Transferring VHS video to PC

[Rusty]

I've got an old, old camcorder and want to put the video onto my PC so it doesn't get lost. I've had a search and there are quite a few products out there with mixed reviews. Anyone got any recommendations? I'm using Vista

[irishs2]

Would the camera have firewire? If not then you may have to transfer via analog through a capture card like http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/prod...a_hvr1300.html for about 70quid from dabs.
And for best picture quality use svideo cable instead of composite.

You could also go the route of cheaper pci capture cards but I was always dissapointed with the quality of analog capture. Hauppage never really dissapointed me.

[dest]

Can you get anything similar to use with a laptop? USB or whatever

[irishs2]

Also I did get one of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=160358776208 (not from there but price isnt far off)
to convert some of my childhood home videos to DVD. At least there is only one conversion taking place from original analog to digital.

[irishs2]

Can you get anything similar to use with a laptop? USB or whatever

You can there are several cheap svhs to usb encoders but really you need something that does the mpeg2 conversion on hardware before sending info over usb. Otherwise you could run into bandwidth/cpu limitations. Since usb is cpu dependant unlike firewire.

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products/data_hvr1900.html

Something like this. Dont have a source for this one but I am sure its available somewhere.

[GazzaG60]

i have a pinnicle capture card with external input box for old cable types. like the old AT type cable. not sure of its name in AV circles.

also lots of companies do this for things like super 8 wedding videos and the like.

[Rusty]

No firewire or SVHS. I would need to use the 3 coax leads, this is what I've been looking into.

[sjw185]

I had a JVC DV camera that could reverse its video output to a input I used this as a recorder and played the old super 8 on to the newer dv cam then on to PC using firewire

Cheers

[irishs2]

Yes.. the Pinnacle MiroDC10 Plus etc. I have an old card that got defunct when xp came out, it wasnt until 2004 that xp compatable drivers came out.

You can pick up a Pinnacle MiroVIDEO DRX for about £20+shipping. Its a Video in/video out card only and you will need to use your existing audio in to do a complete capture.
But the quality that you get of the Pinnacle stuff is quite good.

[borderS2]

This might do it, available at Amazon for £20

http://www.guardianoffers.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/GuardianOffers/_TRUECP01/-/EasyCap-USB-Video-Capture-Adapter

[mcandmar]

Would the camera have firewire? If not then you may have to transfer via analog through a capture card like http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/prod...a_hvr1300.html for about 70quid from dabs.
And for best picture quality use svideo cable instead of composite.

You could also go the route of cheaper pci capture cards but I was always dissapointed with the quality of analog capture. Hauppage never really dissapointed me.

I've used Hauppauge TV tuners for years as they work great. S-Video is also the preferred path for the best video quality.

[S2central.net]

I have such a box hooked up to my Mac - its not the hauppage one - a competitor of its day - cannot remember, but it is NTSC only.

There are lots of boxes out there doing this for little money these days - just a quick search for 'VHS to DV' comes up with plenty on amazon etc

http://www.dvc.uk.com/acatalog/ADVC55.html - looks a bit like mine - if your VHS machine supports S-Video output then be sure to get that interface on your converter - there is a big difference above composite video. Luminence and Chrominance on separate wires is the reason for that.

[mcandmar]

I've actually tested it using a Sky+ box and the Hauppauge card connected via Composite & S-Video. S-Video wins hands down, better colour, and much less interference.

Sort of related but i found it fascinating. The Hauppauge WinTV tuner i bought is also satellite decoder, to test that i removed the second satellite cable from the Sky+ box and connected it to the WinTV, then connected the S-Video from the Sky+ to the WinTV. That enabled me to switch between channels quickly on the computer and see the difference between the two boxs. The results were staggering, the Sky signal is as good if not better than DVD quality, it really was exceptional using the WinTV card. Through the Sky+ box it looks like muck because it converts back to analogue SVideo and SCART outputs for your TV. I bet most people dont know there only seeing a fraction of the quality available, regardless of how good your TV is.

[S2central.net]

SCART cables are dogshit

Go to any professional TV event (I've done many in my time) and you will never find a SCART cable be used for anything but an emergency.

Quality isn't the same on all channels - even on Sky - cos the channels have to pay for bandwidth (and quality of encoders) up to 'the bird' - you'll generally find BBC using higher bandwidth than the shopping channels. Life is a bit more complicated these days. With some freeware such as 'TSReader' you can hook up to these capture cards and see how the DVB-S signals are actually made up - its actually quite interesting (if you like that sort of thing).

DVB-S2 is fantastic - yes there is an S2 in the TV world - better quality at lower bandwidth and support for HD - this is the technology behind 'FreeSat'

[S_Two]

edited