What were you recording? Those players are going for $200+ on eBay. Is it worth that to record a few 25-45 year old home movies?
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Converting VHS Tapes to Digital
- Thread starter brachole
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What were you recording? Those players are going for $200+ on eBay. Is it worth that to record a few 25-45 year old home movies?
It was stuff shot on cameras that were decent in their days -- a JVC with external tape deck (!), a Panasonic camcorder (can't remember the model, but it was expensive). Some of it might have been S-VHS. It was as good as VHS got.
If you mean the content -- yeah. It was worth it. Early video of what my company did, family stuff, school-related, some material from when I was teaching a Research Methods course. Would I have run to save it from a fire? No. But I couldn't see any reason to let the tapes deteriorate when I could digitize them. And I knew I'd be moving soon and the less to pack, the better.
I already had the AG1980 because my son (now a full-fledged film editor) wanted to get into editing, and used it with an analog editing controller, the name of which I can't remember. (This was mid-1990s.) The AG1980 could be controlled by an external device, so it was useful.
The AG1980 would let you get the most out of your VHS tapes. But I can't tell you how much more it would get than a plain home VHS deck from years ago. I do think more, and I do think that the robust mechanics and electronics probably can get more out of nasty old tapes than a lesser machine can. But is it worth it to you? If you'd like to say "I extracted every bit of information from the old tapes," then the AG1980 would be best. Only you can say.
If you mean the content -- yeah. It was worth it. Early video of what my company did, family stuff, school-related, some material from when I was teaching a Research Methods course. Would I have run to save it from a fire? No. But I couldn't see any reason to let the tapes deteriorate when I could digitize them. And I knew I'd be moving soon and the less to pack, the better.
I already had the AG1980 because my son (now a full-fledged film editor) wanted to get into editing, and used it with an analog editing controller, the name of which I can't remember. (This was mid-1990s.) The AG1980 could be controlled by an external device, so it was useful.
The AG1980 would let you get the most out of your VHS tapes. But I can't tell you how much more it would get than a plain home VHS deck from years ago. I do think more, and I do think that the robust mechanics and electronics probably can get more out of nasty old tapes than a lesser machine can. But is it worth it to you? If you'd like to say "I extracted every bit of information from the old tapes," then the AG1980 would be best. Only you can say.
Thanks. I've been casually looking around at the equipment I'll need but when I get closer to buying I'll have to decide. What I'm wanting to convert is older home movies from the late 80s (recorded on VHS and duplicated to a bunch of family members) and moves from the 60s? (recorded on who knows what and transferred to VHS back in the late 80s, early 90s).
We have a Sanyo VCR/DVD combo that's fairly new. The picture seems pretty good. The main thing I'm reluctant about buying an older one is I won't know for sure if it'll work, especially if bought on Amazon or eBay. Or if it'll be worth the expense.
I think having s-video output is important. The higher-end VCRs had it and the lower-end ones didn't.
Composite, which is what you'll get with most of them, offers the lowest quality output.
Composite, which is what you'll get with most of them, offers the lowest quality output.
Yep second that, the best option by far is a S-VHS deck with S-video/phono outputs. Second best is a scart output and a S-video/phono scart adapter with a switchable input/output.
This setup at least gives you a fighting chance of extracting the maximum quality from tape at a reasonable price.
I was lucky with a S-VHS deck as I bought one literally as the format was about to die about 10 years ago for £30 from a supermarket.
I shoved it unopened into the loft and forgot about it until I recently needed to transfer some VHS so it was in perfect condition.
Thanks, But I've read a review that that someone had audio/video sync problem. Did you encounter any of the sync problems? I don't have AG1980 and will be using a regular VCR that I have from the past with S-Video output.
What do you personally thing about ADVC110/55 product. It has a lot of great reviews and no sync problems. My top 3 products that I'm most interested in now are: ADVC110/55, Blackmagic video recorder, and Honestech VIDBOX.
Thanks for your help.
No synch problems.
I have no experience with the ADVC110/55 and so I can't comment. It might be a great piece of equipment -- I don't know.
That's why I'm confining myself to saying that the Blackmagic worked perfectly for me.
I wouldn't see any problems with using the VCR you're talking about. Any VCR with s-video is going to be a good-quality VCR, because only the higher-end ones had s-video.
I have no experience with the ADVC110/55 and so I can't comment. It might be a great piece of equipment -- I don't know.
That's why I'm confining myself to saying that the Blackmagic worked perfectly for me.
I wouldn't see any problems with using the VCR you're talking about. Any VCR with s-video is going to be a good-quality VCR, because only the higher-end ones had s-video.
I've used the ADVC110 for a project to transfer VHS-C video to DVD and it was excellent once I'd sorted out the connections; I have a late 2012 iMac with Thunderbolt and no firewire, but found the Apple Thunderbolt to firewire connector hooked everything up and worked well.
I can't comment about the ADVC55, but certainly the 110 gave very good results considering the age of the tapes and the client was more than happy.
I can't comment about the ADVC55, but certainly the 110 gave very good results considering the age of the tapes and the client was more than happy.
Thanks, regarding the connections, did you use a firewire 9-6 pin cable? The firewire to Thunderbolt adapter from apple is for Firewire 800 cable. I found the following cables that Grass Valley recommended as per http://www.grassvalley.com/docs/Application_Notes/professional/advc/PRV-4077M_ADVC_FireWire800_AN.pdf:
http://www.belkin.com/us/F3N404-APL-Belkin/p/P-F3N404-APL/
and
http://www.belkin.com/us/F3N417-APL/p/P-F3N417-APL/
Did you use any of these cables? If not then which one did you use?
Thanks, Greg.
Greg,
To get from firewire 800 to 400 I simply used a 800 to 400 adapter from fleaBay as the 110 comes with a 400 cable as standard.
Something like:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/firewire-400-800-adapter
Cost peanuts and worked very well, though if you feel you might need a 800/400 cable then the Belkin is probably the best quality for the money.
I'd already spent £25 on the Apple thunderbolt to firewire convertor so I didn't want to drop another £25 on another cable.
As the signal is digital as long as the connection is made there is not going to be any loss of quality like you would possibly get with an analogue source.
Decision Made!
Hey guys,
I just wanted to thank everyone for the help. I've decided to go with ADVC-110. I found a great deal on a used item on ebay. Purchased cable on Amazon and Apple adapter as well. All for a total of $160. Now waiting for the items to arrive.
My decision was mostly based on user reviews for each particular item as well as most reliable product for perfect audio/video sync and the price.
I was going between Blackmagic and ADVC-110. But after getting full calculations for all the products there wasn't much difference between $142 and $160. Again it all depends on how much you could get the ADVC-110 for!
I am currently using MacBook Pro - Retina Display, with OSX 10.9.3. I have latest versions of iMovies, Adobe Premier Pro, and FinalCut Pro and will provide some feedback once I try out the conversion of VHS to Mac. I will say if I ran into any problems and will let you guys know what software I ended up using. Fingers crossed, hoping everything will go smoothly.
Thanks guys, Greg.
Hey guys,
I just wanted to thank everyone for the help. I've decided to go with ADVC-110. I found a great deal on a used item on ebay. Purchased cable on Amazon and Apple adapter as well. All for a total of $160. Now waiting for the items to arrive.
My decision was mostly based on user reviews for each particular item as well as most reliable product for perfect audio/video sync and the price.
I was going between Blackmagic and ADVC-110. But after getting full calculations for all the products there wasn't much difference between $142 and $160. Again it all depends on how much you could get the ADVC-110 for!
I am currently using MacBook Pro - Retina Display, with OSX 10.9.3. I have latest versions of iMovies, Adobe Premier Pro, and FinalCut Pro and will provide some feedback once I try out the conversion of VHS to Mac. I will say if I ran into any problems and will let you guys know what software I ended up using. Fingers crossed, hoping everything will go smoothly.
Thanks guys, Greg.
The Canopus ADVC-110 has no TBC and misses some other correctors.
I have the ADVC-300, which has TBC. I bought it for 250,-EUR 5 years ago. Now it is not sold anymore. They get sold used for 250,-EUR on Ebay. I don't know the situation in the US, but I would investigate, if this might not be an option (selling it afterwards with no loss).
The TBC guarantees that sound and video keep linked and fit together, no matter how long you record/capture.
Btw. with an Elgato 250 USB, I got blocking, when you have an error in the picture like, a snow flake like dust in the picture. And the blocking will go on, even if the error part is over. (choosing other i, b, p frame options helped).
I have the ADVC-300, which has TBC. I bought it for 250,-EUR 5 years ago. Now it is not sold anymore. They get sold used for 250,-EUR on Ebay. I don't know the situation in the US, but I would investigate, if this might not be an option (selling it afterwards with no loss).
The TBC guarantees that sound and video keep linked and fit together, no matter how long you record/capture.
Btw. with an Elgato 250 USB, I got blocking, when you have an error in the picture like, a snow flake like dust in the picture. And the blocking will go on, even if the error part is over. (choosing other i, b, p frame options helped).
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Elgato works really well for me. I used it a good bit (doing a similar project) and never had an issue with the audio. For a good result, I was always sure to press play, record, and not minimize the elgato window. Just leave it up, and walk away from your computer. It was fine for me. Good luck to you!
Update!!!
Update!!!
Hey guys,
After receiving all my items (ADVC-110, Firewire, and Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter) I was able to successfully import my VHS to my MacBook Pro Retina OSX 10.9.3 without any problems!!! I used iMovie to import my vhs. I imported for 3 hours without stopping and had NO Sync problems with audio and video!!! The good thing about iMovie is that if it found any scenes that were bad or not similar to the video (such as the static image) then it automatically continued to import the video as a new file. Turning down the volume on your mac would NOT lower the volume of the import video!!! All I had to do in this process is to click stop import once the vhs has ended. I also used the noise reduction feature which worked great.
Thank you all for your help!!! If you have any questions then I would try to help as well.
Update!!!
Hey guys,
After receiving all my items (ADVC-110, Firewire, and Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter) I was able to successfully import my VHS to my MacBook Pro Retina OSX 10.9.3 without any problems!!! I used iMovie to import my vhs. I imported for 3 hours without stopping and had NO Sync problems with audio and video!!! The good thing about iMovie is that if it found any scenes that were bad or not similar to the video (such as the static image) then it automatically continued to import the video as a new file. Turning down the volume on your mac would NOT lower the volume of the import video!!! All I had to do in this process is to click stop import once the vhs has ended. I also used the noise reduction feature which worked great.
Thank you all for your help!!! If you have any questions then I would try to help as well.
Yes, that parallels my experience. I've used it to record 2 hour movies with no synch problems whatsoever.
The ADVC-110 and 300 are a good thing for investing money in anyway. You do not loose any money, if you sell it some time later. I bought mine for 250,-EUR a long time ago and still it is sold for 250,-EUR used on Ebay.
The ADVC-110 (versus the 300) lacks a TBC, but I read, that this is no problem, since, if you import from the original VHS tape or directly from a camera, you do not need the TBC. That is good to hear.
The ADVC-110 (versus the 300) lacks a TBC, but I read, that this is no problem, since, if you import from the original VHS tape or directly from a camera, you do not need the TBC. That is good to hear.
Good to hear, I've not had any problems with extended importing using the ADVC-110; the sync was perfect even after an hour or so.
The only issue I had was having to clean the tape heads after every tape import as the old Hi8 tape seemed to build up static or something on the heads causing excessive noise on the following tape import. A quick run through with the head cleaner each time kept the quality as good as possible.
I guess after twenty years stuck in a box in the attic isn't the best environment for storing tape media...
The only issue I had was having to clean the tape heads after every tape import as the old Hi8 tape seemed to build up static or something on the heads causing excessive noise on the following tape import. A quick run through with the head cleaner each time kept the quality as good as possible.
I guess after twenty years stuck in a box in the attic isn't the best environment for storing tape media...
Good to hear, I've not had any problems with extended importing using the ADVC-110; the sync was perfect even after an hour or so.
The only issue I had was having to clean the tape heads after every tape import as the old Hi8 tape seemed to build up static or something on the heads causing excessive noise on the following tape import. A quick run through with the head cleaner each time kept the quality as good as possible.
I guess after twenty years stuck in a box in the attic isn't the best environment for storing tape media...
Not that macrumors isn't a great place for comical anecdotes, but when my great aunt passed away a few years back, we were cleaning out her house, and discovered around an estimated 1000 vinyl records in her attic, accompanied by a turntable. None of us knew that these existed up there, and took the whole lot downstairs.
The vinyls must have been up there for quite a few warm summers, as the grooves in the vinyls had all melted. They were all smooth pieces of plastic.
Not that we would have taken the time to go through them individually on ebay or something, but there were a few valuables in there.
Moral of the story:
Never put technology in the attic, when you live in Miami, or anywhere very warm.
Totally agree, this is a great option. I had soo many vhs tapes that I needed converted so outsourcing (sending them to a conversion service) was out of the question, those places charge $20 a tape! I'm not the techiest person but I still managed to convert vhs tapes by myself just fine with a video file converter. The nice thing was I could edit the footage afterwards but color correction and actually editing and combining (which for baby videos is so handy). But that's just my two cents. There are tons of different options out there are far as converters go. Just google and go to Amazon and take your pic
Totally agree, this is a great option. I had soo many vhs tapes that I needed converted so outsourcing (sending them to a conversion service) was out of the question, those places charge $20 a tape! I'm not the techiest person but I still managed to convert vhs tapes by myself just fine with a video file converter. The nice thing was I could edit the footage afterwards but color correction and actually editing and combining (which for baby videos is so handy). But that's just my two cents. There are tons of different options out there are far as converters go. Just google and go to Amazon and take your pic
This was one of the reasons why I originally went for the Sony PC100 DV camcorder when it was first released in the UK a decade ago as it was supposed to have throughput to allow video in/DV out to Mac via firewire.
Unfortunately for the UK, Sony in their infinite wisdom decided to disable this feature even though it was in the manual as a feature and much hyped before the camera launch.
I never did get any reply from Sony as to why they disabled this very useful feature on the UK models and left it in for the rest of the World. This caused me a World of grief at the time as I then had to muck around finding a compatible video capture card at even more expense. Not impressed.
Not sure if you are able, but there is a mac program called "elgato video capture" that is very useful. It records stuff really easily; just find someone in the UK who is selling the discs on ebay or somewhere. it's a lot easier than trying to find a camera to do it.
If you have a mac, you just need a vcr to play a tape. Unless if you have a mini-dv tape or something...?
A hardware device is needed to interface and convert the analog signal to digital for use by the Mac. The Canopus 110 is visibly better at doing that than the Elgato unit.