Ahhh... Monty Python reference.

What is the name and cost of this device? Please

Hi Mark, have a technical question. I haven t use this gadget with the screen that you use for transferring videos , but I have tried a few other similar looking devices without the disk storage and the screen, and the quality of the picture is poor going into the computer. I've tried tweaking the video programs (cause the signal goes out of the device and into the computer to a software program for recording, unlike your gadget) and there are tracking issues that don't seem to get resolved. and the picture is fuzzy. Does the quality of the video deteriorate using this little box that you recommend. Again, I'm transferring old family videos and understood that the quality is not amazing, but the original shows up well on our tv monitor before transfer. and much less quality after I record. Does the video you create look about the same as the original? thanks so much, await your reply!

@@kurtb8474 i saw that too

instaBlaster

My pleasure, it's been a huge asset for me and figured there's loads of people out there like me who feel the same about this stuff. KZfaq loves to tell me how badly this video does compared to my other ones, but I keep telling this...it's the long game, this one is for not just the lens geeks, but anyone who's captured old memories are stuck on old tech.

​@@MarkHoltze Im 38 years old

If you send tapes away they may go to Mexico an$ you may not get them back. You are lucky !

@karlreinke9653 ya I wouldn’t recommend ever sending tapes away. Worth it to figure out yourself. It’s not hard…at all :)

This one wins hands down, why I had to update my VHS video as that old adapter i was using is no longer OS compatible. Wanted something i didn't have to worry about software ;)

THESE LITTLE BOXES HAVE BEEN AROUND IN CHINA FOR YEARS, AND SO HAVE GAME CAPTURE CARDS WHICH DO THE SAME THING

@@tvtimes3402 SO WHAT

Thanks Joe. Ya the media is tricky, I got lucky with this hi-8 still being fully functional. That would have to be an additional purchase if it wasn’t. Let me know how you like that service! Excited to hear about what you find on those!

Thanks for the additional info Robert!

Thanks for the advice man, just have one question. I’m about to transfer all my videos and I was wondering if I used my VHS-C Camcorder to hold the tapes and have it plugged it in at the same time along with this having an Algato AV cable capture card connected from the camera built in port to this straight to my computer. If I do this method can I skip not using a VCR machine because my camera has the deck playing the video? Thanks and let me know 👍🏽

Some really helpful tips there. Thanks!

@@kas2388 Sorry to take so long answering. I'm not sure about your connection but you can use a camcorder for playback, in fact that's a plus for any tapes made by that camera as tracking and head alignment will be better than using some other device for playback. If by some chance your camcorder doesn't do the job then you might already have a VHS-C to full size VHS adapter, if not you should be able to find some for sale at your local electronics store or online like on eBay. Remember to keep the heads clean because old tapes will shed oxide which will clog heads.

Folks?Duh!

The other video I did got so many questions on a similar device you are describing. Fine for us, but most ppl want simple solutions.

My dad just called me and asked if he could borrow it. He’s got loads he wants to do too lol. It’s infectious and once you see how easy it is lol. There is always a risk, but if you avoid it all together, you’ll never get a chance to save what you can lol.

We had an old machine that had only the purpose to do VHS/DVD transfers, about 20 yrs ago. That was more indirect, and the machine was about 18" wide, 7" high, and 10" deep. I like your idea better, but we already transfered (IIRC) VHS content to about 40 DVD disks. Took forever.

I know, they should start making them again as people want to relive those moments and capture those memories.

@@MarkHoltze agreed! Currently trying to borrow any used equipment I can find to back them up asap. But will definitely pay up for the most modern way possible

@@MarkHoltze have you noticed any quality issues/improvement when using the AV cables provided, or if you've upgraded to higher quality, shielded ones?

Clever, thanks for the additional tip! Old age protocol practices should be implemented for sure. Thank you! ✊

GOoooooooooo!! See if anyone has one laying around first 😂.

Most definitely mate!

This is great info, but for the market who may be looking at doing this, much too expensive. The term "BEST" in this title really comes down to the balance of cost, simplicity and overall quality of the transfer. Accessibility is number one since most people who want to do this aren't video tech savvy and just want a quick and easy way to capture and share their memories. You clearly know the best technical way to achieve this, I suggest possibly making your own video on it for that market. I work as an editor in film and TV series so my knowledge with this stuff goes pretty deep so I definitely see the value in your post.

@@MarkHoltze I respect your honesty mate. I 100% agree that to do this properly is way too expensive at the moment, and these devices offer a quick and simple way to achieve this goal for the average person. What I may do at some point is invest in one of these devices and maybe do a comparison video to show how the quality compares across captures so consumers can decide what's best for them. I honestly believe that a high quality all-in-one modern solution is possible (possibly using an FPGA), but I don't think those that are able are willing to put in the legwork to make it happen.

It’s a good contribution mate, I love it and appreciate your time posting!

@@Brodensson Make a video please

@@Brodensson I, for one, would be extremely interested to see your video and breakdown! Devices like the one in Mark's video are way to "cheap" to satisfy me. On the other hand, I have WAY too many VHS tapes to send out to a pro house (I used to work at one a lifetime ago; Should have done it while I was near the equipment). I wouldn't mind buying all the proper pieces and then re-selling them to the next guy (or even buying them from the last guy). When is that video coming!?! 🙂

Pleasure Leslie.

Thanks for watching!

Brilliant mate! It's coming into that era where this old stuff is now "OLD" and people want to look back on it. I think it could be a big addition to the value you offer your clients! Best of luck with it my friend!

Great point mate!!!

720x480, compression is h.264 which is fairly efficient. Smaller sizes while retaining quality. Other adapters that have let me set the compression quality didn’t compare to this one. You want the best quality definitely consider using S-video if your camera has it.

Does it say what de-interlacing method it uses? There are many from just throwing away one picture field (provides lowest resolution) to clever algorithms that interpolate when movement occurs.

@@brettogden6104 If I were you, I would use a RetroTink 5x. It utilizes both video fields.

i prefer to digitize them with a vcr dvd combo recorder. dvds (.vob files) have better quality than mp4 videos and you can deinterlace the videos with handbrake (you can get this software for free)

✊

Got one of those Video8 tape players with the firewire output. Don't need any conversion stuff, just a firewire input on the computer which I do have. :D

@@Bonzi_Buddy Yeah those are great as they already digitize the Videosignal to a DV stream for you without any additional hardware. Technically you could even use the Video Inputs of it (if it has some) to pass through analog video and digitize it. :)

😂 god I loved that movie. Still do, game changer for me. I’m going to ship your lens back to you next week mate. Thanks again !

@@MarkHoltze No rush mate, when you can fit in is fine.

Ya, I figured I'd update an older topic with a more efficient way of doing it lol. How are you guys liking going through the old stuff. My dad called me and wanted to borrow this one, first time one of my videos inspired him in that way lol.

I did a lot of my childhood stuff but since my parents moved they found a bunch of tapes from before I was born and now they are looking at them. It’s kind of cool to see my parents when they were my age. Also I just bought the recorder lol. I’m going to let my mom use it so I dont have to keep remoting into her computer to fix it haha

I do! Thanks for the recommendation!

Thanks Larry! A lot of old lenses around here. Some very old films way back. Anyway thanks for the kind words and all the best my friend

I would prefer to transfer at the highest possible quality, of course, because VHS is so bad to begin with. I don't want to degrade the footage any further with compression artifacts, etc. I used a Canopus years ago, but for VHS transfers I wasn't pleased with the resulting loss in detail (yes, I want to see the tracking stripe as detailed as possible. lol). Everything seemed to get "smoothed over" with the compression process. I'm curious why you say the DVD recorder is a better option. Looking to learn.

You’re going to get generational quality loss regardless unless you’ve got a higher end machine with SDI output. Only the top divisions use that to maintain highest image quality based on the transfer. Transferring any VHS via analog cables will result in a full “generation” loss. There are no digital artifacts with this converter, it’s solid. A lot of ppl have different degrees of what’s acceptable quality wise. Post house will get you the best quality, but it will cost a lot. Third party software also available to uprez as well. Those are for professional broadcast transfers and not regular consumers which this device is targeted at.

Sony's I.LINK port is just a brand name for a standard IEEE-1394 port. If your camcorder has such a port, it's already recording digital video, so you don't need to buy an analog to digital converter. You do need a computer with an IEEE-1394 port, and those are rare these days. But if you do, software to import DV is here: www.videohelp.com/software/sections/dv

Commercials are the best, I get a kick out of those the most lol. Honestly if a tape sticks it sticks (my thoughts on it) it's only going to get worse so that's why I'm spending the time now to capture what's most important. It's either that or they stay in a dark closet for the rest of life as I know it. This stuff has more relevance to me now than it did at the time it was shot, it's like we shot this stuff so we could enjoy it when we're older!

✊

What are good cables to use though. Gold is kind of not really durable and the monster cables cables are really grippy and stiff. There not really good on on your ports. If your using a newer device like this maybe it’s not a huge deal but if you’re using a Panasonic 1980 vcr to an es-15 to a pinnacle 710 to a windows 7 computer and trying to get a video that isn’t compressed and doesn’t have a bunch of problems with it then it makes you think about what cables you’ll use.

Yeah, I would love to get to the bottom of this, too. I just sleep better at night knowing I've preserved as much image info as I could.

😂 you know me so well! 😂

Ya those adapters were cheap, on amazon they're $55 which is ridiculous. Good luck mate

@@MarkHoltze Update! I was able to get the Clearclick 2.0 converter from Amazon and some RCA cables included and have some good clips now from my JVC camcorder! All went well :)

You can use QuickTime I believe and trim clips that way. Any free editing software would work as well

I like it better. Don’t have to worry about support OS

✊

So happy to hear that! Best of luck with it!

Good luck!!

Exactly! 2500 VHs tapes?! Wow!

@@MarkHoltze it's out of control. hahahaha

You can yes. It will record your display content from the camera so if you turn all that off and it will work

✊ James D Watkins, ESQUIRE thanks for stopping by mate

My pleasure

Also interested.....

UNLESS YOUR VIDS WERE RECORDED IN HI8 ....DONT BOTHER AND HI8 IS ONLY AROUND 520 STUDIO QUALITY I HAD HI 8 IN 1992 AND IT BLEW ME AWAY

As far as I can tell unless you have a specialized device you can't capture 1080 because the source signal isn't that high. Horizontal lines of resolution and that will depend on the camera it that captured it. Broadcast facilities have expensive devices that can capture the best signal, but you will have to scale up the video in post production. Technically VHS is - 333×480 pixels luma and 40×480 chroma resolutions

@@MarkHoltze that's not right. First off, analog video resolution is expressed in TV lines. NTSC has a visible raster of 480 interlaced lines. While the broadcast standard yields about 330 TV lines of horizontal resolution, plain VHS has 220-240 depending on whether HQ circuitry is used, and which ones. Chroma resolution is less, of course, but there's no such thing as a chroma pixel, especially not in the sense of DTV pixels. S-VHS roughly doubles the H bandwidth, and so resolution. In either case you should transfer at 720x480 or 704x480 because that's the D-1 standard. 640x480 gives you square pixels for best presentation on a computer monitor, but I always ingest at D-1 and then convert to the final digital format on a computer. VHS was never used for broadcast, so no broadcast facility had any VHS equipment for broadcast use. The only VHS machine I ever saw at a TV station was used by the overnight crew to watch movies. By the time ATSC was ready for simulcast, most stations were already on their second or third generation digital tape (like DVCAM) or disc (like XDCAM) formats, and most analog tape was already digitized. When the stations needed the occasional archive tape transferred, they'd farm it out to someone like me. All I used was a cheap Grass Valley AVDC-500 A/D converter and a $50 IEEE-1394 card and FOSS Linux software. I used the same gear to import some off-air recordings that I had made at home on VHS. Grass Valley was (still is) a big name in production switchers costing upwards of a million bucks, so a Grass Valley box that cost under a grand was cheap-cheap.

@@StringerNews1 Good answer. Great info. However, one thing you said is not quite correct. Yes, many stations had "pro" S-VHS equipment. And for some of the less-funded stations a $5,000 "Broadcast" VHS deck (like the JVC BR lineup) might be all they could afford. Especially if they needed a play deck, a record deck and an edit controller. That alone was about $15,000 in "Broadcast" VHS equipment. Where I worked we even acquired some footage on "Broadcast" S-VHS camcorders. I still remember dreaming about owning my own JVC KY-19 camera with a "Digital S" VHS recording module, and a JVC Pro VHS Edit Desk. "Digital" HAHAHAHA!! I wonder how many people that fooled. Thanks for reminding me of the "good" old days. :)

Yes

My pleasure, best of luck mate

Ya you can get a tape head cleaner which is just a cassette type thing. Pop it in and hit “play” let it run for a few mins

I thought it was fine, the RCA colours are more saturated, but the S-VIDEO was fine, it also really depends on the cable. Some S-Video cables are crap.

Robert, if you're talking about the S-video connector, forget about it. S-video was only intended to be used as a dub cable between S-VHS VCRs, and even then it was sub-par compared to Sony's RF dub cables. For S-video to be any use at all, you'd need a digitizer with two A/D converters, one for luminance and one for chrominance. None do, they all use a simple capacitor to merge luma and chroma in the simplest way possible. In contrast, the NTSC encoder in a good S-VHS deck will do the job better, and the single ADC will work just fine for this task. But because this is a standalone device, you're stuck with whatever software it uses, and that software will be limited by the dinky little microcontroller inside. If you have an old computer with IEEE-1394 (FireWire), or a desktop that you can plug an adapter card into, you can pick up a used DVCAM recorder cheap on eBay, and use it to digitize the video and send it to your computer. I found a Sony PDW-1500 for $150 that takes composite video, and a DSR-45 for $415 that also takes S-video (and in this case, using S-video cables might work better) and there's a lot of free software to import the DV format into a computer file. Not the cheapest or easiest way to do it, but that's the best quality that you can get for any price today.

Yes indeed!

NTSC for sure, I think it supports it all but I only have an NTSC camera with no way to test. Check manufacturer details.

Hi Curtis, no need to shake your head mate. The BEST way is SUBJECTIVE and for 99% of those looking to do this, just want a VERY quick and EASY way TO do it. That's where this title comes from. I've done another video on this that was a bit more involved and the amount of very generic questions I got on the easiest task inspired this video. All the settings are pre-selected so for those who DO NOT do this professionally and just want to capture their home movies in a very easy way, this option exists. As well as more involved options that you may personally in your professional knowledge recommend. Maybe you should do a video on those? Just a suggestion. The device de-interlaces the video automatically, any interlacing you saw was from the OLD adapter and was stated as such, hence the reason I say this process de-interlaces it for you. Also i don't talk about editing the footage after at all, most editing software will render or ask you to default your SEQ timeline to the footage which is captured at 60fps and as long as your SEQ is 60fps will be as such. This is an EASY way, not the TECHNICALLY best way...like I said earlier, a way for the very causal user to VERY easily capture footage without playing with a million settings. This is plug and play so ya, it's easy and IMHO for what I need it for...the BEST way. Just FYI, I work as a professional editor for film and TV and we've used elements captured with this device for broadcast that passed QT just fine so pump the brakes there a bit my friend. I'd love to hear how YOU capture them though instead of calling into question the credibility of the video information based on YOUR standards and not the standards of the general audience I've intentionally made this video for. 5:57 i mention interlacing specifically and why you're seeing it.

@@MarkHoltze I wasn't trying to insult you or your capabilities with the post but when you title your video with "best way" it's going to invite comment. Obviously "best" is subjective but I felt that due to your obviously high production values and the quality of your video you implied a level of authority that I was concerned the information provided didn't live up to. The quality of the VCR is arguably the most important factor in this concept and, unless I am wrong, you never even mentioned it. I personally use a Panasonic AG as my source device with TBC. Based on many years of experience, going all the way back to the 90s, I find that DV is the best method for capturing VHS. 20 mbps is not an incredibly high bit rate by today's standards but for such a low resolution it is quite substantial. That combined with with an all "I" frame compression you get immaculate capture with video that is super easy to handle digitally. There are a ton of great filters and options for DV that allow you to clean the footage immensely without the use of AI and other algorithms. I know this outside the capabilities of most users but I also don't make videos telling people the "best" way to capture VHS is using any VCR and an off the shelf capture device that uses MP4 video. If you want some examples of my work.just ask.

@@Curtis.mullins I wasn't insulted Curtis, I just wanted to explain my position. Do you happen to know any good IEEE (MINI DV) adapters or devices that would do this well? I have my old G5 tower and can use my XL1 through mini dv to capture on FCP 7, but then have to convert everything after the fact. Kind of a pain and I'm guessing a lot of people are going to be looking for a good way to do this while preserving as much of the quality of mini DV as possible. Appreciate your additional knowledge, definitely a good resource for deeper dives, I might even go into this a bit more once I experiment a bit more with it. My entire channel is about (to a degree) maintaining and using old tech in new ways. I suspect also as the 80's, mom jeans and mullets start to make their way back onto the scene, more younger people are going to want to experiment with this stuff more. This way is easy, but the market could find all of the sudden a new demand for new devices that give a bit more control and maintain the quality. Right now it's popular but also quite niche. Anyway appreciate your time sincerely, thanks!

This is honestly why I keep my G5 tower still running. It's got an old version of FCP 7 on it and i use it to capture all my Mini DV stuff using my XL1 as the "deck". I have to export those files as quicktime files (mpeg4) so it's an extra annoying step, but I feel you on this codec change Apple loves to do. There has got to be a way you can convert them through third party software. I haven't dug too deep as i've got my MINI dv option now and i don't have a lot of great nostalgic stuff on there, just legacy work projects from the early 2000's.

Man I’ve got so much of this.

I haven’t encountered any restrictive recording limits. I tend to capture in chunks because it’s just easier to manage and in case any issues recording. Lingering technique since my earlier DV days 2005. Even logging I would just do 10 min intervals. But you can capture indefinitely

SVideo is nice but it’s not critical. The end result is marginally better video signal .

@@MarkHoltze yeah ive had DVD players and CRT TVs with S Video and truly never noticed much of a diffrence.

Pleasure Landon. Good luck

This has HDMI but I don’t think it works as an input. I connected it to my S1H and was hoping I could use it as a recorder device but nope. You can connect the camera to this with SVideo or rca and record directly from Your cam to the SD card which is cool.

@@MarkHoltze yeah that would be nice. I have a VHS / DVD recorder that I have been using but would be nice to skip the DVD since that deceased quality even more between the VHS and ripping the DVD to the computer. This particular unit also has a IEEE 1394 input which my hi8 camera has as an output.

I had my previous one which served me wel enough but was stopped being supported so upgrading OS rendered it a brick. This is software free, plus loads easier, so for me it was the right evolution.

There will always be a generational quality loss because of the analog signal. This is unavoidable. The higher quality cable, the better the signal and image quality retention. It’s what made FireWire so ground breaking as it was transferring 1’s and 0’s and therefore there would be no quality loss. The moment the analog signal passes through cables it will deteriorate. Viewing form the source will always be the best way. Some is worse than others; SVideo for example has a better transfer rate and therefore much less quality loss. Coaxial cable is the standard for analog broadcast cameras. Big heavy cables who’s primary purpose was to ensure less quality loss. Length of cable also impacts the images. It’s a whole thing. I can’t speak to the quality of what you had done, not sure the tech but for broadcast they use some pretty expensive hardware to ensure the best quality despite the possibility of generational loss on the transfer.

This one still rules, Amazon might be good, but you can check out their site for direct orders I think. I got mine on Amazon. Links should be in description.

I'll do what I can with these. 1) Not sure what the decoder uses, H.264 is the codec, but not sure the details beyond that. 2) Not sure bitrate off hand either. 3) Resolution is native the video signal 4) Original video is NTSC, but it captures whatever the source signal is 5) I didn't have to de-interlace the video.

it captures at 59fps so "yes" but it still feels different when I watch it on a computer screen vs playing through my camera onto the tv.

This won’t be rendered obsolete because of operating systems. No software, independent of a computer. Can do it while watching tv. It’s just a more convenient method overall.

@@MarkHoltze okay awesome! Thank you so much for your help and reply. God bless

It’s just a way better overall product vs the other adapters. I like that I don’t have to tie up the computer to do it as well. It simplifies based on best settings and don’t have to worry about software no longer being supported. If yours works keep it. Mine I couldn’t carry with me on OS update so I needed a new one and wanted a more robust self contained option.

@@MarkHoltze Oh I haven't bought it yet just researching. Good info to know, thanks for your perspective.

I actually did a pretty crude setup years back when I was going through all my grandfathers old 8mm film reels. Most of them are on my channel, it’s a pretty dodgy setup lol, but looked better than the scans I got lol.

@@MarkHoltze I think I found the clips you mentioned. Was it projected on the white wall/fabric or a matte glass?

A screen. A clean light wall would prob work nice too

@@MarkHoltze Aight then, will have to try it at some point. Like your content - well structured, calm and stylish. Keep it up!

Thanks! It helps to use a declicked lens, ride the exposure shifts that are sure to happen as people move from inside to outside. Clicks work fine but less noticeable with a de-clicked lens. I shot in LOG so I had more latitude in the edit. But you can save a lot of the delta between highlights and shadows this way. Good luck

Loyalty! A rare bird these days! Appreciate it mate!

Same! But now I'm considering buying hi8 cam