VHS to digital, without computer ?

I wonder whether I could borrow a VHS deck, plug it into my TV, and use the PVR function to capture it ? I don't have an external video card.

 

Essentially you just need a recording device with a input that is compatible with an output from the VHS machine, a standalone DVD recorder would work, not sure about PVRs, especially when built in, check what the manual says.

 

You need a CD-R recorder. Tascam makes one.

 

You could try something like this...
Toshiba DVR620KU DVD VCR VHS Recorder Player Combo
Toshiba SD-V295KU DVD Player VHS HiFi Video Cassette Recorder VCR Combo

 

You're talking about the video and regular audio, just digitizing the audio/video for posterity, not VHS-HiFi (audio), right?

 

I used to have one for that purposes, but it crapped out and I don't wanna buy another one, hence the question.

Exactly.

 

You would need an old TiVo style DVR that can tune off-air antenna stations, and also one that allows you to manually set the station and recording start/end times. Record channel 3, and connect RF coax between the VCR and the DVR.

This of course is functional but quite bad - without a "record" button, you have to schedule a program, wait for the right time, and press play. You get degraded video through the RF modulator, another unnecessary step. No ability to edit the program, and no ability to get it out of the DVR.


A combo VCR/DVD recorder is probably the best bet for a no-computer transfer. It preserves the interlaced NTSC video as it was recorded, as 60fps fields. The DVD MPEG2 can be ripped on computer.


Consumer choice has gone down as analog video sunsets. The best is computer capture with old analog card and old supported OS, such as ATI TV Wonder Pro and dscaler to capture raw video uncompressed, and the S-Video cable. Then it can go through appropriate AVISynth filters for digitization, such as deinterlace, inverse telecine, or bob/weave to 60fps.

A newer computer interface, if you can find a VCR with upsampling component output:

 

What is the end product that you want? Video and Audio? Or Audio only?

Do you want files, DVDs, or CDs at the end of the process?

 

An MKV file, video and audio. Will the PVR¨get¨ the signal from the VHS deck connected to the TV ? The TV didn't come with a manual, there's none online, and the people at the tech support are clueless. It's a JVC. Anyone with any experience using the PVR function, with any TV brand ?

 

I've never used used the facility included in my Sony TV but so far as I remember it only works from tuned channels and not from audio video inputs. Having said that it would seem that with "my" Sony I could do it if the VCR has an RF output which I connect to the antenna in of my TV and tune it as if it was a normal channel.

The quality would be inferior than through the A/V input but theoretically I could do it. I don't know about your JVC but if it has an analogue tuner it will probably work that way too.

 

To do an MKV file, there will be a computer involved, and Analog to digital transfer involved.

 

Right man; spot on. I was hoping for a clean digital conversion. Analogue through RF is dismal to put it mildly; thanx for the clarification.

 

I don't know how much that/those tapes are worth to you but there are some AV capture devices -need PC- that sell very cheaply on ebay but I don't know their quality.

Last proper one I had myself was an Avid? card/tuner and that gave me pretty good quality, it even did HD, it wasn't cheap, neither expensive, you might be able to get one second hand. I have now transferred almost anything that was of some importance to me before the tapes go bad.

 

Those devices are expensive and very low quality down here in Argentina. My tapes are just one I recently got, the rest were digitized back when my DVR still worked; great 10mbps pic and LPCM audio. These are rock concert VHS tapes that were never comercially released on DVD.