Chances are, not all of your video is worth saving. Once you've made these adjustments, queue up the VHS tape to the part you want to transfer. The best file formats to store video in are. Pause the video on the player and adjust the capture settings and destination folder on your computer using the program you just installed. This applies only to home movies and not any bootlegged version of a copyrighted movie that may get you in trouble. Now dust off that old VHS tape and put it in the player. In our case, that's the drive and the editing program. Install the necessary software that came with the converter.

You may need an adapter that comes with the converter. Just make sure to connect them to the output option and match the colors. Start by plugging everything in: the USB side of the analog converter goes into the computer, and the three plugs go into the VHS player. If you're planning on digitizing a lot of footage, you should also consider transferring it to an external hard drive so as not to max out the built-in storage on your computer. If you're on a newer laptop you may need to purchase either a separate DVD attachment or a converter that offers an online download option for the software. You'll need a Mac or PC with a DVD drive to install the software. For the purpose of this article, we used the Diamond VC500. There are multiple of options to chose from at different price ranges online or at most electronic stores.

Next, you'll need an analog converter for your Mac or PC.

If you got rid of it, you can purchase one from your local consignment store or online (a used one on eBay goes for about $30). The first thing you'll need to do is get that old VHS player out of storage. If you'd rather have more control over the process, you still have to spend money - not to mention a lot more time - to do it yourself. You may have gotten rid of those tapes, but then you have to figure out what to do about the pile of DVD's you got back, or how to download the digital content from the cloud-based services.

This is the most painless method of doing this, but it's not perfect.Īside from the price, the downside of using this method is that you don't have as much control over the format and storage options. Or you can use an online service like YesVideo and Legacy Box and store them on their cloud. Costco, Walgreens and Walmart are just a few retail stores that offer this service at their locations or online for about $20 to $35 per tape transferred to DVD.

Local vcr to dvd conversion locations