Video Capture USB or PCI Card

[Bolosun]

I am converting some old VHS tapes and wondered what was a good device to use? I am using ffmpeg to capture the video through a cheap USB adapter, but the results are hit and miss. So wondered what was recommended to use, either a USB or PCI card on a Windows 10 system.

[pepegota]

I have a DVR so no problem here. Google to see if you can find a useful one.

[Bolosun]

So you can play a VHS recorder and record the output straight to the computer or USB drive?

[Davidk]

There are these sort of VHS to DVD conversion devices available. They were common a decade ago, not many marketed these days since VHS is a super old technology: most players don't work any more - usually failed in dis-use. Generally converters comprise an analogue/digital converter (VHS is analogue) about the size of a USB stick, some cables and software. The way they work is;
- connect the RGB cable from the VHS play output to the usb converter, and the usb cable output of the converter to a usb input on your PC.
- load the software onto your computer.
The way it works is that you start the computer software, it should sense the converter is attached, generally specify a filename and where you want the converted files to be saved, and then play the VHS tape you want to convert: the output of the tape is digitised by the USB converter and the result is sensed/saved by the software. Note that if the tape is a 2 hour tape, then the conversion will take 2 hours. You will need a good bit of hard drive storage space to save it in, and depending on the format the converter program saves it in, that may vary from a lot to huge.

Occasionally editors like VS can detect some conversion devices (the capture page), but often the devices are specialised and need a specific computer program to read the data from it. Some times (eg mine 10 years ago) the program is a specially modified version of a well known editor.

Things to note about these conversion devices;
- resolution will be VHS standard which is a good bit less than DVD standard. Converting it and playing it on a 1920x1080 computer screen doesn't change that - in fact, it makes the result look less than ordinary. If it's an old well used tape, there will be scratches etc on it that get converted too.
- these conversion devices tend to be one-time use items - once your tapes are converted, the devices have no further use and are obsolete. And you may find that the cost of a converter is about the same as a professional doing the conversion in a shop, with the result delivered to you on a CD/DVD or memory stick. If your VHS player doesn't work any more, this is the option you have, so check that the player still works before you buy anything.

[rwernyei]

Bolosun,

Check these out:
USB capture sale - http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/marketp ... 600-a.html
Using FFmpeg for capture - https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/398 ... -capturing

[Bolosun]

Thanks for the pointers. I have found that using ffmepg to do the capture, I then have to recode it using Handbrake, and I then get a file I can edit in Videostudio.

[Bolosun]

Bolosun,

Check these out:
USB capture sale - http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/marketp ... 600-a.html
Using FFmpeg for capture - https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/398 ... -capturing

Thanks for the links, very useful.

[canuck]

Bolosun,

Check these out:
USB capture sale - http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/marketp ... 600-a.html
Using FFmpeg for capture - https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/398 ... -capturing

Thanks for the links, very useful.

Here is a ink to a Corel/Roxio product that works very well:
https://www.roxio.com/en/products/easy- ... /standard/

[rwernyei]

Aren't you capturing using HuffyUV AVI? VideoStudio is more than capable of editing and denoising the HuffyUV files and then encode to your desired format.

[Candive]

Hi Bolosun,
You specific question is a recommendation of either a USB or PCI capture card. You may find the following link useful. The specific link below is regarding the Avermedia PCIe 310B but if you browse the site, you will find many reviews on USB capture devices and I wouldn't be surprised if your cheap USB adapter is listed too!
https://vhsconverters.com/vhs-to-digita ... ture-card/