Digitizing will happen in real-time, meaning you’ll have to painstakingly sit through the entire length of footage before you can finish up the project. Once it’s done, however, the contents will be forever preserved in digital format. Evolving technology has left many of us with our own videos in older formats.

It comes with its own video-capture software, and outputs at 640 x 480. Use the software that came with the video converter to “record” the videotape to a digital file. To convert from VCR to digital you’ll need quality VHS capture software. We like Movavi’s VHS Converter, which is ideal for converting VHS to digital, solving common problems and making sure the transfer and digital copy are as good as they can possibly be. If you’re sitting on a collection of Digital 8, miniDV, or the short-lived D-VHS, you’re probably wondering what can be done to make these recordings more easily viewable. Like their analog cousins, these formats will also degrade over time, so don’t let the word “digital” lull you into a false sense of security.

How to digitize VHS tapes

Read more about transfer vhs to dvd here.

If you don’t have the correct cable, you can find it at an electronic store or online for $5-$10. Or connect the camcorder to an analog-to-digital video converter, and connect this to a computer with a DVD drive. Insert the other end of the HDMI or s-video cable into the back or side of the TV. You should be using either an HDMI cable or an s-video cable for your DVD player.If you’re using an s-video cable for your DVD player, you’ll also need the red and white RCA cables. S-video – A circular piece of plastic with several small holes in it.

Prices start at $66 , which includes the conversion of two tapes. Have other analog media, like audio cassettes or 35mm slides? There are several video transfer services that most of the big box stores ship your tapes to as they don’t deal with the video transfer service themselves. But you can usually get a far better deal by shipping the tapes as many of these services have deals and coupon codes if you order directly from them. Turns out most stores don’t do the transfer themselves but handle the order process for you. The tapes are generally packaged and shipped to one of the top 3 video transfer services. Big box stores like Walmart and Costco use this company for the digitization services that they advertise through their stores.

Connecting the Cable Box

If you don’t have a VCR, try sites such as Craigslist, eBay, and Freecycle to find a low-cost one. In a dark room, set the projector and video camera up next to each other. Project the film evenly onto the wall or screen, then adjust the viewfinder in your digital camera so that the image being projected fills the whole view.

The Easy Way: Find a Service That Does It for You

Movavi Video Editor takes you through the entire process, connecting to your VCR to digital capture card or device, converting the VHS video to digital and even enabling you to add special effects. After you save your converted videos to digital files, make sure they’re a part of your computer’s regular backup or put a copy of them in a cloud service like Dropbox or OneDrive. After you go through all the trouble of converting your videotapes, you wouldn’t want to lose them to a failed hard drive or broken computer. Converting VHS tapes to DVDs is a great way to preserve, share and enhance those old home videos that may not be aging very gracefully.

In addition to local film specialists, major retailers such as Costco and Walgreens have conversion services for 16 mm, 8mm, and Super 8 film formats. Like Hilton, people often “will find a stash of old home movies,” Steinberg says. “They don’t want to hang onto boxes of films or VHS, but they want to save the memories on a digital format.” “I just knew that if I didn’t do something with those tapes in a few years, I’d lose them,” Hilton says. “There might not be the technology to support them.” He didn’t try to convert the VHS tapes to a digital format then, but the project earned a spot on his to-do list. Connect the cables from the audio and video out on the back of the VCR to your video converter.

Depending on where you live there may be several local video transfer services that do the actual transfer themselves and don’t ship your tapes to another service. Transfer of videotape to both USB and DVD at Costco will cost $29.99 for the first 2 hours and $22.99 for each additional hour. This option is ideal for people that want to watch their videos on DVD but also want the videos stored on USB for easy transfer to a computer. Legacy Box uses a one-size-fits-all pricing structure when it comes to digitization.