Video files (AVI etc) to VHS casettes

[Sebastian42]

My unusual request is based on the fact that in my entertainment setup, I ALSO play VHS video cassettes - recorded before Digital supplanted analogue transmission - into a digital TV. The over-riding advantage is the ability to stop a video when I wish, to resume later - and turning anything/everything off does not prevent me continuing where I left off. That single great advantage motivates me to want to convert movie FILES on a USB stick to magnetic recordings on VHS cassettes. Are there digital TVs which will read USB sticks, but have video out that I could feed into a VCR recorder ?

[netmask56]

You can do all of that on a media player. Have a look at this local product https://beyonwiz.com.au/triple-tuner/ or if you want to record from any device with an HDMI out take a look at this model https://beyonwiz.com.au/4k/ Other media players are Popcorn (Cloud Media) or Dune etc... VHS resolution is dreadful and your process overly complicated when modern gear can do everything you want. I'm 80 going on 81 this year and I have a Popcorn A-500. I've transferred all my old DVD's and Blu ray disc together with a handful of family VHS onto my NAS. When you play something on the A-500 if you stop half way through the next time you go to play it, it has a "last scene watched" icon that plays from that point or you can start afresh. There are many quite cheap Android players around as well. Most modern TV's will read from USB sticks but with a limited range of formats. Unlike our TV which is not encrypted virtually all TV's that are sold in Australia that have a recording function encrypt the signal, unlike PVR's like the Beyonwiz and Topfield do not encrypt and you can copy off off air recordings to a memory stick or hdd or to your network. Beyonwiz is by far the best unit presently available on the Australian market.

[Sebastian42]

Yes, I have a media player that plays the content of USBs into my digital TV very nicely through HDMI - some dozen formats that I know of. I am right now in the middle of experimenting with a direct connection from the Media Player to the VCR. Media Player has two outputs that PHYSICALLY match the VCR inputs - Pr/Pb/Y and AV. So far I've had no success with them testing each of 3 leads individually into the VCR's Video Input - 6 tries for the two output sockets. I am about to try a two strand AV connector now. Two further complications are selection of the correct input into the VCR (Line1, Line 2 and Pr) and the suspicion that I would not see the input into the VCR on a TV screen, unless I am actually recording. I CAN do all the possible permutations and combinations but it is very time consuming and 'draining'.
I've now tried both strands of the AV connector with no greater success. Am wondering if the HDMI output to the TV needs to be disconnected to let output go via AV or Pr/Pb/Y to the VCR...

"When you play something on the A-500 if you stop half way through the next time you go to play it, it has a "last scene watched" icon that plays from that point or you can start afresh." Do you mean the Media Player remembers ? If so it would have to stay powered until the end of the movie AT LEAST. If it is the TV that remembers, I can not afford to keep it in that SUSPENDED mode, as I do other things with the TV too - like play the VHS cassettes that are still waiting, and one special cassette in a different VCR, that I replay over and over, daily.

" VHS resolution is dreadful" I realise it is inferior to digital, but until I have a satisfactory pauze method, I'm willing to suffer that deterioration. I find the quality of my VHS cassettes played into the digital TV quite good enough.

Right now I am stymied in my experimentation because the Media Player intermittently triggers a warning that the input signal is not supported.
I'm hot on your footsteps when it comes to age - 77 in a couple of months.

[DB83]

Another option is a HDD dvd-recorder.

Play a tilte and stop during playback. My recorder then prompts for 'resume'. As long as I do not select that option, which actually returns 'resume off', the next time I select that title it will resume at the point you stopped. Even if you power down the recorder.

Really, putting modern videos on to VHS is not the way to go. VHS does not do wide-screen so even if the recording allowed for the AR you end up with a small picture in the middle of a large screen.

[Sebastian42]

The first answer helped me realise that what I want to achieve [stopping and resuming] can be done on the media player I already have. I do not need to go the VHS way - just as well all my attempts have failed, because Media Player is a better solution.

[DB83]

NP.

I was merely suggesting an alternative in the event of the first option not meeting your requirements.

[JVRaines]

Are there digital TVs which will read USB sticks, but have video out that I could feed into a VCR recorder ?

You can buy a converter to change the video output of your PC into a composite or s-video signal. For instance:
https://www.amazon.com/ViewHD-Composite-Converter-Include-Adapter/dp/B00LK95VNQ

[Cornucopia]

A quick search found a number of apps that support auto-resume-after-shutdown of previously run media:
Mobo Player
GOM player
others that are in Chinese

Also, evidently there is a "Resume Media" plugin for VLC that adds that capability.

VHS everything is dreadful, so do yourself a favor and break with the past finally!

Scott

[johnmeyer]

Yes, definitely follow Cornucopia's advice. The VHS idea is a really, really bad one for four reasons:

1. It will massively degrade the video.

2. It will take a HUGE amount of time to do it, all for one feature that you only will use occasionally, and which you can easily get around, even if you can't find a media player that will remember its last play position. After all, you only have to write down the timecode where you left off, and then go to that point. The time to do that is about 1/10,000 of the time you'll spend transferring and degrading all your videos.

3. VHS players have a very limited lifespan and it is now very difficult to find a place that will repair or replace them.

4. It is completely unnecessary because there are so many media players you can use which will remember your last play position.

[netmask56]

You can turn off at the power point if you wish media players and if they have bookmark or last scene viewed they remember! Even if the power is off for a week! The wonders of modern science!!! If an 80 year old can embrace change ( I actually look forward to new technology and change) I'm sure you can chuck your VHS machine into landfill somewhere and move on....