Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus | VHS, Hi8, V8 Video to DVD or Digital Converter | Amazon Exclusive 2 Bonus DVDs [Windows]

I have about 150 hours of tapes I want to convert, so I wanted to make sure I got the best video converter I could find with a reasonable cost. After I bought this and set it up I thought the quality was a bit lacking so I then went and bought elGato based on a popular YouTube review. When I tried out the elGato converter it was WORSE. (see side by side frame grabs). I then played back from my tape directly to the TV and realized that the Roxio converted file was about the same as what was played directly from tape to TV - we are just used to HD now. If you look at the frame grabs, in particular look at the grass and the sky. Detail with the elGato is very lacking. Things you need to know: 1) Converted old VHS tape video quality is lacking overall, we have been very spoiled with digital HD and 4K, you will most likely be disappointed, but hey, these are your MEMORIES so it is better then not converting your tapes. 2) VHS tape degrades over time DO NOT WAIT ANY LONGER TO CONVERT YOUR TAPES! 3) Get a good machine to play your tapes back on, the best you can get ahold of anyway. CLEAN THE HEADS before you start, and if doing a lot of tapes, clean the head frequently. Roxio Pros: 1) Less expensive than other popular higher end converters 2) Ez install and set up (6 year old PC running Windows 10) 3) Better video quality than elGato - quality is about the same as playing direct from tape to TV Roxio Cons: 1) I just paid $39, now its $69??? 2) Only audio adjustments when capturing (no contrast/saturation etc) _________________________________________________________________________________ ElGato Pros: 1) Ez install and set up (6 year old PC running Windows 10) 2) Pre-recording video and audio adjustments (contrast, saturation, volume etc.) ElGato Cons: 1) Pretty pricey for what other converters will do 2) QUALITY - that is the whole deal right there. VHS conversion is poor anyway, and this converter will make it even worse. Other info: The elGato converts to MP4, much higher compression than the MPG of Roxio. Check out the file sizes, bit rates etc, noticeable difference and as far as file size. (these are still tiny compared to 1080p HD - no reason to use a bunch of compression and lose detail). Id give it another star if they added more pre-recording controls (contrast, hue, saturation etc) Hope this helps!

This was easy to install but kept crashing and some options not working. Not sure if I did something wrong or my system so will try on another

I previously owned a VHS to digital converter that I liked really well, but it only worked on my really old Dell desktop (circa 2003). But when the video card died in it, I tried to install it on my new laptop and it wouldnt work. Thus, I tried this product because I didnt want to waste a lot of money buying an entirely new kit with a VCR which I didnt need since it came with my last kit. Onto this product: PROS: 1) Simple install (pop the disc in and follow prompts, or go to their Web Site and download the software). Plug converter into your computer and (USING YOUR OWN RCA or S CABLE) plug into your camcorder or VCR. (I ended up buying a cable from Walmart for about $8.00 to make it work) 2) Fairly simple user interface: The screen is pretty self-explanatory. Large record button, and tabs across the top tell you which part youre on in the process. CONS: 1) It wont let you change the name of your video file once you have started recording. For several of my first attempts, I didnt see the place to put the name in until after Id started, but it wont let you change it in the program. 2) Progream seems simple enough to use, however, it DOESNT work properly! I successfully transferred 2 tapes then went to do the 3rd one. I have tried FOUR times now. It looks like its recording then when it automatically stops at the end of the tape (good feature theoretically), the program gets forever stuck on the finishing step. I literally let it sit there for more than 2 hours to finish a 30 min video recording and it never did! I had to force a shutdown, which of course lost the video Id recorded. Over and over again this happened. I am so fed up Im ready to return it and buy another one! This is ridiculous and I never had problems with my old one! 3) Video quality is terrible. Again, using the VCR from my previous purchase, which includes the lovely old-school tracking buttons to try to get rid of those annoying lines across the tape, I have had ZERO success it making any tangible difference to the tape quality. And from my previous lovely four attempts on the same video (from 1999), I can tell you how incredibly INCONSISTENT the video quality is on the program! Some attempts were much clearer than others, and i had to keep rewinding to try to get to the start of the tape again and when it re-recorded, the lines would be across the entire thing all of a sudden (when they werent there before) or the video would freeze, even though the tape was clearly still playing behind it! AND, it kept cutting out as though there is a short in the cord. The screen would just suddenly flash no video feed detected even though it was still playing. It was usually only for a second or two, but sometimes was as long as 10 seconds or longer. Ridiculous!! Both this product and the RCA cable I used, were BRAND NEW. I suppose there is a chance that the RCA cable from Walmart was defective, but I have no way of knowing that. 4) Claims to be able to export video files in MPEG, which is what I wanted since I will be sharing these home video files with family who own a variety of equipment to view them on, but that feature doesnt work either! (and my laptop is a year old, so it isnt that) It will only allow me to export a video file in WMV which makes it specific to windows users without a conversion program. So...overall, dont waste your money. Go the more expensive route and get the entire system with the included VCR rather than this piece of junk. If i even bother to try to keep using it, its going to take me another 20 years to get the small box of tapes transferred to digital (if it ever works.)

Have a new computer, took hours to read in a video and then to save it.

I found that this recording device has problems seeing the incoming video from my VCR on my Windows 10 laptop. My old Windows 7 desktop does pretty good with it though. When trying to record DVDs from this I have to take the video to my Windows 10 laptop as it doesnt seem to know how to record with the older DVD recorder. Also I cannot seem to get the menu system to work. I tried to make Chapters and Titles for those chapters. It didnt tile the chapters correctly though each chapter button works correctly.

I worked with their support team for a LONG time and never could get it to work. That included updating all kinds of software and drivers on my PC, even switching to a different PC, and finally getting bumped up to level 2 support. Although their level 2 support seemed really good, one indication of their support structure is that they kept sending me emails saying we havent heard from you in x days. Reply to this email with additional data or to say it is resolved. When I replied to that email, I got an automated email back saying that that email address was no longer monitored and to try contacting them another way!

The adapter is just generic, but works with the included software. That said the software hasnt been updated for some time, but worked with Windows 11. I purchased and returned other units that while seen by the operating system, the included software would not work with Windows 10 or 11. The price is terrible for a product that has not been updated in years. I needed it, so I paid the price. That said the software is slow to process the recorded videos. That is not including the playback time of the original video. If its an hour long, then it takes an hour to copy. That is not a Roxio software problem. The post processing time on a high end gaming computer is slow, that is a Roxio software problem. I neither received nor asked for incentives of any kind for this review

Its not a perfect system, but if you play with it, you can get the job done. Trick #1- the Video Capture USB device gets hot, and will burn up. When it gets too hot, the picture quality gets bad. It gets real jittery, and theres no fixing it- letting it cool wont make a difference. I recommend keeping one of those little blue ice packs on it (in a zip lock bag to capture the condensation). Dont leave it plugged into your computer when you arent actually transferring video. Trick #2- if the video doesnt show up in the app, try selecting Record DVD. Once you get the video working, go back and select Record, Edit, Save if you want to save it to your harddrive. You may have to do this several times.

No problem installing the software and device setup. I used the Roxio device to convert VHS and Hi8 content to DVDs. I didnt have any trouble converting the VHS content to DVD but the first 6 Hi8 tapes transferred to DVD without audio. This was very frustrating after taking many hours converting 6 tapes. The problem ended up being a setting on my PC for audio input. I rated this a 4 because there wasnt a problem with the converter but with the operator. This product would have been rated a 5 if the documentation would have been clearer for troubleshooting DVD audio problems.

Took about 15 minutes to install and get up and running. Now Im converting and uploading old family vids to my Windows-based computer which I can upload and privately share on-line with family and friends. The sound and images are a bit better than what was on the tapes but ultimately the degree of quality will depend on the source tapes. I am satisified and would definitely recommend it.