How do I convert VHS tapes to digital format?

Question

I, or rather my parents, have a PC running Windows, a collection of VHS tapes, and a VHS tape player with the following outputs: RCA A+V Out (Red, White, Yellow), S-Video, Component Video, RF.

How can I / How would I best be able capture the contents of these tapes into files on my parents' computer?

Notes:

• I'd like to avoid excessive costs, but not at the price of terrible quality.
• A high-bandwidth, low-distortion target format would be nice, or otherwise - the ability to choose which target format and which encoding parameters.

Answer 1

The easiest way would be USB video capture card. You would plug the VCR into the capture card, which is plugged into your PC. They come with software which will allow you to capture the video playing from the VCR.

Answer 2

One option to convert from VHS to digital uses a digital video camera as an intermediate device. It is required that the digital video camera permit appropriate input, either S-Video and audio or RCA type video signal separation, (left, right, video). It is also required that the camera have a direct feed to the computer. My way-old Sony digital camcorder (Hi-8mm format) has a USB connection that does not have the bandwidth to provide suitable connection but does have a Firewire™ data port. My computer has also this data port.

The VHS device would output to the digital camcorder, convert it to digital and pass it through the Firewire™ connection to the PC. The computer would have to have appropriate software to capture/record the video from the camera.

It is not difficult to find an inexpensive digital camera via craigslist or eBay and I cannot address today's technology in that aspect, but it's not as likely to contain such "old-time" connectivity.

For the software aspect, if you don't spend the big bucks on a brand name package, one could use a Linux machine running Kdenlive or one of many other options. I've used Kdenlive and found it to be intuitive and responsive on a Linux machine, somewhat buggy and crash-prone in the Windows version.

A quick check on eBay shows my old camera, dcr-tv350 running between one and two hundred dollars.

There are also devices which are a VHS tape player on one side and a DVD recorder on the other. The manuals are complex unless you are aiming for a straight dump from one medium to the other. Another quick search shows they are far more expensive than a used camera in the middle.