You are likely to have the boxes of home video VHS tapes that might contain different events of your life, exclusive musical gigs filmed or some other incredible things you witnessed years ago. It’s time to breathe new life to them and bring them up to date. 

What you need to do

Step 1: Download and install AVS Video Editor

Step 2: Connect VHS recorder/player to the computer          

You need to use a video capture device as a go-between:

• If you use an external video capture board supplied with RCA and S-Video jacks, the best way to link the devices is to connect the VHS recorder/player S-Video output with the video capture board S-Video input using the corresponding cable so to relay a video signal. To relay an audio signal use an RCA cable, connecting your VHS recorder/player RCA output with the video capture device RCA input but employing white and red jacks only. And then use a USB cable to connect the external video capture board to the computer USB port.

• If you have a DV-camera and your computer system is supplied with an IEEE 1394 port then connect your VHS recorder/player to the DV camera just in the same way as it has been described above and then connect the DV camera IEEE 1394 port marked as DV In-Out with the computer IEEE 1394 port using the corresponding cable.

Attention! Actions relating to connecting devices should be done when they are off.

For all the details concerning the possible ways of connecting devices, please, refer either to  the User Manuals bundled with them or manufacturer support team.

Step 3: Launch AVS Video Recorder and select video format

Make sure you work with the Capture tab. By default output video format is set to Recommended (MPEG-2), since your final goal is to have your video in DVD format, that suits fine although there is no reason why you should not select Native or MPEG-2 (with some other presets):

Step 4: Assign an output folder

Now define where the captured video should be saved to. Click from the Output path section:

Step 5: Define video device input

Switch to the Settings tab. Drop down the Video Device Input control and choose either the Composite option in case your VHS player is connected to the capture device using an RCA input or the S-Video option if you preferred an S-Video jack:

Step 6: Start Capture

Note: before starting capture switch your VHS recorder/player on and check whether a VHS cassette is inserted into its compartment. If you use a DV camera as a capture device then:

• Switch the DV camera on.
• Make sure its cassette compartment does not contain a cassette.
• Enable the DV camera AV to DV feature (refer to User manual for details) and then switch it to playback mode.

Press the Start capture button of AVS Video Recorder and begin the VHS recorder/player tape playback. You can stop capture by pressing the Stop Capture button which will replace the Start Capture button immediately after clicking it:

Step 7: Edit the created video and produce DVD or other video file

When you finish capturing video, press the Exit button in AVS Video Recorder bottom right corner to return to AVS Video Editor. You will find your captured video in the Video category of the Media Library:

Have any questions about using AVS Video Converter? Don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments below this post.