I recently found some old (27 year old :eek:) VHS tapes, and there’s some stuff on some of them I want to keep. I have a working VCR. My question: is there some way to connect the VCR and my laptop that would let me transfer the videos into the computer?
there are video capture cards (often part of a video output card) for desktops.
there are also USB video capture devices for any computer with USB ports. quality is limited by USB speed.
You can also pay to have it transferred to DVD as well. There should be services in your area that will do it for a reasonable fee. If not, there are plenty on the web that will do it through mail-order.
The quality on the USB devices is fine.
I have an Elgato EyeTV Hybrid, which makes great video captures over USB.
I did this a few years ago by plugging the VCR into a digital video recorder, then burning onto a DVD. I’m not 100% sure but you could probably plug into a set top box that has a removable hard drive, then transfer from there.
Thanks. I’ll give it a try.
For VHS tapes, USB2.0 is far faster than you need. These ain’t 1080p. 
Hauppauge is a major player in this market;something like this should meet your needs.