VHS to digital debacle

[hedgerow pete]

well since i am supposedly sat down doing nothing i decided that i would transfer all our vhs tapes into dvd formats so we can still watch them. well so far in 7 weeks not a single one has been done and we estimate 14 hours of time has been spent doing it!!!!

we started in the five pound range with this puppy
[ame]http://www.amazon.co.uk/EasyCAP-Audio-Video-Capture-Adapter/dp/B002H3BSCM/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1323788065&sr=8-13[/ame]

at the time we brought it there was more higher recomendations than low ones, that has now completly changed as what a heap of junk it was.

so when it arrived the first time the dvd driver disk was snapped in two, so we asked for another one, another week later we get a new disk and its blank so we phone up agaian and then get told we can down load the driver instead , so we did the down side is when you try to start the programe it wants the dish in the drive A, so we burnt a copy onto a disk so we can put the damm thing in drive A and still it not works, so a right conversation or such like later and the easy cap is in the bin and the refund is not happening, so amazon are now dealing with them and we dont expect any money back knowing how bad amazon is for customer relations

so the next puppy is orderd this time from a friends recomendation of product and supplier.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150560326448?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2648

well we paid the £20 and three days later, its arrived, now this one is so simple evan a computer techno genius like hedgerow can use it, plug one lead between the video player and the black box , insert a sd card , press play on one and record on the other and away we go, simplees







wrong


parcel came box unwrapped, i think the first downer on the day was the way it rattled, as in rattled like a bag of bolts in a bisuit tin rattle, the dead sounding rattle, thought we could be lucky, ha ha ha ha ah so I plugged it in.

very nice indoor fire works and then nothing so we are now back to square one, except this time a simple phone call and we get an instant refund straight away so good for them and another complaint for othe posties


so people where next, what do you reconmend and what sort of price will it cost me and from which internet shop to buy it from, i was thinking the £40 jobby from maplin this time or is there better and prefferable cheaper from else where

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Pete - have you looked at paying someone to do it for you - may work out cheaper and easier in the long run

 

[victor meldrew]

Pete - have you looked at paying someone to do it for you - may work out cheaper and easier in the long run

I've recorded dozens of vhs tapes on dvd . Cost zero (except discs)
Simply used the old vhs recorder and linked to a dvd recorder and copied in real time . No probs what-so-ever .
If you ain't got a vhs recorder . again no probs as a simple vhs player would suffice, both are being thrown out as redundant by the score
VM

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

I've recorded dozens of vhs tapes on dvd . Cost zero (except discs)
Simply used the old vhs recorder and linked to a dvd recorder and copied in real time . No probs what-so-ever .
If you ain't got a vhs recorder . again no probs as a simple vhs player would suffice, both are being thrown out as redundant by the score
VM

VM - quite agree but got the impression that Pete was struggling under the technological load

 

[victor meldrew]

VM - quite agree but got the impression that Pete was struggling under the technological load

Aye maybe
But video/audio to scart lead is a simple plug in and play excercise
If he were to take the computer software route, he could end up with having to cope with format issues limiting the available playing to his computer if not careful
VM

 

[Storm™]

Here you go Pete have a look at these peeps:

http://www.video-2-pc.co.uk/?gclid=CPTl6KS0_6wCFUhrfAod_iuQTA

and if they muck you about they are only an hours drive away so you can go and grab them round the throat - http://tinyurl.com/dx4erqs

or there is this place to try it the other way: http://www.marblessandwell.co.uk/

 

[greatbritishhoney]

I've recorded dozens of vhs tapes on dvd . Cost zero (except discs)
Simply used the old vhs recorder and linked to a dvd recorder and copied in real time . No probs what-so-ever .
If you ain't got a vhs recorder . again no probs as a simple vhs player would suffice, both are being thrown out as redundant by the score
VM

By far the easiest method.

 

[hedgerow pete]

cheers for the tips lads , i was thinging of the jioned dvd recorder and video route and still do but they go for more than i can afford on fleabay, also i like the idea of having them avalible on the computer so i can burn off disks if i want.

i dont own a seperate dvd recorder just a video player and or a seperate dvd player. i will have a look at storms suggestions

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Hardware issues aside, if you copy via the VHS recorder to DVD recorder route you can easily export to a disc an upload to your PC.

 

[Drew]

Pete
As you have the software and stuff for your option 1 it might be worth trying the (DOS) subst command (assuming you are using some sort of Windoze machine) to tell the 'puter you have a drive a: (in a directory)

If you are interested I can give some instructions......

If not I won't ie its a few steps and I'd need to remind myself of syntax etc as its been a while..........

 

[ma1308]

I would go with victor meldrews suggestion (Video player to DVD recorder) nice and simple.

 

[hedgerow pete]

I would go with victor meldrews suggestion (Video player to DVD recorder) nice and simple.

well for now i will looking into the video to dvd recorder jobbie.

but the problem with that is just the timing it will take, never mind, thanks alot everyone, its back to the drawing boards for now

 

[DulwichGnome]

This is a US site, and seems to be a year ahead of it's self, but might help

http://vhs-to-dvd-converters-review.toptenreviews.com/

Mike.

 

[Storm™]

What I would do if it's films etc not personal home movies *cough*  is sell the VHS versions and use that money to get em all on DVD. I mean I over the years have purchased the whole Harry potter series. Each one was 15 quid-ish. ( pun intended). So OH's gran wants them all. So we got them at Amazon on preorder. 65 quid. When issued we got a refund of 40 quid cause it was cheaper elsewhere. Then they refunded another 5 quid. So we got the lot for 20 quid. Brilliant lol. I mean if they are personal home movies Pete you might make a few quid more lol. I have an image of you in a batman costume and yelling ka - pow before you pounce. Holy Hedgerow Batman. 

 

[victor meldrew]

well for now i will looking into the video to dvd recorder jobbie.

but the problem with that is just the timing it will take, never mind, thanks alot everyone, its back to the drawing boards for now

Timing is exactly the same . The VHS tape can only be uploaded in real time what ever method you use .
To fast forward the tape would bring in a whole new set of problems
VM

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Not wishing to hijack the thread but......does anyone have any expertise in transfering audio cassette tapes to digital format?
I've got a few (dreadful) tape recordings of various (dreadful) bands that I was in many years ago. I have transferred them into digital by connecting hi-fi to laptop and importing via Audacity (open source recording software). The result is OK but it seems to add a bit of hiss to the already considerable amount of hiss on the original.

 

[DulwichGnome]

Not wishing to hijack the thread but......does anyone have any expertise in transfering audio cassette tapes to digital format?
I've got a few (dreadful) tape recordings of various (dreadful) bands that I was in many years ago. I have transferred them into digital by connecting hi-fi to laptop and importing via Audacity (open source recording software). The result is OK but it seems to add a bit of hiss to the already considerable amount of hiss on the original.

I have used one of these with Audacity and it's worked well,
http://www.maplin.co.uk/tape-2-pc-dual-cassette-player-220602

Mike.

Someone in the office has recommended this if you have a tape deck/turn table,
http://www.maplin.co.uk/u-record-audio-to-usb-225569

 

[alanf]

Timing is exactly the same . The VHS tape can only be uploaded in real time what ever method you use .
To fast forward the tape would bring in a whole new set of problems
VM

There are (or were) commercial tape duplicators that ran faster than playback speed. They, and using the cheapest possible tape, are the reason why so many pre-recorded VHS tapes are poor quality.

I'll second (or third) the DVD recorder strategy as simplest. Curious that no-one seems to make a hard disk recorder that will record from a source other than the tuner, but not seen one. There are some digital movie cameras that take analogue inputs and can output to firewire, but unless you have the kit already there's a lot to find.

Not wishing to hijack the thread but......does anyone have any expertise in transfering audio cassette tapes to digital format?
I've got a few (dreadful) tape recordings of various (dreadful) bands that I was in many years ago. I have transferred them into digital by connecting hi-fi to laptop and importing via Audacity (open source recording software). The result is OK but it seems to add a bit of hiss to the already considerable amount of hiss on the original.

Try recording silence or play a blank tape and listen on quality headphones to see what the minimum background noise you can get away with. Audacity is fine, the noise is usually added before it reaches the software. Repeated decompressing and re-compressing to mp3 will deteriorate the quality whatever software you're using. Start with the best tape deck and leads you have or can borrow. Make sure the signal is as strong as practical without distortion to reduce the proportion of noise in that signal.

One of the best recorders I have is a ten year old laptop that struggles with Windows 98, the circuit quality and shielding in PCs varies enormously and unpredictably, try several. There are dedicated capture boxes with better shielded analogue to digital conversion but only you cam decide whether that's worthwhile.

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Thanks

 

[hedgerow pete]

Timing is exactly the same . The VHS tape can only be uploaded in real time what ever method you use .
To fast forward the tape would bring in a whole new set of problems
VM

sorry i gave and you held onto wrong end of stick,

what I ment was i have about 56 videos to transfer to dvd in some way and a budget of max £40. i love the idea of a video and dvd combined unit but so does everyone else doing the same as me,

i can buy new ish/refurb for about £75 to £100 which is beyond my ub40 wage level this month,


it looks as if all my well laid plans for the rest of this month and next is about to go out of the window as some bugger has decided to offer me a job, do these people not know i shut down for christmas in october untill february!



what i was planning on doing was setting up a very very naff 14" tv and the lappy and cables etc and an another naff video player i have aquired and setting a video off each night to copy over to dvd,

the timing was that durring the last 9 weeks "off" i have had plenty of time to do twenty videos a day if i wanted and now it looks as if i am going back to 12 hour shifts again ready for christmas, bugger