VHS to DVD 7.0 Deluxe by Honestech Platform : Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

This product worked within 10 minutes of plugging it in. Once set you will see two options, an easy mode and an advanced mode. The easy mode really is very easy to use, simply select the VHS input( although it seems that any analogue SCART input will do ,VHS, DVD, SKY, VIRGIN ETC), select your DVD driver and click okay, it then burns it directly to DVD for you. If like me you instead want to store your videos on your PC/ An external HDD then simply select the advanced option. Its very similar to the "easy option", except you can select an output file to store your video. I stored mine directly to my external HDD. You can change the screen resolution to 4/3 - 16/9 ect, select different modes such as PAL/NTSC and so on. The output resolution is either 640 × 480 pixels.or 720 x x480 Pixels . If you want a cheap way of transferring your old VHS files to DVD/ digital storage then this is the answer

Technically it works but I had so many problems with lines across the video or poor colour. Its a fiddle to get it working properly, but does get a picture. Its just the picture is distorted and terribly poor (feels like tracking used to be on vhs players) Doesnt have many settings you can change to correct issues. Poor cheap product

This is easy and it works. Consists of a analog to digital converter hardware box and software to help lay the images down on DVD and many other formats. Included cable with RCA type connectors (the little round connectors colored red, white, yellow for left and right audio channel plus video) and USB cable. Also converts audio so get that 8 track, cassette and vinyl collection out and get busy converting. You may need to buy cable adapters to do things such as split mono audio output from camcorder into left and right channels for digital conversion or connect to your player via headphone jack if it does not have RCA type connecters. All this cable converter stuff is readily available and not expensive. With a very basic knowledge of computer setup and operation and using the software's "easy conversion" mode I went from opening the box to starting my DVD burn in 15 minutes or less. Basically you first install the software; then hook the converter box to the analog signal source (like VCR, Camcorder, cassette deck, etc), hook the converter box to your PC via USB, let the PC detect the device, install drivers, etc; click "start" and you are going. Video quality was sometimes iffy but there are easy to use color balance controls and I believe the quality was due to 20 yr old VHS tapes rather than the Honestech product. Follow the installation directions and never hook the hardware up prior to installing the drivers. If PC doesn't recognize the device try a reboot. If that doesn't work, uninstall, reboot, then actually follow the driver installation instructions. The advanced mode where you edit, add titles, create DVD chapters was not great but not horrible and with minimal experimentation was able to edit, build a DVD, create chapters, titles, etc within an hour of jumping in. The software is not horrible but is not very intuitive sometimes either. There is a curious little glitch where to edit out a scene you must cut out a minimum of 2 seconds. Irritiating but not a deal killer. Is difficult to get titles to look right when playing back and this may be the greatest flaw of the software. Am also not thrilled that nowhere are the specs for the converter box documented but I have a feeling it outputs at VGA (640 x 480). I suspect the digital gurus would say this is sufficient for a VHS quality recording. If you have some killer editing software you like you probably don't need this product. Just buy an analog to digital converter box (they seem to sell for less than $40 these days) and use it with your own software. For me, just wanting to get the VHS home movies and some reel-to-reel stuff into digital format with not much fuss or learning curve this product worked for me.

Great software!

Does what it says it will. I managed to get my VHS tapes onto CDs so I'm pleased however I find that the files on the disc are TS files and I was expecting MPEG. It seems that not every player can handle the TS files so I have to search around to find out which device I own is capable of playing the CD. It seems to have done a decent job of digitizing the tape but I did have some difficulties as the instructions aren't that clear. The instructions for editing the files could be a lot more comprehensive IMHO. The company has telephone assistance that is helpful.

This is absolutely a great product - works well as intended. This product is intended to convert your old VHS into digital format. You get the option to burn the end results to a DVD or else to your hard disk - where you may later burn it if you so desire. In fact, you are not limited to VHS tapes. It will convert basically any audiovisual source to either video and sound or sound alone if your input is strictly audio i.e. cassettes, LPs, etc. For video/audio input the file it outputs is VOB which can be played by a standard DVD player or else directly on your computer from a media player - for example Real Audio Player. If you want to play the videos on your tablet or smart phone, then you need to take it one step further and convert the vob files to ones which are compatible with your player. There are countless conversion programs which can do this for you. The program has two modes - the simple, no frills mode which anyone can do - regardless of how electronically challenged they might be. It is literally a process of putting the vhs in your player, hitting the play button on your vhs player and then hitting the record button on the program - which shows up as a preview window on your computer. The wizard guides you through the process of saying how long you want to record and what sort of input your want to record - vhs, dvd, tv, etc. That's it, the program does the rest automatically. You can watch your vhs or whatever - on the little preview screen - as the recording is taking place. A person with an IQ of 80 could probably accomplish the conversion in this mode. It is literally that simple. There is also an advanced mode which allows for all manner of editing for those so inclined. I did not use it at all. Now comes the issue of copyright protection and will it function in those cases. The answer is yes and the reason is as follows. When the various companies made their VHS tapes, they did so with the technology available at the time. In those days, they wanted to protect their product from being copied to other blank VHS tapes and then sold by unscrupulous persons. The copy protection technologies were directed at preventing direct tape to tape dubbing. They could not envision today's DVD and electronic conversion to various the digital files we have today. That was well into the future at that time. When you hit the play button on your DVD and then hit the record button on your computer scree, the VHS "thinks" it is simply being played on any ordinary TV. It does not "know" it is being played on a computer which, in turn, is going to convert the signal into a digital file. That technology was not in existence at the time so, of course, companies could not envision it much less protect themselves from such. Now, the various copyright laws do allow you to make one backup copy for your own personal use so, basically, you are probably not violating any law if you make a digital copy of your VHS tape for yourself. You are making a backup copy which is permitted. If you turn around and sell the original on ebay, while keeping the backup for yourself, that is another matter. Same if you give away the original - say to your church's fall flea market - and keep the digital file you made for yourself. Again in this scenario, you are likely violating the copyright law. Whether the FBI is going to break into your home at 2 am and arrest you for such activity is rather unlikely (they can't even get their act straight with Hillary) but it becomes an ethical issue at that point. Person's must decide for themselves what they are comfortable doing from an ethical perspective on this count. As for the product, itself, well, it is fantastic. It will allow you to convert virtually any audio or video input from any source into a digital file which can be burned to a DVD or stored your computer. Great if you want to watch the video on your tablet during a cross country flight to help divert your mind from the fact that you are packed in like a sardine for the next 5 hours. If whatever is playing your content - music, movie, whatever - has RCA jacks - red, white and yellow - the whole thing is a done deal. You do have an s-video option (which is sort of academic given we are talking VHS, here) but you do not have a HDMI option in terms of connecting the cables. Again, HMDI when we are talking about VHS is a non-issue. All-in-all, this is a great product and I highly recommend it. No matter how electronically challenged you are, you CAN use this product.

I needed to transfer older video to a PC for future use. This product allowed me to capture S-video / stereo audio at 720p mpg format. I have not used any of the editing or burning software, and don't plan to, since I use a Linux based system for that. That said... It does a good job of capturing video, and once set up, it's pretty easy to use. Why did I give it 4 stars? The setup directions approach useless. I had to download and install the driver for the box to talk to Windows 7 64 bit. Now that I have things working, capture seems pretty straight forward with decent quality. 2014.03.06 Update: We've been transferring a fair amount of video lately, and it's become hit or miss. I start the recording, start the video, wait a couple hours...and sometimes I get a complete recording, and sometimes it removes the first 1/2 hour or so. This happens about 1 out of every 3 times. Dropped to 3 stars. 2014.03.07 Update: Consistently removing of the first part of the recording. Given up and researching other options. Dropped to 1 star as an unusable product.