Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Apologies for the off-topic question, but I'm so curious: How is this useful for VHS transfer?


Not OP but I assume "VHS Transfer" meant "transfer to a digital format" i.e. digitize. The Retrotink is a fancy "composite/component/vga-to-hdmi" box, so you can do: VCR playing a VHS -> Retrotink -> HDMI capture card -> computer saving that to a file.


Exactly this.

To properly capture VHS you need something called a TBC. Most have died over the years and the ones that are left are either very expensive or dying as caps fail. A TBC that was once considered low end commonly sells for $1k+ today.

The retrotink can do most of what a TBC does and it's a modern device you can actually buy for a reasonable price. It can also upscale and deinterlace for you in the process saving a ton of work later. The serious archivist would scoff, but it's good enough for home movies, and I would argue that it introduces less noise than 30 year old professional equipment with dying caps.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: