Uh, they did. And, you can still find them used. VHS/DVD recording combo. I actually have one. That I seldom used. Other than recording (on DVD!) a soap opera my wife liked but couldn't watch at daily broadcast times. Then, it got put away in a cabinet for years. Recently, I pulled it out and set it up to use to transfer some old VHS tapes to DVD for a friend. And of course, my "single button smart dubbing" doesn't work. I spent a couple of hours setting up because the outputs are RCA and S-video only. And of course, none of my available TVs or monitors have such inputs. When I finally got it to work with an old TV I had, I found that it played the VHS tapes and any DVDs I threw at it just fine. But of course, I can't get the DVD to record. I've spent another five or ten hours messing with it, following the instructions to a T and trying to find solutions on the internet. To no avail. And, silly me, I purchased fifty blank DVDs and labels for the DVDs and for their Jewel cases BEFORE finding out my old combo unit doesn't work. And, it's hardly worth trying to have fixed. That's why I'm here now, for this video. I was trying to find out if those cheap analog to digital converters work. At $35 I was afraid they would just be another Amazon come on waste of money. I still have a computer with a DVD burner in it. And, I've been building a digital music and video library with it. That's the next step I wanted to take if one of these converters will actually work. For old VHS video as well as some old records.
I appreciate very much the clear graphics & text charts you made - good production values! Tip: next time keep the name & pic of the reviewed hardware on the screen a few seconds longer. Thanks again.
The native resolution of VHS is 640 x 480 pixels, not 320 x 240 pixels. Computer monitors use square pixels, so 640 x 480 digitized files will appear correctly (ie: undistorted) on these screens. TV sets use non-square pixels, so 720 x 480 digitized files will appear correctly (ie: undistorted) when played on a regular TV. Incidentally, one of the most important considerations when digitizing videotapes is that the hardware must de-interlace the original signal. Without proper de-interlacing, the video will appear very "pixelated" whenever there is motion (or camera shake) in the recorded tape. If the hardware does NOT de-interlace the signal, there are two things you can do. First, you can use computer software to de-interlace the video after the fact. There are many apps that can do this (such as Handbrake) however, it can take hours to complete the process depending on what de-interlacing algorithm is used. Alternately, you can play back the interlaced video using programs like VLC Media Player that include a menu option for de-interlacing on the fly. Works pretty well. However, I much prefer to get properly de-interlaced videos right off the bat from the capture device. The Elgato does a nice job of de-interlacing but it does "soften" the image a little bit. This can actually be an advantage because a "softened" video appears less NOISY, and old VHS tapes can certainly be pretty noisy (ie: grainy).
All great points. And I totally agree about the interlace comments. I like some of the upscalers as they with the capture card de-interlace the video at 60fps and you can see the difference.
You're right about needing ~480 pixels high. No analog format has a native pixel resolution, but all video formats of a given standard have the same fixed number of scanlines. 525 for NTSC with about 480-486 having information. That's true for VHS, broadcast, laserdisc, etc. But there are no pixels. Resolution across a given scanline is a matter of bandwidth and the way they measure is by how many vertical lines can be resolved (these are lines drawn N-S). Because the number of scanlines is always going to be the same when a given video format's resolution is stated the 480 is implicit. What they're talking about is that number of vertical lines that can be resolved *across* a scanline. You could fully capture the information in a VHS picture with somewhere in the 300-350 pixel across range, so a 320x480 picture would work pretty well but require everything viewing it to be pixel aspect ratio aware, so that it would display as a 4:3 picture properly. That was a fairly common format on the Amiga, back in the '80s and '90s, because it was very video aware. Amigas natively didn't have square pixels. But PCs and Macs are square pixel machines. 720x480/720x486 files with non-square pixel aspect ratios don't always show properly on PCs or Macs if the codec doesn't embed appropriate meta information about aspect ratio or the viewer doesn't make assumptions and apply a transform just based on the container size. Capturing 640x480 is convenient overkill, has the right aspect ratio for viewing on the desktop, while 320x240 is throwing away a lot of information. De-interlacing needs to interpolate and frame blend both spatial and temporal information whether you're looking for the best 30fps result or 60fps result.
I bought a brand new Elgar from eBay and it doesn’t work, first of all the software doesn’t fully run, when it comes to recording time and it only captures and plays the signal once a day if I’m lucky, the problem is not the usb 2.0 I have converter hub, my laptop is new and good, the vcr is good, so the problem is elgato device
I do not like stretching the image that way. I use the Elgato device and follow the instructions of another UA-cam creator to use OBS capture software. I include interlacing at 60 fps for smoother motion. I prefer to preserve the 4x3 aspect ratio to avoid distorting the image.
I cannot see the utility of changing the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9, as it stretches the picture horizontally. That being said, the sharpness and clarity of the third option was impressive.
Thanks for the great instructional videos. I just ordered the Yitrox converter, Elgato HD60X and clean power supply. I have about 50 VHS, VHS-C and Mini-DV tapes recorded from 1993 thru 2010 that I'm excited to - gradually - convert to high quality digital videos that can be shared with others. Will let you know how they look after I get started.
@MiddleSiggyHomestead I had also downloaded OBS based on another video I watched about a different method using less capable converter/capture HW. I thought the Elgato capture utility download would be adequate, no?
Yes the Elgato hardware and software is great stuff.. and I did use the Elgato software, but I use OBS because I stream and because I am just so familiar with it. There is nothing wrong with the Elgato software.
You might want to look into the domesday duplicator for laser-disc project's vhs extension. Basically, you tap into the raw read head's analog signal and that gets recorded. The recorded signal is then decoded at a much higher resolution and quality than the video player's own circuitry is capable of.
Not sure if this channel got the right "clients" for this ;) But yeah, domesday is amazing. I'm still going the DV-A/D conversion route (+ TBC) and let QTGMC do its magic at the end. No crappy "A.I" upscaling.
Thank you for a good video explanation to this process. Sadly the recommended YITROX Upscaler is no longer available which you note in comments but the other choice in component only and my VCR can't do that. Still a great topic. Maybe an update video on another choice? The Gefen is gone as well.
Thank you for the good explanation! But in my case I got only blue screen or the logo of the video player, olso I tried different capture device RCA to USB, Win 10 and 11, and Mac, and different video players but without success. Please give me advice on what to do?
Very informative and professional 👏 This very well may be the best VHS to Digital Conversion How To video of our time! Its so thorough and clear, its as if my Father is teaching me.
THanks for the vid, do you ever have issues with audio/video sync? My audio after doing this always comes delayed by about 20frames, very annoying as have to bring in premiere and re-export it. Any advice appreciated 🙏
This is a decent overview. But with option #3, why did you upscale a 4:3 image to 16:9, stretching it horizontally in the process? Certainly, you don't intend it to be viewed like that. How do you then correct for the error afterward? By scaling down to 4:3 again and throwing some of the data away? But if you do that, you're effectively blurring it twice.
Thank you for the compliment. The short answer on stretching is I did not think it looked that bad (I am just a little chubby in the video 😁 because of the stretch) and it was the sample I had at the time I edited the video. That was my very first video for UA-cam and I just forced myself to get it out, so I cut a few corners.. I don’t think I would ever go back, although I could. I think I would just recapture and not have the software stretch. Again thanks for the feedback.
Personally I really hate seeing the incorrect aspect ratio. It is always very obvious to me and annoying. I’m sure the video would look best out of the three options if it was corrected.
8:27 Yeah, because the VCR records in 480i, not in 240p, also the horizontal resolution is more then 320, but it's in analog. The real resolution is arround 400x440i.
I use a method similar to the 3rd option. I plug the VCR into a upscaler then from the upscaler to the original Elgato HD capture device through HDMI. I use OBS and run it at 720P 30FPS lossless quality. I then upload the footage to UA-cam and even though all the movies get claimed and no one else can watch them, the person who uploaded it can. Free server space for all my movies.
I decided to follow your recommendation but did the ElGato HD60x since I only have laptops... but the issue I am dealing with is my VCR only has Yellow/White components and the upscaler feed is black & white... do I need a VCR with the 3 component jacks (which I thought was better audio only)? Any idea what I may be doing wrong?
And I'll add that even if I try to capture it on the elgato, I get an error that 1280x1024p59 is not supported. The Yitrox shows (when I connect it via HDMI to my tv) 800x600, so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. The instructions for both devices are nonexistent!
That is a great question. I use Vegas for my editing. I will run some tests on the videos I have and find out. Might be a bit I have a bunch in the queue. I will post it as a video in the future. Thanks again.
Thanks for the great videos! I've started the vhs conversion journey with the yitrox upscaler and hd60 pro. However, some doubts about getting the right settings in place remain... Using OBS seems the way to go. But what would be the best choices resolution wise? Setting the yitrox to full 1080@60 output will distort the 4:3 PAL aspect ratio. Would it be better to go for one of the 4:3 outputs, or rescale afterwards in OBS to a 4:3 aspect ratio? Is there a reason to go for 60fps or 50, like 60 is 2x30 from ntsc and 50 is 2x25 from pal?
they say elgato is obsolete now dec 2023, ? , what is modern capture cards etc i could use today ? i have a black magic intesity shuttle.. do i need to pair this with a decent video card in my home pc ? or any video card work ? i am transferring many old svhs tapes ot ditigal.
To absolutely maximise the quality of captures I would highly recommend using 75 ohm coaxial cables when possible for video connections (particularly composite and s-video, which is what you're limited to with VHS players) not the 'shoelace' ones typically supplied with most AV equipment. They eliminate a lot of the 'edge ringing' which people often assume to be intrinsic to analogue video signals.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld You're very welcome. The difference is very easy to see if you compare the cable types with the picture from a DVD player (it provides a clearer reference than VHS) using its composite-out - it's not subtle. It will be somewhat less pronounced with s-video, but still quite noticeable. I've actually seen a player give a better picture with composite via 75 ohm coax than RGB (component) via a poor quality SCART (be thankful you never had to deal with these truly awful connectors in the US) ETA >> BTW, RCA-terminated SPDIF audio cables are the same thing, they carry a similar signal frequency (which is RF) to that of SD analogue video. You can even make your own pretty easily (and cheaply!). If you use RG59 RCA's, most are compression/crimp and don't even need soldering.
After making all of these videos I have found out a few things.. I also think I am going o have to buy a new VCR, because I am limited with the one I currently have, and it does not even have the coaxial connectors.. again thank you for the feedback.. Have a great day!
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld I might have been leading you up the garden path somewhat - S-VHS via dual coaxial would be perfect but of course one is restricted to the standard 4-pin cable and connector, barring some serious modding. Otherwise (and I might be teaching my gran to suck eggs) if your VHS player is a decent one you could just make sure you're using a good S-VHS cable that definitely has individually shielded cores. Keep keeping on!
I have successfully transferred VHS & Betta tapes to didgital files,burn to DVDs using LG HDD recorder,can use pause function to cut-out unwanted material on tape.Your methode is much cheaper & improves video images better,thanks for your clip
I would have been nice to see the comparison between the already scale 720 Diamond VC500 and Elgato 1080 with the upscaler, to see if it is worth it to spend the extra money.
Thank you for extremely informative and helpful video. I had tried various methods with the gears that the camcorder came with but none that my computer would recognize the video input. I was going to get the Roxio VHS to DVD software package but ultimately decided on the Elgato (after watching your video). Again, thank you, sir!
I'm using Method 3 to digitize some VHS-c tapes in a standard VHS adapter tape (the HD60 Capture Card and the Yitrox) plugged into an srd4900 VCR and my video is coming out B&W and the A/V cuts out every few seconds. I've returned my first Yitrox thinking it was defective but the second one is now doing the same thing. Tried connecting the Yitrox and VCR to my TV and the problem persists. Any idea why this is happening? The VCR and tape work fine when connected directly through composite cables to my TV. The VCR and tape also work fine when routed through a different, lower quality AV:HDMI converter box.
This might sound odd, but looking carefully at the “Elgato 720x480 VC500 720x480” video comparison 05:35 minutes in and on, pausing the video and taking a careful look, the VC500 actually captures a sharper image. Just run the video and pause it at random and compare the two pictures, looking carefully, section-by-section, the VC500 video is sharper with a slightly better color also. I hope this doesn’t sound too odd to you but were the videos mixed-up before they were aired? The VC500 does have a visible sharper image. Please give me some feedback. - Norman
Norm, the videos were not mixed up, and yes it does a pretty good job.. but the one thing to look at is because the VC500 encodes with MPEG-2 it seems to create ghosting when the camera moves around, where the Elgato does not seem to have that effect. I believe that is because of the Codec more than the hardware. Unfortunately the MP4 encoding on the VC500 is not that great.. I have been asked to post longer samples of the videos, I will try and create something today and you can do some more comparisons.
Norm.. Also keep in mind, I did not mess with any of the brightness / contrast settings during my captures, I always took the defaults. That way you could see what the raw picture would look like. Most of the software has the ability to adjust color / brightness / contrast and you can always clean things up afterwards
I have a brand new computer, I bought the upscaler you recommended on your video and the Elgato HD60X and I cannot get it to get a signal. I have watched video after video on how to get this to connect and it will not find a signal. I have actually tried two different devices. My boss bought a set too. It's hopeless and a waste of time.
I would just use OBS to record you can just add your capture device in OBS than record at any resolution, output any file format, crop and use a good deinterlace. I would capture lossless with OBS and than handbrake to compress the file for the best possible quality. For a free software it's surprisingly good and way better than the crappy software provided.
320x240 is not the VHS resolution. Both Ealcheapo and Elcrapo USB devices are as the name suggests. Is Elcrapo paying you? The final method distorts the picture to incorrect aspect ratio. Bst option is to just convert to DV, or take an interest in the RF archiving.
Excellent video. I have JUST used your option #2 for the first time, then watched this again. I have two questions. 1) Does the volume set on my PC while recording affect the volume on the finished digital copy? 2) Can I use option #3, the converter upscaler, later to convert from my new digital copy to the better quality of #3, or can you only use that from the VHS? Thank you so much for this video and looking forward to your response.
Thank you for this video. I was using the Hauppague PVR to digitize some VHS performance tapes, but that unit no longer works. I am not as educated as others on the various components needed to make the upscaling and conversion work on a video that lasts almost 3 hours. I get the upscaling converts the 480 res file to a 1080 file, so that is the first step? Then which Elgato unit to use to send the file to the computer? I am using a laptop to do this.
Interesting demo of these 3 different converters. They all look great, but i really didn't care for the 4:3 to 16:9 upscaler, because it seemed to stretch the picture. Unless i missed something, is there a way to up scale to a 4:3 to an HD without stretching it to 16:9? Thanks
Yes with the Yitrox it does support 4:3, I was learning in some of these and at times got lazy and just stuck with the 16:9. You might also need to set up a special profile with something like OBS because most computers are 16:9 now and they all want that format. good luck
Thanks for the video! I hope you don't mind a quick question. I purchased the Elgato HD60X (external) capture device and, on the box, it says NVDIA GeForce GTX 10xx is required. I will be using a mini-PC with Intel Corei7-13700H (13th gen) with integrated Iris Xe Graphics. Will my PC and the HD60X work OK for VHS conversion? I am still looking for an upscaler so I'm also interested if you (or any fans) have updated your recommendations.
Hi, thank you for this informative video!! I do experience some problems with method 3 (I ended up with the EasyCel upscaler + Elgato HD60x connecting with my macbook pro 2021): it seems like the Elgato capturing software is not recognizing the device (there is a blinking red light): any ideas how I can fix this? thank you !!
i am trying to connect my vcr to the elgato video capture card i get audio but i don't get video i've tried using the svideo as well as the rca composite but all i get is audio but when i hook my vcr to tv i get video and audio can you give me advice as to what i'm possibly doing wrong
When converting there is a latency in signal from the vhs tape to the recording software. The first few seconds show a black screen without sound and is missing. How do you fix this? Also, green flashes sometimes appear in the saved video. How to get rid of this?
Thanks for the great video! I am having trouble connecting the Elgato to my DVD player. My LG DVD player does not have the yellow/white/black audio video jacks, just an HDMI jack (out to TV). Is there a coupler I can use to hook up these two (the female elgato jacks to the HDMI)? Any advice you can offer would be great!
I've used the Elgato on my MAC for a few months. It was great. Then all of a sudden NO video signal (but I do have the audio) I did not change the physical connections. I tried the coax (yellow) and it did not work as well as the S-VS connection and no video. I reinstalled the program and no luck. Any ideas? TIA
I wonder how this compares to the old method of using a video camera with a pass through DV connection. Win XP and Win 7 computers have windows movie maker built in and when combined with a firewire connection a smooth picture in the original format can be achieved. Don't know if it looks any better then 1080 but it's decent. Old mini DV cameras and firewire cables are cheap and the end result is good enough to watch on a modern TV. (mostly)
If you can do a DV with FireWire you should do that. That is a true digital transfer and not an analog to digital conversion so you are getting the best copy off the tape into the PC. At that point you then are at the same mercy as all of us on if you want to use other software or hardware to continue to upscale the image.
I think he's talking about A/D conversion through a DV camcorder. S-Video in, DV-Out. I'm using a Panasonic AG-DV2000 and a Videomixer for TBC myself and it's my prefered method. You get a 25mbit intraframe MPEG2 in a AVI Type 1 container which I deinterlace to 50p (PAL), denoise, crop and resize with Avisynth/ffmpeg (QTGMC). Each kind of 'HD upscaling' sucks imho. It's creating lots of artefacts and a pretty ugly and artificial looking image (faces). Bicubic upscaling and your TV's upscaling will do. @@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld
rather then go to DVD can I just go USB/computer? and about how much space does say a 8hr video take? I have surface pro, just checking if i can use that?
Or, can I start the VCR playing and let it play a bit b4 hitting the record button on the Degato ?? As mentioned below, I'm just trying to get out the blank or unfocused parts of the video before transferring in onto a dvd, Thank u again
Appreciate the videos and peoples comments. I'm Capturing video from VHS tapes using my Samsung DVD-V8600 dual DVD and VHS player (which plays S-VHS tapes, and has both S-Video out and Component out...) I'm still uncertain what is recommended for getting the best reasonable results. I'm mostly doing this to preserve the content for the future... I have both a Windows 10 laptop and Macbook Pro 2017 (with Final Cut Pro), so I can use either... Is S-Video out the best? And plug it into what? Should I use an upscaler or not? And what software? Again, thinking of the best reasonable results. I'm willing to spend a reasonable amount if needed... Thanks!
Chris, watch my video on the upscalers.. what you will end up as a recommendation for your situation is the Yitrox upscaler, which does support the S-Video cable, and yes you want to use that if you can. Then a good capture card. I would recommend any of the Elgato brands, I have been having a lot of luck with them. For a Laptop look at the HD60X
Great video! I Have actually copied a lot of my old videos and video 8 tapes to my PC a few years ago using a pretty cheap bit of kit I bought on Amazon. The results were ok considering. However seeing that software has come on a lot since then I'm thinking of doing them all again. The top quality product looks great but how do I use it without a tower to fit it in? What device will I need to house it with a laptop? Cheers.
You are exactly where I have been for the last few months, which is what started all of this.. So good luck with your project.. :) If I were to do it again (and I just might) with a laptop, I would go with 1)The Elgato Video Capture device I shared in the video. or 2)The Elgato HD60 X External Capture Card which will work with a laptop. Plus an upscaler... (Right now I am leaning towards the "YITROX AV Svideo HDMI to HDMI Converter Upscaler") also listed above... This would be my choice if I did not already have the Elgato internal capture card. If you give me a few weeks I am reviewing a stack of upscalers that are reasonably priced, and I should have a video out as soon as I can. (There are links to all of this in the Description). Be aware I have had some issues with the different upscalers, so waiting for the video might be a good idea before you make the investment. There is too much to share in this comment. I believe a friend of mine has the Elgato HD60x, I will see if I can borrow it and make a video. Thank you for the comment.. have a great day!
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld thanks for the reply! I Just cant see how I can use the Elgato HD60 Pro with a laptop? How does it plug in etc? You mentioned an external device in the video?
You need the HD60X the internal one I have is the HD60. I spoke with a friend of mine who has the HD60X and he said it works like a pass through, meaning you would plug in the upscaler into it and then it plugs into your PC with a USB to control the capture part. That is what I got from my friend. I will see if I can get some better pictures because the images on the Elgato web site are not great
I am looking to convert some old vhs tapes to digital format. I have a Magnavox zv427mg9 VCR to DVD combo, but I want to convert the vhs tapes directly to digital. The Magnavox has an HDMi output which makes the resolution of the vhs tapes very good when watching. Any thoughts?
So then the way to go is - Upscaling with hardware before the capture. S-Video to the YITROX to upscale, HDMI out of that into Elgato HD60 X, HDMI out into my computer - Right?
I run Mac mini so no way to add a card do you have a suggestion on which usb capture device would be best to use at the top end I would like to get the best quality I can
@Creg P, You have a few options: Option 1) The Elgato Video Capture USB device does support a Mac, so that is one path.. This will capture the videos in 720x480 and they look great. (Depending on the original tape :) ) Option 2) The Path I went down, and you could look at is using an upscaler, and then using the Elgato HD60X which is an external inline product. Then use OBS or the Elgato Capture software to store the video in 720p or 1080p. This personally is what I have done, but instead of the external HD60X I am using the internal HD60... For an upscaler, I would go with: - RCA to HDMI Converter, Wenter 1080P AV to HDMI Converter - $15 - amzn.to/3JZjNgT - YITROX AV Svideo HDMI to HDMI Converter Upscaler - $37 - amzn.to/3lc5LOr
Does a broken camcorder screen affect digitalisation? I have a sony handycam, tapes all working when viewing through the viewfinder, but the camcorder’s viewing screen had broken sometime ago, so the issue i have been running into is a black screen only when i open any video capture software, obs or any other does is the broken camcorder screen causing this issue? And do i now have to seek for a new camcorder ?
Wayne - The Elgato Video Capture device will save as a MP4, and its editing is limited. I made a deep dive video on it here: ua-cam.com/video/l38l4cXqiPM/v-deo.html
I tried this and it didn't work. I went from a VHS player to the YITROX Upscaler to the Elgato HD60 S+ to my laptop and I just get a blank screen. When I cycle through the resolutions on the upscaler, the best I can get is a flashing rainbow screen that says there is no input. Am I doing something wrong or does this combination not work?
My problem is that my videos have mold. I have about 50 tapes. I tried putting one in the vhs and it jammed. And I dont have the time nor the capacity to do this myself. Can you recommend a professional service that can clean and convert to digital? One idea I had is to see if it is possible to move the vhs tape to an old time movie reel and then project on the walls.
Hi, Very nice which is reason, for teh first time, that I ask a question: The Hi8 video look OK in teh eye-piece. Hooked to a TV they look a little fuzzy and quality of voise deterirated. Hooking with a Video Capture card the video quality is terrible, jumping all over, color distortion, poor audio. This is an inexpensive Video capture external unit. Will the more expensive video capture unit get me better result, or there is something else need to sync the laptop and teh camcorder? I followed all the set up as they showed it and tried to different SW. Thanks
I want to save my vhs tapes to digital on my computer and then make dvd copies from that. Per your recommendation I purchased the yitrox with added power supply. Should I connect my yitrox to my vcr then from yitrox to Elgato hd60 x then to my computer using the elgato software. Also what resolution do you recommend I set my yitrox to. I’ll be using 4:3
Do either of the usb options fix the audio sync problem? On a long capture, the audio gets increasingly out of sync with the video with all of the devices I have tried so far.
When dubbing VHS, I record in Filmora. I have the following problem. Sometimes empty fields appear in the recorded material (they are blue in Filmora). More precisely, these are interruptions in the recording in Filmora that last less than one second. Some of them later they are not visible in the video, but the longer ones are visible. What is the cause of this and how to eliminate it, does anyone know from experience.
I know what you are talking about, but I am unsure what caused it.. I am trying to think where I saw that issue so I could try and debug it. The only think I could think is the signal is bad and instead of displaying noise (or snow) it shows a blue screen, like a VCR does when nothing is playing.
Hi Awesome video, thank you. I am in Australia we use PAL system. I want to convert Hi8 to digital. Would the YITROX AV Svideo HDMI to HDMI Converter Upscaler in combination with the Elgato HD60X (Windows laptop) work here? Would really appreciate your thoughts
I was wondering about your third option. If you upscale an output to 16 x 9 at 1080P, doesn’t it just stretch your image? It looks good, but everything seems stretched out. Is it not possible to output and upscaled 4 x 3 file with the Elgato software or OBS? I know 4 x 3 is less attractive but it is native and the images and people in the video will look proportional.
Thanks for the info. But I still have my great Magnavox DVD/VHS player/recorder to convert some of my very old VHS tapes. Most of the VHS movie stuff I have is already in digital renditions, so I don't mess around doing them. My old personal home videos are very easy to convert VHS to DVD with this Player/Recorder. Take care.
Everything is fine, but from time to time when the shots on the tape change, the picture changes from color to black and white, and I have to switch to switch it back to colors, possibly because I am using an S-Video cable and not CVBS?
Yea color comes through the cable either encoded on the Yellow RCA wire or on the separate wires in the S-Cable, maybe try and replace your cable?? That is just odd.
I plan to finally try converting VHS and VHS-C casettes to DVD's using a Funai converter. Do you think that the setups shown in this video will give better quality than the Funai converter?
Great job on the VHS to digital conversion. The Elgato clearly provided the best quality result; however, it upscaled and stretched the original 4:3 image to 16x9 at 1080p. I'd like to see the 1080p squeezed back to the 4:3 aspect ratio. That, I think, would provide more of an apples to apples comparison and provide more of a visual improvement. I digitized my old 8mm films at 1080p while keeping the original 4:3(ish) film aspect ratio in a 16x9 window (fame). I then edited them in DaVinci Resolve and rendered them at 3840 x 2160 (super scaled to 4k) while keeping the movie image at a 4:3 aspect ratio inside of a 4k 16x9 window. I'm curious to see your 720p 4:3 result upscaled to 4k in a 16x9 frame via DaVinci Resolve or render your 720p version in DaVinci and do an upscale in Topaz Video AI. They both would keep the the aspect ratios correct, 16x9, without altering the original 4:3 image. Just a thought. Again, great job on you tutorial. Thanks!
@@DavidNeedham For me, it made no sense to invest into any VHS conversion hardware as I only have one VHS tape and one Betamax tape. The VHS has little importance, which left me with a single Betamax tape. I definitely wanted to digitize that. I therefore just sent it out to a company to make the transfer. I did all of the cleanup, color and audio corrections, upconversion and whatever in DaVinci. I did render it in its original aspect ratio within a 16x9 frame to avoid stretching. BTW, I do still own my old VHS recorder; however, I have no clue if it still works. Maybe I'll see if it does. I never had a VHS camcorder. I only used a 3/4 Betamax camcorder in the field when I interned at WTVJ (CBS) in Miami many moons ago.
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The Elgato is easy to use and works great. As far as an upscale I’ve yet to find one that works. Prism and Hitpaw did nothing and Yitrox was a waste of money. On all of these the output video was no different than the original.
So remember this is just a digital converter, not a capture card, so you need a capture card that can take the output from the upscaler, into something like the Elgato, I then use OBS Studio, although Elgato also has its own software you get with their hardware
Thank you for this informative video. I recently got a VCR, with other accessories, to convert our old VHS tapes. Do you have any recommendations on a software that would upscale after we transfer the movie to the computer?
There are multiple ways to do that, off the top of my head any of the professional editing software can do it, like Adobe Premier, Sony Vegas, or others. Thanks for watching
I have a problem with conversion that even Elgato can't seem to figure out. The Elgato will work fine after I reboot my Mac, but after about 7 or 8 uses, the saved finished video on the Mac is saved at double speed, rendering it useless. I have swapped out computers, swapped out 2 different Elgato devices, swapped out VCRs, and swapped out the patch cords. Yet, it's still happening. What is going on? Anybody had this issue?
Any options that will work on a Mac that doesn’t have audio sync issues? I would like to have it in mp4 format in the end so it can be viewed on pc, mac, or tv.
I don’t use a MAC so I can’t speak to that directly, but I stick by my Yitrox upscaler and any of the Elgato capture devices internal or external. And then use OBS for the capture software I believe it has a MAC version
I just started a a digital conversion company and this helped me streamline it all amazing video great job
Glad it helped!
What is the name of your company. Is it possible for me to convert the VHS tape of my parents wedding without having to buy the equipment 😢
I'm surprised an all-in-one device doesn't exist that takes the vhs and records directly onto a usb without needing playback on a screen
It does exist, but I don't know how good it is. I haven't researched it.
The strategy is to have everyone buy this method first, so companies make as much money as possible.
Most people back in the day used combo units to record to DVD or HDD which can be copied to PC.
Having a screen is better as it lets you know of any issues there will be from the original source e.g. bad tracking or interference.
Uh, they did. And, you can still find them used. VHS/DVD recording combo.
I actually have one. That I seldom used. Other than recording (on DVD!) a soap opera my wife liked but couldn't watch at daily broadcast times. Then, it got put away in a cabinet for years.
Recently, I pulled it out and set it up to use to transfer some old VHS tapes to DVD for a friend. And of course, my "single button smart dubbing" doesn't work.
I spent a couple of hours setting up because the outputs are RCA and S-video only. And of course, none of my available TVs or monitors have such inputs.
When I finally got it to work with an old TV I had, I found that it played the VHS tapes and any DVDs I threw at it just fine. But of course, I can't get the DVD to record. I've spent another five or ten hours messing with it, following the instructions to a T and trying to find solutions on the internet. To no avail. And, silly me, I purchased fifty blank DVDs and labels for the DVDs and for their Jewel cases BEFORE finding out my old combo unit doesn't work.
And, it's hardly worth trying to have fixed.
That's why I'm here now, for this video. I was trying to find out if those cheap analog to digital converters work. At $35 I was afraid they would just be another Amazon come on waste of money.
I still have a computer with a DVD burner in it. And, I've been building a digital music and video library with it. That's the next step I wanted to take if one of these converters will actually work. For old VHS video as well as some old records.
I appreciate very much the clear graphics & text charts you made - good production values! Tip: next time keep the name & pic of the reviewed hardware on the screen a few seconds longer. Thanks again.
Great suggestion!
The native resolution of VHS is 640 x 480 pixels, not 320 x 240 pixels. Computer monitors use square pixels, so 640 x 480 digitized files will appear correctly (ie: undistorted) on these screens. TV sets use non-square pixels, so 720 x 480 digitized files will appear correctly (ie: undistorted) when played on a regular TV.
Incidentally, one of the most important considerations when digitizing videotapes is that the hardware must de-interlace the original signal. Without proper de-interlacing, the video will appear very "pixelated" whenever there is motion (or camera shake) in the recorded tape. If the hardware does NOT de-interlace the signal, there are two things you can do. First, you can use computer software to de-interlace the video after the fact. There are many apps that can do this (such as Handbrake) however, it can take hours to complete the process depending on what de-interlacing algorithm is used.
Alternately, you can play back the interlaced video using programs like VLC Media Player that include a menu option for de-interlacing on the fly. Works pretty well. However, I much prefer to get properly de-interlaced videos right off the bat from the capture device. The Elgato does a nice job of de-interlacing but it does "soften" the image a little bit. This can actually be an advantage because a "softened" video appears less NOISY, and old VHS tapes can certainly be pretty noisy (ie: grainy).
All great points. And I totally agree about the interlace comments. I like some of the upscalers as they with the capture card de-interlace the video at 60fps and you can see the difference.
You're right about needing ~480 pixels high.
No analog format has a native pixel resolution, but all video formats of a given standard have the same fixed number of scanlines. 525 for NTSC with about 480-486 having information. That's true for VHS, broadcast, laserdisc, etc. But there are no pixels. Resolution across a given scanline is a matter of bandwidth and the way they measure is by how many vertical lines can be resolved (these are lines drawn N-S).
Because the number of scanlines is always going to be the same when a given video format's resolution is stated the 480 is implicit. What they're talking about is that number of vertical lines that can be resolved *across* a scanline. You could fully capture the information in a VHS picture with somewhere in the 300-350 pixel across range, so a 320x480 picture would work pretty well but require everything viewing it to be pixel aspect ratio aware, so that it would display as a 4:3 picture properly.
That was a fairly common format on the Amiga, back in the '80s and '90s, because it was very video aware. Amigas natively didn't have square pixels. But PCs and Macs are square pixel machines. 720x480/720x486 files with non-square pixel aspect ratios don't always show properly on PCs or Macs if the codec doesn't embed appropriate meta information about aspect ratio or the viewer doesn't make assumptions and apply a transform just based on the container size. Capturing 640x480 is convenient overkill, has the right aspect ratio for viewing on the desktop, while 320x240 is throwing away a lot of information. De-interlacing needs to interpolate and frame blend both spatial and temporal information whether you're looking for the best 30fps result or 60fps result.
I bought a brand new Elgar from eBay and it doesn’t work, first of all the software doesn’t fully run, when it comes to recording time and it only captures and plays the signal once a day if I’m lucky, the problem is not the usb 2.0 I have converter hub, my laptop is new and good, the vcr is good, so the problem is elgato device
I do not like stretching the image that way. I use the Elgato device and follow the instructions of another UA-cam creator to use OBS capture software. I include interlacing at 60 fps for smoother motion. I prefer to preserve the 4x3 aspect ratio to avoid distorting the image.
Smart I actually do the same just did not put all of that in my videos
I cannot see the utility of changing the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9, as it stretches the picture horizontally.
That being said, the sharpness and clarity of the third option was impressive.
Sweet video. Very helpful to see the differences of a few products. Wish I knew this years ago.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the great instructional videos. I just ordered the Yitrox converter, Elgato HD60X and clean power supply. I have about 50 VHS, VHS-C and Mini-DV tapes recorded from 1993 thru 2010 that I'm excited to - gradually - convert to high quality digital videos that can be shared with others. Will let you know how they look after I get started.
Check out OBS Studio as the capture software..
@MiddleSiggyHomestead I had also downloaded OBS based on another video I watched about a different method using less capable converter/capture HW. I thought the Elgato capture utility download would be adequate, no?
Yes the Elgato hardware and software is great stuff.. and I did use the Elgato software, but I use OBS because I stream and because I am just so familiar with it. There is nothing wrong with the Elgato software.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld How do you put it directly onto YouTUbe?
You might want to look into the domesday duplicator for laser-disc project's vhs extension. Basically, you tap into the raw read head's analog signal and that gets recorded. The recorded signal is then decoded at a much higher resolution and quality than the video player's own circuitry is capable of.
Not sure if this channel got the right "clients" for this ;) But yeah, domesday is amazing. I'm still going the DV-A/D conversion route (+ TBC) and let QTGMC do its magic at the end. No crappy "A.I" upscaling.
Thank you for a good video explanation to this process. Sadly the recommended YITROX Upscaler is no longer available which you note in comments but the other choice in component only and my VCR can't do that. Still a great topic. Maybe an update video on another choice? The Gefen is gone as well.
Thank you for the good explanation! But in my case I got only blue screen or the logo of the video player, olso I tried different capture device RCA to USB, Win 10 and 11, and Mac, and different video players but without success. Please give me advice on what to do?
Very informative and professional 👏 This very well may be the best VHS to Digital Conversion How To video of our time! Its so thorough and clear, its as if my Father is teaching me.
Wow. You have literally left me speechless and touched. I feel as if we have known each other our entire lives. This seriously means the world to me.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorldThis is so wholesome
Great explanation for VSH to digital
I agree except I'm 73, so it's like my grandson is teaching me:)
THanks for the vid, do you ever have issues with audio/video sync? My audio after doing this always comes delayed by about 20frames, very annoying as have to bring in premiere and re-export it. Any advice appreciated 🙏
Maybe I missed this but where is the video stored? A Memory card? my laptop? If it's a card what size do I get? An suggestions?
It's going to be stored the computer you plug the device into.
This is a decent overview. But with option #3, why did you upscale a 4:3 image to 16:9, stretching it horizontally in the process? Certainly, you don't intend it to be viewed like that. How do you then correct for the error afterward? By scaling down to 4:3 again and throwing some of the data away? But if you do that, you're effectively blurring it twice.
Thank you for the compliment. The short answer on stretching is I did not think it looked that bad (I am just a little chubby in the video 😁 because of the stretch) and it was the sample I had at the time I edited the video. That was my very first video for UA-cam and I just forced myself to get it out, so I cut a few corners.. I don’t think I would ever go back, although I could. I think I would just recapture and not have the software stretch.
Again thanks for the feedback.
Personally I really hate seeing the incorrect aspect ratio. It is always very obvious to me and annoying. I’m sure the video would look best out of the three options if it was corrected.
@Tyler Hickernell message was received.. check out my latest video on film conversions.. I think I got it right in that one :)
Thank You for Watching!
8:27 Yeah, because the VCR records in 480i, not in 240p, also the horizontal resolution is more then 320, but it's in analog. The real resolution is arround 400x440i.
I use a method similar to the 3rd option. I plug the VCR into a upscaler then from the upscaler to the original Elgato HD capture device through HDMI. I use OBS and run it at 720P 30FPS lossless quality. I then upload the footage to UA-cam and even though all the movies get claimed and no one else can watch them, the person who uploaded it can. Free server space for all my movies.
Nice. I like the idea around youtube. I personally use a plex server and share the home movies with family members that way
I decided to follow your recommendation but did the ElGato HD60x since I only have laptops... but the issue I am dealing with is my VCR only has Yellow/White components and the upscaler feed is black & white... do I need a VCR with the 3 component jacks (which I thought was better audio only)? Any idea what I may be doing wrong?
And I'll add that even if I try to capture it on the elgato, I get an error that 1280x1024p59 is not supported. The Yitrox shows (when I connect it via HDMI to my tv) 800x600, so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. The instructions for both devices are nonexistent!
Hi, that final image is stretched though. Does the upscaler allow you to output in 4:3 aspect ratio?
looks like the upscaler has the following formats: 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x1024, 1920x1080
Fantastic you answered all the questions I had to ask, and more! Thank you very much for making this video!
Thank you Dino.. that makes my day!
Very good and concise video, thanks much.
Do you think that a Magix’s Vegas Pro would do a better job of upscaling than a hardware solution?
That is a great question. I use Vegas for my editing. I will run some tests on the videos I have and find out. Might be a bit I have a bunch in the queue. I will post it as a video in the future. Thanks again.
Thanks for the great videos! I've started the vhs conversion journey with the yitrox upscaler and hd60 pro. However, some doubts about getting the right settings in place remain...
Using OBS seems the way to go. But what would be the best choices resolution wise? Setting the yitrox to full 1080@60 output will distort the 4:3 PAL aspect ratio. Would it be better to go for one of the 4:3 outputs, or rescale afterwards in OBS to a 4:3 aspect ratio? Is there a reason to go for 60fps or 50, like 60 is 2x30 from ntsc and 50 is 2x25 from pal?
they say elgato is obsolete now dec 2023, ? , what is modern capture cards etc i could use today ? i have a black magic intesity shuttle.. do i need to pair this with a decent video card in my home pc ? or any video card work ? i am transferring many old svhs tapes ot ditigal.
Look at the Elgato 4K cards
To absolutely maximise the quality of captures I would highly recommend using 75 ohm coaxial cables when possible for video connections (particularly composite and s-video, which is what you're limited to with VHS players) not the 'shoelace' ones typically supplied with most AV equipment. They eliminate a lot of the 'edge ringing' which people often assume to be intrinsic to analogue video signals.
That is very interesting.. Thank you for the information. I am going to have to redo some of my VHS tapes I will look into that before I do so..
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld You're very welcome. The difference is very easy to see if you compare the cable types with the picture from a DVD player (it provides a clearer reference than VHS) using its composite-out - it's not subtle. It will be somewhat less pronounced with s-video, but still quite noticeable. I've actually seen a player give a better picture with composite via 75 ohm coax than RGB (component) via a poor quality SCART (be thankful you never had to deal with these truly awful connectors in the US) ETA >> BTW, RCA-terminated SPDIF audio cables are the same thing, they carry a similar signal frequency (which is RF) to that of SD analogue video. You can even make your own pretty easily (and cheaply!). If you use RG59 RCA's, most are compression/crimp and don't even need soldering.
After making all of these videos I have found out a few things.. I also think I am going o have to buy a new VCR, because I am limited with the one I currently have, and it does not even have the coaxial connectors.. again thank you for the feedback.. Have a great day!
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld I might have been leading you up the garden path somewhat - S-VHS via dual coaxial would be perfect but of course one is restricted to the standard 4-pin cable and connector, barring some serious modding. Otherwise (and I might be teaching my gran to suck eggs) if your VHS player is a decent one you could just make sure you're using a good S-VHS cable that definitely has individually shielded cores. Keep keeping on!
I have successfully transferred VHS & Betta tapes to didgital files,burn to DVDs using LG HDD recorder,can use pause function to cut-out unwanted material on tape.Your methode is much cheaper & improves video images better,thanks for your clip
IvoMac, Thank you for watching and the comments.
I would have been nice to see the comparison between the already scale 720 Diamond VC500 and Elgato 1080 with the upscaler, to see if it is worth it to spend the extra money.
Thank you for extremely informative and helpful video. I had tried various methods with the gears that the camcorder came with but none that my computer would recognize the video input. I was going to get the Roxio VHS to DVD software package but ultimately decided on the Elgato (after watching your video).
Again, thank you, sir!
For method #2, can you pause/move footage frame-by-frame for editing with Elgato?
was just going to send my vids to imemory and was freaking out to send-i found your vid and am going to do #3 option.
The Elgato worked great.
Thanks for the guide
no, it is bad. I use easycap. it is cheaper and produces better quality
I'm using Method 3 to digitize some VHS-c tapes in a standard VHS adapter tape (the HD60 Capture Card and the Yitrox) plugged into an srd4900 VCR and my video is coming out B&W and the A/V cuts out every few seconds. I've returned my first Yitrox thinking it was defective but the second one is now doing the same thing. Tried connecting the Yitrox and VCR to my TV and the problem persists.
Any idea why this is happening? The VCR and tape work fine when connected directly through composite cables to my TV. The VCR and tape also work fine when routed through a different, lower quality AV:HDMI converter box.
Hi do you have a video on how to use the 3rd option for a laptop? I want to make sure u buy the right products.
Great breakdown of the various devices 👍 I have some family video to convert and your instructions were well done. Thank you 🙌
Composite video capturing? Hmmm, bad idea.. Use SVHS y/c signal wherever possible. Edges will be sharper and colour less shifted.
I would but considering these tapes are from the 80’s and they are standard VHS I am sort of stuck. But thanks for the idea.
This might sound odd, but looking carefully at the “Elgato 720x480 VC500 720x480” video comparison 05:35 minutes in and on, pausing the video and taking a careful look, the VC500 actually captures a sharper image. Just run the video and pause it at random and compare the two pictures, looking carefully, section-by-section, the VC500 video is sharper with a slightly better color also. I hope this doesn’t sound too odd to you but were the videos mixed-up before they were aired? The VC500 does have a visible sharper image. Please give me some feedback. - Norman
Norm, the videos were not mixed up, and yes it does a pretty good job.. but the one thing to look at is because the VC500 encodes with MPEG-2 it seems to create ghosting when the camera moves around, where the Elgato does not seem to have that effect. I believe that is because of the Codec more than the hardware. Unfortunately the MP4 encoding on the VC500 is not that great.. I have been asked to post longer samples of the videos, I will try and create something today and you can do some more comparisons.
Norm.. Also keep in mind, I did not mess with any of the brightness / contrast settings during my captures, I always took the defaults. That way you could see what the raw picture would look like. Most of the software has the ability to adjust color / brightness / contrast and you can always clean things up afterwards
Very informative video. What program is best for editing the video once it is downloaded to he PC?
I have a brand new computer, I bought the upscaler you recommended on your video and the Elgato HD60X and I cannot get it to get a signal. I have watched video after video on how to get this to connect and it will not find a signal. I have actually tried two different devices. My boss bought a set too. It's hopeless and a waste of time.
Thank you, Thank you! This was EXACLY what i wanted to see!
Glad it was helpful!
I would just use OBS to record you can just add your capture device in OBS than record at any resolution, output any file format, crop and use a good deinterlace. I would capture lossless with OBS and than handbrake to compress the file for the best possible quality. For a free software it's surprisingly good and way better than the crappy software provided.
I agree OBS is a great free substitution. I have used it many times already.. Great feedback!
i could turn my VHS into 1080p using OBS? i havent used it yet, but will try thx
@@paulpolizzi3421 The best way is to rip in the original 480p then upscale using a software as Topaz AI Enhanced. The result is amazing.
Upscalling from 480p to 4k introduces artifacts.
You lost me at OBS😮
320x240 is not the VHS resolution.
Both Ealcheapo and Elcrapo USB devices are as the name suggests.
Is Elcrapo paying you?
The final method distorts the picture to incorrect aspect ratio.
Bst option is to just convert to DV, or take an interest in the RF archiving.
Excellent video. I have JUST used your option #2 for the first time, then watched this again. I have two questions. 1) Does the volume set on my PC while recording affect the volume on the finished digital copy? 2) Can I use option #3, the converter upscaler, later to convert from my new digital copy to the better quality of #3, or can you only use that from the VHS? Thank you so much for this video and looking forward to your response.
Thank you for this video. I was using the Hauppague PVR to digitize some VHS performance tapes, but that unit no longer works. I am not as educated as others on the various components needed to make the upscaling and conversion work on a video that lasts almost 3 hours. I get the upscaling converts the 480 res file to a 1080 file, so that is the first step? Then which Elgato unit to use to send the file to the computer? I am using a laptop to do this.
Interesting demo of these 3 different converters. They all look great, but i really didn't care for the 4:3 to 16:9 upscaler, because it seemed to stretch the picture. Unless i missed something, is there a way to up scale to a 4:3 to an HD without stretching it to 16:9? Thanks
Yes with the Yitrox it does support 4:3, I was learning in some of these and at times got lazy and just stuck with the 16:9. You might also need to set up a special profile with something like OBS because most computers are 16:9 now and they all want that format. good luck
Is it true it doesn't work for Windows 10 or 11 like so many are saying in amazon? I dont think my old laptop running win 7 works anymore.. 😅
Great video cheers 👍 just ordered the 3rd option from Amazon.
Perfect, Thank you for watching
Thanks for the video! I hope you don't mind a quick question. I purchased the Elgato HD60X (external) capture device and, on the box, it says NVDIA GeForce GTX 10xx is required. I will be using a mini-PC with Intel Corei7-13700H (13th gen) with integrated Iris Xe Graphics. Will my PC and the HD60X work OK for VHS conversion? I am still looking for an upscaler so I'm also interested if you (or any fans) have updated your recommendations.
Hi, thank you for this informative video!!
I do experience some problems with method 3 (I ended up with the EasyCel upscaler + Elgato HD60x connecting with my macbook pro 2021): it seems like the Elgato capturing software is not recognizing the device (there is a blinking red light): any ideas how I can fix this? thank you !!
i am trying to connect my vcr to the elgato video capture card i get audio but i don't get video i've tried using the svideo as well as the rca composite but all i get is audio but when i hook my vcr to tv i get video and audio can you give me advice as to what i'm possibly doing wrong
When converting there is a latency in signal from the vhs tape to the recording software. The first few seconds show a black screen without sound and is missing. How do you fix this? Also, green flashes sometimes appear in the saved video. How to get rid of this?
Eat cheese, what equipment are you using to do your process?
I am using a device similar to method 1 from the video to capture footage from a camcorder. I am using OBS as recording software
I got a stand alone elgato video capture tool but after I got 2 hours of recording it didn’t save the file. How are you using their software?
Thanks for the great video! I am having trouble connecting the Elgato to my DVD player. My LG DVD player does not have the yellow/white/black audio video jacks, just an HDMI jack (out to TV). Is there a coupler I can use to hook up these two (the female elgato jacks to the HDMI)? Any advice you can offer would be great!
are you trying to record on the DVD? what Elgato device are you using?
Kindly make a video that explains about "chemical cleaning" of VCR tapes and how to do..?
I have never looked into that, I will put it on my list.. Thanks for the suggestion
Clear and concise, thoroughly informative video
Glad it was helpful! These are my first videos.. So that means a lot.. Thank you!
My Elegato video captures go out of audio sync. Any idea why that is?
I've used the Elgato on my MAC for a few months. It was great. Then all of a sudden NO video signal (but I do have the audio) I did not change the physical connections. I tried the coax (yellow) and it did not work as well as the S-VS connection and no video. I reinstalled the program and no luck. Any ideas? TIA
I wonder how this compares to the old method of using a video camera with a pass through DV connection. Win XP and Win 7 computers have windows movie maker built in and when combined with a firewire connection a smooth picture in the original format can be achieved. Don't know if it looks any better then 1080 but it's decent. Old mini DV cameras and firewire cables are cheap and the end result is good enough to watch on a modern TV. (mostly)
If you can do a DV with FireWire you should do that. That is a true digital transfer and not an analog to digital conversion so you are getting the best copy off the tape into the PC. At that point you then are at the same mercy as all of us on if you want to use other software or hardware to continue to upscale the image.
I think he's talking about A/D conversion through a DV camcorder. S-Video in, DV-Out. I'm using a Panasonic AG-DV2000 and a Videomixer for TBC myself and it's my prefered method. You get a 25mbit intraframe MPEG2 in a AVI Type 1 container which I deinterlace to 50p (PAL), denoise, crop and resize with Avisynth/ffmpeg (QTGMC). Each kind of 'HD upscaling' sucks imho. It's creating lots of artefacts and a pretty ugly and artificial looking image (faces). Bicubic upscaling and your TV's upscaling will do. @@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld
rather then go to DVD can I just go USB/computer? and about how much space does say a 8hr video take? I have surface pro, just checking if i can use that?
Or, can I start the VCR playing and let it play a bit b4 hitting the record button on the Degato ?? As mentioned below, I'm just trying to get out the blank or unfocused parts of the video before transferring in onto a dvd, Thank u again
Yes you can do that. The software I use on the PC is OBS Studio for the capturing
Appreciate the videos and peoples comments. I'm Capturing video from VHS tapes using my Samsung DVD-V8600 dual DVD and VHS player (which plays S-VHS tapes, and has both S-Video out and Component out...) I'm still uncertain what is recommended for getting the best reasonable results. I'm mostly doing this to preserve the content for the future... I have both a Windows 10 laptop and Macbook Pro 2017 (with Final Cut Pro), so I can use either... Is S-Video out the best? And plug it into what? Should I use an upscaler or not? And what software? Again, thinking of the best reasonable results. I'm willing to spend a reasonable amount if needed... Thanks!
Chris, watch my video on the upscalers.. what you will end up as a recommendation for your situation is the Yitrox upscaler, which does support the S-Video cable, and yes you want to use that if you can. Then a good capture card. I would recommend any of the Elgato brands, I have been having a lot of luck with them. For a Laptop look at the HD60X
Great video! I Have actually copied a lot of my old videos and video 8 tapes to my PC a few years ago using a pretty cheap bit of kit I bought on Amazon. The results were ok considering. However seeing that software has come on a lot since then I'm thinking of doing them all again. The top quality product looks great but how do I use it without a tower to fit it in? What device will I need to house it with a laptop? Cheers.
You are exactly where I have been for the last few months, which is what started all of this.. So good luck with your project.. :)
If I were to do it again (and I just might) with a laptop, I would go with 1)The Elgato Video Capture device I shared in the video. or 2)The Elgato HD60 X External Capture Card which will work with a laptop. Plus an upscaler... (Right now I am leaning towards the "YITROX AV Svideo HDMI to HDMI Converter Upscaler") also listed above... This would be my choice if I did not already have the Elgato internal capture card. If you give me a few weeks I am reviewing a stack of upscalers that are reasonably priced, and I should have a video out as soon as I can. (There are links to all of this in the Description). Be aware I have had some issues with the different upscalers, so waiting for the video might be a good idea before you make the investment. There is too much to share in this comment.
I believe a friend of mine has the Elgato HD60x, I will see if I can borrow it and make a video.
Thank you for the comment.. have a great day!
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld thanks for the reply! I Just cant see how I can use the Elgato HD60 Pro with a laptop? How does it plug in etc? You mentioned an external device in the video?
You need the HD60X the internal one I have is the HD60. I spoke with a friend of mine who has the HD60X and he said it works like a pass through, meaning you would plug in the upscaler into it and then it plugs into your PC with a USB to control the capture part. That is what I got from my friend. I will see if I can get some better pictures because the images on the Elgato web site are not great
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Ironic that 'the images on the Elgato web site are not great'.
I am looking to convert some old vhs tapes to digital format. I have a Magnavox zv427mg9 VCR to DVD combo, but I want to convert the vhs tapes directly to digital. The Magnavox has an HDMi output which makes the resolution of the vhs tapes very good when watching. Any thoughts?
So then the way to go is - Upscaling with hardware before the capture. S-Video to the YITROX to upscale, HDMI out of that into Elgato HD60 X, HDMI out into my computer - Right?
That would be the best path for VHS and other similar formats.. yes.
Great clear instructions, Thanks
Can't find the yitrox for sale. Everything says unavailable
I run Mac mini so no way to add a card do you have a suggestion on which usb capture device would be best to use at the top end I would like to get the best quality I can
@Creg P, You have a few options:
Option 1) The Elgato Video Capture USB device does support a Mac, so that is one path.. This will capture the videos in 720x480 and they look great. (Depending on the original tape :) )
Option 2) The Path I went down, and you could look at is using an upscaler, and then using the Elgato HD60X which is an external inline product. Then use OBS or the Elgato Capture software to store the video in 720p or 1080p. This personally is what I have done, but instead of the external HD60X I am using the internal HD60...
For an upscaler, I would go with:
- RCA to HDMI Converter, Wenter 1080P AV to HDMI Converter - $15 - amzn.to/3JZjNgT
- YITROX AV Svideo HDMI to HDMI Converter Upscaler - $37 - amzn.to/3lc5LOr
Does a broken camcorder screen affect digitalisation? I have a sony handycam, tapes all working when viewing through the viewfinder, but the camcorder’s viewing screen had broken sometime ago, so the issue i have been running into is a black screen only when i open any video capture software, obs or any other does is the broken camcorder screen causing this issue? And do i now have to seek for a new camcorder ?
What brands/models will convert VHS to USB MP4 files for PC computers? The VHS to USB converter should come with a video editor software also
Wayne - The Elgato Video Capture device will save as a MP4, and its editing is limited. I made a deep dive video on it here:
ua-cam.com/video/l38l4cXqiPM/v-deo.html
I tried this and it didn't work. I went from a VHS player to the YITROX Upscaler to the Elgato HD60 S+ to my laptop and I just get a blank screen. When I cycle through the resolutions on the upscaler, the best I can get is a flashing rainbow screen that says there is no input. Am I doing something wrong or does this combination not work?
My problem is that my videos have mold. I have about 50 tapes. I tried putting one in the vhs and it jammed. And I dont have the time nor the capacity to do this myself. Can you recommend a professional service that can clean and convert to digital? One idea I had is to see if it is possible to move the vhs tape to an old time movie reel and then project on the walls.
Hi,
Very nice which is reason, for teh first time, that I ask a question: The Hi8 video look OK in teh eye-piece. Hooked to a TV they look a little fuzzy and quality of voise deterirated. Hooking with a Video Capture card the video quality is terrible, jumping all over, color distortion, poor audio. This is an inexpensive Video capture external unit. Will the more expensive video capture unit get me better result, or there is something else need to sync the laptop and teh camcorder? I followed all the set up as they showed it and tried to different SW. Thanks
Question: I want to convert my VHS tapes to a thumb drive to connect to my tv for family viewing and to share. Which software lets me do that?
I have a tv/vhs combo. Can I use this to convert my vhs tapes? It only has audio/video (white-yellow) inputs.
I want to save my vhs tapes to digital on my computer and then make dvd copies from that. Per your recommendation I purchased the yitrox with added power supply. Should I connect my yitrox to my vcr then from yitrox to Elgato hd60 x then to my computer using the elgato software. Also what resolution do you recommend I set my yitrox to. I’ll be using 4:3
I have an old video from back around 1990. It has been kept in a box since then. Any chance that video is still viable?
Do either of the usb options fix the audio sync problem? On a long capture, the audio gets increasingly out of sync with the video with all of the devices I have tried so far.
When dubbing VHS, I record in Filmora. I have the following problem. Sometimes empty fields appear in the recorded material (they are blue in Filmora). More precisely, these are interruptions in the recording in Filmora that last less than one second. Some of them later they are not visible in the video, but the longer ones are visible. What is the cause of this and how to eliminate it, does anyone know from experience.
I know what you are talking about, but I am unsure what caused it.. I am trying to think where I saw that issue so I could try and debug it. The only think I could think is the signal is bad and instead of displaying noise (or snow) it shows a blue screen, like a VCR does when nothing is playing.
Question: Does the software allow to you to add text comments to the converted video. For example, names of people or places in the video?
Looking to get elgato hd60 external plus upscaler. Does this allow me to recor videos?
so if I have a 2020 MacBook 16 inch I basically have to go with eh el gato correct?
Hi Awesome video, thank you. I am in Australia we use PAL system. I want to convert Hi8 to digital. Would the YITROX AV Svideo HDMI to HDMI Converter Upscaler in combination with the Elgato HD60X (Windows laptop) work here? Would really appreciate your thoughts
Does the the capture device store the video in memory, if so what is the limit for the length of the video or write it to the hard drive ?
How do you transfer videos off Google pictures from your phone to digital
I was wondering about your third option. If you upscale an output to 16 x 9 at 1080P, doesn’t it just stretch your image? It looks good, but everything seems stretched out. Is it not possible to output and upscaled 4 x 3 file with the Elgato software or OBS? I know 4 x 3 is less attractive but it is native and the images and people in the video will look proportional.
Ok but does it work for Mac
When I record to laptop the image is choppy and jumpy. It’s hard to watch. Audio is fine. Will the newer products you reviewed fix this?
Thanks for the info. But I still have my great Magnavox DVD/VHS player/recorder to convert some of my very old VHS tapes. Most of the VHS movie stuff I have is already in digital renditions, so I don't mess around doing them. My old personal home videos are very easy to convert VHS to DVD with this Player/Recorder.
Take care.
Thank you for watching..
Everything is fine, but from time to time when the shots on the tape change, the picture changes from color to black and white, and I have to switch to switch it back to colors, possibly because I am using an S-Video cable and not CVBS?
Yea color comes through the cable either encoded on the Yellow RCA wire or on the separate wires in the S-Cable, maybe try and replace your cable?? That is just odd.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld I ordered RCA with CVBS cable
I plan to finally try converting VHS and VHS-C casettes to DVD's using a Funai converter. Do you think that the setups shown in this video will give better quality than the Funai converter?
Thanks a lot to record this helpful video:)
Glad it was helpful!
what about if you have a laptop that only takes USB type C? It's a MacBook laptop from 2022. Can I still use elegato and VC500?
Great job on the VHS to digital conversion. The Elgato clearly provided the best quality result; however, it upscaled and stretched the original 4:3 image to 16x9 at 1080p. I'd like to see the 1080p squeezed back to the 4:3 aspect ratio. That, I think, would provide more of an apples to apples comparison and provide more of a visual improvement. I digitized my old 8mm films at 1080p while keeping the original 4:3(ish) film aspect ratio in a 16x9 window (fame). I then edited them in DaVinci Resolve and rendered them at 3840 x 2160 (super scaled to 4k) while keeping the movie image at a 4:3 aspect ratio inside of a 4k 16x9 window. I'm curious to see your 720p 4:3 result upscaled to 4k in a 16x9 frame via DaVinci Resolve or render your 720p version in DaVinci and do an upscale in Topaz Video AI. They both would keep the the aspect ratios correct, 16x9, without altering the original 4:3 image. Just a thought. Again, great job on you tutorial. Thanks!
Thanks Bob, I am glad you enjoyed the video. Sounds like you have a fun project on your side also
I was thinking about trying this technique with DaVinci exactly. Did you have any luck with it?
@@DavidNeedham For me, it made no sense to invest into any VHS conversion hardware as I only have one VHS tape and one Betamax tape. The VHS has little importance, which left me with a single Betamax tape. I definitely wanted to digitize that. I therefore just sent it out to a company to make the transfer. I did all of the cleanup, color and audio corrections, upconversion and whatever in DaVinci. I did render it in its original aspect ratio within a 16x9 frame to avoid stretching. BTW, I do still own my old VHS recorder; however, I have no clue if it still works. Maybe I'll see if it does. I never had a VHS camcorder. I only used a 3/4 Betamax camcorder in the field when I interned at WTVJ (CBS) in Miami many moons ago.
What is the name of the bench power supply from Amazon you mention $15?
KAIWEETS - DC Power Supply Variable 30V 10A, - No Longer Available
(There are a bunch if you want one, shop around they range from $35 to $100+)
DC Power Supply Variable, Bench Power Supply with Output - $87.99 - amzn.to/3xfsQm3
isnt the upscaler pointless if you can just upscale it after on the pc?
The Elgato is easy to use and works great.
As far as an upscale I’ve yet to find one that works. Prism and Hitpaw did nothing and Yitrox was a waste of money. On all of these the output video was no different than the original.
Hello, nice video. I bought the Yitrox upscaler. Which video software works with this? I can't figure it out. Thank you.
So remember this is just a digital converter, not a capture card, so you need a capture card that can take the output from the upscaler, into something like the Elgato, I then use OBS Studio, although Elgato also has its own software you get with their hardware
There is a new one out called the Clear Click video 2 digital converter. No computer needed.
Thank you for this informative video. I recently got a VCR, with other accessories, to convert our old VHS tapes. Do you have any recommendations on a software that would upscale after we transfer the movie to the computer?
There are multiple ways to do that, off the top of my head any of the professional editing software can do it, like Adobe Premier, Sony Vegas, or others. Thanks for watching
I have a problem with conversion that even Elgato can't seem to figure out. The Elgato will work fine after I reboot my Mac, but after about 7 or 8 uses, the saved finished video on the Mac is saved at double speed, rendering it useless. I have swapped out computers, swapped out 2 different Elgato devices, swapped out VCRs, and swapped out the patch cords. Yet, it's still happening. What is going on? Anybody had this issue?
Hi - What would you use to copy from a DV media - JVC GR - D23 DV camcorder to laptop? Thanks....
Any options that will work on a Mac that doesn’t have audio sync issues? I would like to have it in mp4 format in the end so it can be viewed on pc, mac, or tv.
I don’t use a MAC so I can’t speak to that directly, but I stick by my Yitrox upscaler and any of the Elgato capture devices internal or external. And then use OBS for the capture software I believe it has a MAC version