can you record vhs cassettes onto a pc

[Molemanex]

i have recently been trying to copy some old vhs tapes onto cds and was wondering if there was any way to "burn" them onto my computer .. if so would i require extra hardware such as cables etc .. plz respond thnx
Molemanex

 

[reclusivemonkey]

Yes, you can. You will need an "input" into your PC however. You can I think, get specialist cards specifically to capture video input, but I think the cheaper option is to get a TV card. Pretty much all of these have a standard aerial input, along with the "yellow" video input. Most of these TV cards also come with recording software, so you should just be able to connect your video to the card, press play and then record with the software provided. Then you can just burn to CD/DVD. You then have the added bonus of being able to watch/record TV on your PC If you need any more help/advice, just let me know.

 

[Minkey]

Just a few thing to be aware of:

There are 2 type of capture cards - software capture and hardware capture, software is more intesive on your pc processes so you may not be able to much else though the cards are cheeper. Hardware capture is obviously 'faster' depending on how good you cards is.

Disk size ! - any type of capture will use a lot of disk space, for example if you captured a full screen (640x480) video without compression you would end up with approx 17.5 megs per minuite of video !! (that's 64 gig for 1 hour) but you can compress in real-time the capture.

Here a few guides you might find usefull:

clicky 1
clicky 2
clicky 3

 

[Vassago]

Since you are transferring vhs tapes, it wouldn't really benefit you to use a hardware encoding capture card as you won't need to do heavey encoding. Just use a cheapo software encoding capture card if that's the path you choose.

There are also devices that connect via usb that you can use to transfer tapes to your computer and burn them to cd/dvd. I have used the dazzle devices in the past and they work pretty nicely for transferring vhs, but can't handle high resolution so I wouldn't use them for any other purpose. Also, the software provided with them is horrible, so I'd recommend using something else.

 

[Molemanex]

thanks everyone

 

[Molemanex]

still confused

after taking your advice i had a look on the novatech website for the "capture cards " and found 50 or so results ... would anyone be able to recommend a card for recording videos through a vhs player onto my pc from novatech as this would allow me to purchase the product from a warehouse store rather than purchasing over the internet.. any comments would greatly be appreciated .. thnx again

 

[Molemanex]

after looking through the capture cards would it not be easier to buy a dvd recorder and connect this to the vhs player .. then simply record onto dvd from the vhs ... if anyone knows if this works then please reply .. greatly appreciated thnkyou

 

[reclusivemonkey]

Don't have a DVD recorder, so I couldn't tell you. If this is more useful as a device to you than the TV Tuner/Capture card, then I guess it would be a better solution for you. Is this Novatech US or UK? The card here would do what you wanted;

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?PIN-26866

 

[Molemanex]

thankyou

 

[wiklendt]

spam reported. that software is a scam, besides. and it doesn't even advertise to do what you want.

 

[mcclunyboy]

just record straight to dvd via a dvd recorder..

much simpler.

But yeah you can buy the input devices.

 

[wiklendt]

just record straight to dvd via a dvd recorder..

much simpler.

But yeah you can buy the input devices.

an input device (such as a capture card or capture "cable" - that is, RCA on one end, USB on another - so you can use it on many computers) might cost you around $100. a DVD recorder might cost you $1000 (that's one extra zero).

an input device will allow you to capture the video, then use computer software of your choice to edit the video, add subtitles, add audio, add credits, add a DVD menu, add almost anything you want to make the video look professional or at least "nice". and you can save your "project" to burn as many copies as you want, whenever you want.

a DVD recorder will record in a default way, with default menu style, with no advanced options (as far as i know). and as far as i know, will only do one VHS at a time, with no option to re-record again at a later date. a standalone DVD record for your TV setup is very limited, as far as i know. almost as limited as a VCR... except for DVDs.

so. my advice is a capture device. then, presumably, you have a DVD burner in your computer?

 

[mcclunyboy]

not $1000 but I have a cheap one costing £129 and it means I can record anything off the TV

Granted I did have to buy an old VHS player but it costs £5...so together that cost me at most $270

 

[Groundrush]

after looking through the capture cards would it not be easier to buy a dvd recorder and connect this to the vhs player .. then simply record onto dvd from the vhs ... if anyone knows if this works then please reply .. greatly appreciated thnkyou

Yes it does work, I've been doing that for years now.

Another method I use instead of buying capture cards etc is to use my DV camera to copy the vhs tapes, I then transfer it onto my pc using the firewire cable then I'm free to re edit, recode, burn onto DVD or even upload onto Facebook, You Tube etc.

 

[mcclunyboy]

what about on ebay - the cables are about £25 and just record off the TV ( I think)...again not ideal but a lot cheaper

 

[Cwittmaack]

I use a Pennical studio card with break out box and pinnical software, i have had good results.. using a dvd recorder some of then only use DVD+R to record on, the DVD+R's seem to have a proble playing on dvd players.