A shoebox full of mini-sized tapes
When I brought the original box of home videos back from my parents house, there was a shoe box underneath the dozen or so tapes I managed to find. When I opened it, I was surprised (as well as slightly horrified) when I discovered a bunch of mini-sized tapes. How was I going to get these onto my computer? Did I need to have the camcorder to play them? Were these trapped on these tapes forever?
Luckily the answer to the last two questions was “no”.
What were VHS-C tapes?
VHS-C tapes were “Compact” (hence the C in the name)-sized cassettes that camcorders back in the 80s and 90s recorded to. Where standard VHS tapes measured 7.4″ x 4.0″ x 1.0″, VHS-C cassettes measured 3.5″ x 2.25″ x 0.75. They had about 30-45 minutes of recording time.
These analog cassettes would eventually become replaced by their digital counterpart mini-dv in the late 90s and early 2000s.
What you’ll need (adapter)
If you have these types of tapes you do not need to fear, however you will need one additional piece of equipment during the Capture phase in order to convert to digital.
These battery-powered adapters are simple, and are still surprisingly affordable to purchase new. Ones like this one, are about $30 and can be purchased brand new on Amazon.
The setup is simple, you open a compartment on the tape, insert your VHS-C cassette, close the compartment, and the magnetic tape inside gets expanded via two rolling arms to the standard VHS tape size. You then can insert into any standard VCR and play.
