Huh. I have some VHS tapes I wouldn't mind ripping. I have a vcr but I don't think I have a way to capture the output. I'd better look into it sooner rather than later...
this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2026
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Plenty of RCA/SCART to USB thingys out there, like EasyCAP
I have a bunch of home movies from my childhood on VHS that I've been meaning to transfer for years haha, I bought a VCR and a USB composite video dongle and everything, just haven't got around to it. We did just hook it up to the TV and watch them from tape last Christmas and they looked okay. It was like watching a portal to a different time though because of the inherent quality of VHS plus the degradation over the years. I suppose I should get to it soon.
Getting it professionally done is still pretty cheap. Unless you have a lot of them, it probably isn’t worth doing yourself. Inexpensive tools for consumers tend to result in very poor quality exports and anything that actually looks good tends to cost $100 or more to set up. Most professional services for VHS to DVD or VHS to MP4 can give you high quality results for under $20/tape.
TL;DR A lot of historically important media is still stored on VHS, never digitized. Over time, VHS tapes can stick to the layer below them, so playing them directly will result in heavy damage to the tape.
Heating them up helps to soften the adhesive and play the tape safely, but there might only be one chance, and some of these tapes are very valuable.
Okay, I want to see an oven product now that takes VHS tapes.
I thought tape film lasted a really long time.
Film does, depending on how it's stored. VHS is much thinner, and more prone to damage. There's also a huge difference between professional tapes and "get the cheapest 5-pack at the store" we all used to have.