Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

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ThankYouJack
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Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by ThankYouJack »

I have a bunch of old 8mm and VHS tapes of home videos that I'd like to store on my computer. Any recommendations on some cheap equipment that will let me do the conversion?
lucky3
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Re: Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by lucky3 »

My friend took my old vhs tapes and burned them on cd's

Lucky3
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vitaflo
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Re: Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by vitaflo »

I used this to do mine:

http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc110

That said this uses a FireWire connection, which your computer may or may not have (I have a Mac). It worked wonderfully for my 8mm, VHS and Beta tapes.

It will import in DV format, which is very large (2GB for 10 mins of video), so be sure you have the HD space. You can then export to MP4 in your video editor to get something more reasonable in size and delete the DV file.
killjoy2012
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Re: Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by killjoy2012 »

While not directly answering your question, you may want to consider using Costco's video conversion service (8mm, VHS --> DVD) and then just rip the DVD to mp4 using freeware.
http://www.costcodvd.com/

I'm an IT guy that can do all of this stuff in my sleep, but it just wasn't worth my time/effort given the Costco pricing. VHS -> DVD is relatively easy using something like a Dazzle video converter, but 8mm is harder, takes some specialized equipment, and is hard to cost justify for a 1-time use.
vitaflo wrote:I used this to do mine:
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc110
Maybe an option if you have a "modern" 8mm player that has composite or s-video output. My 40+ year old projector has none, so you'd be looking at buying a "modern" 8mm projector of some sort too for a 1-time use. If you already have one - great!
Topic Author
ThankYouJack
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Re: Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by ThankYouJack »

Thanks for the replies. We have a bunch of stuff that we'd like to convert so the Costco route at 2 tapes for $18 would add up quickly.

We currently don't have any equipment so will also need to buy things that play the VHS and 8mm tapes.

I have a Mac and will probably get an additional hard drive.

Looking at prices, I'm now thinking it's going to cost me a few hundred bucks.
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telemark
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Re: Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by telemark »

I did a bit of this around 2002, also using the ADVC with a Mac, making DVDs to send to family members. It was so time consuming I quickly gave it up, but most of that was the DVD conversion, and I was using a slow computer even for the time. If I try any more I'll probably just convert to a more modern format. You will want a large hard drive.
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ThankYouJack
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Re: Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by ThankYouJack »

I found an old Sony 8mm camcorder -- it doesn't have a cord but I ordered one off eBay for $15. I hoping it still works. If not, I'll take my 12-15 8mm tapes to Costco which will probably cost $100-$200

I checked my local thrift store for VHS but no luck. I'll probably pick one up off eBay for ~$40.

It looks like analog to digital are pretty cheap on Amazon -- some as low as $16. I'd like one with USB3 or thunderbolt but didn't see any. I may go with something like this - http://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Video-Capt ... to+digital

I'm not sure what size hard drive I should get. When I compress the videos, how much space should I expect them to take up?

I figure it'll be $100-200 in equipment. I may try to sell the stuff combined on eBay after I convert everything but will probably just pay it forward and donate it.
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pointyhairedboss
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Re: Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by pointyhairedboss »

I used Deluxe VHS to DVD ( http://www.amazon.com/Honestech-8-0-Del ... B00ND0E7BW ). They were on version 5 at the time, they are now at version 8 and a bit more expensive. It comes with a hardware component that takes in the red white yellow wires (sorry for overly sophisticated technological terminology :) ) from your VCR connects to your computer through USB.

The Deluxe VHS to DVD hardware worked create. I wasn't as impressed with the DVD authoring software. I ended up using DVD Styler ( http://www.dvdstyler.org/en/) instead. Its free.

EDIT:

A few google searches indicate that there is no need to pay so much for the product I linked above. You can simply get a rca to usb hardware device to capture the videos - http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_ ... Caps%2C160 - and then use a free software to create the author the DVDs.
Last edited by pointyhairedboss on Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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sunny_socal
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Re: Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by sunny_socal »

I converted a couple dozen Digital8 tapes to MP4 format using my laptop. Connected the camcorder to the laptop via firewire, played the tape and captured the video. I think I used some Sony software that I got for free after rebate ($50 before rebate.)

'Rendering' the resulting video to something smaller took the longest time - overnight for each tape. It took about a month of converting. It was a giant PITA.

Now I have them all on a 2TB HD that I can connect as a media drive and play back the files via my PS3. In my PC days I used Tversity as the server software. On my Mac I use Twonky.
HoosierJim
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Re: Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by HoosierJim »

I used an old vhs player and my laptop with EASY VHD

About $45

You can burn to dvd if you have a burner or just upload to the cloud (recommended - put them in two clouds)
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vitaflo
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Re: Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by vitaflo »

ThankYouJack wrote: I'm not sure what size hard drive I should get. When I compress the videos, how much space should I expect them to take up?
If you import them as DV, 1 hour will = 12GB. When you compress them to MP4, 1 hour will = 1.2GB. The problem is really on the import as they are raw files and take up a good chunk of space, but it's easy enough to import a, say, 6 hour tape, cut it up, compress it to MP4, and delete the DV. Rinse, repeat.
jwkde
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Re: Converting 8mm and VHS tapes to digital

Post by jwkde »

I had a bunch of super 8mm shot in the early 70's by my father. I looked at several places and locally to convert it - very pricey.

A few weeks back a groupon for a company called Southtree appeared made it very reasonable. Sent my stuff off about 2 weeks ago. They say 6-8 weeks. So only time will tell. I have not seen these films since the middle 70's and have carted them around in boxes for the past 30 years.
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