VHS to Digital: Equipment Needed to Revive Your Memories

VHS to digital! You finally found those old tapes that you’ve been looking for forever. They were in the box with the label ‘other’ under the camping gear in the basement near the furnace. Now what? You haven’t owned a VHS player for about two decades, and, of course, most tapes don’t have labels.

Never fear! I convert those old tapes to digital for you so that you can watch your old video again. Weddings, newborns, birthdays, and vacations come to life again. Even better, you can watch them on the devices that you already own. A few of you will decide to do the VHS to Digital or DVD conversion yourself; that’s what I did. But where to start?

First, Determine the Best Video Format for You

There are hundreds of video formats and options to choose from. Some formats are best for watching on computers, while others are better for uploading to social media. Most applications require one of two formats: mov or mp4.

Mov format covers a wide range of Apple video options. ProRes, for example, is one of the popular mov formats. There is a wide range of resolutions, sizes, and other formatting options to choose from. Most of those options are overkill for normal VHS to digital conversions.

VHS uses a much lower resolution than today’s video cameras, so capturing it at a very high resolution does not automatically upgrade the quality. Editing an image can upscale to a higher resolution, improving the picture, but it cannot add details that were not originally there.

Mov format is most useful if you plan on extensive editing for publication purposes. However, mp4 is by far the most popular format today. Mp4 files are much smaller and have equal resolution quality to mov files and play on virtually all consumer devices. Mp4 plays on smartphones, smart TVs, computers, laptops, gaming devices, tablets, and more. Most sites that upload video will use mp4 files, even if they convert them to their own format option. Both mp4 and mov have many very high and very compact resolution options.

I personally capture all VHS tapes in mov format, then convert them to mp4 after making required edits. You get the best of both worlds.

Converting Videotape to Digital Requires a Player

Every videotape type requires a player designed for that tape. VHS to digital, VHS-C to digital, Hi8 to digital, miniDV to digital, and microMV to digital all need a player with audio and video outputs in order to produce a basic digitized video. Most videotape players and cameras are no longer produced. When working players no longer exist, conversion will no longer be possible.

VHS players are almost always VHS “decks”. Originally, these were machines that did nothing but play VHS tapes. Later models also had inputs that could record to a VHS tape from inputs that connect to a TV, a video camera, or another player. Another option emerged with two sets of playing heads to easily duplicate tapes. Finally, later models combined VHS and DVD players so that both could be played on the same machine, and VHS could be converted to DVD.

The later videotape formats also had decks to play them, but those decks were mostly for professional use. The cameras themselves could be connected to a TV for playing. Cameras are often used today to perform digital conversion through their outputs.

The price for players and cameras varies from under $100 to over $1,000, depending on the quality of the player, how much it has been used, the age of the player, and the brand. The quality of the output varies widely among players.

Acquire a Converter

Once you have chosen your video capture and output formats for your VHS to digital conversion, a converter device that meets your requirements is your first purchase. Each tape player will have one or more video and audio outputs, and the converter must have the ability to connect to the player that you have chosen. Converters also have a wide range of quality, features, and costs.

Be aware of the requirements of the converter you choose. Some come with software designed for the converter, while others require additional software purchase. Other options on the converter are file output type options, a variety of output connections, and a variety of input options. Cost ranges from as low as $10 (without software) up to several hundred dollars, depending on quality and feature requirements.

Needless to say, my converters cost several hundred dollars.

Select Software for Your Project

The better video converters include software designed for that converter. Important features include the ability to capture video in multiple formats at multiple resolution levels. Keep in mind that the more powerful options require more computer power to run them efficiently (or at all in some cases). The software should also be able to process input from multiple source types and video formats.

Once captured, basic editing is always required. If nothing else, eliminating dead space at the beginning and the end of the capture is helpful. Scaling the video to fill the frame also makes a huge difference. Software that can perform moderate to advanced editing tasks is usually more than the capture software provides. While good editing software can also capture videotape, it is often more expensive. Professionals often use the included capture software on dedicated machines to capture, plus one copy of editing software on one high-powered machine.