Best VHS To Computer Method For Editing Into Vegas

[John Rofrano]

Get a Grass Valley/Canopus ADVC110 Converter. If the tapes are really bad you may need the ADVC300 version that has Time Based Correction circuits (this is what I have). This will give you the best quality. The tapes will be capture in DV25 AVI format.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Jackie Luffy]

I should have mentioned I heard that the Canopus has issues working with Windows 7 and above, which I have windows 7, I also cannot afford the Canopus because it is 200 plus $, I was wondering if there was a cheaper device that could do a similar job of converting quality exactly the same as it is on the VHS, thanks for the suggestion as always!

[Aaron Star]

I have a system with PCI still, and so use an Osprey 100 card. These cards were designed to work in broadcast environments and have a great ability to deal with sources like bad VHS. I just use the Vegas VID capture application to capture an uncompressed AVI. From here you can edit directly, compress to something like DV.MFX (25Mbs) or output to .MP4

I have a Blackmagic Shuttle USB3 and its pretty good too, but I prefer the reliability of the osprey card. I have had issues with the shuttle device not working when I needed it.

[Richard Jones]

I’ve never had a problem using a Canopus ADVC 110 with Windows 7 and Vegas Pro 10 or 12 and have been doing this for a number of years with very good results. Pewrhaps eBay may find you one at a decent price?

Richard

[John Rofrano]

[Richard Jones] “I’ve never had a problem using a Canopus ADVC 110 with Windows 7”

Same here… works great.

[Jackie Luffy] “I was wondering if there was a cheaper device that could do a similar job of converting quality exactly the same as it is on the VHS”

This is an area where “you get what you pay for”… Cheap device = cheap quality. Analog to digital converters are expensive. You might want to try eBay or a service that converts tapes to DVD’s.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Mike Kujbida]

Another option is to buy a used mini dv camcorder that has the pass through feature. The tape transport doesn’t need to be working as long as the electronics do. Hook your VHS deck to the analog inputs and firewire out to Vegas.

[John Rofrano]

[Mike Kujbida] “Another option is to buy a used mini dv camcorder that has the pass through feature.”

That’s a good idea. I forgot that some of the DV cameras have passthru.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Wayne Waag]

[Jackie Luffy]

You’ve never stated the type of source material you have or what you want to do with it. If you want to import your VHS footage into Vegas and then do extensive color correction, noise filtering, etc, then by all means, capture to DV or better still, uncompressed AVI. However, if you simply want to convert your VHS footage so it can be “played” on a computer or a TV using a media player, or do simple cuts editing, add transitions, and a few titles, another approach would be to use a good DVD recorder which will do the hardware encoding to an MPEG file (probably better quality than first converting to DV and then rendering). Then use an editor (probably not Vegas) which will easily smart-render to your final delivery file. Regardless of which approach, you also need a decent VHS deck if you want “good quality”, preferably one with a built-in TBC.

wwaag

[Jackie Luffy]

Thank you so much for all of your help guys!!! I was going to buy the Canopus if all else failed but this ENTIRE time I had the DV Sony Handycam that had the pass through this whole time, for years I never knew this and was using the crap Pinnacle Video, and I cannot believe the quality, it is perfect, exactly the same how it is on the actual VHS!

Thanks again

[Mike Kujbida]

Jackie, I’m glad to hear that you solved your problem. Pass through is the same as using a Canopus so you get a DV AVI file identical to your source footage.
Happy editing 🙂