How To Convert VHS To Digital

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If you have a collection of vhs tapes, you may be motivated to try to preserve some of your vhs tapes by converting the videos to a digital files.

analog media vhs tapes being inserted to VCR

But what you may find is that when you convert VHS to a digital can change the fluidity and movements of the old video footage to a flickering, unsteady approximation of your original film. This tutorial will explain why and provide the steps you can take to correctly convert VHS video footage to digital video. There will also be instructions for uploading your converted video to YouTube.

These instructions are aimed at beginners who haven’t convert vhs to digital before, so just about anyone can follow. Additionally, the conversion will be done using very inexpensive hardware, with no item priced higher than $20, and with free software.

The operating system used for this tutorial is Windows 7 (64-bit), but the same instructions may be applied to any operating system.

What’s Wrong With Your Video?

NTSC is the official analog video standard in the U.S. The specifications for NTSC are that video is broadcast and stored at 30 frames per second. Each frame is made up of two images or “fields,” which are 1/60th of a second apart but are woven together in alternating horizontal lines. The result is called “Interlaced Video.” The photo below shows a frame from an interlaced video where the hand in the center has blurry edges around it. The blurriness is the result of the frame showing a single hand at two different points in time: the first moment, and then 1/60th of a second after the first moment.

Analog VHS tapes produce 30 frames or 60 fields per second. In order to properly convert analog VHS tapes to a digital video format, we will learn how to reproduce them to 60 frames per second.

STEP 1 – Gather and Install/Connect Tools

Hardware

Computer – The tutorial is being done on Windows 7, 64-bit.

Video Source – this is the device you will use to play your VHS tape for capture.

Capture Device – Since about 2005, there have been many inexpensive USB capture devices that will convert old VHS tapes to digital video. Today, they are still available, used or new, for about $20 each. This tutorial will use the “EZ Cap USB 2” video capture (see photo, 3.50) which is cheaper than the Elgato Video Capture USB. The “EZ Cap” will come with a disk to install the drivers – this must be done before the device can be connected to your computer.

If this is not available, you might use the “Dazzle DVC 100” (see photo 4.08); there is an identical-looking version, the DVC 90, but this version will not install the correct drivers (64-bit windows drivers) on your computer.

A third such device is the “I-O DATA GV-USB 2” (see photo 4.31), which can be purchased new for about $40. The packaging may be printed in Japanese but when installed, the drivers will be in English.

Software

There are two software programs this tutorial will use to capture and later format the video. These are only examples of the types of free software that can be used:

  1. Virtualdub – http://www.virtualdub.org/ – Capture and convert (SEE NOTE AT THE END OF INSTRUCTIONS)
  2. Handbrake – http://handbrake.fr/ – Compress to H.264 (MPEG-4) digital files.
  3. UT Video Codec Suite 23.0.0 – https://www.videohelp.com/software/Ut-Video-Codec-Suite – lossless code used below

*Both these programs and a USB Capture device will need to be installed on your computer before you go further.

STEP 2 – Pick Settings to Capture Video

  1. Open Virtualdub
  2. From the dropdown menu, click File, then Capture AVI. The black screen will appear on the next screen, which will be in capture mode.
  3. From the dropdown menu, click Device, then move down to click on the USB capture device (see above) you will be using. The black screen will disappear, then reappear.
  4. From the dropdown menu, click Video, then move down to click Video Source. This is where you select the device you will record your video from. For VHS players, select Video Composite.
  5. Go back to Video in the dropdown menu. This time, move down to click Capture Pin. A small Properties box opens.
  6. In the Frame Rate box, change the number to 29.97. These are the number of frames per second for an NTSC analog video.
  7. The Color Space/Compression dropdown may display YUY2, but if not, DO NOT CHANGE. The default is probably correct.
  8. The Output Size (or capture size) may display a default size of 720 x 480, which is the typical digital representation of the NTSC analog video. You do not have to use the default size, but it is recommended that you do. *A selection from this dropdown list will re-set the number in the Frame Rate box above. Ensure that the number is re-set to 29.97.
  9. Click OK. The black screen will reappear.
  10. From the dropdown menu, click Video, then move down to click Capture filter…
  11. A small Properties box opens. Click the Video Proc Amp tab
  12. The Brightness, Contrast, Hue, and Saturation buttons can be adjusted depending on the image quality of your tape, but it may be useful to begin with the default settings. To do this, click the Default button.
  13. Click OK.

Once you have captured the video, you will find that the resulting file is extremely large. While you are not required to compress the video, it is recommended.

Step 3 – Pick Settings to Store Video

  1. From dropdown men, click Video, then move down to click Compression…
  2. A Select Video Compression box opens. Pick a compression codec, one that will affect the video the least (a lossless codec). For tutorial, select UT Video YUV422 BT.601 VCM.
  3. Click OK. The black video screen reappears.
  4. Next comes the Audio settings. In the dropdown menu, click Audio, then move down and click Raw Capture Format…
  5. A small Select Raw Audio Format box appears. The setting may default to PCM:96000Hz stereo, but you will not need such a high setting for this conversion. Instead, click PCM:48000Hz, stereo, 16-bit.
  6. Click OK. The black screen reappears. In the lower right corner of your computer screen, you should see the settings you have selected (48 KHz, 16-bit stereo, recording set at 29.97).
  7. In the dropdown menu at the top of the screen, click Capture, then move down and click Timing…
  8. A dialog box, Capture Timing Options, opens. Here, you can choose how the software will handle problems with the images and video that may occur during capture. “Tape dropouts,” are frames that might be lost or pushed together due to the age of the tape. To combat both issues, ensure that the two General Options items are both selected with checkmarks.
  9. Likewise, tape dropouts create the risk that during the capture, the audio will fall progressively further out of sync with the video images until the sounds and the images no longer occur together. In the Capture Timing Option box under Resync Mode, ensure that “Sync audio to video by resampling the audio to a faster or slower rate” is selected to keep audio and video automatically in sync.
  10. Leave the remaining default selections in place and click OK to close the box.
  11. The black screen reappears. Virtualdub is now prepared to capture the video.

Step 4 – Capture Video

  1. To select the place your captured information will be stored, go to the dropdown menu and click File, then move down to click Set Capture File.
  2. The Set Capture File box opens. Choose the file where you would like your captured video to be saved.
  3. In the “File Name” box below, pick the name for your folder. Click Save.
  4. You will then be returned to the black screen. Press “play” on your video player. The video playback will appear in the black screen. As it plays, go to the dropdown menu at the top of the screen and click Capture, then move down and click Capture Video. The screen will go blank for a moment before the video reappears and resumes play.
  5. When you have captured the video you want, go to the dropdown menu at the top of the screen and click Capture, then move down and click Stop Capture. (This will not stop the video from playing. Your video will continue running until you press “stop” on your media player).

With the capture completed, you will notice that Virtualdub is showing statistics about the capture on the right side of the screen. If your video showed lines or any other sort of disruption during playback, you may be able to see statistics of how the software compensated for this by either inserting frames or resampling audio. Go to the dropdown menu and click File, then move down and click Exit Capture Mode.

The next step will be to edit the video you have captured:

  1. Go to the dropdown menu and click File, then move down and click Open Video File. In the Open Video File Box, select the file you created and click Open.
  2. You will see two images of the video on your screen: the left image is the file without any processing (the Source Video), the right image is the image after processing. Both images will be identical since editing has not yet happened.
  3. You may scroll through the images with the horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen: move the notch to the right to scroll forward through the video, move the notch to the left to scroll backward.
  4. To cut out part of the video, move the notch to display the beginning of the images you would like to remove. On your keyboard, press the Home key. A small black marking will appear on the bar to mark the spot.
  5. Move the notch across the bar until you reach the end of the images you want to remove. When you reach the end, hit the End key on your keyboard. The bar will highlight the length from beginning to end that you have chosen for removal.
  6. To remove the images, press the Delete key on your keyboard.

To properly capture your VHS tapes to a digital format, you will need to counter the effects of interlaced video. To do this, it is necessary to separate the two interlocked fields, so that each is in its own full frame.

  1. To access Virtualdub’s tools for handling interlaced video, go to the dropdown menu and click Video, then move down and click Filters. The Filters box will open.
  2. Click the Add button. The Add Filters box opens.
  3. Select Deinterlace from the list, then click OK.
  4. The Filter: Deinterlace box opens.

The box has a list of many choices under Deinterlacing Mode, but over the past 5 or 10 years, several of them have been found to produce negative results. Choosing Blend Fields, Duplicate Fields, and Discard Fields means you are getting rid of fields or images instead of correcting them. The Deinterlacing Mode has three options to Interpolate (or insert) each field into its own frame. The Yadif algorithm is the best of the three.

  1. Under Deinterlacing Mode, select Interpolate using Yadif algorithm.

Next, the Field Order list has 2 options for discarding the top or bottom field and two options for doubling the frame rate. Since discarding fields will have an unwanted result, let’s focus on the options for doubling the frame rate.

The two options are to double with the top field first or with the bottom field first. There is no one-size-fits-all selection to this: each capture device will require a different choice. To see which choice works best for you, you must select one of these, then go back to your video, look at the right image (the one showing the effects of the processing), and advance it frame-by-frame using your right arrow button. If the image does not advance correctly (if the image seems to be going back and forth), return to this box and select the other choice.

  1. To return to the Filter: Deinterlace box, go to the dropdown box at the top of the screen and click Video, then move down and click Filter.
  2. The Filters box will open but this time it will show your earlier choice of the Deinterlace mode. Double-click on it to go back to the Filter: Deinterlace box.
  3. Under the Field Order list, you will see your previous selection for the double frame rate. Click on the other selection. Click OK.
  4. Click OK again. You will be returned to your two video images. Now when you advance the video with your right arrow button, the image should advance correctly.

STOP: If you intend to upload your completed video to YouTube, please follow the instructions that follow. If you do not intend to upload to YouTube, please proceed to step 51.

  1. Go back to the dropdown menu at the top of the screen and click Video, then move down and click Filter.
  2. In the Filters box, click the Add button.
  3. The Add Filters box appears. Scroll to find the Resize option, select and click OK.
  4. Move to the Aspect Ratio section and click Disabled.
  5. Move up to the New Size fields and change the Absolute (pixels) numbers to 960 and 720.
  6. Leave all other defaults as-is and click OK. Click OK again, and you will be returned to the two video images. The right side (processed) video should now be much larger.

You have just captured and corrected the interlaced video! Next, you must prepare to save your work to a new file:

  1. Go to the dropdown box at the top of the screen, click Video, then move down and click Compression.
  2. The Select Video Compression box opens. Pick a lossless codec (this tutorial will use the same codec used in Step 15 – UT Video YUV422 BT.601 VCM). This will result in a very large file, but the file will be compressed later using the Handbrake software. Click OK.
  3. In the dropdown menu at the top of the screen, click File, then move down and click Save as AVI…
  4. The Save as AVI 2.0 box opens. Select the folder to save your processed video (this tutorial will use the same location where the captured video from earlier was saved.
  5. Click Save. The Virtualdub Status box appears, to show the progress of the file being saved. Your video images, still onscreen, will slowly advance as the file is saved. When the process is complete, the status box disappears and the video image stops advancing.

To play your processed video, first close out of Virtualdub:

  1. In the dropdown box at the top of the screen, click File, then move down and click Quit.

This tutorial will use Windows Media Player to view the processed video because WMP maintains 60 frames per second. The video action should be smooth, and the sounds and image should fully sync.

Step 5 – Encode Your Video

Once you are satisfied with the image quality of your processed video, it should be encoded to MPEG-4.

  1. From your desktop, open the Handbrake software. Handbrake is primarily used for converting movies but will also work for this purpose.
  2. In the upper left corner of the Handbrake application, find and click the Source button. The Source Selection panel will appear.
  3. In the panel, click File – Open a Single Video File. The folder containing your processed file will open. Select the processed file, then click the Open button.
  4. The Handbrake application box reappears. Your file location should appear in the Destination field.
  5. Under Output Settings, ensure that the Container dropdown is set at MP4.
  6. Click the Video tab below. From the Framerate dropdown, select 59.54 (frames per second); below the dropdown, select Constant Framerate. All other defaults may remain in place.
  7. At the top of the application box, click Start, and Handbrake begins encoding your video. The progress will appear in the lower-left corner of the application box. When complete, Queue Finished will appear.
  8. You will find the encoded video in the same folder as your processed video. The file size of the encoded video will be much smaller than that of the processed video. When you play the encoded video, you will see that it retains all the same image quality as your processed video.

At this point, you have captured, edited, processed, and encoded your video – Well done!!