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1. How to convert vhs tapes to digital free how to#
2. How to convert vhs tapes to digital free software#
3. How to convert vhs tapes to digital free windows#

A recording of just around 30 minutes weighed 1.5 GB. Compressing the video filesĪfter transferring the first tape, the file size ended up being much larger than I expected. It’s 1987, I’m 10 months old and sitting at the dinner table with my parents. Screenshot from one of my transferred tapes.

How to convert vhs tapes to digital free software#

Each transferred tape will then be saved as its own video file.įor using the video capture software Empia that is bundled with the Plexgear dongle, I have the following advice: If a tape contains 30 minutes of footage, the transfer will take 30 minutes. When you transfer a tape, it’s being recorded as it’s being played. Coincidence? The top SCART connector with 20 pins provided a video feed. The new one I bought worked fine and it had 20 pins. I don’t know why, but it had only eight pins. I had used an old SCART connector that didn’t work. When I first connected the dongle to the VHS player, I ran into some trouble.

How to convert vhs tapes to digital free how to#

Kjell & Company has also put together this product video (in Swedish) on how to connect their video capture dongle to your computer. The SCART connector will be plugged into the VHS player. The composite video cable (yellow) is used, hence the leftover S-Video cable (top right). The dongle is connected to the SCART to RCA cable. My Macbook is connected to the Plexgear video capture dongle using USB.

Once you’ve got all the hardware, the setup is quite simple as you can see in the image below. Nope, with this setup the video feed will be displayed on your computer screen with the bundled video capture software. I connected it to my parents’ VHS player using a brand new SCART to RCA cable that cost me about $24 (200 sek). However, it needs another cable to connect to your VHS player. The Plexgear video capture dongle connects to your computer through one of its USB ports. 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.

How to convert vhs tapes to digital free windows#

It works for both macOS and Windows and cost me about $50 (400 sek). I used Plexgear Moviesaver 600 from the Swedish company Kjell & Company. The dongles are always bundled with some video capture software (right?) for recording the video feed and saving it as a video file. What they do is that they transfer the analog signal from the VHS player to a digital one that your computer can process. There are lots of different video capture dongles available today. A VHS-C adapter with its lid open and one of my parents’ old VHS-C cassettes. You can buy these adapters on websites like Amazon. You insert it in your VHS player and play it like a regular cassette. They need a VHS-C adapter to be played on a VHS player.Ī VHS-C adapter is basically a battery-driven hollow VHS cassette in which you insert a smaller VHS-C cassette. These types of cassettes were introduced in 1982 and were primarily used in consumer-grade camcorders. If not, perhaps you know someone you can borrow one from.Ĭhances are your old VHS cassettes are of the smaller VHS-C format. VHS players are easily found on websites like Ebay, unless you already have one laying around. This is the equipment I used (excluding my Macbook): Clockwise from the top: VHS player, some of the VHS-C cassettes, VHS-C cassette adapter (with another VHS-C cassette beneath), video capture dongle from Plexgear and a SCART to RCA cable. 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). Transferring VHS tapes to a computer requires getting some equipment. 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. When we watched some of them, I realized that these tapes needed to be transfered to digital form before they deteriorated further. 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.

This is my guide on how to transfer your VHS tapes to your Mac, so you can store them for the future. Memories fade over time and some are easily lost forever, especially if they’re stored on old VHS tapes.