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  1. On Black Friday I purchased a new i5 generation 7, 8 megs of DDR4 ram laptop that does NOT have a VGA port. I purchased it without the port because the price was unbeatable at just over $300 and there was no other in that price range that had the VGA port. I was assuming I could get a USB to VGA adapter but I am not 100 percent sure I could use that in the way I want to. What I want to do is capture video from old VHS video cassettes from a video cassette player.

    Is this possible with the USB to VGA adapter?

    Would the adapter be all the extra equipment I would need or would I need something else?

    There is also a HDMI port but I don't know if that could be used with video or if there is something like a HDMI to vga adapter that would be better.

    The laptop has one USB 3.1 and two USB 2.0 ports. If I am able to use a USB to VGA adapter, would using the USB 3.1 port be better than using the USB 2.0 port or does it make any difference?

    Also, the laptop hard drive is only 5500. Is that a problem with capturing video?
    Last edited by johnharlin; 29th Nov 2016 at 18:38.
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  2. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    What video output ports does it have, HDMI, DVI? Not sure why you would need a VGA port.
    My laptop just has a HDMI port.

    Capturing probably just needs a USB port. If you need more hard drive space, you could add a external USB Hard drive.
    Last edited by redwudz; 29th Nov 2016 at 19:12.
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  3. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    Maybe what you are looking for is a USB capture device. Some use USB 3, Most are USB 2. Both should work for you, but USB 3 is faster.
    I would consider using a USB 3 external hard drive for your capture. USB 3 is nearly as fast as the internal drive most times.

    The VGA port isn't really needed for any of this. The laptop display is usually sufficient. Or if you need a larger display, try the HDMI port.

    Now for high quality VHS capture, a lot more equipment is generally used, a very good VHS deck, a TBC (Time Based Corrector) and a dedicated capture card, not to mention some fairly complex software at times.

    But you can do well enough with most tapes with just a decent VHS deck and a USB capture device. Legitimate versions of EZ-Cap are one alternative. Or other members may suggest better solutions.
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  4. VGA output has nothing to do with analog video capture from VHS. All you need is a USB standard definition analog video capture device. (And an S-VHS deck, time base corrector, video proc amp, etc. if you want really good caps)
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  5. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    just to clarify - usb 3 is a faster port than usb 2. you won't capture video any faster using one though. it happens in real time over usb 2 or 3.
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    "a lot of people are better dead" - prisoner KSC2-303
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  6. Member
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    Vga is output only, has always been this way, output to Vga monitor
    For capture you need a USB capture device
    It has A/V input from VHS and connects to pc via the USB port

    I think you mean gigs of memory not megs, 550 gb of hd disc storage is more than enough for processing
    Think about an external hd for storing all your movie/video files
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  7. Thank you all for your help. There is now good hope that I can capture video as I thought I could.

    Yes, my laptop has 8 gigs of ram and a one terabyte hard drive which should be enough space. The Ram is upgradable to 16 gigs which should meet any future video needs. But yes, external hard drives have come way down in price. I saw a 4 terabyte external drive for $109 during Black Friday. I'm waiting for SSDs to come down which I think might happen in about 2 years. At the moment, the affordable SSDs have too little space. I do have to say that there has been pretty good computer advancement for video capturing in the last 10 years combined with a nice drop in prices.
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