Converting VHS to DVDs

[dhokes]

I've got a bunch of family videos on VHS tapes. I know there are many places that provide a VHS-DVD service but I was wondering what's the easiest way to convert them at home? Ideally I want to watch the VHS tapes first to see if they're worth converting to DVD as I imagine I'd only want to convert some of them. My TV has a HDMI port so I'm guessing I'll need some sort of convertor?

 

[John7]

First things first;

1 Have you got a VHS Player and what video/audio outputs does it have?
2 Do you have a PC or Laptop?

 

[dhokes]

Actually thinking about it, alternatively, options to convert from VHS to digitial files on my Mac would also be much appreciated as that's probably wise given DVDs are already coming out of use.

 

[dhokes]

First things first;

1 Have you got a VHS Player and what video/audio outputs does it have?
2 Do you have a PC or Laptop?

I've got a Macbook Pro (M1 chip) and I've just started looking on Facebook marketplace for VHS players available to buy in my area.

 

[John7]

Yes, that is your priority, need something to play/review the videos on first!

 

[dhokes]

Yes, that is your priority, need something to play/review the videos on first!

To connect a VHS player to my tv, I guess a scart to hdmi converter is all I’d need? That would transfer the audio too? I imagine it’ll look every bad though on a large UHD tv. :/

 

[noiseboy72]

To connect a VHS player to my tv, I guess a scart to hdmi converter is all I’d need? That would transfer the audio too? I imagine it’ll look every bad though on a large UHD tv. :/

To capture, you will need a capture device, as HDMI on your Mac will be output only. You will be able to view using a Scart converter, and y, it will look horrific...

To get the best quality, you really need a digital player with a time base corrector. These are not cheap and are quite sought-after. Expect to pay £300 plus for 1.

If you are not concerned about ultimate quality, you might be ok with just a basic USB capture device, but make sure you find one that will work with your mac, as they are legacy devices these days.

 

[JayCee]

To connect a VHS player to my tv, I guess a scart to hdmi converter is all I’d need? That would transfer the audio too? I imagine it’ll look every bad though on a large UHD tv. :/

Not necessarily, some TV's have Composite video/audio inputs.
What is the brand and model no of your TV?

 

[dhokes]

Not necessarily, some TV's have Composite video/audio inputs.
What is the brand and model no of your TV?

LG C8 OLED

 

[JayCee]

LG C8 OLED

It has a yellow coloured 3.5mm AV in socket on the rear connection panel.

https://i.rtings.com/assets/products/TnqBxKjZ/lg-c8-oled/inputs-back-large.jpg

A short cable with a 3.5mm plug at one end and 3 RCA sockets (Yellow/Red/White) at the other end was usually supplied packed in the box along with the user manual…most owners stuck this away in a drawer.
If you have it (if not they’re available on eBay or Amazon) all you need is a Scart to composite video/audio cable which will connect between whatever VHS player you get and your TV and the quality will probably be no different to using a Scart to HDMI convertor.

 

[dhokes]

It has a yellow coloured 3.5mm AV in socket on the rear connection panel.

https://i.rtings.com/assets/products/TnqBxKjZ/lg-c8-oled/inputs-back-large.jpg

A short cable with a 3.5mm plug at one end and 3 RCA sockets (Yellow/Red/White) at the other end was usually supplied packed in the box along with the user manual…most owners stuck this away in a drawer.
If you have it (if not they’re available on eBay or Amazon) all you need is a Scart to composite video/audio cable which will connect between whatever VHS player you get and your TV and the quality will probably be no different to using a Scart to HDMI convertor.

I can't find a 3.5mm plug/3 RCA cable. Rather than buying that plus a scart to composite video/audio, it would probably be easier just to get a scart to hdmi convertor like this.

Regarding convert to digitial files - I can see plenty of cables to connect to my Mac. Is there any easily available/free software that would be able to capture the video?

 

[next010]

I can't find a 3.5mm plug/3 RCA cable. Rather than buying that plus a scart to composite video/audio, it would probably be easier just to get a scart to hdmi convertor like this.

Regarding convert to digitial files - I can see plenty of cables to connect to my Mac. Is there any easily available/free software that would be able to capture the video?

You require a video capture device to connect a VHS player to the Mac, something like this which comes with an easy to use mac software package.

If you have some generic USB capture device but no software, then the free OBS can work in a pinch, there are tutorials on Youtube on how to use it for VHS video recording. Or the USB device might be recognized by any of Apples own video capture software, quicktime, imovie etc.