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Happy 2022! What is the EASIEST way to covert VHS to digital now?

dmk1974

dmk1974

macrumors 68020
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Sep 16, 2008
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No longer interested in converting from VHS to DVD like 10 years back with a recorder box. Just want to dump olf VHS tapes from my VCR (which still works) into .mov or .mp4 files. No editing needed, just straight conversion to digital file.

What is the easiest/best adapter cable and software method to do this nowadays? Prefer to use my MacMini instead of Windows PC. Thanks!
 
dmk1974

dmk1974

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Original poster
Sep 16, 2008
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MacNerd01 said:
I would use this: https://www.elgato.com/en/video-capture

Elgato makes this capture card for VHS, you can just capture it with obs studio or something similar. It’s kinda pricey, but you could probably find a cheaper one elsewhere.
Click to expand...
Thank you. That looks like a good option. I did just see some reviews that there may be an issue with M1 Macs so I may have a problem if I try on my MacBook, but my Mac Mini is 2018 so hopefully will work fine.
 
HMI

HMI

Contributor
May 23, 2012
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This might not be the answer you were looking for, but the EASIEST way would be to bring your vhs tapes to a company that specializes in converting them for you, and paying them to deal with all of this for you. They’ll just hand you a USB drive with all the digital video files on it. There’s not much point in paying for an Elgato capture card if you’re just going to convert your own videos one time, and never use it again. Your time and peace of mind is probably more valuable to you than the cost and effort of doing all of this by yourself. Just a thought.
 
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MarkC426

MarkC426

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That's the only problem with analog media, everything has to be done in real-time...o_O
I have an Elgato USB capture device, but have only used it for short (5 mins) clips.
Don't think it would work very well for footage that is a couple of hours long.
 
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MacNerd01

MacNerd01

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MarkC426 said:
That's the only problem with analog media, everything has to be done in real-time...o_O
I have an Elgato USB capture device, but have only used it for short (5 mins) clips.
Don't think it would work very well for footage that is a couple of hours long.
Click to expand...
My capture card isn’t made by Elgato, but I can record videos an hour long or more, I’ve done it before.
 
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MarkC426

MarkC426

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I will have to do a test and see how long I can record.
It's probably dependant on the speed of the drive being written to, for a consistent write.
But then VHS footage is very low quality/resolution.
 
MacNerd01

MacNerd01

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MarkC426 said:
I will have to do a test and see how long I can record.
It's probably dependant on the speed of the drive being written to, for a consistent write.
But then VHS footage is very low quality/resolution.
Click to expand...
Quite true. Recording off of a 15+ year old device and a 2 year old one are very different, both in quality and cooperation ?
 
MarkC426

MarkC426

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Just had a check on the Amazon listing for my device, and the reviews say up to 30-40 mins is fine but any more and the audio loses sync.
It works perfectly for my use-case though, and only records in 640x480.....?...which was VHS standard.
 
F

fisha

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Mar 10, 2006
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Does your DVD recorder have an HDMI out ? If so, getting one oft those cheap HDMI capture usb devices may be an option which is reliable. The HDMI usb capture would present as a standard video device/camera/webcam in the OS, and be usable by any program that can see it. I have one (admittedly on PC), and I've never seen in go out of sync.

So you would have:

VHS > DVD recorder > HDMI USB > PC

I know that the DVD recorder device seems like an extra step, but the older devices like those sometimes have better analogue converters within them. some include time base correction as well ( this is where the converter re-aligns the leading left hand edge of the picture to straighten it out and eliminate wobble ) ... a feature that most converters these days don't have.

I'm not saying that you would actually write a DVD, just use it as a pass through device that does the conversion.


If your DVD device doesn't have HDMI out. .. then ignore !
 
W

webfilms

macrumors newbie
Sep 29, 2012
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0
dmk1974 said:
No longer interested in converting from VHS to DVD like 10 years back with a recorder box. Just want to dump olf VHS tapes from my VCR (which still works) into .mov or .mp4 files. No editing needed, just straight conversion to digital file.

What is the easiest/best adapter cable and software method to do this nowadays? Prefer to use my MacMini instead of Windows PC. Thanks!
Click to expand...
No cost method used for film to digital transfer. Just play the VBS in screen and record off the screen. I would use a dark room and tripod for camera but you probably have that. If you use your iPhone I would record to 1080 but your could use 4 K if you want. The resolution is the max coming off the screen. I usually get the camera as close to the screen to fill the frame. Usually 2 feet works for me. If you want a film look record at 24 fps. But if you want the best results best to pay for it and find out how the service transfers the VHS and the best is a tele cine type video to digital transfer. Hope this helps.
 
gshocked

gshocked

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Oct 3, 2019
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That Elgato Video capture device looks great!!

But where the fun in an "easy solution". What about the old school method, getting a Macbook Pro circa 2007 with firewire 800, a mini dv video camera, then a VCD with s-video out? That was my budget solution back then! 😁

All the best with the transfers!!
 
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MacNerd01

MacNerd01

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yakult121 said:
Hey @MacNerd01, which brand of the capture card did you get?
Click to expand...
I don’t specifically recall the brand, I was a little shaky on buying it because it was circa $30 from a Chinese company, but it actually happens to work very well, tho with minor lag btwn the display and OBS. I’ll see if I can get a picture for you at some point. I found it on amazon.
 
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Menneisyys2

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Jun 7, 2011
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gshocked said:
That Elgato Video capture device looks great!!

But where the fun in an "easy solution". What about the old school method, getting a Macbook Pro circa 2007 with firewire 800, a mini dv video camera, then a VCD with s-video out? That was my budget solution back then! ?

All the best with the transfers!!
Click to expand...
Or just the TB2 <> FW adapter (with the additional TB3 <> TB2 adapter for newer Mac models)? It works just great with FW video sources like my Sony D8 camera on all kinds of MacBooks (used on even my 16" 2021).
 
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dandeco

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Dec 5, 2008
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Brockton, MA
Menneisyys2 said:
Or just the TB2 <> FW adapter (with the additional TB3 <> TB2 adapter for newer Mac models)? It works just great with FW video sources like my Sony D8 camera on all kinds of MacBooks (used on even my 16" 2021).
Click to expand...
Oh yes! That's what I still do, complete with daisy-chaining the adapters, or using the FireWire port on my Apple Thunderbolt display, and it gets the job done nicely, hooking a VCR to one of my DV camcorders that supports analog passthrough. On my Canons that do so (HV40 and Optura 60), I can only do it with non-copy protected VHS tapes (at least that includes home recordings from television), though if I need to import footage from a commercial VHS for, say, a YouTube Poop (like the one I did of Disney's "Aladdin" three years ago) I use my Sony DCR-TRV460 Digital8 camcorder that I also use for digitizing my Hi8 tapes.
33B89534-E258-47B9-BFC8-0965CDA6F5E1_1_105_c.jpeg

The setup with my Canon HV40 importing standard-def MiniDV footage, testing the fixed FireWire video capture on Mac OS Monterey 12.4. It does seem more fun to do that using a USB video converter like Elgato, though I know somewhere down the line I may need to resort to that.
 
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