Converting VHS to Digital

Jeff Strouse · Post by **Jeff Strouse** » 27 Nov 2013 10:52 pm

I'd like to digitize all my home VHS tapes. What's the best way to do this, with minimal loss in quality? The VHS medium already looks grainy on today's HD monitors, so the least quality loss the better.

I see there are USB Video capture devices on the market, like Pinnacle, Elgato, Hauppage, etc. It has software to record in real time to a file.

Or, I also have a DVD recorder unit, which makes a great copy to a DVD-R.

But I found out it's not easy to put the disc in my computer and save the videos to the hard drive (like you can with music CDs). Seems like you have to have a converter program, and there is quality loss...

I downloaded Wondershare DVD Converter, and although it made a copy of my DVD, there was quality loss. I contaced their customer service to be sure my settings were correct, and they said there is always quality loss in the conversion process.

So before I get going on digitizing the rest of my VHS tapes, I'd like to know if anyone knows of the best method to it. VCR to computer via USB, or burn them to disc first, and get a DVD converter program.

Thanks!

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 28 Nov 2013 3:19 am

Although you can do it on a PC, if its over one or two VHS tapes, its best to have a standalone DVD recorder or a combo VHS/DVD recorder and do it with that.

When doing it with a PC you have to, first have the needed interface unit, second "record" the VHS video to the PC's hard drive and then burn the DVD with the correct finalization so it can be played on any DVD player. A long drawn out process that ties up the PC while you are doing all this.

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 28 Nov 2013 6:43 am

I use Honestech 5.0 Deluxe. It will record direct to DVD, or as Jack said you can "load" to your hard drive and manipulate the file(s) then, burn to DVD save, post to youtube, etc. Either way, it is a long process, think, time spent watching + processing.

Ray Anderson · Post by **Ray Anderson** » 28 Nov 2013 7:14 am

I tried both ways to record and found the DVD recorder to VHS unit to work best. The PC software and tools was a lengthy process and tied up the PC for hours. The recorder that I used also finalized the disk in the process. This is a time consuming but it's worth it. I think Jack Stoner was the one who guided me through it, Thanks Jack.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 28 Nov 2013 8:54 am

When doing it with a PC you have to, first have the needed interface unit, second "record" the VHS video to the PC's hard drive and then burn the DVD with the correct finalization so it can be played on any DVD player. A long drawn out process that ties up the PC while you are doing all this.

I have tried this many times on my VHS/DVD player/recorder. Every tape that I had was copy protected and I couldn't get past that to be able to record the tape to DVD. Is the PC software programmed to get past the copy protection?