What settings do I need to use to capture video from a VCR sucessfully?

[mikeod]

I have Adobe Premiere Elements 15.  Tryig to capture video from a VCR.  Captured video has diagonal lines and is not viewable.

What settings do I need to use to capture video from a VCR successfully?

Thanks.

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[Steve Grisetti]

There really is no good technology for capturing video from VHS anymore. There is so little call for it that the companies that used to produce digitizers have stopped making them.

This device should work as good as anything available.

Amazon.com: REDGO Video Audio VHS VCR USB Video Capture Card to DVD Converter Capture Card Adapter: ...

[Ann Bens]

Those devices guaranteed out of sync.

[Ann Bens]

Look on ebay or something simular for a Grass Valley av/dv converter.

They look like this:

or find a standard definition videocamera with analog-in (this you can use as a pass through).

[Steve Grisetti]

Your suggestion is a good one, Ann, and this used to be the go-to for analog video capture.

However, not only is this product no longer made, but it requires a FireWire computer connection, which most current computers no longer have.

[Ann Bens]

Firewire card is so cheap....

[Peru Bob]

...or use an old computer with FireWire just to capture.

[mikeod]

I failed to mention in the original post that I am currently using an AVerMedia DVD EZ Maker 7 device utilizing three VGA cables to the VCR (Panasonic Omnivision 4 Head Hi-Fi Stereo) and a USB Cable to the computer (HP Envy Windows 0).

Based on my research of user comments on the web it appears this device has worked converting VHS tapes to the computer for Windows 10.

I'm hoping my issue is a Settings issue in Adobe Premier elements 15.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Steve Grisetti]

We don't know what the specs are of the video your AVerMedia system is capturing. Often these tape-to-DVD devices capture video that's only easily editable in the software that comes with the device.

Open a sample of your captured video in the free download Media Info. In Media Info, go to the View menu and select Tree -- then copy the report it generates and post it to this forum. We'll then be better able to tell you if this video will work in Premiere Elements and, if it doesn't what you need to do to make it work.

[DennisWG]

I have the Pinnacle Studio HD 14.0 that I've been using for years. Recently though it has been dropping frames like crazy, so I lose a lot of audio and the outcome is unuseable. It uses a Dazzle convertor to change the signal. Plug the VCR into the Dazzle with a USB for computer side. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open.

[Steve Grisetti]

I would look into why it's suddenly dropping frames. On a decently powered computer, that should not be the case.

Digitizing VHS is pretty ancient technology any way you look at it. Dazzle is pretty old, but it's probably no better no worse than any other device.

As you've seen if you've read this thread, people used to spend a couple hundred dollars on a good digitizer to get the best possible capture. But nowadays, even the best possible capture from VHS is lower than standard resolution -- so there's no need to seek out a Grass Valley digitizer or one of the higher end models. You'll get pretty much the same results from a cheaper digitizer that saves your video as an MP4.

If you can't figure out what's up with the Dazzle unit, you can pick up a basic digitizer on Amazon for about $20-30 and it will do the job.

But all of this is assuming you've got a decently powered computer. At least a quad-core i5. Because if the reason the Dazzle is dropping frames is because your processor can't keep up, then you've got a whole other issue.