Capture

Capture your video memories from analog VHS cassettes to digital video files on your computer so you can share key moments with friends, family, and future generations.

Gather

Learn about the necessary equipment needed to start

Connect

Set up your VCR and capture device for conversion

Digitize

Convert clips from analog to a lightweight digital format

Transfer

Transfer your files to your computer for easy access

Get started in less than 5 minutes

Ready to start converting your VHS memories to digital? We’ve created a short video (less than 5 minutes!) to help you understand everything you will need to kickstart the process.

The video covers:

All the equipment needed
How to organize everything into a processing queue
Configuring your capture device

What you'll need

In order to start capturing our video memories, we will need to make sure we have the following pieces of equipment.

VCR player

One of the most important pieces of equipment and one of the hardest to come by! If you have one still, great! If you do not, you will need to find a used one on sites like ebay or Amazon.

Digital converter

We recommend using VHS to Digital Converters that do not need to be connected to a computer and instead allow you to record directly to a USB drive. Our recommendation is this one on Amazon.

USB drive

We recommend using a 128 GB USB Drive (maximum capacity allowed for our capture device). This will allow you to save a whole tape on one drive. We recommend purchasing one from reputable brand like this Sandisk one.

Tape adapter*

If you have mini cassettes from your camcorder that measure 3.5 to 3.6 inches, you will need a special adapter to play in your VCR like this one on Amazon.

Two bins

This will help us keep track of which cassettes we’ve already captured and which ones we still need to do. Any size bin or box that can fit all of your tapes will do.

Gather your tapes

STEP 1: Organize your tapes into bins

Grab your two boxes and label the first one “Unprocessed” and the second one “Processed”.
Place all your tapes you want to digitize into the “Unprocessed” bin.

STEP 2: Set up your VCR player and digital converter

Find a large clear surface with an outlet nearby and set up your VCR Player. Plug in the power cable from VCR to a power outlet.
Unbox the digital converter. Plug in the supplied yellow, red, and white cables into the inputs on the top of the digital converter.
Plug the other ends of the cables into the AV OUT cable jacks on the backside of your VCR (sometimes also called LINE OUT)
Connect the USB cable that came with the digital converter into the power supply. Connect the power supply to a nearby outlet and then connect the USB cable to the digital converter into the input labeled “USB-C”.

STEP 1-2 OUTCOMES

Set up converter

Now it is time to configure a few options in your digital converter that will save you a lot of time.

STEP 3: Configure the digital converter

Power on your digital converter by pressing and holding the power button in the top right corner of the device.
Insert your USB drive into the top of the converter.
Press the Menu button and then press the down arrow to highlight System Date/Time Setting. Press the OK button.
Using the up and down arrows, select the current year, month, day, and so on (Hours will be in 24-hour format, so for example if it’s 3pm, make sure to select 15).
Once finished, press OK, and you will be returned to the previous menu.
Now press the down arrow again until the Auto-Stop Recording option is highlighted, and then press the OK.
Press the down arrow to select the time you want the device to auto-stop (the most common home VHS tape is 120 minutes. So we recommend setting that option to start).
Press the OK button one more time, and then the menu button to return to main screen.

STEP 3 OUTCOMES

Let's record!

We’re almost ready to get rock and rolling.

STEP 4: Turn on your VCR and insert your tape

Power on your VCR and insert the first tape you would like to convert.
Ensure the tape is at the start by pressing and holding the rewind button (Wow it’s been a long time since we’ve done that!)

STEP 5: Press record on the converter and hit play on the VCR

When you are ready, press the record button on the digital converter and then press the play button on your VCR.

STEP 6: Watch or go grab some coffee

Since we enabled the auto-stop feature on the digital converter, this thing is on autopilot now!

Depending on the length of the tape, this could take anywhere from 30 mins to 2 hours.
We want to let the tapes completely finish, even if it records blanks so that we ensure that ANY and ALL memories are recorded (we will trim these empty spaces out in a later step).
Go grab a coffee, do a house chore, and check back in the time we set for the auto-timer.

STEP 4-6 OUTCOMES

Transfer & review

STEP 7: Disconnect the USB from the digital converter

Once the recording is automatically stopped, press and hold the power button until you see a window appear titled “Power off notice, Confirm power off.”
Press the left arrow button to highlight Confirm, and then press the OK button.
You can now safely remove the USB drive from the digital converter.

STEP 8: Rewind and eject the VHS tape

Press the stop button your VCR.
Press and hold the rewind button until the tape is completely rewound (be kind, rewind!)
Eject the VHS tape from your VCR and place it in front of you.

STEP 9: Insert USB into your computer

Insert the USB drive now into your computer
Find and open the USB device in your Finder (Mac) or Explorer (Windows).
Navigate to the folder titled “video”. Our clip should be titled the date and time the recording started.
Create a new folder titled “Processed Tapes” on your computer desktop.
Move the video file from the USB drive to this new folder.

STEP 7-8 OUTCOMES

Process tape

STEP 10: Rename the video file

Rename the video file in the Processed Folder to what is labeled on the tape + “- MASTER” (for example, if the tape label says “Christmas 1995”, label the file “Christmas 1995 – MASTER”).
If there is no label on the tape, write the filename of the recording from the USB drive onto a sticky note, and stick it to the tape sleeve. This will help us locate the tape later if needed.
Now that you are done with the tape, place the tape into its case or cover (if it came in one) and place into the “Processed” box.

If you have more tapes to do at this time, please repeat the steps from Step 4 and on.

STEP 10 OUTCOMES

Congratulations! You have digitized your first tape and saved it from time and the elements.

In the next section you will learn how to edit the clip into smaller sections as well as rename it for sharing with friends and family.