Wishing to copy VHS Cassettes to Computer Format

[Our Man in the Tropics]

I have 3 VHS video cassette masters, the content of which I wish to copy onto "Computer Hard Disk", or "Computer Flash Drive", or "DVD", & retain as much quality as possible.

.

Currently, I have :

1.

Lenovo Laptop Computer Ideapad 100 using Linux only

2.

Toshiba Netbook  Computer using Windows 7 only.

.

I have recently found used VHS-playing Video Machines available to buy ;

But, I have not purchased yet.

I note that they have very few ports ;

.

Thanking all of yee in advance for your advice as to how best reasonably solve my challenge.

 

 

Our Man in the Tropics

 

[johng]

It might be easier to ask some of the internet  or  Photo processing  shops if they still offer that service  VHS to DVD

otherwise you need to buy a video capture card ( http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/ )

and embark on what can be quite a complicated and time consuming methods to get

good quality video that is widely compatible  ..I would try for a standard DVD  and another separate file encoded in H264 + keep the original raw capture file which will be very large on a backup hard drive.

[RichCor]

As @johng posted above, it would be quicker/easier if you could find a business that still offered this service.

 

If no service can be found, or you'd rather spend the time and money doing it yourself, then you'll need a Video Capture device that can take the signal output from the VCR Player and 'capture' it as it plays live, in real time. These are usually a USB device that have the NTSC or PAL Video and Stereo Audio connections, along with software to effect the 'analog to digital' conversion and creation of the digital playback file (with choice of container type and format).

 

While DVDs are still a standard, their 'archival' shelf life for consumer writable DVDs isn't that great (they won't hold up over time). You can still 'burn' a DVD, just don't expect it to last more than a few years.

 

So creating the raw digital file (for the purpose of archival and possible future digital editing/processing) and then using the software to create a file format you can play back on your desired digital devices would be a good choice. 

[Our Man in the Tropics]

Hi Johng,

 

I followed the link you gave.

Immediately, I note 2 daunting issues for me :

 

1.

Cost

 

Ref.

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/webstore/webstore_product.html?prod=20

 

English Pound 129

 

Presently, not feasible for me.

Mid-Future, maybe feasible.

Especially if "facilitating copying for customers own VHS cassettes for back-up inter alia" could be turned into income-stream.

But, presently, I sincerely am only wishing to view & save the footage of my 3 VHS cassettes.

 

2.

Spec.s

 

Ref.

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products/data_hvr1975.html#tabs-3

 

2.1

Recording Unit [ Computer ] Spec.s ;

• Minimum processor recommended:
  • 2.0 GHz Intel® P4 or equivalent for TV watching.
  • 2.8 GHz Intel® P4 or equivalent for analogue TV recording in MPEG-2.
• Microsoft® Windows® 10, 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista with 1 GB RAM or Windows XP Service Pack 3 with 512 MB RAM
• Graphics with 64 MB of memory (minimum).
• Sound card or on board sound.
•  

Relevant Spec.s of my only Windows Operating System based Computer [ Toshiba Netbook ] I think are less than the above.

Presently, I am away from the Toshiba Netbook ;

So, I cannot confirm for now.

But, I aim to  return later today with details.

 

Our Man in the Tropics

[Our Man in the Tropics]

@ Johng, & RichCor,

 

Important to mention is that I am very very lacking in knowledge, & experience, & talent, myself,  & also I am lacking personal access to person who do have these attributes.

So, the learning curve will be a very stressful one for methinketh 8-)

But, onward I must go.

 

1.

Storage Media

 

I thinking that storing the footage as Digital File on a number of Email accounts also might be smart plan.

 

 

2.

DVD Shelf-Life

 

2.1

Why do DVD's have shelf-life of only a few years ?

 

incl.

 

2.1.1

Would shelf-life be increased if they seldom got played ?

 

2.2

What medium has best reasonable shelf-life ?

 

 

Our Man in the Tropics

[RichCor]

Depending on the run-time of your videos, the file size once converted is likely to be rather huge (depending on the run length, final resolution and encoding used). 300-400+ MB per hour for 4:3 SD mono audio format.  

 

As for DVD's, the commercial manufactured 'pressed' versions used to distribute mass digital media and software were supposed to last 100 -200 years (if you still had a working playback environment). The consumer W/RW 'burned' version using malleable dye layer. But many ThaiVisa users have reported losing their commercial CD / DVD collection prematurely as the discs deteriorated rather badly in the Thai environmental conditions and the discs oxidized or the dye layer of R/W discs failed to hold their written format over time. 

[Our Man in the Tropics]

@ RichCor,

 

Ref. Sub-Topic of DVDs as Storage Media

 

I trust that you would recommend all important, & perhaps all, information currently ONLY on DVDs to be copied as soon as possible to superior  Media.

 

Thus, what storage media do you recommend as best reasonable choice ?

 

 

Our Man in the Tropics

[johng]

There are other capture cards manufactures but Hauppage have been around for a long time.
You can use something like the
USB-live2 Pal video recorder
(Assuming your VHS is PAL not SECAM or NTSC)
which is cheaper or look for second hand on ebay.
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pics/usblive2_unit+input-cable3.jpg

There is a DVD eating fungus
that can ruin even proper pressed
DVD's. The cheapo no name writable discs just delaminate on there own ! So buy a well known brand Ritek,Maxell,Traxdata
Only write on them with a DVD pen never ballpoint
its important to have backup copies on a hard drive, you could possibly store the DVD image file on google drive or some other online storage but the raw file would be huge so impractical.

Storing the DVD in an airtight container with some moisture absorbing sachets might help

[RichCor]

1 hour ago, Our Man in the Tropics said:

I trust that you would recommend all important, & perhaps all, information currently ONLY on DVDs to be copied as soon as possible to superior  Media.

Thus, what storage media do you recommend as best reasonable choice ?

I'm not sure there really is one, as nothing is guaranteed to last + how much money do you have to pay for tested quality infrastructure.

 

But converting any analog media to digital format is a good first strategy, as digital data survives being copied to fresh media and remaining in its original state much better than analog data.  You can then follow the suggested triple redundancy for irreplaceable data, with one copy remaining offsite.

 

Storing to a 'cloud' service where the company has their own backup/restore service implemented is an option, especially when they implement cloud hard drive hardware replacement on a scheduled basis to keep the magnetically stored data  'refresh'.  You can even do something similar in-house (refresh to a new drive on a scheduled basis) just in case the cloud service goes away or 'loses' your data.

 

Hard-core data preservation: The best media and methods for archiving your data

PCWorld  |  By Jon L. Jacobi, Freelance contributor  |  FEB 29, 2016 

[Our Man in the Tropics]

The sample of used VHS playing machines that I viewed in Bangkok shop were about 3 in number of some 50 perhaps that they had in total before me.

Each of those 3 machines appeared to have only Video-Out jack port [ or whatever is the correct term ] & Audio-Out jack port [ ditto comment ].

 

1 of them did play, after some adjustment though, example of my 3 video cassettes successfully.

The video cassettes originate from UK.

 

So, I presume that :

 

1.

the cassette is PAL

 

2.

the particular machine is PAL

 

..........................................................

 

Further questions :

 

3.

What is the system designated for Thailand

 

4.

Is it important for I to acquire a "stereo" version of  Video Cassette Player ?

 

By the way, I gather from the shop that they do not have Video Cassette Recorder [ VCR ].

 

 

Our Man in the Tropics

[johng]

UK uses PAL and fully compatible with Thai standard.
1 yes
2 yes
3 PAL 25fps 50 hz
4 if your VHS originals in stereo
and you want to keep the stereo sound then yes.

They just have a VHS playback machine ?

[Our Man in the Tropics]

7 minutes ago, johng said:

They just have a VHS playback machine ?

 

That is what they indicated to me ;

But, I think that they are jaundiced at having potential customers who are in their opinion too fussy.

Rooting out a succession of numerous different machines & rigging them up with hope that custormer is suitably satisfied as to picture quality etc can cause them to get annoyed I gathered.

In a way, I do not blame them.

Machines were available for around THB 2,000.

 

Also, it was very hot inside that little shop.

 

........................................................

 

Q.

Anyway, should I be looking for very high spec.s for what would be the playback video machine ?

 

........................................................

 

When I made enquiries around Bangkok prior with view to getting the VHS cassettes copied only onto Hard Disk or other Digital Medium, it was to no avail.

 

It did set me thinking that there is a commercial opportunity for wife / girlfriend of Falang to operate such a service for Falangs & others in Thailand.

But, I would think that to operate properly one should have :

Video Cassette Machines per each region

e.g.s

PAL

NTSC

 

& of course

the other necessary equipment

+

up-to-date necessary "knowledge", "understanding", & "skills"

 

Our Man in the Tropics

[johng]

You should try to get the best quality playback machine (within reason VHS is not very high quality to begin with)
I'd say the commercial opportunity has 90% passed hence the reason you couldn't find a VHS to DVD service in BKK.

[Our Man in the Tropics]

Thanks to yee both Johng & RichCor as very knowledgeable posters for your most helpful replies.

 

Yee have provided me with very good guide to look further into this subject.

 

In the mid future, I hope to have enough savings & necessary  know-how to follow-through with copying VHS to digital using the hardware item that yee both advise as best for this task.

 

Then, perhaps, I can re-activate this thread or start a new one giving then on-the-scene feedback.

 

Cheers,

 

Our Man in the Tropics

[RichCor]

While Hauppage was one of the better capture equipment companies back in the day, there are cheaper alternatives for SD analog capture. Suggest doing a search on Lazada for "VHS DVD capture", many in the 350~500 THB range.

 

The more expensive part is going to be finding a working, cleaned, and accurately tracking VHS Player.  

Though I would try to borrow one rather than buy one.