VHS to Digital Video

tkellytkelly
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Me and my family have this huge collection of VHS tapes (and those little tapes that go in the newer analog video cameras) of the kids growing up. We want to covert them to digital video and store on a seperate hard-drive or on our Mac.



On our past Windows computer we used a Plextor ConvertX. This had really horrible quality, and it didnt work with the Mac at all. I've been looking around trying to find a piece of hardware that import it on a Mac, I've found a few, but I don't know if they are good or not.



Does anybody know of a really good, easy product to do this?



Thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    sammicksammick Posts: 416member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tkelly View Post


    Me and my family have this huge collection of VHS tapes (and those little tapes that go in the newer analog video cameras) of the kids growing up. We want to covert them to digital video and store on a seperate hard-drive or on our Mac.



    On our past Windows computer we used a Plextor ConvertX. This had really horrible quality, and it didnt work with the Mac at all. I've been looking around trying to find a piece of hardware that import it on a Mac, I've found a few, but I don't know if they are good or not.



    Does anybody know of a really good, easy product to do this?



    Thanks



    You might take a look at Canopus--I have a -ADVC 110



    I found it easy to use--
  • Reply 2 of 8
    mac writemac write Posts: 289member
    I am in the same boat. I have some stuff on VHS I want to digitize using my MDD while retain as much quality as possible (AKA HD space doesn't matter). I will store the RAW video as data on DVD's until Blue-ray comes down in price, then archive the RAW video on blue-ray discs (so 13GB/hr doesn't matter to me based on DV). So what would be the best PCI or Firewire device to do this from a VCR (will buy a brand new one for best transfer).



    After all that is done, I then need to digitize 45+ 8mm 2h tapes (I am thinking Digital-8 camcorder is the way to go, since they can read analog 8mm and Hi-8mm tapes.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    ryukyuryukyu Posts: 450member
    I second the Canopus suggestion. They work very well.

    Or you could buy an inexpensive digital camcorder that has pass-thru and play your current tapes through that and then into the computer.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    guarthoguartho Posts: 1,208member
    I own a video production company. One of the services we offer is video tape to DVD conversion. Guess what we use to capture, the Canopus ADVC 110.



    Mac Write, we bought the Sony TRV-280 digital 8 camcorder to use for 8, hi-8 and digital-8 conversions. It does not play regular old 8mm and we've had to hold on to our old 8mm.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    One thing you might consider is an Elgato video capture device. It's not likely to be as good as a Canopus, but given that the source video is on VHS, maybe the damage is done already.



    Once you are done, you'll have something to use as a PVR device.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    mac writemac write Posts: 289member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Guartho View Post


    I own a video production company. One of the services we offer is video tape to DVD conversion. Guess what we use to capture, the Canopus ADVC 110.



    Mac Write, we bought the Sony TRV-280 digital 8 camcorder to use for 8, hi-8 and digital-8 conversions. It does not play regular old 8mm and we've had to hold on to our old 8mm.



    Will look into that. does it come with software (hope not) or can you use any software (FCE, iMovie, etc)? I want to maintain best quality.



    Any suggestions on the 8mm tape front? I don't trust the Sony Cam we have (1994) plugged into the Canopus ADVC 110.



    For this one show I video tapes, know the host of I can legally archive it etc. I want to bring it in chapter mark the segments (Dotto on Data for anyone interested) then archive to DVD either as MPEG2 or for computer viewing. Other tapes are "Expo86 Opening ceremonies" my moms 1988 cruise video etc. All videos are fair use. Any bought tape we chucked when my mom moved.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    bergermeisterbergermeister Posts: 6,784member
    Canopus all the way.



    I was asked to reformat some training materials for a company that were only on VHS. Plugged the VHS deck into the Canopus and imported directly into iMovie, where I was at home to feel free to do whatever I wanted.



    The final product was burned using iDVD (though I could have used DVD Studio Pro, I opted for a course a secretary in the company could repeat easily for future transfers). Chapters, links, lots of goodies.



    If you are intent on improving the video at all, you might want to look into Final Cut Express or some of the plug ins available for iMovie. I have th full set of Slick plug ins from GeeThree and they are, well, slick. You can really improve older home-made movies; the films I worked with were made using a hand-held camera which should have been tripod mounted because the cameraman was about as steady as the San Andreas Fault during a seismic moment. Image stabilization t the rescue and the end product was much bbetter than the original (the company boss asked if the videos had been reshot).
  • Reply 8 of 8
    mac writemac write Posts: 289member
    Speaking of improving the video quality, the tracking on our current Sony handyCam was fixed and all the tapes up to that point now have a horizontal line through them. I assume I can do some automated roto scoping or something to fix this hopefully.



    When using FCE with Canopus, what format is the video imported in (I heard it has a DV chip, so I assume it uses un-compressed DV (13GB/hr))?



    My gut says the Canpus is the right analog to digital box to get (and I assume it can be used for digitizing analog audio tapes etc)?
Sign In or Register to comment.