VHS to Video File and DVD Conversion

[Raissermesser]

Finally undertaking transferring VHS home movies to video files and DVDs. I ended up getting a Roxio VHS to DVD 3, as seen in WallyWorld, only to find it topped out at Windows 8. Discovered in the manual that this version is basically straight VHS to DVD, and needed to upgrade to VHS to DVD 3 Plus for more capabilities. Except, I didn't want to. That conviction got set in cement after running into install issues (a combination of Murphy's Law, operator error, and wrong driver for Windows 10 64 bit), and getting a "Go away" feeling when I tried to look for help on their site.

My first problem was some other software wanted to update during the install, and that froze it. Couldn't get past that point, and so plugged the capture device in and let Windows 10 install a driver. That made things worse when I tried to reinstall, and it hadn't gone far enough to be able to do a clean uninstall. Ended up plugging the capture device in, deleting the driver in Device Manager, unplugging the capture device, and attempting a reinstall. Success! Except I knew there was another problem.

In looking for a solution to the first problem, discovered that there is a Windows 10 driver to make it work with Windows 10. Downloaded and installed that, and it should be good to go.

Should point out that Roxio VHS to DVD 3 Plus with video capture device seems to be in stores now, but don't know if it has Windows 10 drivers. If it says it does, then I just have an older version.

Meanwhile, I wanted a way to edit and customize my home movies, as well as save the video files themselves separately. I also didn't want to spend more money, if at all possible. What to do.

Decided to go open source. It started by thinking of using VLC, already installed on this computer, for video capture. This led me to OpenShot, a video editor, and OBS as another tool to capture video. To create a video DVD, I've downloaded DVD Flicks. My idea is to capture the video, edit as needed, save the file, then made a DVD.

Except ... I'm not sure of the capture settings. NSTC, I know. The 4:3 aspect ratio and maybe putting in the black side bars for the 16:9 aspect ratio I know. The rest of the settings I don't. I'm also unsure whether to go to something lossless for capture and edit it, as you would in capturing audio in Audacity, or, since these are VHS, going straight to a lossy format.

Any suggestions before I start tinkering? My VCR is functioning, but around 19 years old, and the less wear and tear I put on it, the better.

 

[gwsmallwood]

This is what makes the services that do these things for you so nice. Yes, they are expensive. But how much is your time worth? I embarked on this experiment a few years ago, myself. Like you, I spent a large amount of time trying to figure out how to make everything work without much in the way of results. I decided to save up some funds to pay a service to do the transfers for me.

 

[Raissermesser]

The question of how much our time is worth hinges on whether we'd be doing something to earn money instead of a project. This is more of the same question of whether we can do our own auto repair. If not, or can't do it well, then we take it to a mechanic.

Did a short test last night. First had to run the Roxio software in Windows 8 compatibility mode, then had to do a repair to fix the botched install, then re-ran the driver patch, just in case. It turns out there's a save to file option that allows minor editing, and I picked that for the test. The input device got surprisingly hot, but it did convert video.

It's clear that I need to do slightly more involved editing for our home movies. For instance, I'd like to separate Christmas mornings by year instead of all one tape. Breaking the video into separate files and using DVD Flick should let me create a menu to each one (have used DVD Flick some before). I downloaded something called ShotCut to try, since it seems to allow both video capture and editing. Honestly, I could probably find good ol' Windows Movie Maker and do what I need in that.

There are some one-tape events that won't need editing, such as our wedding tape, and some that didn't require the full tape that need to be trimmed down to the video only portions. These are the simplest.

I am considering either a new separate VHS player or borrowing one I know that was seldom used. We have a huge number of unlabeled tapes to sift through. Most of these were tapes we should have reused to record some TV programs while we were out, and will be trashed. But the problem is going through them to find the keepers.

 

[bberg100]

I developed a dislike for Roxio years ago, no support, not keeping up with OS upgrades, poorly behaved, etc. Toss in Microsoft changes the hardware specs frequently and outboard video capture devices are almost never compatible with the latest OS.

I much prefer Cyber Link Power Director, they do keep up with Microsoft, but upgrades are not inexpensive. Hardware is a different issue. If you can find a VHS player with Firewire, and have a Firewire card in your PC, I always found this to be the best, most reliable, solution. I have a Sony camera with Firewire and it works flawlessly. Microsoft is trying their best to kill Firewire though, so who knows how long this will work.

 

[Doc4]

The question of how much our time is worth hinges on whether we'd be doing something to earn money instead of a project. This is more of the same question of whether we can do our own auto repair. If not, or can't do it well, then we take it to a mechanic.

Good point.

There is a certain satisfaction that comes from being able to actually do something yourself, rather than relying on someone else to do it for you. Of course, we all have to pick and chose what we do ourselves and what we farm out to others ... certainly for time constraints (not only in doing the work, but in figuring out how to do it as well), and also for "quality assurance".

For me, this task of transferring VHS to DVD is something I'd give to a professional. It's going to be a lot of technical computer tinkering that I'm not going to be good at and is going to bring me a lot of frustration. Besides, I'd be transferring valuable home movies, and I don't want that screwed up by someone who doesn't really know what he's doing (ie: me).

But if someone else has the desire to learn how to do this himself, as a "project", so much the better for him and I wish him all the best.

 

[Michael_W]

I still use Windows 7, the last Microsoft operating system that is worth a darn for usability, on my desktop and personal laptop. The computers we use at work use Windows 10, but I was able to install Windows PowerShell in order to get the laptop O.S. looking and functioning something like Windows 7.

As to your specific problem, I'm afraid I don't know what I can do to help. Could try doing a search on Amazon or eBay for compatible software.

 

[emwolf]

Big fan of DVD Flicks, I create DVD's from individual files all the time and this puppy is
1. Free
2. Works
3. Includes Tetris (generic)
Don't know about transferring the VHS to file in the first place, though.

 

[Raissermesser]

Last night I tried to use Shotcut to capture video, but only captured audio. Rather than to keep fiddling with the test tape, I used Roxio to capture and save to file. Roxio chooses the setting for you, so I think it's saved as an intermediate file and then converted. For computers, it only let me use MPEG2, but it's saved. I tried burning to DVD and ran into a problem that may not be Roxio: Could very well be related to the DVD player/burner. Tinkered a little with Shotcut to edit, and ran into the learning curve just to trim the ends, and called it a night.

Saw a trick on YouTube of connecting one of those cheap plug-in games to produce a signal, and using that to tweak setting. There's an old one here that belonged to the kids and that should work. That will let me save wear and tear on the VCR.

 

[Mr. Bonney]

I found it easier to just buy a spare VHS player and keep it sealed up in a HD garbage bag till I need it. lol

 

[Raissermesser]

Discovered there's a bug in Shotcut that messes with capture. Supposedly will be fixed in the next release.