HackerTubewatch
Surprise me
Frame from The Best Easy Way to Capture Analog Video (it's a little weird) Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

The Best Easy Way to Capture Analog Video (it's a little weird)

55 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this tutorial3 months2019–2022 score 3
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN people recommend it as an affordable, good-quality way to digitize analog video.

Technology Connections shows a cheap method for capturing analog video: a composite-to-HDMI upscaler feeding an HDMI capture dongle, aimed at digitizing home movies and VHS tapes.

“does some good coverage of capturing/converting analogue video - hardware choices make huge difference.” (HN, 2020)

3 recommendations · 1 citations · 1 critical · Tutorials · intro

5 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@interestica Oct 2020 Recommends
on HN thread My Eight-Year Quest to Digitize 45 Videotapes
Read more
For those in the Toronto-Hamilton-Montreal corridor, I've been running everpixels.ca for a bit as a side thing (though it's kinda on pause). It's primarily focused on photo digitization for families - but I've also done a ton of tape media. I can help any local HNers that need access to hardware. (Or just some info/direction) Technology Connections (YouTube) does some good coverage of capturing/converting analogue video - hardware choices make huge difference. [this video] There's clearly a need/desire for this kind of stuff (though it's sad how many times I'm approached as someone is near death). Don't wait til that moment to save the stories and memories that you have. I've been back and forth about how much I want to dive in with this project. If anyone is local and really interested in some of it, drop me a line. There are some cool avenues I've touched - seniors, alzheimers, story capture.
Covers capturing analog video and hardware choices.
@ocdtrekkie Apr 2022 Recommends
on HN thread A blue connector does not USB 3.0 make
[this video] introduces the "use a composite-to-HDMI upscaler and a cheap HDMI capture dongle" trick. It looks like he might've linked a different capture dongle, though the one I bought was pretty near identical to the one this article is about.
Trick using composite-to-HDMI upscaler and cheap capture dongle.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@tablespoon Jul 2021 Pushes back
on HN thread YouTube says it pulled Bolsonaro videos for Covid-19 misinformation
Read more
> Youtube was, is and will forever be for cat videos, not for serious information - or so at least the moderation policy makes it out to be. The problem isn't the moderation policy, it's the medium. It encourages easy passive absorption of anything presented in a slick matter by people who barely know what they're talking about. Take for instance this slick video talking about VHS capture by Technology Connections, which I used to have vaguely positive feelings about: [this video] The people on a forum with really deep knowledge on the subject have poor things to say about it: [link] . They say he only has a poor gasp of the subject, and half the time sounds like he's just reading off of Wikipedia. > There are plenty of alternative video distribution channels out there which don't have this problem, the only thing which needs to be solved is video discovery. No, those "alternative video distribution channels" are usually far worse, precisely because of that lack of moderation. Except in a very few cases (specifically some gun videos, and Serikzhan Bilash), most of the original content that has to flee to them is garbage.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Search
j k
Next / previous video
r
Surprise me
l
Like (video page)
w
Watch later (video page)
?
This help
Esc
Close