Whats the best budget friendly way to transfer vhs tapes (lemmy.today)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by Extrasvhx9he@lemmy.today to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Hiya, pretty much the title. I have a dozen tapes I want to backup before age takes its toll. My basic idea after watching some videos online is to buy a hardware based upscaler that can interface with my vcr then throw that signal to a video capture card and record on my computer. I'll go with name brands to avoid problems but is that really the best method? I want to avoid sending them to a service since it will cost more than just buying the hardware in the first place and I got time to kill.

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[-] davefischer@beehaw.org 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Are there any VHS decks that will allow digital transfer without writing a DVD?

Edit: Found it! There are MiniDV / SVHS combo decks with digital out via firewire. Pricey though.

[-] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 2 points 10 months ago

Yes. Just get an RCA to USB adapter and use software to capture the video as it's playing on the VCR.

[-] ParanoidFactoid@beehaw.org 2 points 10 months ago

And you'll still need a firewire card too.

I still have a bunch of old 8mm tapes, a camera, and firewire card. It's archived work product. Otherwise, I'd toss 'em.

[-] davefischer@beehaw.org 2 points 10 months ago

Oddly enough, the laptop I'm sitting in front of has firewire. (And linux sees it! Might actually work...)

this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023

74 points (97.4% liked)

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