Video to Digital Converter 2.0 (Second Generation) - Record Video from VCR's, VHS Tapes, AV, RCA, Hi8, Camcorder, DVD, Gaming Systems [Requires Working VCR/Camcorder & Tapes]

I have some quibbles. And I thought it was kind of expensive. But I'm giving it five stars because it has been 100% satisfactory for me and has done exactly what I expected. Good gadget, works fine. But one thing I've learned over the years is that with offline converters--digital audio CD recorder, audio cassette to digital converter, now this--WORK. With an offline converter I can get the job DONE. Anything involving a computer as part of the process is tempting--but false economy. I started with a $30 video-input-to-USB gadget and sure enough, the software provided with it broke with an OS change and no updates are available from the manufacturer. I was not picky about image quality. The results look fine to me and I think fully capture the quality of the (usually analog) source. The (analog) transfers from digitally recorded "Digital 8" are better than the ones from analog sources, which convinces me that the device is capturing what's there. I couldn't see any difference in quality between composite and S-Video. I have a concern about the audio quality. It seems fine in anything with a normal level but I think it's possible that there's some audible distortion in quiet passages. The unit was mostly easy to use, there are some quirks to get used to, you need to spend a few minutes and look at the instruction book. The instruction book is much better written than usual, but could be more detailed. I wish there was a wider range of "auto stop" times--they give you 60, 90, 120, and 150 minutes. In theory at least a VHS tape can play for 240 or 360 minutes. And there are times when I was quite sure that a tape only had ten or fifteen minutes recorded, and would have liked a 30 minute setting. However, compression works, and long periods of empty blue screen add surprisingly little to the file size. I bought a SanDisk USB 3.0 flash drive as recommended in the instructions, and it worked fine, but I also tried random old thumb drives from my collection _including USB 2.0_ drives and they all worked fine, too.

Like many people in my age cohort, I have a collection of old videotapes on obsolete formats - About 52 Mini-DV tapes taken of my kids from birth to age 10 on my 1990's-era Sony camcorder, and about 16 old VHS tapes taken by me and other family members. I was considering sending off my tapes to be converted to digital format, but hesitated on sending my only copy of precious family memories out to a conversion service, and then paying the really high price for the conversion. As I looked at options, I originally thought about converting my tapes on my computer, but it involved buying and installing a video capture card, buying and learning the appropriate software, etc. Then I came across this device and read the reviews and took a chance on it. Best decision I ever made!!! This device is amazing - Incredibly simple to operate, and produces great quality video, especially for the price. You literally plug the RCA cables into the device, put in your memory stick, then press play on your old device, and record on this device, and you're on your way. Best of all, it doesn't tie up your computer to do all of this work, and lets you see the progress via the built-in screen (you can also listen as you record it if you want). I would generally just set a tape to record while I was at my computer doing other things, and found I could knock out this whole project in the matter of a few weeks, vs. the months I was expecting it to take. That said, here are a few things I learned along the way in working with this device: - The device has a way to stop recording after a certain period of time. My mini-DV tapes are all 90 minutes, so I though the 90-minute setting would work great. However, I found that my tapes ran 4 minutes longer on average than the 90 minute timer on the device, so you can't necessarily rely on that (not sure if the discrepancy came from the actual recorded length of my tapes, or from the device itself). - When you have finished recording, a counter shows your full recording time. I found that if I removed the memory stick while this was still displayed, I got a corrupted file message when I tried to transfer the file to my computer. However, if I waited until the recorded time counter disappeared (just takes a few additional seconds) this problem went away. - The device lets you record at 720x480 or 640x480 (the old 4:3 format that cameras used in order to be compatible with old tube-style TVs). I found that if I tried to use the higher-resolution 720x480, the image appeared stretched/widened. I found that the 640x480 worked great to record all of my older-format tapes. - I initially an into a bit of a hitch when I started to record my VHS tapes. I got a "signal not detected" message that I initially couldn't resolve. I tried using the included RCA cables, and then cycled through several of my own cables, and eventually found a set that (apparently) made this problem go away. - I believe the device's specs said that a 128 GB memory stick was the max, but I used a high-speed 256-GB stick from Samsung, and it worked fine. Anyway, I can't say enough great things about this device. I usually don't leave reviews on products, but I was so enthusiastic about this one that I just had to share. Hope this helps.

Watch a video online on how to use it. Once you get the hand of it, converting your old VHS tapes becomes so easy. Amazing product. It records by default 720p mp4 so that's perfect for your USB flash drive. I used a 2.0 flash drive for storing the recordings and it works just fine. When playing on the computer it looks exactly like it did on the VHS. Same frames per second and sound.

En el pasado compré una "capturadora" de USB... Pero no funcionó como debía, aparte, necesitas tener un programa que capture bien (ya no existe casi ninguno, y los que hay son del año de la canica) así que finalmente decidí comprar esta capturadora... Y MIS RESPETOS. Al principio me dolió el codo por el precio, pero vale completamente la pena! Ya he digitalizado varios VHS y VHS-C y puedo decir con toda seguridad que es la opción que buscas. Es fácil de usar, en el instructivo te guían a un video de YouTube que te enseña paso a paso como empezarla a usar. En cuestión de 10 minutos ya sabes todo lo que tienes que saber y estás listo para empezar a capturar tus videos. Algo muy bueno es que aquí no requieres de una PC. Literalmente todo lo puedes trabajar en dónde esté tu reproductor. Yo lo que hago es poner a digitalizar algún video en lo que trabajo en mi oficina. Es una maravilla, es un producto maso menos del tamaño de un celular de los grandes. Si quieres digitalizar y no sabes la opción correcta, créeme que es esta. Aunque sea mucho más caro que otras opciones, es una excelente opción. Mis respetos para la marca.

This was quite an expensive experiment. For those who are not so tech savvy, don't want to spend time in front of a video editing program and have shot there videos in either 3:2 or 4:3 format I guess this is the easiest way to archive precious family memories. I have still my old Sony Digital8 camera which had allowed to shoot in 16:9 but this device only allows 3:2 or 4:3 capturing so the videos will be "squashed". Now you can manually change the aspect ratio in a video editing program or when you use VLC player on a PC you can change the aspect ratio for playing to 16:9, but that's all not the ideal solution after spending this money. I may go back to firewire before the tapes "die"...

I transferred all 50 of my mini dv tapes to usb without a single problem. I am not very computer literate but all went very well. I had done a lot of research and I'm so happy I found this product. And no, I'm not an employee of the company!

I run a digitizing business and have many of ClearClicks products, including 3 of these. They work amazing, and if there is an issue of any sort - their support is quick to respond and resolve. I did have an issue with one of the units, they replaced it without issue. I will not purchase other products, they works great, they're reliable, and do a great job.

Easy to use and great for transfers. Did all of our VHS to digital. Quality is great and multiple inputs are useful.