Ideal hardware needed to capture VHS to PC video file?

[King Mustard]

I bought a Compro VideoMate S350 for £25 back in 2011.

I have used it, whilst connected to my PC, to capture 640x480 video files from VHS tapes via. a VHS player and it's fine.

Is there a way to capture the tapes at a higher quality? (for archival purposes)

 

[noiseboy72]

A better capture box or a time base corrector to stabilse the picture and give you some basic picture controls. Never going to look great as the line count is about 300 at best and the colour information very limited by current standards. A vcr with a y/c or component output would give the biggest gain, but even this will be quite limited.

 

[grahamlthompson]

If your PC has or can fit a firewire port then a DV capture device will give the best quality capture. The files though are very large being in intraframe format (Every frame has full data unlike mpeg compression formats). Due to intraframe it's very easy to edit on a PC.

Canopus make these devices though you may be able to pick up a DV or Digital 8 camcorder with AV in.

canopus advc110 advanced digital video converter