Seeking recommendations for VHS player, capture devices & cleaning tapes

[philvideofilm]

Hello,

I will soon have a load of VHS tapes coming my way, and given the price of conversion in my area, I decided to purchase the equipment and do it myself.

I've been editing for 20 years, starting in the gold old days of Mini-DV, so I am quite knowledgeable about things related to post-production, but lost track of the equipment specs a long time ago since we shifted to digital recording.

I am not interested in cheap Chinese knockoffs, but I can't spend $1200 on a player either. I'm also reticent to buy on Amazon, as sellers may or may not be fully aware of the equipment they sell there. Aside from eBay, any recommendations for reputable North American-based online shops?

That being said, what are good models out there in the $200-$700 price range, assuming the seller claims the unit is in great/very good condition? Are any specs worth taking into consideration besides the obvious? Perhaps like HI-FI capabilities, S-VHS port, etc.

As well, I understand now there are a great many RCA/USB adaptors available, but are they any good, or would you recommend another type of capture means altogether?

Finally, purchasing cleaning tapes would probably be in order. Do they all do the job well, or are there units that are far better than others?

My main goal, capture-wise, is to have a passthrough really. I do not want any type of modifications done during capture. The original frame rate, aspect ratio, and field order should be preserved. I'd rather output in ProRes, and work from that file, but I will most likely capture through Vegas, so perhaps this is a moot point.

Really appreciate your time and consideration.

P.

[lordsmurf]

I am not interested in cheap Chinese knockoffs, but I can't spend $1200 on a player either. I'm also reticent to buy on Amazon, as sellers may or may not be fully aware of the equipment they sell there. Aside from eBay, any recommendations for reputable North American-based online shops?

- When it comes to video gear, eBay is notorious for cheap junk, idiot/liar sellers ("tested" and "working" is almost always nonsense)
- AV gear from reputable sellers has a fair price, especially since most gear now needs refurb attention. (FYI, many eBay sellers now call their items "refurbished. but it's just BS.)

So ... you want reputable quality gear, but with eBay/China prices? If so, does not compute.

As well, I understand now there are a great many RCA/USB adaptors available, but are they any good, or would you recommend another type of capture means altogether?

"RCA" is composite. No. Just no.
USB is fine. USB is just a comms method, no different from PCIe, Thunderbolt, or others. The comm methods doesn't determine device quality. Yes, most USB devices are crap, but it's not because of being USB.

Finally, purchasing cleaning tapes would probably be in order. Do they all do the job well, or are there units that are far better than others?

No.
"Cleaning tapes" just push dirt/grime around, not actually clean (lift and remove) the dirt/grime.

NEVER USE Q-TIPS! Cotton ruins VCR heads. Use the "copy paper" method, closed-cell foam, or dSLR sensor swabs, with 91%+ isopropyl alcohol.

My main goal, capture-wise, is to have a passthrough really. I do not want any type of modifications done during capture.

Some people wrongly think "passthrough" means to allow the VCR to destroy your quality, thus the false notion of a "VHS look" due to garbage playback. VHS can actually be extremely good. All that is required to correct the image, and correct the signal, thus ensuring quality capture, is to properly have TBCs in use.

No filtering should ever be done during capture. At most, analog items like proc amps, or detailers, but not required. The idea is the capture as clean a signal as possible, not something molested, made lossy, by junk gear in use. No old VCRs from the bottom of a close or thrift store, no Chinese capture dongles, no lack of TBCs.

The original frame rate, aspect ratio, and field order should be preserved.

Yes, do this.

I'd rather output in ProRes, and work from that file,

Mac has almost zero capture options, especially now in the M era.

but I will most likely capture through Vegas, so perhaps this is a moot point.

NLEs have too much overhead, and always create issues like dropped frames. Never capture in an NLE. It's an editor, use it just for editing.

[Bwaak]

I'd rather output in ProRes, and work from that file, but I will most likely capture through Vegas, so perhaps this is a moot point.

VirtualDub2 supports Cineform natively. Vegas works with Cineform too; finding just the encoder/decoder without added GoPro junk is a bit harder now, but is still possible.

[lordsmurf]

Most native VirtualDub2 codecs cannot be captured to. Those are for non-capture encoding.

[philvideofilm]

Thank you both. As for capture, I read on another post someone mentioned VDub can record a lossless 10-bit Huffyuv, which makes sense.