# Transfering VHS to Digital



## Guest (Oct 24, 2007)

I wasn't sure where to post this question.

Whats the most cost effective way to do this?

thanks

rick


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Welcome to the Shack!

Are these tapes you recorded or movies and how many to you have?


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## Guest (Oct 24, 2007)

Whelp Sonnie I prob have 300-40 vhs tapes with prob abt 3k movies on them. I'd like to change to digital so I can watch them in down the road as I get less active.

Thanks for the help.

Rick


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## tweeksound (Jul 31, 2007)

Hey Rick, that's a good question.

I hope to offer A to D transfer for my clients, for as many mediums as I can, soon.

One way is to get a video capture card or interface and get it into your computer that way. Then burn it onto DVD.

There are also stand alone DVD/VCRs out there that wil do this.
A DVD recorder can do the job if you have a VCR as well.
You can get budget freindly DVDRs in the $100 - $200 range.

A medium priced DVDR might be the best solution for my needs.

There are also companies http://www.videosilo.com/videosilo/index.rsc ( also, soon to include Tweek Sound and Mastering) that will do this.


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## tweeksound (Jul 31, 2007)

> 300-40 vhs tapes with prob abt 3k movies on them.


Wow! your gonna need some pop corn!

With that many, you'll def. want to do it yourself.

Here's a nice cheap model.
http://about.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php/page_id=1773/form_keyword=Philips+DVDR3575/rd=1/mode=about_hometheater

Just plug your VCR into it and start recording.

PS. hows the studio coming?


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## tweeksound (Jul 31, 2007)

Well if you wanna get it done thru the above web site, it will probably cost you about $5,000!
That's good motivation to get a DVD-R!


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## Guest (Oct 24, 2007)

Thanks Matt,

whelp i have a vcr, old, and a dvd recorder in the computer but I stink a one step transfer would be best.

Are there any at best buy or where ever you wld rec?

Oh, i got a zoom h4 and recorded a mandolin political song on it in stereo mode. It came out pretty good. If you have a ftp server set up I can send it to you qwickly.

BAYL,

rick


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

> One way is to get a video capture card or interface and get it into your computer that way. Then burn it onto DVD.





> There are also stand alone DVD/VCRs out there that wil do this.
> A DVD recorder can do the job if you have a VCR as well.
> You can get budget freindly DVDRs in the $100 - $200 range..


All VHS tapes and 8mm were recorded in stereo, Right???

I'm sure that if we copy from VHS to DVD recorder directly we will get the same stereo sound ... but if we use a video capture card to do it through the computer; Do you know if possible to get 5.1 audio in the DVD after we copy??? ... most stereos will decode stereo signal to 5.1 ... but I'm wondering if we can produce a 5.1 DVD from a 2.0 ....

I'm not trying to highjack this tread :hide:... just wondering what is the best way to copy the tapes (I'm in the same boat and I haven't decided to use DVR or computer :scratch: ... Ohh, and the time I will spend doing this transfers ..:thud


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

> whelp i have a vcr, old, and a dvd recorder in the computer but I stink a one step transfer would be best.


If you have a VCR and a DVR I think it will be a one step transfer :yes::yes::yes:

Just connect VCR output to DVR input, press play in the VCR and record in the DVR and that's it ...
(I don't know what are the steps in a VCR/DVR combo ... I'm sure it will be the same).

This is what Best Buy shows http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...Combos&sp=+currentprice+skuid&id=abcat0102007


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## tweeksound (Jul 31, 2007)

*Re: Transferring VHS to Digital*



> whelp i have a VCR, old, and a DVD recorder in the computer but I stink a one step transfer would be best.





> If you have a VCR and a DVR I think it will be a one step transfer
> 
> Just connect VCR output to DVR input, press play in the VCR and record in the DVR and that's it ...
> (I don't know what are the steps in a VCR/DVR combo ... I'm sure it will be the same).


salvasol's got it.



> All VHS tapes and 8mm were recorded in stereo, Right???


Correct, VHS and 8mm are only capable of 2 channels.



> I'm sure that if we copy from VHS to DVD recorder directly we will get the same stereo sound ... but if we use a video capture card to do it through the computer; Do you know if possible to get 5.1 audio in the DVD after we copy??? ... most stereos will decode stereo signal to 5.1 ... but I'm wondering if we can produce a 5.1 DVD from a 2.0 ....


You will not get 5.1 from any VHS as they are only capable of 2 channels of audio but if you have a 5 channel input on your sound card you can import video and 5 channels of audio provided you have the software capability of recording video and 5 channels of audio at the same time.

The decoding of 2 channels to 5.1 is basically a pseudo surround where it runs the 2 channels thru an algorithm that makes it sound like surround using phase, filters, and reverbs.
Actual surround will come from the studio as 6 channels of audio.

Currently only DVDs and varieties of DVD (HD, Blue Ray, etc..) and SACDs (super audio CDs) are the compatible consumer formats of surround that I know of.


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

*Re: Transferring VHS to Digital*

Thank You ...:T:T


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## Guest (Oct 25, 2007)

VHS stereo to 5.1 is not possible. I have no idea why were even talking about that!

I just want to do the simple transfer.

Rick


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## tweeksound (Jul 31, 2007)

*Re: Transferring VHS to Digital*

It was a little OT but a valid question none the less.
There are ways of turning stereo to 5.1.
I do it often for clients who want their stereo tracks to be 5.1.
I love the DPS 24 OS 2.0! 
They're just pseudo surround.

True surround is when an engineer has the individual tracks or stems and sends varying amounts of each to 6 different channels.

The DVD recorders will do one pass video+2 channel audio from VHS quite well.
And you'll save $5000 by doing it yourself. Then you can use the DVD writer to do analogue to digital for other people :0)


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## Guest (Oct 25, 2007)

*Re: Transferring VHS to Digital*

Thanks Sonnie, Matt and Dave.

Its pretty much what I thought and a good winter project when were covered in snow till Mid-March.

Guess the next step will be reviewing them and maybe using some sort of sw that can do a one step fix kinda like PSP does to digital pics.

You guys have a productive & safe winter.

I still need to browse the site and see whats here to.

Mattie - what abt an ftp server deal. got that yet bud?

Rick


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## tweeksound (Jul 31, 2007)

*Re: Transferring VHS to Digital*

I only have 25 MB on my FTP.
It's just for web design.


Yousendit.com is a great free server for < or = 100MB and Sendspace is great for up to 300MB!

Free FTP service :yay:

You can email me an MP3 as well (at least 192kbps please :neener
BTW Rick!... I can't imagine I'm the only one who'd like to hear it.
Why not post it to songramp or soundclick for all to enjoy?

I think I read you were having issues with SR on the DPS forum.
How's that workin out?

Lookin' forward to hearin' it!


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

You will find that some VHS tapes will not copy to DVD because of the copy protection on them. There is software available to bypass this but then you have to have a PC capable of capturing video and then burning it to DVDr. I ran into this problem a little bit ago so I ended up replacing some the videos with DVDs that had the copy protection on them as it was too much hassle.


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## Tiny (Oct 17, 2007)

just since it was not well mentioned here I will chime in and say I quite prefer to do it with a pc using my sound card, and video capture card. There are plenty of things you can't do with a straight copy like add menus adjust the volume controls, or tweak anything else. You don't even need a super fast system to do it either. I am using my old win2k machine with the software that came with the capture card, I am also only using a gig of ram and not because I have to in it. The most expensive thing I bought for the entire system was when I replaced the old 60gb hard drive with a 320 bought for $80 on ebay.


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## Guest (Jan 23, 2008)

I have the Dazzle 150 (for a few years now) and it has never lived up to expectations. This is mostly because of the software; the hardware seems to be pretty good.

I have home movies, etc. on VHS (non-copyrighted stuff) that I would like to get into the digital domain and then so some editing on. If I get a combination VCR/DVD-recorder, is a transfer from VHS to a recordable DVD sufficient to then work with the digital movies on desktop software (like Pinnacle Ultimate 11) for editing and then burning an edited movie to DVD?

What is the file type on a recordable DVD from a transfer in a combination unit?


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