PORTTA VHS to Digital Converter, Video to Digital Recorder with Remote, Compatible with VHS, VCR, DVR, DVD, Hi8, Mini DV Players, Camcorder, Gaming Consoles (VHS/Tapes/DVD Player Not Included)

This item is a godsend. I have VHS-C and mini DV cassettes. I fear one day that the tapes will get chewed up, become damaged or they'll be nothing to play them on so I wanted to find a way of converting them into MP4's. I didn't know there was such an item until I randomly checked here a few weeks back. I took a chance and bought it. It's doing a fabulous job converting both cassette types. A few useful configurations in settings but not much to really make a difference to the output quality. Sometimes you can see a few unwanted small effects on the output video of VHS-C's but nothing to make the quality really noticeable that it is bad. Who's to say it's this gadget though because the DV cassettes output is fine. I just wish it had a higher quality output resolution than the max 1920 x1080 so I could test the quality difference. It is worth noting though, this is not an upscalling device so I doubt there would be. I doubt that, if the resolution was even 3250 x 1920, there would be any difference either. I have tested the lower resolution and the output is pretty poor so needs to be set to 1920 x 1080. It will obviously downscale but not upscale. In my opinion, the output recording will only be as good as the cassettes recording anyway. Unless there's a signal at the beginning, it won't record. You can miss the 1st 1 or 2 seconds of a video because of this. I prefer to press record and off it goes. If you lose signal whilst it's recording, it seems to carry on and not stop which is good. On occasion, it seems to get itself in a pickle as it can take ages to save the recording onto the USB stick, sometimes won't save at all. This could be for a number of reasons not associated directly with the device. Most of the time it's almost instant. This device it an absolute godsend in my eyes. No, it isn't cheap but it does the job very easily and does it well. Simple to use and is made of pretty good quality materials. The screen is very convenient because this means you don't have to watch videos on the tv only. Also, I think it's the perfect size.

Exactly what I needed to convert old Mini DV & Video tapes to a digital format. I’d been looking at sending the tapes off to a third party to transfer the many, many tapes we had but all of the prices were unaffordable. I decided to see if there was a way I could transfer them myself and I came across this. This device was a fraction of the cost of sending the tapes off to a third party and I didn’t have to worry about them getting lost or damaged! You do need a working VHS player or video camera to use with this device (which I have so wasn’t an issue) but worth bearing in mind if you don’t have access to either. Really easy to set up, good quality video (which can be adjusted to suit your needs) and great sound quality too. It does take a little while to transfer the video but only because it is essentially recording from the VHS tapes or video camera tape so if you’ve got a 3 hour video it will take 3 hours to transfer. This wasn’t really an issue for me - I just set it up, pressed record and left it to it. Simple! It’s great to know I now have digital copies of all of the videos from my childhood & of family holidays - Even found footage of family members who long since past and great to know that footage is now safe & secure!

Rocky start but once I figured out what cable I needed it was smooth sailing. I had to buy (I'll be specific) Nedis Scart Cable With 3x RCA Male Connectors, Nickel Plated Connectors - 1.0m. I bought a 64gb USB stick elsewhere. Quality and sound recorded was 100%. Press the button and boom, you got digital.

Worked well with all my Hi8 tapes played through my old video camera and the quality was great. Better than I expected!! 4 stars because it did not work with my Hi8 tape player even when I got in touch with customer support (who did their utmost) it just did not want to function. Yes a really nice machine and easy to work with.

Excellent, so easy to use and set up , transfers to digital with good quality Sunday and video 👍

Very impressed with this device; have used it for about a week to digitise several VHS tapes and I'm pleased with the results, it's far superior to the old Canopus Firewire device I've been using for years. Only one thing I would mention, and it's not a major problem - when in capture mode the screen shows the picture in full screen, so 4:3 videos (which is the format of most home VHS ones) are displayed as stretched horizontally, making people look short and fat - but the saved files do play back in the correct aspect ratio. All in all, very satisfied with my purchase.

Highly recommend if you want to convert all of your old home videos onto a memory stick!! My grandparents were desperate to convert all their home videos of family onto a memory stick as they can no longer watch them on the modern tv now a days. I did some research and originally looked to get them converted by third party but the price was ridiculous! I came across this converter and I can say it’s the best thing I’ve ever brought! It’s so easy to use. You need to make sure you’ve got a working video player to put the videos in, plug all the wires in, pop in your memory stick into the converter and basically click go! You can attach your HDMI lead into your tv if you want as you record so you can watch it as a family or just have it sitting on the floor recording as you go about your day as you can see it on the little screen to keep an eye on it. After years of wanting to watch these videos, my grandparents can now take a trip down memory lane for a reasonable price. Thankyou very much!

EXCELLENT SOLUTION TO SAVING OLD TAPES A lot of these devices look similar. I selected the PORTTA. This gadget is BRILLIANT. Why? I needed to copy a box of camcorder video tapes and then edit them around. The PORTTA is simplicity itself to operate, gives excellent quality copies straight onto a USB stick (not supplied) which in turn plugs straight into a PC/MAC to process. NOTE: You CANNOT use an external hard drive that is powered via the USB connection. The screen is easily big enough to keep an eye on the copying in real time. BTW, MACs come with iMovie which is an excellent basic digital video editing tool. I am about to move onto a library full of interviews etc on old VHS tapes but have every confidence the results will be just as good. Am also going to see if it copies movies being screened via a projector fed by a ROKU streaming box. The correct sockets are present so it may function like an old world video recorder ? I thoroughly recommend this bit of kit.