Copy VHS to Digital media

I realize this shows my age, but is there a convenient way to copy my old VHS movies to a digital media that can be used in an RV?  Same question for DVD to reduce volume carried in the RV?  I know, DVD is already digital!    Or is there an electronics forum / web site you can direct me to?

Thanks as always.

You can copy a few DVD's to your laptop. A lot of them are copyrighted, so you may have to do something shady to copy them. Like you though, I'd like to see some suggestions on the VHS tape copying though.

There are VHS to DVD units capable of copying.  Making DVD copies of commercially produced DVD's is another matter as many if not most have coding inserted in the digital file that prevents duplication.  There are way's around it with some software available on line, but do so at your own risk as it is not legal or ethical.

I bought a cable / dongle years ago set up for this purpose.  Never once used it.  Pretty sure it's still in the attic.  I too have a few tapes, although the small 8mm stuff, that I should transfer some day.... although we never have watched them and likely never will want to....

Try Amazon.  Enter 'VHS to DVD' in the search field. 

Once you get it into your computer there are FREE DVD burning programs at www.majorgeeks.com.  Most of them are fairly easy to figure out.

Copying a commercial DVD is illegal.  With that said there are many programs that can do it.  I don't use any of them so I can't help you there.

I just bought this to copy my home videos to my PC, works pretty good. I used this to transfer my video 8 tapes. Problem is it really shows how grainy the video really was. 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-VHS-To-DVD-Audio-Video-Converter-Adapter-Scart-Capture-RCA-Cable-Win10/132061005963?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

grashley said:

I realize this shows my age, but is there a convenient way to copy my old VHS movies to a digital media that can be used in an RV?  Same question for DVD to reduce volume carried in the RV?  I know, DVD is already digital!    Or is there an electronics forum / web site you can direct me to?

Thanks as always.

Click to expand...

Here's a tutorial on ripping dvds with VLC.

Thanks.  More specifically, how to convert VCR to an external hard drive or Smart drive.  My objective is to leave the old tapes / discs home and be able to carry something SMALL which contains the movies.  I can then play them on the computer or use Apple TV to view them on the TV.

Punomatic has answered half of the question, I think.

You need an analog to digital converter to go from the RCA audio and video jacks on the back of your VCR into a USB port on your PC.  A quick search on  Google came up with this, I'm sure there are others:

http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/standard/overview.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-fCj_dnz1QIVgXp-Ch2w8ABUEAQYASABEgLXOvD_BwE

It includes software to take the USB stream coming from the VCR and convert it to a DVD image you can then burn to a disk.

I did our old VHS tapes long ago, and then gave my adapter/ripper gadget to friends to do the same. It "played" the tape and captured the generated video on the computer, which I then transferred to DVD. Lots of products available to do that these days, and no doubt superior to the one I used 10+ years ago. I see one from Roxio in the stores once in awhile.

https://www.google.com/search?q=vhs+tape+to+dvd&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

As far as storing them in digital media goes it's easy but time consuming.

DVD format has them in VOB format which is uncompressed and quite large.  In addition VOB files are usually limited to a specific size so there may be more than one VOB for a movie.

Converting them to other formats is relatively easy.  There are several good FREE programs at majorgeeks.  (URL in my first reply) Simply use their search function.  Most of them use the same core components so the major difference is probably in the user interface.

A 64GB thumb drive will store over a hundred movies once they are converted to MP4 files.  I would recommend a USB-3 thumb drive because even when used in a USB-2 port they are faster internally.  Samsung and SanDisk make the best ones IMHO. 

I don't ever recommend mechanical disk drives.

I got a bunch of San Disk memory cards for free and liked them so much I bought several 64GB thumb drives and a couple of 128GB ones.  The only problem I have is that they are so small it's hard to label them and they are easy to misplace.

https://smile.amazon.com/Samsung-128GB-Flash-MUF-128BB-AM/dp/B017DH3O5A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503759022&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+128gb+usb+3.0+flash+drive

https://smile.amazon.com/Samsung-Flash-Drive-MUF-64BB-AM/dp/B013CCTNKU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1503758934&sr=8-4&keywords=samsung+128gb+usb+3.0+flash+drive

There are also ways to go directly from the DVD to an MP4 file but for that you need a DVD 'Ripper'.  Again, Amazon for commercial products that claim to be able to rip any DVD and MajorGeeks for free ones that probably don't rip everything.

For the record everything at MajorGeeks has been vetted and tested extensivly for malware.  You won't find any viruses there.  If a download is going to install anything other than what you want you will find the 'opt out' instructions in the description.

When I transferred my VHS tapes I mailed them to a service that did it for me. Since I only had a few tapes it was easier than buying all the stuff, learning how to use it and then doing it.

https://youtu.be/hTuhAGYHJW8

Thanks to all!

Special shout out to Punomatic, Lou and 8 Muddy Paws.  All have been a BIG help!

Lou Schneider said:

You need an analog to digital converter to go from the RCA audio and video jacks on the back of your VCR into a USB port on your PC.  A quick search on  Google came up with this, I'm sure there are others:

http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/standard/overview.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-fCj_dnz1QIVgXp-Ch2w8ABUEAQYASABEgLXOvD_BwE

It includes software to take the USB stream coming from the VCR and convert it to a DVD image you can then burn to a disk.

Click to expand...

I have the Roxio setup that Lou mentioned. I have copied over 50 VHS tapes and it works great. Only drawback is that it does it in real time, so if you have a 3 hour movie, it will take you 3 hours to copy it.

Several people have said that copying a DVD is illegal. This is incorrect. It is illegal to SELL or GIVE AWAY a copy. There is nothing illegal about making a copy for YOUR OWN USE. I've copied all my DVDs to a network hard drive. Now with my Roku I can play any DVD in my collection.

I use "Handbrake" to convert things to MP4 format and "WinX DVD Ripper Platinum" to rip DVDs.

grashley said:

Thanks to all!

Special shout out to Punomatic, Lou and 8 Muddy Paws.  All have been a BIG help!

Click to expand...

^X2^