DIGITNOW USB Audio Video Capture Card, Video Grabber VHS VCR TV to DVD Converter Adapter for Windows PC

Digitizing Old Memories Made Simple I picked up the DIGITNOW USB Audio Video Capture Card to convert a stack of old VHS and Hi8 tapes, and I’m glad I did. The setup was straightforward: plug the device into a Windows laptop, connect RCA or S-Video cables from the VCR or camcorder, and the drivers installed automatically. I used OBS Studio instead of the included CD software (many reviewers mentioned the same), and the capture worked smoothly with just a bit of tinkering in the settings. Video quality turned out as good as the source allowed—grainy tapes remain grainy, but clean recordings came through sharp and well-synced. Audio capture was solid, though I did notice one tape where video and audio drifted slightly over time. Switching inputs to S-Video improved the stability and clarity compared to RCA. The unit itself feels lightweight but held up fine through hours of transfers. I liked that it was truly plug-and-play with Windows 10, and it didn’t require any extra power supply. The price point is excellent compared to what a conversion service charges per tape. Things to keep in mind: * The included CD software works, but OBS or other free programs give you more control and fewer crashes. * Expect that quality depends heavily on your source tapes—this isn’t going to magically restore degraded footage. * You do have to capture in real time, so digitizing a collection takes some patience. Bottom line: This is an inexpensive, effective solution for anyone wanting to preserve VHS, VCR, Hi8, or DVD footage before it degrades further. It works best paired with better software, but it delivers exactly what it promises without much fuss.

Needed something that could connect my old camcorder to OBS as a webcam, and this is it. The aspect ratio can get a little wonky, but it’s easy to adjust in OBS.

This converter was easy to set-up with the included CD, and from there it was mostly self explanatory. So as far as converting the VHS media in to an electric format, that was pretty easy. Admittedly, I have not used the editing portion of the software that is included, I only converted my videos into MP4 files. The price was excellent as well. A couple downsides - when importing video clips to my computer, the program would shut down or not record at times. For example it would play through an hour of tape (and the program would indicate it is recording) but the clip ends up being a few seconds long and I would have to start over. Also when I would record a clip, then hit the record button again (to stop), the whole program would shut down. I would still have the footage I captured, but it became frustrating to have to restart the program each time I recorded a clip. As a couple other reviews indicated, there was a clicking noise that happened when converting the video (even after trying different cables), but it was not intrusive enough to ruin the video files in my opinion. When it is all said and done, I'm happy with the purchase considering the low price point.

There are better things on the market, but this works alright. Audio and video drift if you're not careful.

I successfully converted a whole box of Hi8 tapes to MP4's without any problems. Like many of the other reviewers I did not even try the included SW or CD. The steps I took were 1) plugged BR116 into the computer - Windows 10 found and installed a good driver 2) Hooked up S Video cable and RCA audio cables to BR116 and my old Camcorder. 3) Started OBS software 4) In OBS selected AV to USB 2 as my video capture device 5) in OBS set USB Mic as my Audio Input Capture device. 6) Video quality was somewhat improved by changing OBS video setting to use Downscale Filter Lanczos (Sharpened scaling, 36 samples) and a FPS value of 29.97. 7) press play on the Camcorder and Start Recording in OBS. Most of the video was pretty good quality. I had some that in low light conditions was pretty grainy but you can't make something out of nothing. This was an excellent low cost device to convert old tapes to digital format. I can't comment on the included CD or SW. They are still in the wrapper. I did not try composite video compared to S video. I was satisfied with my results.

I saw a number of these type of devices on sale, and decided to order the cheapest I could find that had some good reviews. The included software worked very well. I cannot say for sure if a more expensive device would give better results, but given the limitations of the VHS medium, I think it is unlikely. The weakest link in this case is probably the source material. I am using this for home movies taken with a consumer VHS camera and for my purposes it works great. I am using the software included on the enclosed DVD and it works about as well to my eyes as a freeware open source program that is well regarded. Also the software is intuitive and easy to install and use. It works on my Windows 10 64 bit computer. One thing to be aware of is that two hours of recording at high quality settings can go over 100 GB of hard drive space. You can use free software to compress this down to 10 GB or so without much loss, but if you have a lot of tapes and want to archive the original files you may need a new hard drive.

5/25/21 - Update So Confirmed the yellow and white female connector on the converter is faulty. Bought a new S- Video cable and connected to the S-Video port on the converter, and works fine, however, I still have to use the yellow cable coming from my Sony Camcorder and connect it to the White female connector on the convertor to get audio correctly. If i use white to white, i get a weird static sound in the background. Item is defective and garbage. I've tested this with 2 different rca cables and all of them I have to use the white cable for video. Worst of all, the yellow cable can't be plugged in, it has to only touch the barrel of the white connector. You can see it in my 2nd picture, had to use tape to hold it together. I've also tried this with the program on the CD, but that also has the same issue. Doing it via OBS was much better.

Inexpensive and worked great.