler and going to the capture card device that you are using I'm using again the Elgato hd60 Pro and it supports a 1080p 60 frames a second capture capability now you will want to install the Elgato 4K capture software and run it and you should see the video on your screen from here press play on the bottom of the screen and play on your VCR just like before we just need to watch the wonderful memories and once it's finished press the red button again and stop the recording now in this case our final video is a true 1080p high resolution video file and I think the video quality looks amazing when you compare it to the scaling the device did it really is impressive when you compare it to the 320 by 240 image into a 1920x1080 image now to show you the difference I'm going to take the original 320 by 240 image and stretch it to the 1920 by 1080 screen size and I'm now going to take and place the Elgato hd60 Pro capture right next to that scaled image and you can really see the difference so I hope you enjoy always seeing the difference between the low end USB capture device and using a high-end capture device such as the Elgato hd60 again I think all of these are great options but I personally would go with one of the Elgato products as a software which just magnitudes better and if my budget could handle it I would definitely use an upscaler and the hd60 capture card or something equivalent if you want to see a deeper dive into any of the products that I used I put the link in the description below to other videos that I made if you want to see the options for converting your videos without the need for a PC I made another video here or if you need to convert eight millimeter or Super 8 film I also made another video on how to do that over here as always I'd like to thank you for taking the time to watch my Channel please leave any comments below and I will respond to them when I get a chance as always have fun have a wonderful rest of your day and again thank you for watching

Channel: MiddleSiggy's Homestead

Views: 135,691

Keywords: vhs to digital how to convert your vhs tapes, vhs, vhs to digital, how to, video capture, vcr, convert vhs to digital, vhs to computer, digital video, vhs capture, how to transfer vhs tapes to computer, how to convert vhs to digital, tutorial, vhs to digital converter, analog tape, how to transfer tapes to vhs, how to transfer home movies to computer, home videos, digitize, analog to digital, vhs to dvd

Id: JMnLN0oGkq0

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 22 2023