How to Convert VHS to DVD & VHS to Digital

For USB video cassette converters, it’s just a matter of plugging the converter into a spare USB port; if you want to convert a cassette to digital using a TV tuner or frame grabber card then you’ll need to open up your computer and install the device in a free expansion slot.

To convert VHS to digital, the software you’re using has to have special drivers. Drivers are little bits of software that tell Windows how to connect to and capture video from a VHS-to-digital converter. These are often included with your VHS-to-digital software but it’s worth checking the manufacturer’s website to see if there are more up to date versions.

For VHS-to-PC converters, it’s a similar process. To connect your VCR to digital you’ll need to use an RCA cable or S-Video cable: the former transmits audio and video, but the latter only transmits video so you’ll still need RCA plugs for the left and right stereo audio tracks. To connect RCA plugs to the sound card on a PC such as a Windows 10 PC, get a cable with RCA plugs on one end and a 3.5mm audio cable on the other. That should pop straight into your PC sound card’s Line In port; the RCA plugs go into the Line Out on your VCR.

RCA plugs are color coded. The red and white ones are the left and right audio channels; the yellow one is for video. If you’re using an S-Video cable for higher quality, leave the yellow RCA plug disconnected and put the S-Video cable into the S-Video sockets on your VCR and your VHS to digital connector.

Finally, switch on your computer (and if your capture device is an external one with a power supply, switch on your VHS converter too) and wait for the message telling you that Windows has found your hardware. Now you can insert the first of the VCR tapes that you want to digitize and turn your attention to your VHS capture software.

If you already have VHS-to-PC software, great. If not and you want to convert VHS to digital with software free of charge, we’d suggest the Movavi VHS Converter: it’s really easy to use but produces really high quality results.

When you need to change VHS to PC, the converter from Movavi will help you. Get Movavi Video Editor, run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions. Now, open the app and click on Record Video. This enables you to record video from any source: not just VCR tapes but cameras, webcams and other devices too.

Now you need to tell your video capture application what hardware to use. In most cases when you convert VHS to PC, software will find the right devices automatically, but if it doesn’t you can do it manually:

Video capture device: This is your TV tuner, capture card or USB capture device.

Audio capture device: Most likely your PC sound card, unless you’re getting your audio from a different source.

Save files to: This is the folder where you want your captured videos to be saved.

It’s time to rip the video to your PC. Don’t worry, it’s not as aggressive as that sounds. Simply click the Start Capture button and then press play on your VCR. When you want to stop, just click Stop Capture. Congratulations! You’ve converted your first video cassette to digital. It’ll be stored automatically in the folder you specified. And that’s how to convert VHS to digital on Windows or Mac.

Movavi Video Editor makes it easy to edit and enhance your old analogue videos. You can improve the video quality, add special effects, give them new soundtracks, add titles, speed them up and slow them down and much more. You can then export the video in the format of your choice: MP4 is usually best, because it’s compatible with almost every kind of device or service. Once you’ve done that you can easily upload your video and share it on sites such as YouTube or Vimeo.

To store the videos you’ve converted from VHS to digital, save them on your hard disk / SSD or on an external drive. It’s always a good idea to have multiple copies, especially if the video has important sentimental value. We make backups of our videos to external USB drives and via online cloud storage: you might want to do the same on iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive.