Best solution to transfer VHS tapes to an iMac?

[RedlegsFan]

I am looking at preserving some old home movies that are on VHS. For those who have experience, what is the solution that has worked for you? I have read some reviews online for some products, but cannot pull the trigger on one. I have maybe 10 or so home movies I would like to transfer to my iMac and then use iMovie to edit them/fix them up a bit.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Fishrrman]

Sometimes, when the quantity of material is not large (you said you have only 10 tapes, is that right?), the easiest/cheapest solution might be to find a company that specializes in such transfers and just pay them to do it for you...

 

[RedlegsFan]

I used ScanCafe.com for one, and then when I discovered the rest I figured I should probably invest in something. ScanCafe, I used a 50 percent off code, but it was still around $30 or so due to shipping costs of the one tape... from my house in Ohio to Indianapolis.

 

[norbinhouston]

Costco has that service. They'll convert old tape media to DVD.

 

[BlueTide]

Costco has that service. They'll convert old tape media to DVD.

This interests me too... and this made me LOL as well - how far have we come! I can't even play DVDs anymore!

 

[BrianBaughn]

I think the best course is to find the cheapest USB/video adapter on Amazon that reviewers confirm works with your version of macOS.

 

[RootBeerMan]

If you have a VHS to USB hookup and need software I'd suggest Toast Titanium frmoRoxio. I've always had good luck with their software over the years. Used it to convert some VHS to digital back in my PPC days. It's very good and intuitive software. Macsales.com currently has it on sale.

 

[norbinhouston]

Yea but the problem is VHS is analog, so the picture quality you get is dependent on the machine that plays it. A consumer VHS player you have laying around that you hook up to a USB converter, won't be nearly as nice as a commercial machine the services employ.

 

[rjsounds]

Check to see what your local library has to offer. In my city and many others they have little creation spaces with software and VHS players where you can digitize your old tapes yourself and save it to a USB. Best of all it's free.

 

[T-R-S]

I used Elgato EyeTV to convert 500 Beta & VHS tapes to MP4 flies and I put them on a 4 X 8 8TB drives. I had ton of rare movies and concerts from the late 70's and early 1980's that never made it DVD let alone Netflix

 

[cynics]

A friend of mine did this using a professional service (I’m waiting for a text back to see who did it).

I then ran them through Divinci, iMovie and some through handbrake for him to clean them up. I was able to color correct, denoise, reduce background audio noise etc etc relatively easily and make them look really good. Compared to them playing off a VHS the difference was impressive. Since they are mp4 he has modified and original safely backed up.

You could also add intro titles and such as well of course very easily with iMovie.

But like any videography and photography the better the source the better it will be. So compare the cost of the equipment required to you vs a professional service.