How to Convert VHS Tapes to Digital with OBS

this one is long overdue! this is something i take a lot of joy in doing for myself and others and i felt it was finally time to share the knowledge. leave any questions/concerns you have below! thanks for watching :)
LIST OF ITEMS:
CAPTURE CARD (What i have): www.bestbuy.com/site/vidbox-v...
CAPTURE CARD CHEAPER OPTION (Use at your discretion): www.amazon.com/Converter-Digi...
AV CABLE TYPE 1: www.amazon.com/Pasow-Cable-Au...
AV CABLE TYPE 2: www.amazon.com/AILTECK-Camcor...
VCR/CAMCORDER: Shop around on eBay or at thrift shops (or borrow from family/friends)
OBS Studio Download: obsproject.com/
SOCIALS:
IG: / elia.creative
FB: www, eliacreative
BOOKING/INQUIRIES: [e-mail]
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
1:20 - What You Need
4:34 - Connections
6:03 - OBS Walkthrough
10:24 - Outro
GEAR USED TO SHOOT THIS:
CAM: Sony A7s iii
LENS: Sigma 24-70 & Tamron 17-28
AUDIO: Rode VideoMicro
LIGHTING: Godox SL-60W + Neewer 660 Pro RGB
COLOR: S-log 3 + Phantom LUTs
SCREEN CAP: Quicktime (i normally use OBS but couldn't do that for obvious reasons here)
#VHS #ELIACREATIVE

[@cyberbae.studios]

Thank you for showing the full process including the cables, I was confused about something and you're video cleared it up and saved me another trip to the story/expense. TYSM.

[@patricktessier7238]

Man seriously thank you dude. I'm converting like 9 VHS and 6 Hi8 from back in the day. I bought the Vidbox and thought it would be simple, but for some reason for me the quality is all jacked and it has major FPS drops in certain spots when using their software. I've spent like a week already and was getting frustrated but I think using this method it's actually keeping the native resolution and FPS and the conversion is super simple through OBS.

[@dustin1385]

Thank you Christian. So simple and so helpful at the same time.

[@ChristianElia]

thanks for checking the video out! i love putting out content that helps others. appreciate you!

[@benkendrick9067]

Thank you so much!! This is the exact info I needed, even a year later, you are doing good work out here!

[@ChristianElia]

very much appreciate the kind words!

[@RonvanRutten]

This helped me out alot, thanks for the great info!

[@robgage8100]

Thankyou, this was just what I needed

[@user-ow2ei3yh1p]

very helpful OBS tutorial thank you

[@erw9604]

thanks for your help. so far so good.!!!

[@jamesmcmanus8567]

Thanks Christian you made that all very easy to follow

[@ChristianElia]

im glad it helped! thanks for watching!

[@adindaegreina6262]

I’m a new subscriber because of this video. Thank you

[@svetlanab9999]

Very helpful! Thanks for your efforts.

[@ChristianElia]

i appreciate the kind words! thank you!

[@EasyFixShaun]

Thanks a lot man! Great video!

[@chrissmithson9398]

Thanks, this was really helpful!

[@ChristianElia]

awesome to hear! thanks for watching!

[@darthhatter188]

I have a 5.0 model. It doesn't show up in my list of option for OBS sources under capture devices. Thoughts?

[@IntoTheWonderfu11]

Great video, just getting round to converting some Hi8, good guide thanks.

[@ChristianElia]

i appreciate it! hi8 is most of what my collection is too

[@greggfielden]

nice job great video Christian Thank You

[@ChristianElia]

thanks so much for watching!

[@staceyw5406]

Hi. I'm using the elgato video capture with my camcorder. I followed everything you said. My only issue is that the sound bar for camcorder audio does not move. Is there a way to troubleshoot this?

[@videoman9170]

Thanks so much dude

[@WilliamEHarris]

Hey man, just a quick question as I was getting some horizontal line color images while recording, but they are not on the VHS, Someone mentioned about "blending" under the delineation area? Any suggestions?

[@jvpferguson]

Thanks good simple Video!

[@mdj.video26]

When dubbing VHS, I record in Filmora. I have the following problem. Sometimes empty fields appear in the recorded material (they are blue in Filmora). More precisely, these are interruptions in the recording in Filmora that last less than one second. Some of them later they are not visible in the video, but the longer ones are visible. What is the cause of this and how to eliminate it, does anyone know from experience.

[@alexanderb.7836]

Hi there, Christian! Very simple and useful video. I tried to convert my old VHS to digifiles from VHS recorder with MONO audio output and did not get any audio signal in my new MacBook Air M2 with OBS installed. Can i get ur advice what to do? Video convert is perfect but AUDIO is absent at all.

[@zephan777]

I was having the same issue today. Turned out it was my microphone permissions. Might give that a go.

[@vipbabyboy19]

hey, i use obs on my pc and ive set it up its perfect, but on my laptop the microphone input isnt working i cant get any audio from my camera on my laptop, any tips? this only happens on my laptop

[@psamae]

question? could I screen record the screen and use the VHS camera as a webcam and jsut save the videos in my computer right? I dont mean it for a mobile rig tho, only as I fixed camera in my room.

[@offtheblockla]

only my FaceTime hd camera shows up for devices how do i fix this ?🙏🏽

[@tinafullmer5659]

Thank you for taking time to post this... I think I can do it :).... Maybe a dumb question: Will I be able to stop and start the recording while the tape keeps playing? I do not want to record everything on every tape I have.

[@ChristianElia]

thanks for watching! yes i do believe OBS let’s you pause recordings, so this should work

[@rodriguezec77]

Hey so I followed your instructions and the moment I hit play on my VCR I see the picture for a moment then it goes dark and I have recorded is the voices I have tried many times time and I just can't understand what I am doing wrong.

[@Tiphanie_Academy_VEF]

Hi Christian ! I'm Tiffany (from France). Thanks for your share ! Thank you so much for your sharing. I followed the instructions in your video, however my images appear blue. Do you know why ?

[@atwitznd]

I just can't get sound to work. When I push the up volume on MacBook pro I get a circle with / Please help

[@ahmir2382]

How do I get rid of the static in the recording ? I only see the solution for streamers

[@reel_images]

Great video, maybe cover topics like de interlace to keep the entire footage. This method throws away half of what you capture. Also just a suggestion, always capture at 720x480 then resize after.

[@etherx8604]

If you buy the correct RCA-to-USB converter, it WILL capture both fields and de-interlace. Most of the cheap RCA-to-USB converters use only one field.

[@maikolverasson1735]

@@etherx8604 is there an RCA-to-USB converter you can recommend or if there are things we should look out for concerning de-interlace?

[@mylovesongs2429]

​@@etherx8604i wanna see a sample of OBS studio!! I hope it is better than using the Sony VDR-MC5!!!

[@iamspartacus6713]

hey Christian how do you create a scene to start please? can't believe you got my EXACT camcorder as me lol and will it stop my webcam opening when i select video capture device? many thanks

[@ChristianElia]

between 6:10 and 6:24 in the video i cover how to make a scene! its basically just clicking the plus sign in the bottom left corner of the scene area. your webcam shouldnt open unless its selected. at 6:32 youll see where i select devices. you should see whatever device you have to feed the video in. thanks for watching!!

[@user-tu9ru7nt5e]

I'm hoping I can do this, but feeling a little intimidate. I want to digitize the VHS tapes of my kids growing up and then give them to them on a Jump Drive. Will they be able to play them, or will they need the OBS software in order to do that?

[@ingegajczak8720]

Great video, Christian. Very helpful.!! However, how can I get rid of the flickering when recording.

[@ChristianElia]

hmm i’m really not sure. could it potentially be that the heads or something in the camera need to be cleaned? i haven’t experienced flickering on a camcorder before

[@blopp6240]

Change nfts to pal

[@viktorklippholm4009]

@@blopp6240What is nfts

[@tiitulitii]

Get a better VCR with TBS. See the "VCR Buying Guide (S-VHS, D-VHS, Professional) for restoring video".

[@Phoenixbrady86]

I've just started doing this, I'm using a startech connector but I've hit a speed bump with certain videos. It seems there's a problem with video with any that are in "LP" or "long play". The video either cuts completely or intermittently, is there a workaround or fix for this??

[@raissa_justiniana6721]

If my camera doesn't work, can I still transfer footage to the computer? Because when I open the camera I get a gray screen with black stripes. Can you please help me with some information?

[@ChristianElia]

it depends on how the camera doesn’t work. if the screen/viewfinder is bad, but the tape mechanism and everything else works, you should in theory be able to plug the camera in and see the menu and everything. but if the tape mechanism or something like the connections don’t work then i’m not quite sure what to do from there. it sounds like your screen is just bad though. definitely pop a tape into it and plug it up like this and see if you see anything

[@James-io7xf]

Best fuckinf video I've seen. Thank you so much !!!

[@ChristianElia]

glad i could help ya! thanks for watching!

[@phoenixfall2115]

Hey I followed every step it’s worked before but now the sound from my camera or laptop doesn’t come up

[@53macsmurf]

Are there any advantages to using OBS to capture the video over Apple's own iMovie? I'd probably use iMovie to edit the video anyway, so doesn't that save a step? Is the quality of the capture better with OBS?

[@ChristianElia]

not necessarily! i made this video about OBS since it’s a free software that anyone can use. iMovie is limited to mac obviously. i’ll be honest, any difference in quality is going to be extremely minor. at the end of the day, tapes are tapes and they kind of look like crap no matter how you convert them lol

[@thecouncil4488]

hey man, I followed all these steps except I have a vhs to digital USB. My screen is black any suggestions?

[@iamspartacus6713]

hopefully you're all sorted now if not go on sources,create new.your webcam may open,don't worry click little triangle to the right it will have drop down menu and just click on your device (usually usb 2.0) then press play on your cam or vcr then record on obs then presto you should be there!

[@Darellvelez1]

recorded everything but it won't let me view the video. file is a mkv file and I don't have an application to view it. What do you use?

[@ChristianElia]

Im not sure. Maybe VLC (free software) will let you view it? That's normally my go-to software when dealing with tricky file types. You can change the type of file that you record within OBS, though. If you look at the video at 7:54, I show the output tab within the OBS settings. Under the "Recording" tab, you can see where you change the file type. I go a little into detail about this at 8:07. Hope that helps!

[@dremyusharris4030]

How come my video doesn’t show in obs ? I have a jvc camcorder & im in obs did every step just dont see video footage converted

[@ChristianElia]

hmm are you using the vidbox like i have or one of the ones from amazon? not sure what the issue could be. maybe you have to install drivers for the capture card you’re using?

[@maximus19830]

Hello,after an hour of recording my vhs tapes i have a slight delay to my sound.so i have to stop the vhs cassete and play it again to fix.my audio settings are default any ideas how to fix this?

[@Riffcharge23]

What dyou do if video doesn’t show but audio does

[@jonny631]

instead of the yellow, red, and white cable my handy cam has red, green, and blue is it the same as the others?

[@etherx8604]

yellow, red, and white is called COMPOSITE. white and red are the left and right audio. yellow has the video. red, green, and blue is called COMPONENT. they carry the red, green, and blue components of the video signal. you must provide a separate cable for the audio signal. so NO, they are NOT the same. Note that the cables are identical regardless of their color. So for example, if all you have is a red, green, blue cable you can use it for composite as long as you connect each end to the same color, like so for example: plug green into white on each end, red into red on each end, and plug blue into yellow on each end

[@chucklewismusic]

i got a video signal to play in the properties window but still not in the capture window hmmm

[@133mhz.]

THE WINNIE DOG! HEARTS!

[@seppukusantana9418]

I have a Sony TRV67 how would I go about digitizing it other than clearclick since it has LANC and not traditional av cords?

[@heartlessgaming2250]

Is there a reason you used OBS instead of the provided software that came with the VIDBOX?

[@ChristianElia]

honestly OBS is more user friendly to me and i just have way more experience with it. it gives me a few more customization options for file size/resolution as well that i like. i have also used the Vidbox software though and it's great for what it is if you didnt want to go through this process

[@starling1360]

Just to confirm, you do not need the Vidbox and converter from AV to USB would work as well here?

[@saniyyahtaalib-din3478]

Can you view on a tv after the process is completed

[@ChristianElia]

yes of course! you could do this several different ways. if you have a smart TV you could cast the file from your computer to your TV, or if you wanted to go a more traditional route you could burn the file to a DVD and play that on the TV also

[@etherx8604]

Followed your instructions, everything worked except the audio was unacceptably out-of-sync with the video. What would cause that?

[@ChristianElia]

im honestly not sure, i've never had that happen! it could honestly be an issue with the tape itself. however, within OBS you should be able to click the gear icon next to your audio source, select "advanced properties" and you can tweak the delay to match up. it'll take some time and tinkering but that should fix what you're dealing with

[@steveo7064]

Are these files easily converted to disc?

[@ChristianElia]

they should be. it’d be the same as burning any other mp4 to a disc. macs make it super easy to burn discs though, i’m not positive about the process on PC.

[@akmalaziq3420]

the image is dark eventhough i follow all the steps. I dont know why

[@PhishedOff]

I seem to be the only person that asked this but I only went thru half the comments - what is OBS? And is that an open source download that can harm my computer? Thanks.

[@ChristianElia]

OBS is a very powerful and free broadcasting software. however, it can be used to record inputs such as the Vidbox as well. As long you download it from an official link (i provided one in the description), you’re good. it is a very popular and totally legit software! very worth playing around with, as it can be used for several other things from streaming to podcasting, etc.

[@alfredjwh]

In Europe we often have scart on our VHS.

[@jme92685]

My audio is very echo-y. What is causing this?

[@Kimble221]

You have the source audio and dexktop mic inputting also. Turn the mic off.

[@curtisnicotra]

Hey man, what mac do you have? Is it M1?

[@ChristianElia]

hey man! yeah i have the 14 inch pro with the M1 Max chip

[@curtisnicotra]

@@ChristianElia Okay cool! Just ordered my vid box but did not get any signal when plugging it into my camcorder! Do you know why?

[@curtisnicotra]

Actually all good! Installed the software and then it worked!

[@freak49]

My problem is that I either have to monitor the audio or record it, not both...and going into the audio settings in the mixer and selecting "both" doesn't help.

[@ChristianElia]

interesting, i havent run into this issue before. maybe try a fresh new install of OBS?

[@lonestrela]

Thank you brother, I want to kiss you for this video😊

[@TanyaKatherine]

You're from Louisiana - the hat.

[@ChristianElia]

lol, south carolina! close enough

[@sos.gamers]

You need also a TBC is the MOST IMPORTANT device for VHS capture, I got a Panasonic DRM-ES15 for $75 to use it with a Sony VCR, without TBC is trash I spent months thinking “oh I don’t need it” but well is night and day change, that’s why is the most important part. Also why are you using AV out when you have S-Video out and S-Video in in the capture device? S-Video is way superior to composite. Just making good critics 😅

[@PhishedOff]

Whats tbc?

[@myronachtman4304]

You were lucky to find a working TBC (Time Base Corrector). They are extremely hard to find now (in 2023).

[@engchoontan8483]

For audio, there are the theories of ADD, DDD, DDA... source, mastering, output-media, forgetting output-device Same goes for video. Millennials who are prejudiced diss old-school because they didn't bother to find out. Year 2023, they can find out by matching output-media with output-comoression and output-device. After playback analog, recording to digital, store Note the consumer(social) niche and cater to them. If youtube, use OBS-youtube settings. BUT their device is digital. Record to Digital. You are right on the capture card. Many others had been wrong. Many old movies on youtube are extracted/ripped/decoded-encoded/... wrongly giving the impression that millennials are right about being wrong.

[@unpopularmoviereviews3622]

I have been thoroughly disappointed with USB capture devices of all brands. Contrary to what people may say, there is a significant loss of quality that is unacceptable for me

[@ChristianElia]

i get it to a degree, however with tapes of any kind the quality is absolute garbage to begin with. what i get from this looks no different than watching a full size VHS on my TV through my VCR. any loss in quality is negligible. i know for gamers/streamers etc. that are pushing high resolution through capture cards want that high quality though.

[@orionred2489]

go out and find a dazzle dvc 100. make sure it has revision 1.1 hardware. it captures both frames. you'll want to deinterlace it. very good quality capture, reasonable output using h264 encoding.

[@shaggytheshaman]

audio doesnt actually work

[@tiitulitii]

Why are these devices NOT supporting the correct native PAL resolution of 768×576 instead of worsening it to 640 x 480? And, why do most videos omit mentioning this fact?! ... This is apparently not a good VHS capture solution in Europe!

[@tiitulitii]

Even the Vidbox User Manual purposely omits the PAL resolution.

[@ChristianElia]

yeah unfortunately i know nothing about PAL or how any of that stuff works since i am in the USA. sorry it couldn’t be more helpful! although i will say the difference in pixels is hardly “worsening” the footage. VHS conversions are always going to look like crap lol. there’s no way around it, and a hundred pixels won’t change anything significant. this is just a hobby for me. hope you are able to find what you’re looking for, thanks for watching!

[@azv343]

Isn't there a single option available that DOESN'T drop frames? I mean, we're fucking using Core i9s, RTX 4090s and 64 GB RAM and we still can't get OBS to utilize those resources? All I see is CPU usage at 2.4% and it drops frames every two seconds or so. We're not asking to capture 4K at 60p for christ's sake, we're capturing 720*480p@30fps. I also have a vidbox and a really high spec PC (cost me 6K dollars), I have a refurbished and cleaned S-VHS player, wtf is going on? I can't find a single video or method that doesn't face this problem. I'm reverting back to DV conversion via firewire, I'm so done with this rabbit hole.

[@ChristianElia]

i feel your pain because there are several various unique issues i've had like this that no other video can help me solve. it really does drive you crazy. i hope you find some answers! sorry this couldnt be helpful to your situation. honestly when i made this video it was a while ago and i havent done many conversions since. there are probably much better ways to do it

[@myronachtman4304]

I bought the VIDBOX and it was a total piece of crap. I returned it for a full refund. There are so many other USB devices on the market that are far superior to the VIDBOX and the ROXIO trash products.

[@mylovesongs2429]

I bought a Sony VDR-MC5. It is a DVD recorder. You hook up your video source to it, and it records direct to DVD. I bought it, thinking it would be ideal for transferring my VHS movies to DVD. Boy, was i wrong! The transfer was HORRIBLE, and looked NOTHING like the original!!!! Yikes!!! I need to try OBS Studio!!

[@zacharyomw7691]

I got one and it's been working well for me.