“Over the years, I have used two different formats of videotape: VHS-C (compact VHS video cassette) and the smaller but much higher-quality DVC (digital video cassette),” Robert Lachman reports for The Los Angeles Times.
“While the quality doesn’t match up well to today’s standards, it’s still a lot of fun to watch the videos. On the plus side, these old-school videos have very small file sizes, so I am hoping to fit 100 videos onto a 64 GB single flash drive which will plug into my Roku player with a USB port which is attached to my TV,” Lachman reports. “nother option for me would be to play the video through iTunes and use an Apple TV. Most TVs you buy today have a USB slot for multimedia.”
“In my research to find a more streamlined and faster system, I decided to buy the Blackmagic Design Video Recorder for $149 which is designed for Apple [Macintosh] computers,” Lachman reports. “The Blackmagic Design Video Recorder attaches into the USB port on my computer and the component plugs on the rear of my VHS player. Also available are S-Video and Composite plugs. I captured the video into a H.264 video file on my desktop making it a one-step process.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David G.” for the heads up.]
I am interested in finding out more about this. Does anybody on this site have any experience with this converter? I have used other analog-to-digital converters in the past, but nothing was as streamlined a process as the author describes.
Thanks!
What I did many years ago was buy a Panasonic DVR with DVD/R/RW Recorder built in. I was able to convert all my Video Tape Media, from VHS, S-VHS and even old 8DV tapes to DVD-R/RW Media. It was a great Machine, until it broke. Didn’t last more than 5 years, but I was able to use it for that purpose to convert everything. Once in DVD format, I can then do whatever I needed to get them on ATV using Handbrake or create movies using iMovie. Now all my old tapes are either tossed or stored since I have duplicate copies in DVD and Quicktime formats.
In todays world that machine is obsolete, but perhaps you can buy one in eBay?
Yup, I just bought a VHS-DVD converter on Amazon used for $80.
I have one from that Korean company that shall remain nameless. It is about 4 years old. My wife’s friends/co-workers occasionally ask me to convert their old family movies. My usual price is a 6-pack.
The process of Analogue -> DVD -> Handbrake involves double conversion, if your target medium is a video file in your Mac (or ATV). It is probably better to use a good quality A/D conversion and capture it directly into your Mac at desired target format, so that you don’t have to subsequently convert again.
I have plenty of SONY 8mm and Hi-8 analogue tapes from the 90s. I also have many MiniDVs from early 2000s. I’m now on AVHCD (tapeless, SDHC). I captured all my old MiniDV tapes onto an external HD (as well as DVDs). I backup current SDHC the same way. While the idea was to have a redundant backup, I don’t trust DVDs that much; both DVD-R and DVD+R tend to fall apart after ten years and many of my original DVDs from the early 2000s are unreadable today. And these were reputable brands at the time. Hard drive may also have issues and can fail, but as they are cheaper and cheaper every year, eventually I’ll give up the DVD as archival medium and just use two identical hard drives.
To answer the question you asked, yes the Blackmagic Design Video Recorder is the one-step process the author describes. It produces MP4/H.264 files as its output. There are other devices that do the same. However, not all capture devices produce MP4 directly. The Canopus mentioned below is a “DV bridge,” which means it streams DV to the computer via Firewire. To get MP4, there would be an additional step. If I’m remembering correctly, the 300 has a built-in TBC, which is a big plus for multi-generation tape, or tape recorded at extended speeds. Although one can always buy TBCs separately.
I have converted many videos and found that conversion of a poor quality tape (any video dropouts) is hard to complete. I have found that the Canopus ADVC-300 to be the best converter out there. Expensive, but it corrects many video artifacts during conversion.
I have some old VHS, Video8, and MiniDV tapes to import so I’m interested in hearing what others have done too.
This is $20 cheaper and connects directly to a VCR on another analog video source. It records directly to an SD card, so its something that can run without having to take up your computer.
VuPoint Solutions Digital Video Converter
Always had great experience with Canopus’ ADVC-100. Never a problem with compatibility with iMovie/FCExpress.
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc110 (-100 model discontinued)
I’ve used my Elgato Video Capture with decent results; the software interface is VERY basic, but its really really nice that it allows you to trim off stray material and the beginning and end of the recording. I was using it mostly to transfer from Hi-8 tapes using the S-video interface, with quality as expected.
I’m quite confused by the Blackmagic’s optional component-video input; I’m not aware of any consumer recording medium that ever internally stored/output video in that particular analog scheme. Standard VHS/Beta/Laserdisc used a type of Composite, while S-VHS/Hi-8 used a type of S-video (technically a kind of “2-wire component” which holds B&W separately from color). I wonder if people think that using component outputs from old players is going to magically up-convert the video quality of the source.
Certainly, a lot of experienced folks here using different methods.
I have over 1,000 VHS tapes and some never opened in shrink wrap.
Would like to transfer all to digital, or DVD, I can’t tell the best method from reading all the optional posts.
Best quality, versatile format and equipment cost is not an object.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
Peace.
i came across similar device much cheaper at walmart http://www.walmart.com/ip/20690323