I have a BUNCH of VHS tapes that I want to convert to avi/wmv (what’s the best format?). Some are in PAL, and some in NTSC, as I used to live in Germany. In addition, I also have some Video Hi8 cassettes and regular 8 cassettes also that I need to convert.
What’s the best way to convert these, keeping in mind that I have several formats?
Thanks.
Dean.
Because of 1) the large number of tapes, and 2) the different formats (PAL/NTSC, as well as VHS and hi-8), I would highly recommend paying a service to do the conversion (to DVD).
Once it’s on DVD, you can then read them in and edit them. But paying someone else to do this will save you a TON of time (time to find the correct gear, and chances are you’ll have to do the capture at real time and no faster).
A simple search will likely provide a number of services that can do the capture. I’ve only had slides digitized, and had an old super-8 (film, not video) captured. So I don’t have any first-hand experience with (analog) video capture services.
Anyone have good luck using one of these? I’m thinking of buying it for someone for Christmas.
The link for the VHS to DVD links to this Amazon page. Do you read that as saying that the VHS player is included as part of this. . . that the player is part of the device that does the converting?
How was the quality? I’m always afraid to do that, as, at home, I can do a test to see if it’s going to be any good.
To the OP: the best quality you can get out of this is still gonna be pretty low. For anything that might be available somewhere else, I’d recommend at least checking to see if it’s available online.
Do you still have the players for the stuff? Then I might suggest looking into a USB TV tuner. But, that will mean you will have to do a 1:1 conversion, taking a lot of time. If you don’t have the equipment, I’d agree with cormac262; heck, if you think it’ll take a while, I’d probably agree.
@Heffalump and Roo: I think the VCR is part of the set, but I don’t think it records any faster than a VCR + USB TV tuner. And you can use the tuner card to watch TV. (Finding a regular VCR can be a pain, though.)
Thanks! I was hoping that the VCR was part of the set since I don’t currently have one. I have a bunch of old tapes but no VCR, so this might work as a solution for me.
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How was the quality? I’m always afraid to do that, as, at home, I can do a test to see if it’s going to be any good.
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I’m guessing you were asking about the quality of the digitized slides ? I’d say “pretty good”. The slides I sent weren’t the best to start with, so I think they (DigMyPics.com) did a decent job. The issue is both time and money. They do advertise cleaning up dust and lint prior to scanning, and they did do a decent job of that. I have a ton of slides I want to digitize, so it is a matter of finding someone who does a decent job at a reasonable price.
I’ve converted a few VHS tapes to computer files (in my case x264/mp4), using a DVD recorder.
On HQ settings, the finished product is barely inferior to the original tape, unless you’re really anal about that sort of thing.