Hidden away in the attic, garage or even under the stairs, a hoard of old VHS tapes, DV camcorder tapes, slides, pictures and old DVD 's that contain many peoples precious memories of home recordings.
VHS players along with old camcorders are becoming rare to find, if you have any of these old format tapes then you should seriously consider transferring them onto digital formats such as MPEG4 (H.264), which will then allow you to make multiple copies without loss of quality and easily play them back on PC's, Tablet's or Smart Phones.
There are a few companies that offer to copy across these old VHS/DV tapes to DVD, however, they can be quite expensive and in some cases, there have been problems of tapes that have been posted getting lost.
There is an easier option, thanks to the PZ-CV-H264 capture module from e-mediavision. The PZ-CV-H264 connects between the camcorder or VHS player and the recording computer via the USB port, using this device its easy to make a digital copy of your tapes in MPEG4 / H.264 format, once the recording has completed you can instantly view the recording on your computer, tablet or smartphone.
The PZ-CV-H264 is a UVC / driver free device, which means you can easily connect it to a Windows, MAC or Linux computer.
Making multiple copies is easy as "Copy/Paste" and the digital recordings can easily be sent to friends and family or even uploaded to Youtube / Facebook.
Transferring VHS/DV to Digital Video
Copying across VHS/DV tapes to a digital video format is fairly easy using the PZ-CV-HD264, follow the steps below:
1. Items that you will need are, VHS Player or Camcorder that plays back your tapes, 3 x RCA/Phono to Phono cables, PZ-CV-H264 and a computer.
2. Connecting the items together, from the VHS player/camcorder using the Phono-Phono (RCA to RCA) cable connect Video OUT from the player (normally yellow) to the Yellow connector on the PZ-CV-H264, next connect the Red & White leads Audio Left (normally White) and Right (Normally Red) to the white and red inputs on the PZ-CV-H264. Connect the short USB cable supplied with the PZ-CV-H264 to one end and plug the other end into the USB port of the computer.
3. Startup the computer and then install VLC which is a free player/recorder software. Once you have VLC installed open it and select capture device, then select HDTV CAM for both the video and audio, then at the bottom at the Play button, use the drop-down box and select Convert, select Video -H.264 + MP3 (MP4) and at the bottom where it is labledDestination file, click on browse and select the location where you want to record the file to and enter a name, now start the playback on the VHS/DV camcorder and then click on start on the VLC player, when the VHS/DV tape reaches the end, then click on stop on the VLC to stop recording. That's It!
E-mediavision also has the EMV-HDR recording software which provides many more functions and ease of use.