VHS to digital conversion hardware, software costs?
 

Hello,

I have been researching for a while on the best way to convert and archive old VHS and 8mm tapes. I have 50+ that are aging out (~25 years or so) and I would like to convert to MP4 with the best quality as possible. I would like to stay within a hardware budget of around $2,000 and I have minimal tech savvy, so the easiest to learn the better. I am familiar with the need for Time Base Correctors (line/frame), and a minimal knowledge of capture cards and upscalers.

My question is what would be the suggested line up given the budget and technical limitations to get the best quality conversion?

Thank you.

For starters, you can contact Aramkolt about buying a VCR and I & N Electronics for Sony camcorders.. Since your budget is $2,000.

Let's say you bought one of Aramkolt's refurbished JVC models along with buying a refurbed Hi8 Camcorder from I & N for around $300. That'd leave some left, $175 would be spent on a Pinnacle Card Lordsmurf sells. So that leaves around $800. You could probably go with a TBC-like setup.

I don't know where to go from there in terms of specifics, can only point you to the right direction when it comes to buying a recommend capture card + refurbished & suggested tape player

In terms of computer software you can use VirtualDub, which is free (Or AmaRecTV as a last resort in my opinion). Though are you able to use a Windows XP or 7 laptop? The Pinnacle card works best with those OSes.

I'm aware VHS-Decode is an option, and is cheaper. But way way more technically and electronically involved (along with way more time consuming, setting everything up.. decoding a file, making sure you actually get usable results.. etc. Way more of a mix bag)

I feel like it would not be a good fit for you as the complicated DIY nature of it all might scare you and completely fry your brain trying to processing everything, let alone the soldering requirement.

Welcome. :)

It seems you've done your research, and know what is what.

$2000 is a minimally decent budget for a full workflow that include
- S-VHS VCR with line TBC
- frame TBC(ish)
- quality capture card

I actually have a budget setup available, near that price, that I'll PM you about.

Don't mess with hardware upscaler. That won't end well for quality. Even software based is arguably not something most people should do. Only run an upscale for additional copies, beyond the archived SD interlaced lossless copy. Upscaling won't really do anything for home viewing, but it is needed for NLE work, such as editing Youtube videos in HD.

H.264 (in MP4 container) for viewing, and likely QTGMC deinterlaced, is fine. But for the actual archival copies, keep as interlaced, and lossless is ideal. If not lossless, then lesser-compressed, such as high bitrate MPEG-2 (preferably @4:2:2), or high bitrate H.264 @ 4:2:2. This is because H.264 is not the best compression, it can be mushy quality. MPEG went to blocks, H.264 goes to mush. Future compressions will be better, and you'll want the archival less-compressed or lossless files at that future date.

Also, MP4 isn't a good home/offline container, MKV is better. MP4 is really a legacy container now, mostly used for online streaming. MKV is vastly easier to work with, in terms of audio streams (and subtitles).