Hi, I’m having a bit of information overload. I’m trying to digitize my VHS collection as I know they’ll stop working one day, and I’d like to keep their contents around after their analog form has parished. Ive tried startpaging this issue, but I’m honestly overwhelmed. The biggest take-away I have is avoid cheap USB capture devices (EasyCaps and generic variants.) What is the best option for an American on a fixed budget who wants to digitize their collection in the highest quality possible? Ive seen people recommending: TV Tuner Cards RF Video capture via MISRC and Domescape? i think were the names Using a combo DVD/VHS player to copy the VHS to DVD and then ripping the DVD with MakeMKV or handbrake Probably more, I can’t recall at the moment but, I’m sure someone will.
Basically, if I dont have to spend money, I would prefer not to, but I do want a quality recording/rip. I know for a fact anything over $200 USD is going to be out if my budget. I have sufficient Linux knowledge and soldering knowledge and I have seen some people those are needed for the RF tools, but I also see some of those options are pricy.
Lemmings, what are your opinions on my situation? Is there anything short of an easycap in my budget that I should be looking into? What are your experiences? Thanks.
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- The Person Saving The Media You Love Is You – talks about using VHS-decode (which usually requires opening up the VHS player and soldering in taps)
- c/datahoarder – Do you have any advice for digitizing VHS tapes?
What I’ve done for home videos and recorded programming is to use the VHS/DVD combo to transfer the video to DVD then rip the DVD to my computer using Handbrake (MacOS). The quality of the transfer is as good as I can hope for.
It’s an easy, almost enjoyable process. I get the option to watch the VHS or I just let it go overnight or while I’m otherwise occupied (doesn’t tie up my computer in realtime). I get an additional, smaller, hard copy of the media. Once I get a handful of DVDs, I can let my computer rip them to my NAS to watch using Plex.
Plenty of sub-$100 VHS/DVD combos on eBay.
Caveat: Purchased movies may have copyright protections. I have the original Star Wars VHS tapes but couldn’t transfer them.
Back in the early 2000s I used
(I think)anEl GatoEyeTV Video to Firewire peripheral to rip to my Power Mac G5. I was never super crazy about the quality of the transfer. The video always looked like, “I used my computer to transfer this”. I have to assume things are better these days. I feel like this process depends more on your computer and your software where as the VHS > DVD method is a bit more “aligned”. I could be wrong. I mean, the adapters are like $10-$20. They seem too cheap to be trust worthy.
