Thanks for sharing your experiences. Have orded accordingly, though the Yitrox is not available on Australian Amazon website. I was able to order from USA site and have it shipped here. Naturally, that means a different power supply (different plug) to what we have here also, but thanks to you sharing the specs needed, that's an easy add to the shopping basket too... Greatly appreciated!
Well now I'm glad I didn't toss my old tapes after digitizing them. I had no idea these up-scalers were so inexpensive! Now i have the opportunity to do it over and get much better results.
unexpensive at the cost of quality... nothing come from the sky at lwo cost and preserve quality of original tapes ... better for you to have original tapes, but stay away from 1080p or HDMI things .. the deinterlacing process (very poor in these things) is the most important thing to do (using a computer.. and software) .. size of original video need to be ORIGINAL to make deinterlacing algorithms works fine creating a better quality and increasing number of frames of original footage...
@vasilegrigore2069 Then what does one need to do to get the best quality? I'm in the market to digitize my VHS home video collection and i hate that there are so many options.
@@TYSniper best way (if the original tapes are not damaged of skewed or other) is to use a modern VHS (any kind of modern VHS with GOOD CAPACITORS).. process the signal of the VHS using a passthru device (for example i'm using the Sony RDR-HX825 just to fix vertical jittering and process the signal to be accurate to be captured with semi-professional cards) .. after that using a blackmagic intensity pro (very cheap used) or an old Osprey 450e .. or something PCI-Express .. you are able to capture using OBS a loseless video (OBS has native support for blackmagic cards)... the loseless footage (39 Gb at hour) can be postprocessed using QTGMC deinterlacer using HYBRID (from Selur) .. and also compressed and placed on a MKV container with the same sofwtare (hybrid) Ass passthru device the SONY RDR-HX7xx or 8xx are teh best for preserving contrast and colors... the Panasonic are cutting a little bit left side of the image and changing a bit the brightness
Thanks this was very helpful, I paid a local shop $52 dollars to convert one 20 minutes vhs c and I have many more so I decided to just learn how to do it myself this video is very helpful you saved me lots of money
Unless they were taking extreme care with the conversion, to manually tweak it, $52 is far too expensive. Getting the best gear for conversion can be expensive, but that doesn't add to the hourly cost.
I paid a but more to have 3 or 4 tapes digitized. horrible quality digitations! I got robbed, but I just wanted to see how well these digitization shops did their thing. I won't go back. I will tackle the job myself.
Your videos have been excellent. They have influenced me greatly. Thank you. I recently purchased the Elgato HD60X for VHS/8 mm tape to digital transfers, along with a simple upscaler- and experienced the disappointing 16:9 aspect ratio result. I live in Canada, and the Yitrox upscaler is priced almost as high as the Elgato USB 2.0 capture card (your option "two" in prior video). And there is little reliable alternative to the Yitrox to get the 1024 x 768 (4:3) aspect ratio. Question : since they are priced similarly, can the Elgato USB 2.0, in which you can select the 4:3 aspect ratio, be used as the "upscaler", and then also be connected in sequence to the Elgato HD60X (to late to return the HD60X itself) to enhance the video quality? Thank you for your many replies! And your sage advice.
The AV2HDMI and the RasFox are probably the exact same circuit board inside. This is quite common with these Chinese conversion products including the audio converters. Some factory makes the circuit board and various other vendors buy it and either silkscreen the enclosure or have it made.
I've had a Hauppauge pcie tuner card for the last 10 years that also has composite and svideo inputs. I feel like this is the easiest and most direct way to import analog video...
Fantastic video! Just ordered the Yitrox and now looking for an alternative power supply as I live in Europe and would need one anyway. How many amps should I go for and do you have other tips from your PSU purchases?
Using a combination of hardware and software upscaling is becoming a great option with modern AI upscalers. They work better the more information is in the video file you feed into them, so a hardware solution to digitize and get the resolution up to at least 640x480 or better yet 720p first is needed. Once you get it up to that higher resolution though, you will be blown away by what some of these programs can do. 4K (or more) upscaling, with de-noising, sharpening, stabilization, artefact removal, colour rebalancing, frame interpolation for higher framerates or slow-mo that looks like it was shot at 120fps.... You won't recognize it.
What hardware / software would you recommend ? Hardware is a answer i'm in a hurry for haha, i got a usb dvr 2.0 pretty old but i cant get it to work, so im going to buy some other stuffs
I have watched most of you videos and don't understand most of what you say,LOL. I don't care, I just wanted to know if I could change my VHS and cassetes to my computer. I do have question though, can I use these methods for my professional VHS and cassette collection. Those purchased from the store not recorded by me? Thanks subscribed and hope to hear some "language" I understand in future videos lol. Thanks again
Thanks for all the awesome advice and informative videos. You’ve been a blessing as me and my kids are about to convert lots of home movies of their mom who passed away not long ago. Perfect timing finding your channel
Best of luck! and watch for the Yitox if you plan to get one, they seem to run out at random times in the year, so if you see it on Amazon I would grab it. Have a great day
This is the only review i needed to see. Did all the leg work down to the power supply. Now i can purchase with no regrets. Thank you, i liked and subscribed
So far no issues with my rca2hdmi mini. Maybe you got a bad unit. Also its selling for like $6 on amazon rn If i run into issues ill check back though, thanks for the video
Hello, @MiddleSiggy's Digital World. I am attempting to convert my VHS tapes to digital and I purchased the Yitrox Composite to HDMI upscaler you previewed in this video. The issue that I'm having is that my video is not producing any color. The image is stable, but it is in black and white, what am I missing? Below, I have listed the products used in my connection flow. Thanks in advance for any advice you have. Sony SVO-1630 VHS player > Composite AV cable > Yitrox Composite to HDMI upscaler > HDMI cable > Elgato 4K60 Pro > OBS streaming software. I would like to note that when using the same setup but swapping the Yitrox upscaler for the Insignia (Best Buy brand) RCA to HDMI Converter, I get color. I still want to go with an upscaler to get better results. How can I resolve the Black and White issue?
Hello and thanx for your video! I do the same conversion: i use and Easycel converter and i don't get colors issues. In OBS set tour imput in 1440X1080 resolution and change in the same shape in your output in the program menu! You Will get a real-time 4:3 digitalized full HD video.
it is a separate processs to convert high 8 mm camcorder videos. I saw something on Amazon called Clear Click that seems to do VCR's, VHS Tapes, AV, RCA, Hi8, Camcorder, DVD, Gaming Systems. Thank you Donna
Some of the digital 8 video camera support a digital capture through a FireWire or usb and that is the best way to get those videos because it is a true digital conversion. But you can use this method using the analog cables if you like
I would like to hear in this review something technical. Like how those upscalers handle interlace (some don't deinterlace, some do), what is real output resolution (on some 1080p looks more crisp that on others), what sharpening is done (some upscalers have very aggressive sharpening), what colors they are producing (some over saturate, some under saturate). I was thinking that if you have all those products you will show zoomed sample videos from all of them for comparisons.
the chances of hardware upscale and/or deinterlace being better than hybrid by selur (software processing...freeware) are slim to none. but you do need some sort of analog capture card first.
I'm having good luck using a generic white-box AV2HDMI converter into an HDMI USB capture card. The converter can output upscaled to 720p or 1080p both at 60fps and the correct aspect ratio, but the capture card can capture in all sorts of resolutions, including several in 4:3 ratio. I've ordered a converter with S-video in to see how that fairs in comparison.
An magnificent video on your personal experiences with upscaling VHS Tapes 👍 An Excellent Presentation!! ** Thank You Very Much for sharing your knowledge and research :-)
NTSC was standardized at 720(704)*480 "pixels" which is 3:2, but with a 4:3 Display Aspect Ratio applied for viewing resolution at 640x480. Capturing at 720x480 is ideal, but 640x480 straight up not the end of the world either. If going the 720x480 route you just need to use MP4BOX to set the DAR on the file. VLC and RUclips pay attention to DAR so your video will play back in the correct aspect. Haven't tried Windows Media player in a while, but it didn't use to. Another thing to pay attention to is how well the device deinterlaces if at all. Particularly 11:30 in this video around the sun glasses. That device seems to do a decent job, just stuff like that is something to watch out for as well. Sidenote: VHS doesn't record the Chroma and Luminance signals separately anyway, no advantage to an S-Video out.
@@vasilegrigore2069 have to keep in mind that for a lot of people this will still be good enough. I use an external processor to deinterlace/convert to 720x480p and capture it digitally at 8000kb/s (over double what is needed) MP4. Arguably I get better results than one of these $20 boxes, but I'm a ways off of archival quality myself. Capturing to a compressed format alone would make some cringe but I'm content with the results.
@@iVTECInside ok, no idea what is an external processor (hardware? software?) but a cheper broadcasting-level Osprey 450e (sometimes can be found on ebay at 50/70 euros) can do a motion deinterlacing on the fly and .. using OBS studio (free) the video can be stored on the way (selecting desired compression) without any kind of post-processing... this is resulting in no time spent for any "post processing° ... 24h of tapes.. 24 hours of work ... and the Osprey 3 frames motion deinterlacing is better that the yadif provided by vlc or potplayer (or others) ... but a lot worse than QTGMC :(
@@vasilegrigore2069 in my case its and older external video processor that deinterlaces amongst other functions and outputs 480p30 digital so I simply capture the digital signal via HDMI capture card (direct to MP4 using the capture card processor). This is why I like the internet though, I didn't know of that Osprey card and could get one for $200CAD off ebay right now. That, would be a significantly better option than the hardware a lot of these "best way to capture" videos are showing. I haven't used QTGMC but read mixed opinions on that. Ultimately, as I mentioned, if people are happy with what they are getting, great. Just want to make sure they are making an informed decision. Saying "best" in the title when technically speaking its pretty far from it is misleading. How many of them would spend a little more if they knew the options? The processor I use tends to be hard to find and $$$ when you do find them, but that Osprey card, I might even grab a 260e right now just to have the option.
You should always use a 75 ohm co-axial cable for composite video where possible, it can give a substantial improvement in image quality by removing the RF ringing in 'shoelace' wires. With PAL region VHS machines that have a SCART socket you can use an adapter with an RCA composite socket. They're pretty much the same as SPDIF digital audio connectors which use similar carrier frequencies (several MHz) to analogue video.
I enjoyed your presentation. When I record a TV program on the VHS/DVD Combo machine, the playback on the DVD is grainy and will these devices improve the picture quality? The input to the Flat screen TV is from a Coaxial cable to the cable box. The Cable Box has an HDMI out port And to the flat screen TV and the picture quality is perfect. The Combo player also has an HDMI out port. I believe the cable box output to the input of the Combo machine is using the RCA composite cables. And the HDMI output from the Combo machine goes into the HDMI port on the back of the flat screen TV. Thank you for your assistance.
Thank you for making this very easy to follow. Question for you… Any suggestions on software to add a menu/chapters to a video. Possibly might even burn to DVD for grandparents that still have DVD players 😂. I appreciate it
I used DVD Architect but it came free with my Sony Vegas purchase. It is quite expensive although it does just about everything.. In the past I used TMPGEnc which is around $99.. I know there are some good free DVD burning software out there, just have not had to do that for a while now, so my knowledge is very dated (in computer years).. Wish I had a better answer for you..
Greetings from the UK and many thanks for a really interesting & informative video.I have a bunch VHS tapes of our band in the 80s,which I'm keen to convert. I have a question though [forgive me if it's a stupid one - may be fundamentally misunderstanding.!]. I would connect the Yitrox AVSvideo to my VCR deck and the Virox then outputs upscaled video. I would then need a capture card to get upscaled video into my MacBook for editing? You talk about the Elgato External Capture Card, which I have, but the inputs on that are only composite or S-Video. How would I get the output of the Yitrox into a capture card?
Use a capture card with an HDMI input. I recently bought a "HAUPPAUGE HD PVR Rocket 720p / 1080p Video Portable Game Recorder" off eBay for a tenner which will capture to a USB drive or PC.
In short, really looking for what is needed to do this. Have desktop, no video capture card. Looking at the Elgato HD60 X but.....I can't use the hdmi output. Is the USB-C an output??? Thank you for the what works, the pwr supply info was great. BUT, there's something missing. I really wasn't expecting $500 to do this--that's the video capture board which appears to be the only certain way to go. So, on a budget, how do you get from here to there?
You should never upscale or deinterlace a sd source like pal or ntsc for archiving. There is absolutely no benefit. It’s like filling a half-full bottle of wine with water and then expecting to have more wine. It just increases the file size but will not give your signal more information. The best way is to capture the source as it is with a professional analog to sdi converter or something like the blackmagic ultrastudio hd Mini (which I use). Capture to ProRes 422, interlaced, and at original resolution and you will get the best most crisp image. It helps a lot if you use a high quality s-vhs player with s-Video out and tbc (time base corrector). Thats for capturing. For just watching videos on a big modern flatscreen that’s a different story. But since most modern tv’s upscale and deinterlace sd material in very good quality there is basically no need for external equipment like upscalers.
Great video! Concise and simple to understand. I had not considered an upscaler. Till I saw this. My output is from a JVC S-vhs hi-fi vcr with s-video output. As soon as I watched your video I went to Amazon to buy the vitrox but it is unavailable and “may not become available “. I searched but found no sellers except Amazon. One sold on eBay but there is nothing listed now. What they are selling is a model that appears the same but only has the 3 RVA component inputs (no s-video). Two questions: 1., can I buy a simple s-video to component cable adapter and use the available vitrox upscaler? 2, Do you know another source for the Vitrox s-video to hdmi upscaler ? I’ve also considered upgrading my vcr to one with a built in time base corrector and hdmi outputs but my Super JVC is low time and perfect.
I do not, but watch Amazon over time I just saw a new batch show up around the new year. They seem to come and go. I updated my descriptions to try and keep them current
Thanks for the great review. I have a question with the YITROX does not show the video image colors washout, or the bright clips shows too bright, that is common in most VHS to digital conversion that amazon sale.
The Yitrox does not have the controls in the device to change that, but you could use OBS Studio as your capturing software and it gives you the ability to correct brightness and contrast and more... Hope that helps
Hi sir, I really think that you are the best in explaining how to convert VHS to digital. Please advise me. I have mini video tapes for my family. I want to convert them to digital and upscale them so they can be better resolution and colors when we watch them on big tv screens. What I understood from you so far is the Elgaro and upscale is the way to go, can you please give me specifics units to get to do the job within reasonable budget, 🙏 Thanks
That was ACE white water. Have not been there for a very long time, but they are still in business so I imagine they are just as good as a company as they were back then.
Hi, I like your video, quick question: I get the Yitrox, and it upscale well, but it displays only black and white, no colors at all, and it pauses the output constantly, the tape is good, I play it many times and it does not stop at all. Any recommendation to get the color back? I maybe just have a defective unit. My VHS does not have s-video output. Note: this is not a complaint :) I am a big fan of your videos and your approach is really one of the best.
So color is decoded on the yellow wire, try replacing that cable first, if it happens on all tapes it might be the player. If it is just one tape, it is possible the color encoding might be bad on that recording.
@MiddleSiggyHomestead - I have enjoyed all of your videos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences here. I appreciate the time you have invested in helping others here on RUclips. I am in need of your advice and guidance. I have VHS and VHS-C tapes along with DVDs I want to convert to digital files and store them on a WD external hard drive. I have a brand new PC, 4 head S-VHS Stereo VCR, and good DVD players. My goal is to capture the VHS, VHS-C, and DVDs in the highest quality digital file possible. I also do not want to stretch or alter the results so that skinny people look fat/chubby or tall people look short/crushed down. I want the image to be as true to the original aspects as possible. Most importantly, I want the experience to be as simple as possible. So many videos on this subject are all about approaching it from a budget or doing it as cheap as possible. Anything would be cheaper than having a professional service complete the conversion. I am also a believer in you get what you pay for. I am all about the quality of the end result and keeping the job as easy and simplistic as possible. I am leaning towards an Elgato Capture device. Is there an advantage to an internal capture card over and external capture card? The GEFEN UPSCALER has been discontinued... is there another one you would recommend on the same quality level as the GEFEN? What software do I need for my purposes that will achieve the results I seek? I see most of your videos are almost over a year old. I am sure you have learned more since posting these videos from experience and from feedback received here. There is a possibility that better and newer hardware/software options are available. Any advice from you or anyone that reads this would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help.
So I would still today go with the Yitrox upscaler, you have to watch for it to show up in Amazon as it disappears at times. Then I really like then Elgato brand for capture cards. They have external versions so look at them, most of the HD60 which are 1080 are now being replaced with the 4K stuff. And I use OBS Studio for the software to capture as I can set up the screen resolution and more so the aspect ratio stays correct
Oh god, your videos just came at the right time. I'm currently exploring the best options to digitize my family memories, and maybe make a small local business if it works out. Extremely useful videos! Is there any way to pay for at least a coffee for you? :D
Thank you for the offer.. consider the virtual coffee received.. I am glad it helped.. This is just my way of sharing with the world and having fun doing it.. I sad part on my end, is I literally just digitized about 100 family VHS tapes before the holiday last year, and now am going to redo everything again because of what I found in trying to share with all of you and doing some real testing opposed to just.. "that worked" Good luck with your adventure...
If you do it as a side hustle’ Plz take the time to research man’ There’s a huge difference of doing it for a few Home movies of your own To doing it for ppl’ There’s so many things that are important like resolution audio HZ Video Encoding A $10 capture card online is not suitable for doing it for ppl’ You need a good video software for post capture processing’ You need a TBC (time based converter) so u have control over audio/ video settings A TBC is $500-3000k It’s a greAt idea for a side hustle and you can make some $$ but plz do the homework’ You need quality equipment Not at all trying to be mean It’s a great side hustle because 90% of ppl have old media they say they are going to convert “one day” but never will’ So if they see someone doing it where they don’t have to mail their tapes out to a company etc you can easily make money doing it! Just offering knowledge I learned along the way’
Great stuff! Was curious though. Does your Yitrox do better in upscaling than just doing it in post? It would be cool to see a video with side by side comparisons.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Give it a whirl and film it. It would make a good topic for another video. It would also be informitive to see your Elgato go head to head with the cheaper white Elgato standalone unit.
I was going to ask the same question whether capturing with a normal capture device and then using Handbrake to upscale it later would do the same thing
Nice and very informative video, but one thing you should have made clear, that ' upscallers' just allow low resolution vhs video to play on 720 or 1080p resolution screen of our new TVs via HDMI cable input, it DOESN'T IMPROVE THE PICTURE QUALITY! The fuzziness of vhs video remains unchanged or may even increase when played on a large TV screen.
You are correct, there are limits to the original video. If the video was recorded fuzzy, or the tape is damaged, then there is little you are going to do during the conversion. There are some things you can do with software to clean up color or other things, but you are correct. there are limits with cheap equipment.
Outstanding video. I just bought/installed the Elgato HD60 Pro and RCA to HDMI converter. Also ordered the Yitrox to test 4:3 conversion. Dumb question, using an upscaler, will the 4:3 have the same DPI as 1080? In other words, using 4:3 on the Yitrox will only change the aspect ratio (height/width frame relationship), not the resolution? Thanks.
Thank you for a really useful video. Having thought about it I have a question. Did you consider using the elgato Elgato Video Capture - USB 2.0 Capture Card Device? And then upscaling in s/w ie premier pro?
Con, that is an option, although in my opinion I think using the upscaler to a good HDMI capture device like the Elgato HD60 X or the 4k60 does a better job, because it will record the video as a 60FPS video and remove the Interlace which creates a smoother cleaner picture. From there you could then use software to further enhance the image. Hope that helps.
Hi I have setup the required hardware and without changing any settings I can record a picture on obs. I can bring it into premiere to edit. Thankyou. Do you have any recommendations on elgato or obs settings. I looked for a video but coukd not find one. Thankyou.
Thanks so much for this video. Could you please offer some insight as to how I could achieve proper interlacing during capture re: this workflow with your preferred device? Thank you
Plaid Tractor, I have found using one of the upscalers (Yitrox or Gefen), with the the Elgato HD60 (Internal or External version) allows the image to be captured as 60FPS using OBS Studio and there is no need to post process the videos. It will de-interlace for you
Is there a video you created detailing more about the elgato capture card? Do you suggest using this always with the upscaler- Please advise- I can’t find too much on RUclips about transferring the vhs to digital using the elgato external capture -
Ellen I have not done a video but maybe that would be a good one to do. I know I could put one together for the Elgato products but maybe it would be good to compare them to some of the other cheaper brands.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Great! I look forward to seeing the video. Do you think external capture cards are very beneficial to the final quality of the vhs video.
Great video. Thank you. One question... if using the Yitrox option would you suggest upscaling or capturing at the original VHS resolution and then using 3rd party software to upscale to something like 720p. I purchased a "cheap" upscaler similar to the AV2HDMI unit using OBS and Elgato HD60S and the result was disappointing. Skin tones not good (reddish) white areas yellowish and highlights blown out. No matter how much tweaking in OBS I could not fix it. Hoping the Yitrox would be better? Your thoughts or comments would be appreciated.
Thank you for the great presentation. I didn’t catch the brand of the power supply you recommended from Amazon. I would appreciate if you could provide it or if I should just get a USB connector/adapter to provide power to the upscaler directly from the PC. Thank you.
good video! I do glitch art and my converter does not support some effects and gives me a blue screen with no signal, which do you think is a converter stable enough to support glitches?
Hi, would the transfer quality of a ClearClick transfer device be noticeably less than using an up-scaler and the Elgato HD60X? And are previous Elgato HD devices as good as the X model? Thanks.
By the description it does not look like it, and I do not see that option. It can record from input, but I don't know if I can play out of the VCR and record into the DVD as a lop back.. I will try and let you know.
The Yitrox upscalers has a HDMI out, so the HDMI out from the upscaler would go into the HDMI IN on the Elgato. Then you would use something like OBS Studio to capture the video
It's ironic how superior Super VHS was and yet, few adopted it - in fact I'm the only person I know that went Super. I started with Beta and went straight to Super and never looked back. My problem is I need to decide how to digitize my Super tapes via S-video. Don't know if upscaling should be handled by the converter or by a capture card. And then whether to bother with the 4:3 and 16:9 switch.
Great video and explanation! Are the adjustments in the YITROX via DIP switches or software (set 4:3 or 16:9, etc.)? If software, what platforms are supported (macOS, Windows, Linux)? Among the settings, is there one for setup (pedestal) zero (0) versus 7.5 IRE? Thank you!
Actually, the Yitrox has a DPI button on the front and you can click through the different settings Joe showed on his video. A small blue box appears on the output video briefly showing the new output resolution
I got a Retrotink with S-Video con convert my VHS family films to Digital, sadly my capture card is pure crap, its one of those generic USB 1080p - 1440p capture cards
Thanks. I saw videos explaining how to plug a MiniDV camcorder into VHS recorder and then connect the camcorder to computer via FireWire cable as a way to convert the VHS analogue output through the camcorder to become a digital signal to capture/convert into digital file format without loss of quality. Is it something you've tried/are aware of? I have all the equipment already so was thinking to give it a shot.
Yes, and that is a good way for capturing the videos from the digital tapes, I use that method when I convert DV tapes because it is a true digital copy instead of an analog to digital conversion.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld great thanks so much for your reply. Will give it a try. Hopefully my old VHS player still works and doesn't just chew up the tapes!
great videos; thanks for sharing. I purchased the Yitrox upscaler and the Unisheen, not realizing that I would be stuck with 16:9 ratio with the Unisheen. You mentioned the Elgato HD60 X for an external device for laptop applications. Can I get the 4:3 ratio with this device? Any particular software needs for this device? thanks
Sir , about the Yitrox , I can't find on youtube others videos reviewing this device , it looks like there are similar devices with different names or sometimes no name
Watch for the Yitrox version on Amazon, they seem to come and go based on the supplier and the time of year I have found through the years.. I never opened up the other to see if they were actually the same.
@@arnie9687 I uses to order computers parts and stuffs like than in the USA from France via Ebay , but since the 2010's I have noticed that US Ebay sellers have added what they strangely cal import taxes, and that rise the final price of the item you're about to order. they are exporting to France , why they call it import tax ? I no longer order from the USA because of that tax
I'm trying to think of a market for that FrameMeister. It seems like something Warner Bros. would use for digitizing old master tapes, but they probably have far superior, heavy, specialized equipment for something like that. It would also rule out "regular" people with soap opera collections because it's $2k. Maybe there are small businesses that do these conversions for people sort of like film developers.
The Framemeister is designed for the retro console and computer market. It was one of the first premium scalers for the home market which had features that you wouldn't expect in a $250 device. Apparently they were sold pretty much at cost and didn't make money, it was more a passion product for the company that does professional video equipment. They have been out of production for a few years now but still can be bought brand new for an inflated price of $425.
If your VCR supports component video (red, green, and blue plugs) then you really should get a component to HDMI upscaler. They're like $20 online. Component is infinitely better than anything you can get from composite (yellow), which is always going to add noise and blurriness to your video. The next best thing would be S-Video, which is not quite as good as component (rgb) but still way better than composite (yellow).
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Component video keeps the color signals (Pb and Pr) separated while S-video combines them, so component will give you better color quality. Both component and S-video keep the brightness separate from color, which makes either of them far better than composite.
VHS does not have an RGB Component, S-Video (Y/C separated) is the best you might hope from a tape as simply this is what is recorded on to the tape in the case of VHS anyway. To move in to component colour signals you’ll be looking at a handful of Betacam SP models (UVW-1400A/AP) in the analogue realm: it’s a rare bird.
I’m new to this and want to convert our wedding VHS that’s over 30 years old. I want to do this on my laptop. Could you please recommend exactly what all I’d need and the best of it? Thx in advance.
Hello from Scotland! Thank you for an excellent video, extremely informative and well thought out. Can I just check something with you? The Wenter 1080P AV to HDMI Converter "passes all tests" but I read an Amazon review where the user said it didn't offer 4:3 AND 16:9 aspect ratios. I was wondering if the user simply hadn't used it correctly or if indeed it only offers 16:9. Thank y for your help. Kind regards, Kevin
I don't recall testing that exact model, but when I looked it up on Amazon it states: "offers HDMI output up to 720p/1080p 60Hz resolutions" 720p and 1080p" are both 16:9 aspect ratio's so I would image that the comment you found was true. Now to you could fake it and using something like OSB squish the video back to a 4:3 ratio.. but that may have some side effects. I found the very cheap upscalers did not provide the multiple resolutions. You really need to look in the descriptions and check what the output resolutions that are supported. Hope that helps.
Most of the recommended products are not available. The one available has horrible "most recent" reviews. Time to go back to the drawing board for your recommedations.
John, if you have the Yitrox upscaler for example, it will have in IN side and an OUT side, on the IN side you will use the RCA (Red, White, Yellow) and connect them to the (Red White Yellow) in the IN side, for the OUT side should be a HDMI out, and that will be a HDMI cable from the Yitrox to a HDMI capture device like the Elgato HD60 or an Elgato HD4k60, which will have an IN port on it. From there install OBS Studio and it should see the Elgato capture card and allow you to record things and save the files as a MP4
I did mine a long time ago with a device where you insert each slide in this Box and press a button and it take a snap shot of it.. It worked great, but the resolution is low compared to some of the devices I have seen recently, and I have thought about redoing all of mine with some more modern technology. If I end up doing that I will make a video.
Do you provide the service? I have a VHS when I used to play in a Metal bands and would like to transfer to digital to hopefully will look and sound better. Let me know👍🏼
Was there any notable difference in quality/ interpolation algorithms between the devices? What framerates are the upscalers sending? Have you tried the retrotink upscalers?
I did not try the retrotink specifically, But I did try another game upscaler and it did not work quite as well. I believe that is because it was meant to work with the many game consoles and wasn't really optimized for a simple vhs analog to digital conversion. The Yitrox worked better.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Thanks for the response. What framerate do the upscalers output (for matching the settings in OBS studio)? Did you record 60fps in OBS studio? I have one of those cheap AV2HDMI mini units (it is working for me) and the quality of the 720p and 1080p outputs are exactly the same after you scale them; which leads me to think there is no actual interpolation going on. Are these units (the Yitrox for example) not interpolating?
I've got the Yitrox influenced by your review. How in the heck are you supposed to get a 4:3 aspect in 1080p? Using SVHS for video inputs, I was only able to see 720p and a 1080p at the display (even though I'm having to push the DPI button around 5 times for scrolling to get those only two options...stretched picture from Hi8 footage of course (no pillarbox). Is this unit not going to do what I need it to do? Or will it, but I have to add the extra step of changing AR in post? Thanks for your videos.
So to make it work, I used OBS and created a profile that was 4:3, it still records 16:9 but the image can be made to be 4:3 with the black bars on the side. See if that works for you.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Not my style to do it that way. I didn't want to jack with it using OBS. I just ditched the entire unit, and went with a Tink4K using a BM Video Assist Monitor to capture in ProResHQ...took the computer and janky software right out of the equation. Works out fantastic! It is that workflow, after trying many, gave me the best results. 👍
I have a laptop with an HDMI input. Do I still need a capture device along with the Yitrox? Or can i plug into the laptop hdmi input straight from the Yitrox? Thank u!
I am looking for a d/A converter to get VHS tp digital so I can create MP4 files. I ordered the ITROX AV Svideo HDMI to HDMI Converter Upscaler but it is designed (unless I'm mistaken) to upscale to watch video. The output is HDMI and not USB. I'm sending it back, and have already tried the ClearClick video to USB device as it blows all video up to 16x9. Help!! And thanks.
Where can I buy the vitro upscaler you recommend for $38? Also what is the name of the bench top power supply from Amazon as I couldn’t quite make it out?
Keep looking on Amazon if it is not there, give it a month or two, the manufacturer seems to make them in batches. It is called a Yitrox. KAIWEETS - DC Power Supply Variable 30V 10A, - No Longer Available (There are a bunch if you want one, shop around they range from $35 to $100+) DC Power Supply Variable, Bench Power Supply with Output - $87.99 - amzn.to/3xfsQm3
I have my microscope and is using Sony XS CCD camera B&W with BNC Video output 1.0 Vp-p, negative, 75 Ω unbalanced, I would like to convert this to HDMI to put it in a modern screen, what would be the proper adapter? Thank you!
I use my very old UMAX HDD recorder fro this task. It can it can accept any format and record 720x576/25p on HDD. Which I can then save to USB. Concrete stable solution.
Huh. I really should broaden my horizons more when it comes to this. There's just this one nagging voice from a forum in my head that's saying "No Upscaling! TBC! Old Capture Card! VirtualDub!".
Oscar.. you would not be wrong by following that advice. I have also been told the same thing. But as with most everything in life there is more than one was to do it, and if you are happy with the job… was it really wrong? That is for you to decide.. thank you for watching. Have a super day!
I figured at some point you have to upscale, otherwise the original analog signal is pretty small. If the upscaler does a good job of scaling the image, might as well do it now, because it is done in real time, as doing it after the fact is more time invested to do the same process. Maybe one day the AI upscaling will improve the process, and make it easier to batch convert many videos and I can just give it my whole folder of home movies.
If I am using elgato capture choice #2 from your other video and Yitrox … can you please recommend the output HDMI cable that is needed to connect the two devices…thanks
9:18 Wow that's dumb about aspect ratio support, I mean if you're using an upscaler there's a good chance you're sourcing from a legacy device that's natively 4:3.🤨 Well that was nice of you to test so many power supplies, so many bad ones.🙂
only if you have an HDMI video capture device, can you upscale. am i right? i only have an Elgato USB video capture device. Can i get a decent upscaler to use with it?
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Most informative and quite understandable for a newbie just beginning the process of converting VHS to digital. THANKS!
Thank you for watching!
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Have orded accordingly, though the Yitrox is not available on Australian Amazon website. I was able to order from USA site and have it shipped here. Naturally, that means a different power supply (different plug) to what we have here also, but thanks to you sharing the specs needed, that's an easy add to the shopping basket too... Greatly appreciated!
Well now I'm glad I didn't toss my old tapes after digitizing them. I had no idea these up-scalers were so inexpensive! Now i have the opportunity to do it over and get much better results.
Glad I could help!
unexpensive at the cost of quality... nothing come from the sky at lwo cost and preserve quality of original tapes ... better for you to have original tapes, but stay away from 1080p or HDMI things .. the deinterlacing process (very poor in these things) is the most important thing to do (using a computer.. and software) .. size of original video need to be ORIGINAL to make deinterlacing algorithms works fine creating a better quality and increasing number of frames of original footage...
@vasilegrigore2069 Then what does one need to do to get the best quality? I'm in the market to digitize my VHS home video collection and i hate that there are so many options.
@@TYSniper best way (if the original tapes are not damaged of skewed or other) is to use a modern VHS (any kind of modern VHS with GOOD CAPACITORS).. process the signal of the VHS using a passthru device (for example i'm using the Sony RDR-HX825 just to fix vertical jittering and process the signal to be accurate to be captured with semi-professional cards) .. after that using a blackmagic intensity pro (very cheap used) or an old Osprey 450e .. or something PCI-Express .. you are able to capture using OBS a loseless video (OBS has native support for blackmagic cards)...
the loseless footage (39 Gb at hour) can be postprocessed using QTGMC deinterlacer using HYBRID (from Selur) .. and also compressed and placed on a MKV container with the same sofwtare (hybrid)
Ass passthru device the SONY RDR-HX7xx or 8xx are teh best for preserving contrast and colors... the Panasonic are cutting a little bit left side of the image and changing a bit the brightness
Thanks this was very helpful, I paid a local shop $52 dollars to convert one 20 minutes vhs c and I have many more so I decided to just learn how to do it myself this video is very helpful you saved me lots of money
You are welcome and that is why I got into this.. was very expensive to send everything out
Unless they were taking extreme care with the conversion, to manually tweak it, $52 is far too expensive. Getting the best gear for conversion can be expensive, but that doesn't add to the hourly cost.
I paid a but more to have 3 or 4 tapes digitized. horrible quality digitations! I got robbed, but I just wanted to see how well these digitization shops did their thing. I won't go back. I will tackle the job myself.
Your videos have been excellent. They have influenced me greatly. Thank you.
I recently purchased the Elgato HD60X for VHS/8 mm tape to digital transfers, along with a simple upscaler- and experienced the disappointing 16:9 aspect ratio result.
I live in Canada, and the Yitrox upscaler is priced almost as high as the Elgato USB 2.0 capture card (your option "two" in prior video). And there is little reliable alternative to the Yitrox to get the 1024 x 768 (4:3) aspect ratio.
Question : since they are priced similarly, can the Elgato USB 2.0, in which you can select the 4:3 aspect ratio, be used as the "upscaler", and then also be connected in sequence to the Elgato HD60X (to late to return the HD60X itself) to enhance the video quality?
Thank you for your many replies! And your sage advice.
The AV2HDMI and the RasFox are probably the exact same circuit board inside. This is quite common with these Chinese conversion products including the audio converters. Some factory makes the circuit board and various other vendors buy it and either silkscreen the enclosure or have it made.
I've had a Hauppauge pcie tuner card for the last 10 years that also has composite and svideo inputs. I feel like this is the easiest and most direct way to import analog video...
Fantastic video! Just ordered the Yitrox and now looking for an alternative power supply as I live in Europe and would need one anyway. How many amps should I go for and do you have other tips from your PSU purchases?
That power supply I purchased was a 3 amp, but from my bench power supply the Yitrox only draws less than .5 amps (1/2). Hope that helps
Using a combination of hardware and software upscaling is becoming a great option with modern AI upscalers. They work better the more information is in the video file you feed into them, so a hardware solution to digitize and get the resolution up to at least 640x480 or better yet 720p first is needed. Once you get it up to that higher resolution though, you will be blown away by what some of these programs can do. 4K (or more) upscaling, with de-noising, sharpening, stabilization, artefact removal, colour rebalancing, frame interpolation for higher framerates or slow-mo that looks like it was shot at 120fps.... You won't recognize it.
What hardware / software would you recommend ? Hardware is a answer i'm in a hurry for haha, i got a usb dvr 2.0 pretty old but i cant get it to work, so im going to buy some other stuffs
What combination do you mean?
A TBC is useful to connect between the vcr and upscaler it will fix errors such as discoloration.
I have watched most of you videos and don't understand most of what you say,LOL. I don't care, I just wanted to know if I could change my VHS and cassetes to my computer. I do have question though, can I use these methods for my professional VHS and cassette collection. Those purchased from the store not recorded by me? Thanks subscribed and hope to hear some "language" I understand in future videos lol. Thanks again
Thanks for all the awesome advice and informative videos. You’ve been a blessing as me and my kids are about to convert lots of home movies of their mom who passed away not long ago. Perfect timing finding your channel
Sorry for your loss. I hope you find many wonderful memories as I have.
I'm still learning as I go. Thank you for guiding me on this journey! I intend to look into this new hardware in the near future.
Best of luck! and watch for the Yitox if you plan to get one, they seem to run out at random times in the year, so if you see it on Amazon I would grab it. Have a great day
This is the only review i needed to see. Did all the leg work down to the power supply. Now i can purchase with no regrets. Thank you, i liked and subscribed
Thank you for sharing. I've bought a few duff knock-off devices and it's great that you shared your experiences.
I used an old Digital 8 camcorder and connected the vhs player to the input and got great digital avi files out from the dvi connector.
So far no issues with my rca2hdmi mini. Maybe you got a bad unit. Also its selling for like $6 on amazon rn
If i run into issues ill check back though, thanks for the video
Hello, @MiddleSiggy's Digital World. I am attempting to convert my VHS tapes to digital and I purchased the Yitrox Composite to HDMI upscaler you previewed in this video. The issue that I'm having is that my video is not producing any color. The image is stable, but it is in black and white, what am I missing? Below, I have listed the products used in my connection flow. Thanks in advance for any advice you have.
Sony SVO-1630 VHS player > Composite AV cable > Yitrox Composite to HDMI upscaler > HDMI cable > Elgato 4K60 Pro > OBS streaming software.
I would like to note that when using the same setup but swapping the Yitrox upscaler for the Insignia (Best Buy brand) RCA to HDMI Converter, I get color. I still want to go with an upscaler to get better results. How can I resolve the Black and White issue?
Hello and thanx for your video!
I do the same conversion: i use and Easycel converter and i don't get colors issues. In OBS set tour imput in 1440X1080 resolution and change in the same shape in your output in the program menu! You Will get a real-time 4:3 digitalized full HD video.
it is a separate processs to convert high 8 mm camcorder videos. I saw something on Amazon called Clear Click that seems to do VCR's, VHS Tapes, AV, RCA, Hi8, Camcorder, DVD, Gaming Systems. Thank you Donna
Some of the digital 8 video camera support a digital capture through a FireWire or usb and that is the best way to get those videos because it is a true digital conversion. But you can use this method using the analog cables if you like
Thanks for all the research. Can we use something like Adobe Premier or Davinci Resolve to perform post color and editing? Any hints on that?
Yes you absolutely can.. maybe I will add those to be a future video
I would like to hear in this review something technical. Like how those upscalers handle interlace (some don't deinterlace, some do), what is real output resolution (on some 1080p looks more crisp that on others), what sharpening is done (some upscalers have very aggressive sharpening), what colors they are producing (some over saturate, some under saturate). I was thinking that if you have all those products you will show zoomed sample videos from all of them for comparisons.
Best honest answers out there that work! Thanks for the straightforward advice!
Since this video, how did everything work out for you? Did the upscaler work consistently well? Are there any additional recommendations now?
it's senseless video. I don't see any comparison, just text that some device is better than others. Just senseless
the chances of hardware upscale and/or deinterlace being better than hybrid by selur (software processing...freeware) are slim to none.
but you do need some sort of analog capture card first.
I'm having good luck using a generic white-box AV2HDMI converter into an HDMI USB capture card. The converter can output upscaled to 720p or 1080p both at 60fps and the correct aspect ratio, but the capture card can capture in all sorts of resolutions, including several in 4:3 ratio. I've ordered a converter with S-video in to see how that fairs in comparison.
An magnificent video on your personal experiences with upscaling VHS Tapes 👍
An Excellent Presentation!!
** Thank You Very Much for sharing your knowledge and research :-)
NTSC was standardized at 720(704)*480 "pixels" which is 3:2, but with a 4:3 Display Aspect Ratio applied for viewing resolution at 640x480. Capturing at 720x480 is ideal, but 640x480 straight up not the end of the world either. If going the 720x480 route you just need to use MP4BOX to set the DAR on the file. VLC and RUclips pay attention to DAR so your video will play back in the correct aspect. Haven't tried Windows Media player in a while, but it didn't use to. Another thing to pay attention to is how well the device deinterlaces if at all. Particularly 11:30 in this video around the sun glasses. That device seems to do a decent job, just stuff like that is something to watch out for as well.
Sidenote: VHS doesn't record the Chroma and Luminance signals separately anyway, no advantage to an S-Video out.
completely agree... this is just an amateur conversion losing quality of a good deinterlacer and probably contrast of white/black adiacent pixels.
@@vasilegrigore2069 have to keep in mind that for a lot of people this will still be good enough. I use an external processor to deinterlace/convert to 720x480p and capture it digitally at 8000kb/s (over double what is needed) MP4. Arguably I get better results than one of these $20 boxes, but I'm a ways off of archival quality myself. Capturing to a compressed format alone would make some cringe but I'm content with the results.
@@iVTECInside ok, no idea what is an external processor (hardware? software?) but a cheper broadcasting-level Osprey 450e (sometimes can be found on ebay at 50/70 euros) can do a motion deinterlacing on the fly and .. using OBS studio (free) the video can be stored on the way (selecting desired compression) without any kind of post-processing... this is resulting in no time spent for any "post processing° ... 24h of tapes.. 24 hours of work ... and the Osprey 3 frames motion deinterlacing is better that the yadif provided by vlc or potplayer (or others) ... but a lot worse than QTGMC :(
@@vasilegrigore2069 in my case its and older external video processor that deinterlaces amongst other functions and outputs 480p30 digital so I simply capture the digital signal via HDMI capture card (direct to MP4 using the capture card processor). This is why I like the internet though, I didn't know of that Osprey card and could get one for $200CAD off ebay right now. That, would be a significantly better option than the hardware a lot of these "best way to capture" videos are showing. I haven't used QTGMC but read mixed opinions on that. Ultimately, as I mentioned, if people are happy with what they are getting, great. Just want to make sure they are making an informed decision. Saying "best" in the title when technically speaking its pretty far from it is misleading. How many of them would spend a little more if they knew the options? The processor I use tends to be hard to find and $$$ when you do find them, but that Osprey card, I might even grab a 260e right now just to have the option.
You should always use a 75 ohm co-axial cable for composite video where possible, it can give a substantial improvement in image quality by removing the RF ringing in 'shoelace' wires. With PAL region VHS machines that have a SCART socket you can use an adapter with an RCA composite socket. They're pretty much the same as SPDIF digital audio connectors which use similar carrier frequencies (several MHz) to analogue video.
Thanks for the tip!
I enjoyed your presentation. When I record a TV program on the VHS/DVD Combo machine, the playback on the DVD is grainy and will these devices improve the picture quality? The input to the Flat screen TV is from a Coaxial cable to the cable box. The Cable Box has an HDMI out port And to the flat screen TV and the picture quality is perfect. The Combo player also has an HDMI out port. I believe the cable box output to the input of the Combo machine is using the RCA composite cables. And the HDMI output from the Combo machine goes into the HDMI port on the back of the flat screen TV. Thank you for your assistance.
Thank you for making this very easy to follow. Question for you… Any suggestions on software to add a menu/chapters to a video. Possibly might even burn to DVD for grandparents that still have DVD players 😂. I appreciate it
I used DVD Architect but it came free with my Sony Vegas purchase. It is quite expensive although it does just about everything.. In the past I used TMPGEnc which is around $99.. I know there are some good free DVD burning software out there, just have not had to do that for a while now, so my knowledge is very dated (in computer years).. Wish I had a better answer for you..
Greetings from the UK and many thanks for a really interesting & informative video.I have a bunch VHS tapes of our band in the 80s,which I'm keen to convert. I have a question though [forgive me if it's a stupid one - may be fundamentally misunderstanding.!]. I would connect the Yitrox AVSvideo to my VCR deck and the Virox then outputs upscaled video. I would then need a capture card to get upscaled video into my MacBook for editing? You talk about the Elgato External Capture Card, which I have, but the inputs on that are only composite or S-Video. How would I get the output of the Yitrox into a capture card?
Use a capture card with an HDMI input. I recently bought a "HAUPPAUGE HD PVR Rocket 720p / 1080p Video Portable Game Recorder" off eBay for a tenner which will capture to a USB drive or PC.
In short, really looking for what is needed to do this. Have desktop, no video capture card. Looking at the Elgato HD60 X but.....I can't use the hdmi output. Is the USB-C an output??? Thank you for the what works, the pwr supply info was great. BUT, there's something missing. I really wasn't expecting $500 to do this--that's the video capture board which appears to be the only certain way to go. So, on a budget, how do you get from here to there?
You should never upscale or deinterlace a sd source like pal or ntsc for archiving. There is absolutely no benefit. It’s like filling a half-full bottle of wine with water and then expecting to have more wine. It just increases the file size but will not give your signal more information. The best way is to capture the source as it is with a professional analog to sdi converter or something like the blackmagic ultrastudio hd Mini (which I use). Capture to ProRes 422, interlaced, and at original resolution and you will get the best most crisp image. It helps a lot if you use a high quality s-vhs player with s-Video out and tbc (time base corrector). Thats for capturing. For just watching videos on a big modern flatscreen that’s a different story. But since most modern tv’s upscale and deinterlace sd material in very good quality there is basically no need for external equipment like upscalers.
Great video! Concise and simple to understand. I had not considered an upscaler. Till I saw this. My output is from a JVC S-vhs hi-fi vcr with s-video output. As soon as I watched your video I went to Amazon to buy the vitrox but it is unavailable and “may not become available “. I searched but found no sellers except Amazon. One sold on eBay but there is nothing listed now. What they are selling is a model that appears the same but only has the 3 RVA component inputs (no s-video). Two questions: 1., can I buy a simple s-video to component cable adapter and use the available vitrox upscaler?
2, Do you know another source for the Vitrox s-video to hdmi upscaler ?
I’ve also considered upgrading my vcr to one with a built in time base corrector and hdmi outputs but my Super JVC is low time and perfect.
I do not, but watch Amazon over time I just saw a new batch show up around the new year. They seem to come and go. I updated my descriptions to try and keep them current
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld You are correct. Now available again on Amazon with the composite and s-video input. Thanks for the tip!
Does the Vitrox unit support both NTSC and PAL inputs?
Hey there great video, do you have a video on setting up OBS Studio for best results with this hardware?
Thanks for the great review. I have a question with the YITROX does not show the video image colors washout, or the bright clips shows too bright, that is common in most VHS to digital conversion that amazon sale.
The Yitrox does not have the controls in the device to change that, but you could use OBS Studio as your capturing software and it gives you the ability to correct brightness and contrast and more... Hope that helps
Hi sir, I really think that you are the best in explaining how to convert VHS to digital.
Please advise me.
I have mini video tapes for my family. I want to convert them to digital and upscale them so they can be better resolution and colors when we watch them on big tv screens.
What I understood from you so far is the Elgaro and upscale is the way to go, can you please give me specifics units to get to do the job within reasonable budget,
🙏 Thanks
In your sample video... I think I've been to that tubing place! LOL Great video.
That was ACE white water. Have not been there for a very long time, but they are still in business so I imagine they are just as good as a company as they were back then.
Hi, I like your video, quick question: I get the Yitrox, and it upscale well, but it displays only black and white, no colors at all, and it pauses the output constantly, the tape is good, I play it many times and it does not stop at all.
Any recommendation to get the color back? I maybe just have a defective unit. My VHS does not have s-video output.
Note: this is not a complaint :) I am a big fan of your videos and your approach is really one of the best.
So color is decoded on the yellow wire, try replacing that cable first, if it happens on all tapes it might be the player. If it is just one tape, it is possible the color encoding might be bad on that recording.
I have used the vid box video converter kit. It works great for S video and composite.
@MiddleSiggyHomestead - I have enjoyed all of your videos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences here. I appreciate the time you have invested in helping others here on RUclips.
I am in need of your advice and guidance. I have VHS and VHS-C tapes along with DVDs I want to convert to digital files and store them on a WD external hard drive. I have a brand new PC, 4 head S-VHS Stereo VCR, and good DVD players. My goal is to capture the VHS, VHS-C, and DVDs in the highest quality digital file possible. I also do not want to stretch or alter the results so that skinny people look fat/chubby or tall people look short/crushed down. I want the image to be as true to the original aspects as possible. Most importantly, I want the experience to be as simple as possible.
So many videos on this subject are all about approaching it from a budget or doing it as cheap as possible. Anything would be cheaper than having a professional service complete the conversion. I am also a believer in you get what you pay for. I am all about the quality of the end result and keeping the job as easy and simplistic as possible.
I am leaning towards an Elgato Capture device. Is there an advantage to an internal capture card over and external capture card? The GEFEN UPSCALER has been discontinued... is there another one you would recommend on the same quality level as the GEFEN? What software do I need for my purposes that will achieve the results I seek?
I see most of your videos are almost over a year old. I am sure you have learned more since posting these videos from experience and from feedback received here. There is a possibility that better and newer hardware/software options are available. Any advice from you or anyone that reads this would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help.
So I would still today go with the Yitrox upscaler, you have to watch for it to show up in Amazon as it disappears at times. Then I really like then Elgato brand for capture cards. They have external versions so look at them, most of the HD60 which are 1080 are now being replaced with the 4K stuff. And I use OBS Studio for the software to capture as I can set up the screen resolution and more so the aspect ratio stays correct
Oh god, your videos just came at the right time. I'm currently exploring the best options to digitize my family memories, and maybe make a small local business if it works out. Extremely useful videos!
Is there any way to pay for at least a coffee for you? :D
Thank you for the offer.. consider the virtual coffee received..
I am glad it helped.. This is just my way of sharing with the world and having fun doing it..
I sad part on my end, is I literally just digitized about 100 family VHS tapes before the holiday last year, and now am going to redo everything again because of what I found in trying to share with all of you and doing some real testing opposed to just.. "that worked"
Good luck with your adventure...
If you do it as a side hustle’ Plz take the time to research man’
There’s a huge difference of doing it for a few Home movies of your own
To doing it for ppl’
There’s so many things that are important like
resolution
audio HZ
Video Encoding
A $10 capture card online is not suitable for doing it for ppl’
You need a good video software for post capture processing’
You need a TBC (time based converter) so u have control over audio/ video settings
A TBC is $500-3000k
It’s a greAt idea for a side hustle and you can make some $$ but plz do the homework’ You need quality equipment
Not at all trying to be mean It’s a great side hustle because 90% of ppl have old media they say they are going to convert “one day” but never will’
So if they see someone doing it where they don’t have to mail their tapes out to a company etc you can easily make money doing it!
Just offering knowledge I learned along the way’
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld what is difference that you decided to redo?
Great stuff! Was curious though. Does your Yitrox do better in upscaling than just doing it in post? It would be cool to see a video with side by side comparisons.
Better... I don't know, but because the upscaler does deinterlace the video bringing it in this way seems to make any further edits even better..
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Give it a whirl and film it. It would make a good topic for another video. It would also be informitive to see your Elgato go head to head with the cheaper white Elgato standalone unit.
I was going to ask the same question whether capturing with a normal capture device and then using Handbrake to upscale it later would do the same thing
Thanks for all the input. What if my PC doesnt have an internal HDMI card to plug into? Suggestions?
Look at the Elgato capture cards that is what they do. Look at the HD4k cards or the HD60x
Nice and very informative video, but one thing you should have made clear, that ' upscallers' just allow low resolution vhs video to play on 720 or 1080p resolution screen of our new TVs via HDMI cable input, it DOESN'T IMPROVE THE PICTURE QUALITY! The fuzziness of vhs video remains unchanged or may even increase when played on a large TV screen.
You are correct, there are limits to the original video. If the video was recorded fuzzy, or the tape is damaged, then there is little you are going to do during the conversion. There are some things you can do with software to clean up color or other things, but you are correct. there are limits with cheap equipment.
Outstanding video. I just bought/installed the Elgato HD60 Pro and RCA to HDMI converter. Also ordered the Yitrox to test 4:3 conversion. Dumb question, using an upscaler, will the 4:3 have the same DPI as 1080? In other words, using 4:3 on the Yitrox will only change the aspect ratio (height/width frame relationship), not the resolution? Thanks.
1024x768 is the max 4:3 resolution. That's a fair bit lower DPI than 1920x1080p.
Thank you for a really useful video. Having thought about it I have a question. Did you consider using the elgato Elgato Video Capture - USB 2.0 Capture Card Device? And then upscaling in s/w ie premier pro?
Con, that is an option, although in my opinion I think using the upscaler to a good HDMI capture device like the Elgato HD60 X or the 4k60 does a better job, because it will record the video as a 60FPS video and remove the Interlace which creates a smoother cleaner picture. From there you could then use software to further enhance the image. Hope that helps.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Thank you. I have ordered the hardware as per your video.
Hi I have setup the required hardware and without changing any settings I can record a picture on obs. I can bring it into premiere to edit. Thankyou. Do you have any recommendations on elgato or obs settings. I looked for a video but coukd not find one. Thankyou.
Excellent information and good presentation and explanation.
Glad you enjoyed it!
GREAT vid!! Instead of using a capture card, how would the YITROX work using the Cloner-Alliance UHD Pro device?
I would image that you would use that device like a DVR and feed the HDMI out of the Yitrox into that device and then tell it to record the video.
Thanks so much for this video. Could you please offer some insight as to how I could achieve proper interlacing during capture re: this workflow with your preferred device? Thank you
Plaid Tractor, I have found using one of the upscalers (Yitrox or Gefen), with the the Elgato HD60 (Internal or External version) allows the image to be captured as 60FPS using OBS Studio and there is no need to post process the videos. It will de-interlace for you
Is there a video you created detailing more about the elgato capture card? Do you suggest using this always with the upscaler- Please advise- I can’t find too much on RUclips about transferring the vhs to digital using the elgato external capture -
Ellen I have not done a video but maybe that would be a good one to do. I know I could put one together for the Elgato products but maybe it would be good to compare them to some of the other cheaper brands.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Great! I look forward to seeing the video. Do you think external capture cards are very beneficial to the final quality of the vhs video.
Great video. Thank you. One question... if using the Yitrox option would you suggest upscaling or capturing at the original VHS resolution and then using 3rd party software to upscale to something like 720p. I purchased a "cheap" upscaler similar to the AV2HDMI unit using OBS and Elgato HD60S and the result was disappointing. Skin tones not good (reddish) white areas yellowish and highlights blown out. No matter how much tweaking in OBS I could not fix it. Hoping the Yitrox would be better? Your thoughts or comments would be appreciated.
Thank you for the great presentation. I didn’t catch the brand of the power supply you recommended from Amazon. I would appreciate if you could provide it or if I should just get a USB connector/adapter to provide power to the upscaler directly from the PC. Thank you.
This is the link to the power supply : amzn.to/3zqxi2t
Thank you for the link. 👍🏼
good video! I do glitch art and my converter does not support some effects and gives me a blue screen with no signal, which do you think is a converter stable enough to support glitches?
Hi, would the transfer quality of a ClearClick transfer device be noticeably less than using an up-scaler and the Elgato HD60X? And are previous Elgato HD devices as good as the X model? Thanks.
Could you please post the name of the power supple you purchased from Amazon or a link. Thanks
Does the DV220SL8 provide recording VHS to DVD without any additional hardware or software?
By the description it does not look like it, and I do not see that option. It can record from input, but I don't know if I can play out of the VCR and record into the DVD as a lop back.. I will try and let you know.
Did you have any flicker/tearing issues. Folks talking about needing a TBC have me all freaked out.
Hi great videos very informative. How do you connect the yitrox to the elgato . Thanks again
The Yitrox upscalers has a HDMI out, so the HDMI out from the upscaler would go into the HDMI IN on the Elgato. Then you would use something like OBS Studio to capture the video
It's ironic how superior Super VHS was and yet, few adopted it - in fact I'm the only person I know that went Super. I started with Beta and went straight to Super and never looked back. My problem is I need to decide how to digitize my Super tapes via S-video. Don't know if upscaling should be handled by the converter or by a capture card. And then whether to bother with the 4:3 and 16:9 switch.
So we need an upscaler, a time based corrector, and only certain USB capture cards. It seems there is something new I need to keep adding.
Great video and explanation! Are the adjustments in the YITROX via DIP switches or software (set 4:3 or 16:9, etc.)? If software, what platforms are supported (macOS, Windows, Linux)? Among the settings, is there one for setup (pedestal) zero (0) versus 7.5 IRE? Thank you!
Actually, the Yitrox has a DPI button on the front and you can click through the different settings Joe showed on his video. A small blue box appears on the output video briefly showing the new output resolution
I got a Retrotink with S-Video con convert my VHS family films to Digital, sadly my capture card is pure crap, its one of those generic USB 1080p - 1440p capture cards
Wow! This is all encompassing! I’ll look at reworking my conversions!,,
Have fun, glad you enjoyed them
did you ever encounter interlacing issues?
Thanks. I saw videos explaining how to plug a MiniDV camcorder into VHS recorder and then connect the camcorder to computer via FireWire cable as a way to convert the VHS analogue output through the camcorder to become a digital signal to capture/convert into digital file format without loss of quality. Is it something you've tried/are aware of? I have all the equipment already so was thinking to give it a shot.
Yes, and that is a good way for capturing the videos from the digital tapes, I use that method when I convert DV tapes because it is a true digital copy instead of an analog to digital conversion.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld great thanks so much for your reply. Will give it a try. Hopefully my old VHS player still works and doesn't just chew up the tapes!
great videos; thanks for sharing. I purchased the Yitrox upscaler and the Unisheen, not realizing that I would be stuck with 16:9 ratio with the Unisheen.
You mentioned the Elgato HD60 X for an external device for laptop applications. Can I get the 4:3 ratio with this device? Any particular software needs for this device?
thanks
I use Handbrake to change aspect ratios to 4:3
Sir , about the Yitrox , I can't find on youtube others videos reviewing this device , it looks like there are similar devices with different names or sometimes no name
Watch for the Yitrox version on Amazon, they seem to come and go based on the supplier and the time of year I have found through the years.. I never opened up the other to see if they were actually the same.
I found one on US Amazon, ordered it and received it a week later in UK. Works as described.
@@arnie9687 I uses to order computers parts and stuffs like than in the USA from France via Ebay , but since the 2010's I have noticed that US Ebay sellers have added what they strangely cal import taxes, and that rise the final price of the item you're about to order. they are exporting to France , why they call it import tax ? I no longer order from the USA because of that tax
I'm trying to think of a market for that FrameMeister. It seems like something Warner Bros. would use for digitizing old master tapes, but they probably have far superior, heavy, specialized equipment for something like that. It would also rule out "regular" people with soap opera collections because it's $2k. Maybe there are small businesses that do these conversions for people sort of like film developers.
There are companies if you want to spend the money. I was going for as cheap as I could get it
The Framemeister is designed for the retro console and computer market. It was one of the first premium scalers for the home market which had features that you wouldn't expect in a $250 device. Apparently they were sold pretty much at cost and didn't make money, it was more a passion product for the company that does professional video equipment. They have been out of production for a few years now but still can be bought brand new for an inflated price of $425.
@@DavidClark-dkc Oh, of course! That makes sense.
Dude. You just drilled into the core of my questions.. Thank you. Cheers!
Most useful video on this topic I've yet watched.
Mega thanks and keep up the good work!
If your VCR supports component video (red, green, and blue plugs) then you really should get a component to HDMI upscaler. They're like $20 online. Component is infinitely better than anything you can get from composite (yellow), which is always going to add noise and blurriness to your video. The next best thing would be S-Video, which is not quite as good as component (rgb) but still way better than composite (yellow).
Yes the component separated the signals just like the S-Video cable
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Component video keeps the color signals (Pb and Pr) separated while S-video combines them, so component will give you better color quality. Both component and S-video keep the brightness separate from color, which makes either of them far better than composite.
Steven, you are correct.. thank you for sharing that.
VHS does not have an RGB Component, S-Video (Y/C separated) is the best you might hope from a tape as simply this is what is recorded on to the tape in the case of VHS anyway.
To move in to component colour signals you’ll be looking at a handful of Betacam SP models (UVW-1400A/AP) in the analogue realm: it’s a rare bird.
I’m new to this and want to convert our wedding VHS that’s over 30 years old. I want to do this on my laptop. Could you please recommend exactly what all I’d need and the best of it? Thx in advance.
Hello from Scotland! Thank you for an excellent video, extremely informative and well thought out. Can I just check something with you? The Wenter 1080P AV to HDMI Converter "passes all tests" but I read an Amazon review where the user said it didn't offer 4:3 AND 16:9 aspect ratios. I was wondering if the user simply hadn't used it correctly or if indeed it only offers 16:9. Thank y for your help. Kind regards, Kevin
I don't recall testing that exact model, but when I looked it up on Amazon it states: "offers HDMI output up to 720p/1080p 60Hz resolutions" 720p and 1080p" are both 16:9 aspect ratio's so I would image that the comment you found was true. Now to you could fake it and using something like OSB squish the video back to a 4:3 ratio.. but that may have some side effects. I found the very cheap upscalers did not provide the multiple resolutions. You really need to look in the descriptions and check what the output resolutions that are supported. Hope that helps.
Thank you for your swift and informative reply. Much appreciated 😀
thx for this very interesting analysis. i have only a laptop with only usb inputs. how can i use this Ytrox upscaler ?
You would want a HDMI to USB adapter, then you could come out of the Yitrox with HDMI into that adapter
Great job Joe
Thank you!
Most of the recommended products are not available. The one available has horrible "most recent" reviews. Time to go back to the drawing board for your recommedations.
Yea I agree I need to do another review of what is out there. Stay tuned
Excellent review and a fantastic approach to your presentation.
Thank you. I appreciate the comment.
Will you do a video to show how to use and hook up the upscaler
John, if you have the Yitrox upscaler for example, it will have in IN side and an OUT side, on the IN side you will use the RCA (Red, White, Yellow) and connect them to the (Red White Yellow) in the IN side, for the OUT side should be a HDMI out, and that will be a HDMI cable from the Yitrox to a HDMI capture device like the Elgato HD60 or an Elgato HD4k60, which will have an IN port on it. From there install OBS Studio and it should see the Elgato capture card and allow you to record things and save the files as a MP4
What about converting slides to digital???
I did mine a long time ago with a device where you insert each slide in this Box and press a button and it take a snap shot of it.. It worked great, but the resolution is low compared to some of the devices I have seen recently, and I have thought about redoing all of mine with some more modern technology. If I end up doing that I will make a video.
These aren't just upscalers, they're de-interlacing 480i (interlaced) signals to progressive scan signals.
you are correct, thank you for that
Thanks for doing this!!❤
Do you provide the service? I have a VHS when I used to play in a Metal bands and would like to transfer to digital to hopefully will look and sound better. Let me know👍🏼
Was there any notable difference in quality/ interpolation algorithms between the devices? What framerates are the upscalers sending? Have you tried the retrotink upscalers?
The Tink destroys all others without BS. You do indeed get what you pay for.
I did not try the retrotink specifically, But I did try another game upscaler and it did not work quite as well. I believe that is because it was meant to work with the many game consoles and wasn't really optimized for a simple vhs analog to digital conversion. The Yitrox worked better.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Thanks for the response. What framerate do the upscalers output (for matching the settings in OBS studio)? Did you record 60fps in OBS studio? I have one of those cheap AV2HDMI mini units (it is working for me) and the quality of the 720p and 1080p outputs are exactly the same after you scale them; which leads me to think there is no actual interpolation going on. Are these units (the Yitrox for example) not interpolating?
What about a PAL 50hz signal, does it maintain a 50hz output? Or does it convert it to 60hz?
I've got the Yitrox influenced by your review. How in the heck are you supposed to get a 4:3 aspect in 1080p? Using SVHS for video inputs, I was only able to see 720p and a 1080p at the display (even though I'm having to push the DPI button around 5 times for scrolling to get those only two options...stretched picture from Hi8 footage of course (no pillarbox). Is this unit not going to do what I need it to do? Or will it, but I have to add the extra step of changing AR in post? Thanks for your videos.
So to make it work, I used OBS and created a profile that was 4:3, it still records 16:9 but the image can be made to be 4:3 with the black bars on the side. See if that works for you.
@@MiddleSiggysDigitalWorld Not my style to do it that way. I didn't want to jack with it using OBS. I just ditched the entire unit, and went with a Tink4K using a BM Video Assist Monitor to capture in ProResHQ...took the computer and janky software right out of the equation. Works out fantastic! It is that workflow, after trying many, gave me the best results. 👍
I have a laptop with an HDMI input. Do I still need a capture device along with the Yitrox? Or can i plug into the laptop hdmi input straight from the Yitrox? Thank u!
Can I pay you to convert my VHS Tapes?
I am looking for a d/A converter to get VHS tp digital so I can create MP4 files. I ordered the ITROX AV Svideo HDMI to HDMI Converter Upscaler but it is designed (unless I'm mistaken) to upscale to watch video. The output is HDMI and not USB. I'm sending it back, and have already tried the ClearClick video to USB device as it blows all video up to 16x9. Help!! And thanks.
Where can I buy the vitro upscaler you recommend for $38? Also what is the name of the bench top power supply from Amazon as I couldn’t quite make it out?
Keep looking on Amazon if it is not there, give it a month or two, the manufacturer seems to make them in batches. It is called a Yitrox.
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I have my microscope and is using Sony XS CCD camera B&W with BNC Video output 1.0 Vp-p, negative, 75 Ω unbalanced, I would like to convert this to HDMI to put it in a modern screen, what would be the proper adapter? Thank you!
I use my very old UMAX HDD recorder fro this task. It can it can accept any format and record 720x576/25p on HDD. Which I can then save to USB. Concrete stable solution.
Huh. I really should broaden my horizons more when it comes to this.
There's just this one nagging voice from a forum in my head that's saying "No Upscaling! TBC! Old Capture Card! VirtualDub!".
Oscar.. you would not be wrong by following that advice. I have also been told the same thing. But as with most everything in life there is more than one was to do it, and if you are happy with the job… was it really wrong? That is for you to decide.. thank you for watching. Have a super day!
And why do you upscale the video instead of recording his native resolution? if you can upscale later on a video editor?
I figured at some point you have to upscale, otherwise the original analog signal is pretty small. If the upscaler does a good job of scaling the image, might as well do it now, because it is done in real time, as doing it after the fact is more time invested to do the same process. Maybe one day the AI upscaling will improve the process, and make it easier to batch convert many videos and I can just give it my whole folder of home movies.
I have an upscaler that only does 16:9, do you have any tips to record this into a 4:3 ?
Do these 16:9 resolutions have black bars or are they cropped? I assuming cropping being the reason you went with a lower resolution 4:3?
If I am using elgato capture choice #2 from your other video and Yitrox … can you please recommend the output HDMI cable that is needed to connect the two devices…thanks
I have had a lot of luck with these 8k cables : amzn.to/3VmtsUh
9:18 Wow that's dumb about aspect ratio support, I mean if you're using an upscaler there's a good chance you're sourcing from a legacy device that's natively 4:3.🤨 Well that was nice of you to test so many power supplies, so many bad ones.🙂
Yea the power supply issue really bugged me.. But knowing by bench power supply worked, I figured there had to be one out there.
only if you have an HDMI video capture device, can you upscale. am i right? i only have an Elgato USB video capture device. Can i get a decent upscaler to use with it?