How to Put VHS Home Movies Onto Your Computer

Put your old VHS home movies onto your computer by connecting your digital video camera to a VCR. The VCR plays the tape and the DV camera sends it to your computer, which then records it and saves it as a video file that can be played as often as you like, without having it wear out like old VHS tapes do.

Things You'll Need

• DV camera
• VCR
• S-video cable
• RCA A/V cable
• IEEE 1394 FireWire cable
• PC with IEEE 1394 FireWire port

Instructions

1. Turn on your DV camera. Put the camera into playback mode, which may be labeled VCR or VTR on the camera. Select the control with on the display screen, or press the button on your camera to display the "Playback Settings" menu. Select "A/V to DV Out" or "AV to DV" in the playback setting menu on the camera. Exit the menu and turn off the camera.

2. Connect the VCR to your DV camera with the pronged S-video connection cable. Plug the S-video cable into the S-video jack on the camera. Plug the other end of the S-video cable into the S-video jack of the VCR.

3. Insert the single mini A/V connector of the A/V cable into the mini A/V jack on the camera, which is yellow and labeled Audio/Video or A/V. Insert the red and white RCA connectors of the A/V cable into the corresponding-colored RCA jacks located on the back of the VCR.

4. Insert the IEEE 1394 FireWire cable into the IEEE 1394 port on the DV camera. Insert the other end of the IEEE1394 cable into the IEEE 1494 port of your computer.

5. Put the VHS home movie into the VCR. Turn on the VCR. Turn on the DV camera, which should be in playback mode. When the "Autoplay" dialog box for the DV camera shows on your computer screen, select "Import Video Using Windows Import Video." Click on the "Name" text box and type in the name for the video file you are about to save. Select a location to save the video file from the "Import to" list, or select "Browse" to choose a different location than one on the list.

6. Select the video file format under "Format" list. Select "Audio Video Interleaved (single file)" to save the DV-AVI file as the file type that your DV camera uses. Select "Windows Media Video File (single file)" to save the home movie as a single Windows Media Video or WMV file. Select "Windows Media Video (one file per scene)" to save a WMV file for each scene on the VHS tape.

7. Click on "Only import parts of the videotape to my computer"; then click "Next."

8. Cue the VHS tape up to the scene or home movie you want to put on your computer. Press "Play" on the VCR.

9. Select the "Cue the videotape and then start importing video" tab in the Windows Media Video window on your computer. Click "Start Video Import." Click "Stop Video Import" once you have finished recording the home movie.

10. Press "Stop" on the VCR. Click "Finish" to finish importing the VHS home movie to your computer. The video will have saved as a video file on your computer and will appear listed in your Windows Photo Gallery.

References

• Microsoft: Import analog video to your computer by using a DV camera

Resources

• Microsoft: Toss out those VHS tapes