I'm trying to learn how to digitize VHS C for some old hone tapes. I just got done doing about 20 digital 8 tapes with the use of a camcorder, firewire cable, and an old mac, but it looks like I will need different products for VHSc
Every post I see on this subject has comments that are 10 paragraphs long and speak in a technical language that is very hard to decipher for the average person that isn't a "data hoarder".
I want to capture the original signal and do it right, what items do I need to buy to make this happen? Thanks for any help
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You need a VCR and a VHS-C adapter. Then just connect the VCR to your capture device and you’re good to go. Be sure the VCR has composite video out
Thanks for the help
Ideally you'd find a vcr that has s-video or even component output and use that I believe.
yes this is easy to do... they are a usb peripheral with various video inputs. they often come with their own software or there are open source programs to suit all formats and setups
it's not necessarily just composite but imo that is what you want
VHS-C is just one step more. Check your digital 8 camcorder for A/V in or pass through. I don’t remember if digital 8 frequently did that but mini-DV did. If not, you need a VHS-C camcorder, or a VHS deck with a VHS-C adaptor. It is the same tape as VHS just in a different package. Then you need to go analog out to some flavor of digital adaptor or converter and since you already have FireWire working get one with FireWire. So like some minidv cameras could take the signal in from the VHS-C deck and then it goes out the FireWire to your Mac.
This might be the way I go. The VHS-C tapes dont fit in my digital8 camera. Should I get a VHS-C camcorder or a VCR?
Yes they will not fit, they are totally different formats.
You’ll get better results from a deck. But depending on your budget a cheap camera may have had less use than a cheap deck. So figure out your budget and then go looking. If you get a camera or deck make sure it has outputs that match whatever interface you use.
Get yourself a dvd recorder, should be a good bit less than £50 used. Sell the dvd recorder when you're done. Quickest easiest method
You need either a VHS-C camcorder, or a VCR and a VHS-C adapter. I wrote a long comment about how to capture analog tapes with the highest quality. The biggest things to do for high quality are to capture as S-Video or direct head RF, use a full-frame TBC (an external hardware device or the software one that comes with vhs-decode), and de-interlace it properly to 50/59.94 fps
I appreciate the thorough information, but this is kind of the post was about, I dont really understand what any of that technical stuff means unfortunately
I wondered how much information you wanted since you said you want to capture the original signal and do it right which is what RF capture is about but if you want something easy, I would say buy a GV2-USB and capture as interlaced with a lossless format like FFV1 or HuffYUV with an analog capture program like VirtualDub or AmarecTV on a computer with Windows XP - 8.1. If you don't mind buying a new VCR, you should try to find one with S-Video out for VHS (a lot of combo DVD/VCR units only output S-Video for DVD) because using S-Video (or direct head RF) is where most of the quality improvement is going to come from. You want to de-interlace to 50/59.94 fps and the easiest way is to use the Bob de-interlacer but the good method is to use QTGMC. The vhs-decode project has a working bundle for StaxRip and QTGMC that you can download since it's very hard to set up
Your Digital8 (Sony) camcorder was already digital, so it was effectively nothing more than a (slow) data transfer. VHS-C, like VHS and Beta, is an analog format. The good news is that you can use your Digital8 camcorder in place of buying a video capture card.
Connect a VHS-C camcorder's outputs to your Digital8 camcorder's inputs, play the VHS-C while recording on the Digital8. Then transfer the Digital8 copy to your computer the same way you did the others. If you don't have access to the VHS-C camcorder, a full size VHS deck and VHS-C adapter cartridge will also work.
Otherwise, you will need a video capture device, a card that converts the analog video output by the VHS player to digital. They are available in USB external, or PCI-e internal, from a very few reliable vendors. You connect the playback VHS machine to the card inputs, start the software on the PC, and press play on the machine.
That sounds like the easiest method so far! Would I have to record the VHS-c tape onto another tape inside of the digital 8?
Yes, you will have to copy the VHS tape to a D8 tape, then play the D8 tape through the firewire into the computer. Sadly, the camera inputs cannot be sent directly to the firewire. Fortunately, the D8 camera is higher resolution than the VHS standard, so the copying losses should be minimal. IIRC, the D8 is true standard definition, 640x480, whereas the VHS is 320x240.
I used to do something similar with my D8 camcorder. I have a couple of self burned DVDs of made for TV movies that were never released on any media format. I just treated the camcorder as a VCR connected to a tuner. Of course, now I just keep all the videos on-line in my media PC.