want to watch old videos, need help knowing what to purchase

[KKat]

I'd like to know what I need to purchase so I can play and transfer the audio/video/photos on these to an external drive using a USB port. I'm using a laptop with Windows 10 and Chrome. I tagged them so you can identify each one with a number. Hoping this is the right place to ask this; if not, please tell me where to post.

thank you


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[aedipuss]

good luck. nice quiz though. most are not going to have playback devices that will transfer over usb.

1 - hi8 videocam
2 - micro-cassette voice recorder
3 - could be a cd, dvd, or bluray disc
4 - audio cassette
5 - 3.5 inch floppy disc
6 - minidv or hdv camcorder
7 - same as 1
8 - vhs vcr
9 - iomega zip drive
10 - 3/4" umatic vcr

[KKat]

Thanks for the info.

I contacted a company that says they can transfer them to an external drive but the cost is too high. How are they doing it?

thanks

[KKat]

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forgot the memory stick

[filmboss80]

It looks like you amended your original post after aedipuss replied, so the numbers don't exactly correlate anymore. Here's an update:

1- Audio cassette for an answering machine (I once owned the same thing), same size as the one in pic 3.
2- Mini-DV Video.
3- Standard audio cassette.
4- Hi-8 Video cassette.
5- Also a Hi-8 video cassette; just a different brand and case.
6- Rewritable CD disc.
7- Zip disk (sort of like a thick floppy disk), likely data files; works only with a Zip drive.
8- Standard, run-of-the-mill VHS video cassette.
9- 3/4" U-matic video cassette.
10- Standard 3.5" floppy disk, likely data files.
11- Memory stick for Sony Cybershot camera. Obsolete, methinks.

[KKat]

If your numbers don't correlate to the photo, I'm afraid I cannot use the info.

I NEED TO TRANSFER THESE TO AN EXTERNAL DRIVE. If they're not going to transfer through a USB port, I need to know how to transfer them.

thank you

[aedipuss]

i think you need one of these to read the old sony mem sticks in a standard memory card reader slot.https://www.amazon.com/Sony-Adapter-Memory-Stick-Standard/dp/B00008ZO75/ref=pd_bxgy_14...8JZ7B2AK7SANP7

[aedipuss]

then you shouldn't have edited your post and changed all the numbers!

[aedipuss]

are you really that simple that you can't take the answers provided and manage on your own? what you need has nothing to do with what is possible.

what you need to at least be able to read the source has nothing to do with being able to copy the data to a hard drive over usb!


1- micro cassette player - start around $300 these days - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MX78X8O/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B00MX78X8O&pd_...0-a9c66916e9f7


and cables to connect to the audio-in of your pc. not usb. then you record audio on pc to file.


2 - an HDV camcorder. connects to pc only over firewire. capture tape to file on pc with hdvsplit or windv depending on if HDV or minidv.


3 - cassette deck. cables to connect to audio-in on pc. record to file.


4 - a hi8 camcorder or preferably a d8 camcorder so you can use firewire and capture to the pc with a firewire cable and windv. otherwise a hi8 unit and analog capture device.


5 - same as above


6 - your pc disc drive. it could have data, music, or video on it.


7 - buy an iomega zip drive with usb connection.


8 - vhs vcr and capture device. price and devices from 100s to 1000s of dollars depending on quality wanted to capture to pc.


9 - 3/4" umatic tape deck. price and devices same as above.


10 - 3.5" usb floppy disc drive.


11 - adapter for sony mem sticks and a memory card reader.

[aedipuss]

Thanks for the info.

I contacted a company that says they can transfer them to an external drive but the cost is too high. How are they doing it?

thanks

are you getting the gist yet? the equipment to transfer all those costs $$$$

[KKat]

what you need to at least be able to read the source has nothing to do with being able to copy the data to a hard drive over usb!

I'm afraid this is an unintelligible sentence. I have no idea what you are trying to say, except that you sound like a "big meanie." In any case, thank you for the info. I posted photos and deleted right away because the images were poor; sorry for any inconvenience. That said, if posting an explanation is going to make you upset, please consider not responding. I don't know about this stuff. If I did, I wouldn't be asking.

If anybody can provide the names of whatever is needed to be able to transfer info from these sources to an external drive, I would appreciate that... I need to TRANSFER this stuff to an external drive and don't know what to get to do that.

thanks

[aedipuss]

LOL - have fun! bye

[filmboss80]

Re-read post #9. Aedipuss already listed the devices you would need to transfer all those different media formats. He was being helpful, not a meanie.

[DB83]

The suspicious in me says that no individual would have data etc. on all these sources AND NOT have any means to at the very least to play them back.

Example: Standard VHS and U-Matic are as different as chalk and cheese.So either the OP is having a laff at the expense of those, including this one, who has bothered to even just read this topic or actually wants to start his own business to do these transfers and is leaning on the expertise of these forums for the answers he could get quite easily by simply looking.

Or, dare I say it, he is already in this business and soon we will get the link to that service he already 'found' that can transfer this quite mixed bag of source material.

[KKat]

Looks like I need to find a different forum or head to Best Buy and find a professional. I appreciate the info but much of it isn't specific. IE: "...and cables to connect to the audio-in of your pc" [what kind of cables, exactly?] I can't go to Amazon and type this. I need the exact name of everything needed for each piece, specifically.

I'm seeing where to purchase stuff for reasonable prices, ie: https://www.google.com/search?q=microcassette+player+usb+port&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS694US694...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[aedipuss]

since it was the op's first post i gave it the benefit of doubt. knowing full well it could just be a joke, as even in my first reply i noted it was a good "quiz" post. haven't seen 3.5 floppies or zip discs in quite a while

[KKat]

So funny. I'm guessing you guys are ... in your 20's? I'm 55. I took tons of photos and videos many years ago and did away with the players when new stuff came out, not thinking about the future. Now, after facing the deaths of loved ones, I want to save their memories. I'm an artist. I don't know about this stuff.

[usually_quiet]

Looks like I need to find a different forum or head to Best Buy and find a professional. I appreciate the info but much of it isn't specific. IE: "...and cables to connect to the audio-in of your pc" [what kind of cables, exactly?] I can't go to Amazon and type this. I need the exact name of everything needed for each piece, specifically.

I'm seeing where to purchase stuff for reasonable prices, ie: https://www.google.com/search?q=microcassette+player+usb+port&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS694US694...hrome&ie=UTF-8

The exact audio cables required depend on the particular model of playback device that you buy and its available audio out connections. See: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/how_to_connect_your_equipment.html

[johnmeyer]

I have all the equipment to transfer everything you listed. As others have already said, buying all of this equipment will cost FAR more than simply having Legacy Box or some other service do the work for you. Most of the audio and video media you showed can be transferred by Costco (they subcontract to Yes Video). Their prices, like everything else they do, are stunningly good.

So, the easiest and cheapest way for you to do this is to get someone else to do it.

BTW, I'm 66 and the answers you got were not from young kids. What's more, they were good replies and not in the least bit snarky. By contrast, your replies were not very appreciative. Now that you've upbraided people who tried to help you, I expect that you will now get some legitimately nasty replies, but maybe that's what you were wanting ...

[KKat]

usually quiet, thanks for that link. I appreciate the kindness and the professionalism. I guess it's hard to find on the net, so thank you.

[filmboss80]

You have received nothing but correct answers from seasoned professionals, most aged 50+, who have given their time to HELP you. This is not simply a matter of providing the proper cables. You need at least 8 different hardware devices to play or transfer data from the media you have shown. Many of those devices are now obsolete, and therefore it is somewhat expensive to transfer them to a hard drive for your computer. What more information do you want? If you think anyone here has been rude to you in the slightest bit, perhaps you have come to the wrong forum.

[teodz1984]

most stuff you have is old.. windows 10 doesn't even support floppy drives or bernoulli drives..

most tape stuff is analog so you need equipment thar will transfer stuff to digital. most will be costly to buy.. plus time skills software.. that is the reason you are paying a specialist service to do it for you...

[lordsmurf]

you sound like a "big meanie."

How old are you?

1. "big meanie"
2. not having any idea about formats still in use up to the early 2000s (Zip, Hi8, VHS, HDV).

Legacy Box .

They spam the airwaves, and use low-end gear based on all feedback I've read. Low-end like Walgreens. For video, cheap DVD blanks, no line TBCs, etc. For photos, just auto color/noise corrections, if that. And they lose stuff, scary feedback! Forum/blog user feedback is awful, while glowing "articles" are likely shill/paid.

[johnmeyer]

you sound like a "big meanie."

How old are you?

He said in Post #15 that he is 55.

Legacy Box .

They spam the airwaves, and use low-end gear based on all feedback I've read. Low-end like Walgreens. For video, cheap DVD blanks, no line TBCs, etc. For photos, just auto color/noise corrections, if that. And they lose stuff, scary feedback! Forum/blog user feedback is awful, while glowing "articles" are likely shill/paid.

OK, lots of negativity, but no recommendations. Not very helpful. Also, if you go back and re-read my post, I also recommended Costco who subs out to YesVideo (as does Walmart). I merely included Legacy Box for the very reason you cite: people know about them.

Since you are the expert, to help all of us: what service do YOU recommend??

[TimA-C]

Hi KKat. Right, with your apparent level of technical expertise, you should be able to transfer the files from #6, #7, #10 and #11 fairly easily once you have the correct devices to read them. (see posts #5 from FilmBoss80 and #9 from Aedipuss for what they are.) I'm guessing that item #9 the Iomega Zip drive will be the hardest & most expensive to find as they were only around for a relatively short period of time. You may also need to beg/borrow/steal an older PC or Laptop for the Zip drive as I doubt that there are any Windows 10 compatible drivers for it. (We did have a couple of zip drives here but I don't think I've seen either of them in over a decade, so I'm afraid I can't check.)

You could probably have a reasonable stab at recording the audio items in your list - #1 and #3 - once you have the correct players. (again, posts #5 and #9) The type of audio cable you'll need will be dependent upon what outputs the players have . . . I'm assuming that your laptop has some sort of 3.5mm stereo jack socket for audio input (ideally Line-in) and the cassette players will probably have a 3.5mm stereo jack socket for output. (Ideally Line-out.) If this is the case then a standard 3.5mm stereo jack plug to 3.5mm stereo jack plug lead will suffice. (If the input on your laptop is NOT a Line-in socket and/or the output is NOT a Line-out socket then you need to be REALLY careful not to fry something!!! Just because the sockets may be the same size does NOT mean that the output is suitable for the input!) But, depending upon the outputs on your cassette players, you might need;-

2.5mm mono jack plug to 3.5mm mono jack plug lead.
2 x 2.5mm mono jack plugs to 3.5mm stereo jack plug lead.
6.3mm mono jack plug to 3.5mm mono jack plug lead. (unlikely)
2 x RCA mono to 3.5mm stereo jack plug lead. (usually a red and a white RCA plug)
3 or 5 or 6 pin DIN plug to 3.5mm stereo/mono jack plug lead. (not likely unless the player is either pretty ancient or was fairly high-end professional equipment when first sold.)

If your laptop doesn't have a line input then you can buy an external USB soundcard pretty cheaply that has one. A program like Audacity (excellent and free) should be more than adequate to record, tweak and save the recordings in whichever format you want them.

The rest of the items in your list will almost certainly contain video content. If I were you, I'd leave them to somebody else! It's not easy and it's definitely not quick to get decent results - I've been at it for over 15 years, and I'm still not entirely satisfied with my results! It's extreeemely frustrating, but can also be incredibly satisfying when you finally do solve that problem that's been bugging you for the last few weeks/months/years. Then on to the next problem . . . ! If you really HAVE to have a go then you could probably find a fairly bog-standard VHS video player and pick up a USB capture device fairly easily and reasonably cheaply - I'd recommend a Hauppauge USB Live2 device - or try to find a DVD recorder. The DVD recorder is a fairly quick and dirty way to digitize video but you can't really do much tweaking once the video has been recorded. The Hauppauge USB Live2 lets you capture as much info as is available from the tape, but it will then need to be processed, filtered and re-encoded to the final format that you want. It's a LOT more involved but the results can be pretty good. A decent professional transfer service will give much better results and probably end up being cheaper - especially if you take into account the many, many hours of your time! Item #9 looks like a U-matic professional broadcast tape, so good luck finding a player for that at a reasonable price!

If I was in your apparent position then I'd talk to family and friends and see if anyone can either do the transfers for you, or lend/give you any of the required devices. Failing that, you'll probably be spending quite a lot of time on Ebay and the like.

Let us know how you get on. Good Luck.

[Cornucopia]

Expect the possibility of the "click of death" with that Zip disk/drive.

Scott

[DB83]

Expect the possibility of the "click of death" with that Zip disk/drive.

Scott

Tell me about it.

Back in the day when HDDs were expensive (or even non-existant) and small - my first had a whopping 32 mb of space - I invested in a zip drive and 'backed up' a lot of content on to the 100 mb disks. Then one day the, quite expensive, drive or disks no longer worked and all that data was AFAIK lost.

I still have a few disks but have no way to know if they work and have little or no intention of even investing in some S/H hardware to find out.

[aedipuss]

hard drives themselves have a click of death. the heads seek but never find.... and it's never anything but doom.

[davexnet]

Expect the possibility of the "click of death" with that Zip disk/drive.

Scott

Tell me about it.

Back in the day when HDDs were expensive (or even non-existant) and small - my first had a whopping 32 mb of space - I invested in a zip drive and 'backed up' a lot of content on to the 100 mb disks. Then one day the, quite expensive, drive or disks no longer worked and all that data was AFAIK lost.

I still have a few disks but have no way to know if they work and have little or no intention of even investing in some S/H hardware to find out.

Likewise, I have 10 of them, I also have the device, a SCSI unit, but I'm not sure if it works. If I can find the cable,
one of these days I'll snap a SCSI card in my old XP PC and give it a try

[johnmeyer]

Expect the possibility of the "click of death" with that Zip disk/drive.

Scott

Yes, they were famous for that and despite the initial popularity of the Zip drive (Iomega's stock went up 100x in the year after they were introduced), the "click of death" pretty much killed the company. Then, competition from the recordable CD coupled with their failed Jazz drive finished the job.

BTW, TimA-C's post was absolutely fantastic and pretty much nails everything the OP was asking about.

Finally, I have two working Zip drives, one using SCSI (and I still have a few computers with SCSI connections) and the other with the slower parallel port. They were both working fine the last time I tried them. Not sure if my Exabyte and QIC tape drives still work ... man I have a lot of old hardware.

Oh yes, if the OP wants me to transfer his Zip disks, I'd be happy to do it, free of charge. All he has to pay for is shipping to/from, probably about $6-10 each way (you must use a service that offers tracking, if you're going to be shipping one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable media).