Trying to get VHS into computer

[Gig-O-Ram]

Tonight we've been trying to hook a VCR/DVD combo up to my computer in order to get some stuff from a VHS tape captured into digital format. And in case you're curious, the combo system is defective and won't dub anything - mostly a function of a dead remote. My system doesn't have a capture card, but I tried connecting the VCR to the S-video port on my video card and then attempted to use the video capture function in our Movie Studio software with no luck. Windows Movie Maker won't do it either. They both want input from DV cameras.

Am I going to have to get a capture card, or are there any sort of additional capture drivers for my video card in order to do this?

[Jokerswild]

I bought a capture card since I couldn't get it any other way on mine. I'll tell you what though it's a PITA to capture from video because of the time involved so I only did our home movies and didn't even try doing all the vhs tapes.

[stinger608]

Pretty sure the only way is to get a capture card!!! Be sure to get a good one, as the cheap ones will only record in mono, and the video quality is very poor!

And your right Joker, it is a very time consuming process!!! A person almost needs a good system just for video capture to save all of the old VHS stuff

[screwballl]

the S-video port is OUT, not IN

you need a capture card before you can do this

[Gig-O-Ram]

Originally Posted by Jokerswild

I bought a capture card since I couldn't get it any other way on mine. I'll tell you what though it's a PITA to capture from video because of the time involved so I only did our home movies and didn't even try doing all the vhs tapes.

Well, yeah I guess you'd have to sit there for however long a video is and wait for the whole thing to get transfered.

If the S-Video is for "Out", why do I have this plug (which came with the video card) that has six input cables, one of which is S-Video "In"?

There is an orange one ("Comp in"), green ("Y in"), red ("Pr Out"), blue ("Pb Comp Out"), black ("S-Video Out") and the aforementioned white "S-Video In".

[screwballl]

I think you're thinking of it backwards....
"in" from computer - out to the TV...
it just takes that signal and allows that one S-video out to be used as s-video or component to the tv...

s-video in (from computer), and s-video out (to TV).. or you can go directly from card to TV with an s-video cable.

Unless you have a tuner card or the card specifications allow specifically for that port to be used as an "in" port, almost all (99.9%) video cards since the geforce2 days have always been s-video out

[Gig-O-Ram]

I think what we'll probably do is just buy a new combo unit and then let it dub from the VHS to DVD. This way we can let the machine do its thing while we do other stuff. Then later we can just take the DVD and transfer the video files right to the computer off the disc.

The only reason we were trying to do this in the first place is that my wife has on VHS some very rare gag reels from a TV show that's not made anymore, and she is one of only a few people in the world who has this stuff. It wasn't even supposed to be publicly available, but someone leaked it, and she was able to get ahold of a copy. That's why she's anxious to get it converted to a digital format.