Spec me a PC build to capture VHS tapes.

Ynot

Ynot

Ynot

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Hi, can someone please spec me a PC to build for a friend that wants to capture his VHS tapes.

With a lot of help from this forum I built video edit PCs for myself that are still going strong :)

He could buy a device, something like "ClearClick Video to Digital Converter" but he thinks and he would be right, a PC could make a better job of it.

Any thoughts and thanks in advance.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B9WL1SDG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A2AYRB16OY1093&psc=1​

 
Ive captured hundred of tapes with a simple office dell i5 .

I use one of the hdmi to usb adaptors for £10

Virtual dub will do the capture.

The key is getting your signal into the pc i use a vhs deck with hdmi out.

Then i did whatever edits in fcp on a mac but mostly just used ffmpeg to convert the capture to mp4 directly.
 
whitecrook said:
Ive captured hundred of tapes with a simple office dell i5 .

I use one of the hdmi to usb adaptors for £10

Virtual dub will do the capture.

The key is getting your signal into the pc i use a vhs deck with hdmi out.

Then i did whatever edits in fcp on a mac but mostly just used ffmpeg to convert the capture to mp4 directly.
Click to expand...
Thank you, He has a Panasonic S/VHS deck BTW thanks again.
 
I've been doing this for years had every capture device you can think of windows as updated the hardware to capture vhs hasn't.


So when Lite-on released the 5045 HD DVD recorder I purchased one and stopped using all the capture devices. Yes the quality would be best using a capture device and a TBC but that would be at a cost and using windows xp or windows 7. Files would also be huge costing more time when converting to your wanted format.


I still use a Lite-on but now I use a Liteon HD-A760GX firmware flashed disabling macrovision and let's me install a larger hard drive up to 500GB I use a 500GB ssd. I have a Panasonic NV-FS200 attached by svhs cable and phono cable for sound. You can usually get one of the Lite-on drives off the bay.


Only problem doing it this way I don't burn to DVD I remove the drive and attach it to my PC then copying the files over where you have to rename them to .MPEG or .VOB. If your recording a 2hr tape it will probably be just under 8GB in size at HQ (high quality) but there will be separate files that will be 2GB in size. When converting to mp4/mkv it's best to join these files together as 1 file using vobmerge, I will then convert them using staxrip.


if you want to see the quality doing it this way look at my YouTube channel.
m.youtube.com

Old School DJ, Hip Hop Archive

My name is Jimmy Smithson and I have permission from DMC to upload and share these videos on this channel.
m.youtube.com m.youtube.com
 
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Lord Alibaski said:
I've been doing this for years had every capture device you can think of windows as updated the hardware to capture vhs hasn't.


So when Lite-on released the 5045 HD DVD recorder I purchased one and stopped using all the capture devices. Yes the quality would be best using a capture device and a TBC but that would be at a cost and using windows xp or windows 7. Files would also be huge costing more time when converting to your wanted format.


I still use a Lite-on but now I use a Liteon HD-A760GX firmware flashed disabling macrovision and let's me install a larger hard drive up to 500GB I use a 500GB ssd. I have a Panasonic NV-FS200 attached by svhs cable and phono cable for sound. You can usually get one of the Lite-on drives off the bay.


Only problem doing it this way I don't burn to DVD I remove the drive and attach it to my PC then copying the files over where you have to rename them to .MPEG or .VOB. If your recording a 2hr tape it will probably be just under 8GB in size at HQ (high quality) but there will be separate files that will be 2GB in size. When converting to mp4/mkv it's best to join these files together as 1 file using vobmerge, I will then convert them using staxrip.


if you want to see the quality doing it this way look at my YouTube channel.
m.youtube.com

Old School DJ, Hip Hop Archive

My name is Jimmy Smithson and I have permission from DMC to upload and share these videos on this channel.
m.youtube.com m.youtube.com
Click to expand...
Does the liteon support HDMI out of the VHS output? i.e. it does the ADC and fires out the digital signal
 
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The question here is why on earth would you want to send an analogue signal through HDMI! There is no point.

The liteon records via svhs on the front or scart from the back. Your best results recording any vhs signal will be through the svhs port.
 
Lord Alibaski said:
The question here is why on earth would you want to send an analogue signal through HDMI! There is no point.

The liteon records via svhs on the front or scart from the back. Your best results recording any vhs signal will be through the svhs port.
Click to expand...
????

No. you dont send the analogue via HDMI. You send a digital signal. The point is the 'expensive' hardware is doing the ADC (and deinterlacing!) firing out over HDMI. This means you only need to 'decode' the signal on the PC freeing up the difficult ADC conversion , no need for capture cards and hardware . This is how you can use cheap HDMI to USB adaptors, since it's just digital manipulation no analogue stage.

This guy literally got a whole video out of this exact subject :
 
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Sorry thought you were telling him to use a vhs player with HDMI! Only ones that have them are combi machines.

The Liteon is still the easiest and cheapest way. The devices above don't all work the same, it all depends if the op just wants to copy home videos or purchased videos.
 
Lord Alibaski said:
Sorry thought you were telling him to use a vhs player with HDMI! Only ones that have them are combi machines.
Click to expand...
I'm not telling him to do that, but it's a valid approach and I have captured hundred of tapes this way. But I only wanted to know if your machine had HDMI out, which I assume it does, and if it can therefore send video from the VHS deck over HDMI.
 
The liteon machines I have do not have hdmi, the only connections they have are svhs, scart and composite. Liteon did do one with an hdmi connection but its very hard to find.

But to record an vhs tape its best to use a machine with an svhs port. Using something like the above can cause issues like stretching of the video all depending on what device you purchase. Even in that video he does say the device he uses stretches and he as to transcode some files to normal size. Its the same with those crappy easycap and elgato devices some people say they look good but compare them to the old ATI and Pinnacle capture cards they look awful. It all depends on your budget and also what operating system your actually going to use windows xp and 7 still are the best for this because older devices still work on them and if you want the best results like lossless capturing that is the way to go, at an high cost.

This is why I still use the liteon device small cost with very good results.
 
Lord Alibaski said:
The liteon machines I have do not have hdmi, the only connections they have are svhs, scart and composite. Liteon did do one with an hdmi connection but its very hard to find.

But to record an vhs tape its best to use a machine with an svhs port. Using something like the above can cause issues like stretching of the video all depending on what device you purchase. Even in that video he does say the device he uses stretches and he as to transcode some files to normal size. Its the same with those crappy easycap and elgato devices some people say they look good but compare them to the old ATI and Pinnacle capture cards they look awful. It all depends on your budget and also what operating system your actually going to use windows xp and 7 still are the best for this because older devices still work on them and if you want the best results like lossless capturing that is the way to go, at an high cost.

This is why I still use the liteon device small cost with very good results.
Click to expand...
I see gotcha.


I’ve used all the cheap capture cards over the years since way back in the brooktree 878 days. Ati all in one etc But they all have issues. I use Panasonic ez dvr which DO have HDMI out. Moving the adc and deinterlacing to a device like this cuts out all of that nonsense and makes capture very easy and robust. I capture perfect lossless video at full PAL with a cheap i5 pc and process down to mp4 after.

If one was to go capture card route you really need expensive kit to do it successfully.

Capturing in mpeg2 and whipping the hd out is a nifty approach as well.
 
The liteon as made it so easy and the best part is that you can just remove the drive when it's full and stick another drive in. I have spent thousands over the years on different devices going way back to the old ATI all in wonder cards.

These are a few machines I have 2 of these need repairing and at the moment I just can't be bothered.

pic1.jpg


This is what I am using at the moment to record a few Rugby videos for a friend

4980f35a-eeb1-45b7-9cfd-71b16461533c.jpg


I have 2 Liteon HD-A740GX and 2 HD-A760GX machines, 3 Panasonic NV-FS200's, Panasonic AG-4700, JVC S8600, JVC HR-S7965EK (this one also needs a service not been used in 10 or so years). The only other devices I have left is a Plextor Convertx PX-M402U and a blackmagic device can't remember which one it is I probably used it a few times and put it in the loft.

If your using a device like you have I would use a Panasonic DMR-ES10 for passthrough it's a cheap version of a in-line TBC and would probably help getting a better quality picture.
 
Shame Matrox were bought out, unless I ever go back to Premiere 6 and Windows 7 am unable to use my RTX 2, fantastic piece of hardware of the time. The breakout board had connections for just about every type of signal, the real-time effects were amazing, and editing was so smoooth with hardware transitions. Still have mine in a storage box, you needed a big case to accommodate the card, it was massive https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/matrox-rt-x2-realtime-hd-video-editing
 
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