Memories fade over time and some are easily lost forever, especially if they’re stored on old VHS tapes. This is my guide on how to transfer your VHS tapes to your Mac, so you can store them for the future.
When I came home for Christmas eight years ago in 2010, my parents had organized all of their old VHS tapes from when I was a kid. When we watched some of them, I realized that these tapes needed to be transfered to digital form before they deteriorated further.
Video Capture - Capture Analog Video for Your Mac or PC, iPad and iPhone By the USB Grabber with component video input,you can easily capture/edit/video from any home A/V devices, such as DV/V8/Hi8/VHS/DVD/player,HD video game consoles and set-top box with the bundled capture and edit application Software. USB Analog Video Capture ezcap158 UVC Video Capture ezcap159 Video Grabber WinMac. Software Patch; ezcap128: ezcap1568/1168: ezcap2802/2803 RED BOARD: ezcap280.
I took me seven years, but last year I decided to finally transfer these tapes to digital form as a Christmas gift to my parents.
This is how I did it, step by step.
1. Getting the equipment
Transferring VHS tapes to a computer requires getting some equipment.
Luckily, my parents had already done a lot of the hard work by having not one but two VHS players in great shape (one broke down and we had to repair it for $72, but that’s another story).
This is the equipment I used (excluding my Macbook):
VHS player
VHS players are easily found on websites like Ebay, unless you already have one laying around. If not, perhaps you know someone you can borrow one from. VHS-C cassettes Chances are your old VHS cassettes are of the smaller VHS-C format. These types of cassettes were introduced in 1982 and were primarily used in consumer-grade camcorders. They need a VHS-C adapter to be played on a VHS player.
VHS-C adapter
A VHS-C adapter is basically a battery-driven hollow VHS cassette in which you insert a smaller VHS-C cassette.
You insert it in your VHS player and play it like a regular cassette. You can buy these adapters on websites like Amazon.
Video capture dongle
There are lots of different video capture dongles available today. What they do is that they transfer the analog signal from the VHS player to a digital one that your computer can process.
The dongles are always bundled with some video capture software (right?) for recording the video feed and saving it as a video file.
I used Plexgear Moviesaver 600 from the Swedish company Kjell & Company. It works for both macOS and Windows and cost me about $50 (400 sek).
The bundled video capture software Empia (for macOS) is somewhat buggy and not that well designed, bit it is simple and does what it has to.
SCART to RCA cable
The Plexgear video capture dongle connects to your computer through one of its USB ports. However, it needs another cable to connect to your VHS player.
I connected it to my parents’ VHS player using a brand new SCART to RCA cable that cost me about $24 (200 sek).
No TV?
Nope, with this setup the video feed will be displayed on your computer screen with the bundled video capture software. 2. Connecting the equipment
Once you’ve got all the hardware, the setup is quite simple as you can see in the image below.
Kjell & Company has also put together this product video (in Swedish) on how to connect their video capture dongle to your computer.
When I first connected the dongle to the VHS player, I ran into some trouble. I had used an old SCART connector that didn’t work. I don’t know why, but it had only eight pins. The new one I bought worked fine and it had 20 pins. Coincidence?
3. Transferring the VHS tapes
When you transfer a tape, it’s being recorded as it’s being played. If a tape contains 30 minutes of footage, the transfer will take 30 minutes. Each transferred tape will then be saved as its own video file.
For using the video capture software Empia that is bundled with the Plexgear dongle, I have the following advice:
4. Compressing the video files
After transferring the first tape, the file size ended up being much larger than I expected. A recording of just around 30 minutes weighed 1.5 GB. Another tape with a runtime of two hours and six minutes took up a whooping 25 GB. I needed to compress these files.
Luckily, two friends of mine with lots of experience in video editing recommended the free video converter application Handbrake (available for macOS, Windows and Ubuntu).
Handbrake worked wonders and shrunk the 30 minute recording from 1.5 GB to 450 MB. The 25 GB recording was shrunk to just 1.5 GB. Quality stayed the same, nice!
5. Storing the video files
When it comes to storing the video files, I’d recommend storing them on as many places as possible. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. I store them on:
My dad also stores the video files like this. I was going to store them on my Dropbox account too, but I didn’t have enough space.
Do not just burn the video files on DVDs. These DVDs will deteriorate just like your old VHS tapes.
6. Editing the video files
After transferring, compressing and storing your video files you might want to edit them. Several of my video files contained long moments with just a blank screen before the next segment.
When I find the time, I’ll delete these moments using iMovie on macOS. If you’re using Windows, the software Windows Movie Maker will probably be suitable.
Wrapping up
Transferring old VHS tapes to digital form is time-consuming, but very rewarding. It might be technically tricky and expensive, but once you’ve done it the video will be there forever (if you store it well).
Some memories will surprise you, many will make you smile and others will be bittersweet to watch.
Here is a short video clip from July 7, 1994 of my little bunny rabbit Snuffe. He turned eleven years old before he passed away in the Summer of 2004. I still miss him from time to time.
Capture Analog Video Software To Mac Pc
Do you have any questions? Let me know in the comment section.
/Alex
Capture Analog Video Software To Mac Free
It is no news that in this 21st century, analog devices have taken a back sit and the technological world has gone digital. Every piece of electronic devices ranging from as little as wrist watches, compasses, videos to bigger electronic innovations like cars have all been digitalized over the years. But the fact that the market has been swarmed with digital devices does not mean analog does not still exist. Let's take videos for example, some people do have videos from time past that were recorded on a VHS analog video device, in order to make it easily accessible and probably transferable, it must be converted to a digital video format that can be supported by most devices in the market today. This raises the need for an analog to digital video converter.
Part 1. Best Way to Convert Analog Video to Digital Formats on Windows/MacCapture Analog Video Software To Mac Windows 10
Searching for a video analog to digital converter might be abortive if you are not looking in the right direction. Some available analog to digital video converters for PC are not all effective while others might just be expensive. One of the best analog to digital video converter available in the open market is Wondershare UniConverter (originally Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate). This software is a complete video conversion tool with over a thousand conversion formats and an attractive user-friendly interface. It has an impressive conversion speed up to 30 times more than any other analog to digital Video converter and it could also serve as an online video download with its super video grabber algorithm including converting online videos to mp3 formats or even recording from a streaming website. UniConverter (originally Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate) by Wondershare has been featured on analog to digital video converter reviews from top review websites and it has been proven to be the best.
Wondershare UniConverter (originally Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate) - Best Video Converter to Stream Video to TV
Security Verified. 5,481,347 people have downloaded it.
The process of converting an analog video to a digital video format is a two-step process. The first part involves making use of a VHS player connected to a personal computer to convert the video file from VHS to a DVD format. The second part involves the use of Wondershare UniConverter (originally Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate) to convert the DVD file into MP4 or any other digital formats. This software is easy-to-use, here are the steps to make use of it as an analog to digital video converter for Mac.
Steps to Convert Analog Videos to Digital Videos with Wondershare Analog Video Converter:Video Capture Software Mac FreeStep 1 Connect VHS Player to PC
Connect your VHS player to your personal computer with the use of a SCART conversion cable. This cable has the three major cords that connect to the VHS player and a USB connection on the other end of the cable which connects to the personal computer. Make sure that the three cords from the SCART cable are connected to the Output ports of the VHS player.
Step 2 Add Analog Videos to Wondershare Analog Video Converter
After connecting your analog player with your computer, you can find a removable disk where store your analog videos. Download and install Wondershare UniConverter (originally Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate) from their official page. On the main interface screen of Convert tab, at the top left side of the screen, click on Add Files drop-down menu and select the option Add from Device. When prompted, navigate to the location of analog videos and select it.
Step 3 Select Digital Video Output Format
Once the videos have been imported into Wondershare analog to digital video converter, you need to select an output format which you want to convert to. On the top right-hand side, click on the Convert all files to drop-down menu to view the several video formats available on the software, select the output format of your choice. You might also decide to create a custom output format with custom settings like frame rate, bitrate, encoder, audio output and so on. Optionally, you can edit the videos before conversion by adding filters, watermarks, and subtitle, adding corrective effects like brightness, saturation, and contrast.
Step 4 Convert Analog Videos to Digital
Once all necessary settings have been put in place, simply click on the Convert All button located at the bottom-right corner of the screen. Once the conversion process has been completed, your analog to digital videos become available under the Converted tab at the top of the screen. They can also be accessed from the already selected folder location selected for converted files.
Part 2. Other Recommended Analog to Digital Video Converter
Aside from making use of Wondershare UniConverter (originally Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate) to convert Analog videos to digital, another alternative method is by making use of the Cingk Mini Video Converter. Cingk Mini Video Converter is a simple device that can be connected to a VCR player and it converts it into HDMI format. The device has a little switch that can be used to select between either 720p or 1080p video output resolution depending on the resolution of the TV where the video is being played on. It also has a USB charging port hereby making it easy to set up and use without the need for an extra socket to plug into since most TVs these days come with a USB port.
This little portable device is available on Amazon for about $16 with an 18-month warranty as opposed to the normal 12-month warranty offered by most similar devices in its category.
Part 3. Analog Video VS Digital Video
An Analog video is a video type which was recorded or used in its original form and its analog waves are lased onto a tape. Digital Video is a recording system that makes use of digital video signals and stores its waves which are at intervals unto a digital device which is usually more flexible to access and transfer.
Differences:
Sometimes we might want to view an old analog video but lack a means to play it. This can easily be solved by converting such an analog video file into a digital format by making use of the best analog to digital video converter like Wondershare UniConverter (originally Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate). Mac software for windows 7 free download.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2020
Categories |