Recommend Service and/or Equipment?

[Blues]

I have a client who wants to digitize a load of old audio and video recording currently on various cassette formats. I could probably do the audio with some equipment I have around but I know I lack any video capture equipment for older RCA and other analogue connections. I don't know if there is a service I might recommend to them or if this is worth getting equipment and if so what and where to get such equipment is an uncertain aspect for me currently.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I know these people (when I was up in CT in a BNI group, they were in it...excellent family run business). This is what they do..hand them your old photos...be they printed, or on slides, or tape videos, or...any/other old formats, they do the scanning process to convert to digital format.
Not cheap...but it is a very labor intensive process. I've seen some people try to buy equipment and do this themselves...and get frustrated at the tedious slow progress....and then just take their boxes to a place like this and pay to have it done.

Charter Oak | Scanning & Digitization Services

charteroakdigital.com

 

[backwoodsman]

What about one of the many inexpensive RCA to USB video capture devices? Plug it into a tape deck, VCR, video camera, etc., and capture the video/audio on a computer.

 

[timeshifter]

I'm in the process of trying this on a handful of VHS tapes. I ordered the interface recommended in this video. Looks like a good tutorial on the subject. Haven't actually tried any yet.

 

[GTP]

What about one of the many inexpensive RCA to USB video capture devices? Plug it into a tape deck, VCR, video camera, etc., and capture the video/audio on a computer.

This ^^
It's easy to do if you get some decent equipment. The only reason "professional" outfits charge so much is because it's time consuming.
Your client wont care if it's not professional because you wont be charging them an exorbitant amount.

I've done so much of this over the years and never had a dissatisfied client.

 

[Sky-Knight]

It's just a huge time suck, and the output is variable and unknown. You won't know if the output is good unless you watch the input and the output side by side and compare!

You can just trust the copy, and not find out for years the video you thought you had was destroyed, and the memories along with it. Even if you know what you're doing, this work is hard to perform. Sure, direct video capture is easy. But there are systems in even old VCRs that prevent the caption system above from even functioning! You're disabling Macrovision how exactly?

Use a service, they've got the practice and the tools. I've done this for myself, it's a huge mess and anyone that thinks otherwise is simply extremely lucky in the paltry efforts they've used up to this point.

 

[sapphirescales]

The only reason "professional" outfits charge so much is because it's time consuming.

Actually the equipment they use results in much better quality than those basic USB to composite video devices you can pick up for $30. I've personally only ever used the cheap stuff but I saw a YouTube video a while back of some guy comparing the quality of the video file captured using professional equipment vs. the cheap devices and there was definitely a difference. Whether you'd be able to tell the difference without a comparison is another argument. You might not realize how crap the conversion is unless you see it side by side with a conversion done professionally.

And $10 to convert a VHS tape is dirt cheap. I don't know why everyone here is calling this service "expensive."

 

[britechguy]

And $10 to convert a VHS tape is dirt cheap. I don't know why everyone here is calling this service "expensive."

Because when you have a heck of a lot more than 1 tape, and that's the case for many, $10/tape adds up very, very quickly indeed. Total cost, not cost per unit, is a legitimate consideration.

If you've got a tape or two, sure, take 'em to someone else and you'll be glad you did.

 

[sapphirescales]

Because when you have a heck of a lot more than 1 tape, and that's the case for many, $10/tape adds up very, very quickly indeed.

It doesn't matter how many tapes you have. $10/tape is still an excellent deal. It's about the time and hassle you save by having someone else do it. Besides, even 50 tapes is only $500. Who has more than 50 tapes? I guess a rich person who could afford those tapes back in the day and who could afford to take all of the vacations / go to all these different events so they actually had something to record. Those types of people aren't going to think twice about paying $10/tape to digitize their movies.

 

[britechguy]

It doesn't matter how many tapes you have. $10/tape is still an excellent deal.

What constitutes an "excellent deal" is directly dependent on what you can afford.

Unlike you, I don't presume that those who may have quite a few tapes necessarily created them nor have hundreds of dollars lying around to have someone else convert them. If they do, then they'll go for it. If they don't, there are many "more than adequate, but not professional grade" options for DIY.

Customers choose based upon their needs, wants, and means, not your ideas about what constitutes "an excellent deal."

 

[Blues]

I have passed on the job as if I did it I would strive to achieve a very similar level of quality to these services and the time it would cost me along with the upfront costs just didn't seem worth it in the end. I might slowly try and get the equipment as I am not unfamiliar with much of the processes just been a while and the equipment when I last did it was inferior to much of what I can acquire today.