<p>When you asked this question, there was no solution for what you wanted. Since a VHS tape is analog, in a sense, there never will be.</p>

<p>But there is work on something as close as possible. Over at <a href="https://github.com/happycube/ld-decode" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/happycube/ld-decode</a> there is software to capture, as accurately as possible, LaserDiscs. These are also analog. There is work underway to capture VHS tapes as well as possible too. You still need a VHS tape deck. But you attach a special capture hardware, before any (analog) signal processing is done - and capture the analog data almost directly from the tape pickup heads.</p>

<p>All the other best practices of VHS tape restoration then become obsolete. You don't need a hardware Time Base Corrector, for instance. All of that is done in software in post processing. Since you are bypassing most of the signal path in the VHS player, you don't need a very high end VHS player either. This solution, when finished, has the potential to get out from a VHS tape better quality than was previously possible. Of course, it's still VHS, so it will never be <em>good</em>, but these rips will be better than any other solution.</p>

<p>(However, the software at the time of this writing only really works for LaserDisc. Currently, as far as I know, VHS tapes can be copied in black and white. Stay tuned though, it's very interesting and high end video restoration labs should keep an eye on this project.)</p>

<p>The issue with copy protected VHS tapes, (IIRC) is that the sync pulse is non-standard and can confuse some capture cards. (As well as back in the day, tape decks recording, that was the point of the copy protection after all.)</p>

<p>With the happycube software, that would not be an issue. I am sure there are other ways to "clean up" the sync pulse so you can copy VHS tapes with copy protection.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-11T15:27:28.367Z
2019-03-11T15:27:28.367Z
Prof. Falken
<p>VHS tape is an analog medium.  It encodes information based on the strength of analog magnetic data and, as such, any copy is subject to generational loss.  The reason we can make an exact copy of digital data is because the slight inaccuracies in a read of voltage can be corrected because they are close enough to either the value of a 1 or the value of a 0 that we can safely assume the real value.  </p>

<p>Since analog signals cover an entire range of values, we have no way to make this correction (as we don't know have a way to determine what is noise and what is signal) and any inaccuracy in reading the original or writing the subsequent copy is unrecoverable generational loss.  </p>

<p>This is one of the reasons why linear editing systems remained popular for a time after non-linear editing systems came on the market.  If you wanted to edit from an analog medium to an analog medium, linear editing allowed a single generation of quality loss while converting to digital and back required two generations of loss to use a non-linear editing system.</p>

<p>As far as making as close of a copy to a copyrighted VHS tape as possible, you simply need a VCR that can run at a slow and/or accurate enough rate to deal with the various copyright techniques used on analog VHS.  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS#Copy_Protection" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Macrovision</a>, one of the most common systems for copy protection, used a sharp peak in the color pulse and/or vertical blanking interval of a video frame to make it so that the data was interpreted correctly on a read, but when a typical VCR tried to record the data again, the color pulse or the gain would get corrupted resulting in the image being scrambled.</p>

<p>This relied on the quality of typical VCRs and the auto-gain controls to work properly.  With a manually adjusted gain and accurate enough duplication to reproduce the signal accurately, the copy protection would be copied over intact without harming the copy.  </p>

<p>If the goal is simply to be able to archive the VHS content, many digital capture systems can properly transfer the actual video information, but consumer devices are required by law in many jurisdictions to recognize the macrovision pulses and disable recording if they are found.  Many professional devices can get around this limitation by clicking through a copyright warning.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-07T16:23:34.243Z
2017-06-07T16:23:34.243Z
AJ Henderson
<p>I want to rip (to make an EXACT copy of) a copyright-protected VHS. I do NOT want to record the VHS in Real–Time. How can I accomplish making an ACTUAL rip of a VHS? A VHS-Rom Drive would be the analogue variant OF a DVD-Rom Drive. I will use a DVD/Blu-ray Ripping Software to rip the VHS. The necessity of needing a VHS-Rom Drive, rather than a VCR, is so the computer will be able to detect both the device that reads the VHS (the VHS-Rom Drive) &amp; the VHS itself. A TV is NOT needed at all, in any way, for this procedure since the VHS will not be in playback mode during copying &amp; since the VHS will only be copied by a DVD Ripping Software the same way a DVD is copied by a DVD Ripping Software, which does not at all, in any way, require the use of either of DVD Player/Recorder or a VCR. I want a 100% LOSSLESS, &amp; UNCOMPRESSED, copy of a copyright-protected VHS!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-04T21:14:11.540Z
Unfortunately, what you are asking for does not exist. It ignores the physics of how analog video tape works.
Michael Liebman
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T09:05:46.297Z
as @MichaelLiebman says it is not possible as VHS is analog. The only way would be to use an Analog to Digital converter. FYI I hvae never had to use a TV to record my VHS's onto my computer
Adam Mann Pro
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-06T02:36:46.867Z
I have to ask: why?
stib
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-06T03:34:32.593Z
If it is, in fact, somehow impossible to create a VHS-Rom Drive, instead, how do you copy a copyright-protected VHS directly from the videotape?
Dave Little
<video><decoding>
How do you make a VHS-Rom Drive?
Dave Little
# How do you make a VHS-Rom Drive?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-06-04)

I want to rip (to make an EXACT copy of) a copyright-protected VHS. I do NOT want to record the VHS in Real–Time. How can I accomplish making an ACTUAL rip of a VHS? A VHS-Rom Drive would be the analogue variant OF a DVD-Rom Drive. I will use a DVD/Blu-ray Ripping Software to rip the VHS. The necessity of needing a VHS-Rom Drive, rather than a VCR, is so the computer will be able to detect both the device that reads the VHS (the VHS-Rom Drive) & the VHS itself. A TV is NOT needed at all, in any way, for this procedure since the VHS will not be in playback mode during copying & since the VHS will only be copied by a DVD Ripping Software the same way a DVD is copied by a DVD Ripping Software, which does not at all, in any way, require the use of either of DVD Player/Recorder or a VCR. I want a 100% LOSSLESS, & UNCOMPRESSED, copy of a copyright-protected VHS!

**Tags:** video, decoding

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Unfortunately, what you are asking for does not exist. It ignores the physics of how analog video tape works.  
> **username_2**: as @MichaelLiebman says it is not possible as VHS is analog. The only way would be to use an Analog to Digital converter. FYI I hvae never had to use a TV to record my VHS's onto my computer  
> **username_3**: I have to ask: why?  
> **username_0**: If it is, in fact, somehow impossible to create a VHS-Rom Drive, instead, how do you copy a copyright-protected VHS directly from the videotape?  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2019-03-11. Score: 0

When you asked this question, there was no solution for what you wanted. Since a VHS tape is analog, in a sense, there never will be.

But there is work on something as close as possible. Over at <https://github.com/happycube/ld-decode> there is software to capture, as accurately as possible, LaserDiscs. These are also analog. There is work underway to capture VHS tapes as well as possible too. You still need a VHS tape deck. But you attach a special capture hardware, before any (analog) signal processing is done - and capture the analog data almost directly from the tape pickup heads.

All the other best practices of VHS tape restoration then become obsolete. You don't need a hardware Time Base Corrector, for instance. All of that is done in software in post processing. Since you are bypassing most of the signal path in the VHS player, you don't need a very high end VHS player either. This solution, when finished, has the potential to get out from a VHS tape better quality than was previously possible. Of course, it's still VHS, so it will never be *good*, but these rips will be better than any other solution.

(However, the software at the time of this writing only really works for LaserDisc. Currently, as far as I know, VHS tapes can be copied in black and white. Stay tuned though, it's very interesting and high end video restoration labs should keep an eye on this project.)

The issue with copy protected VHS tapes, (IIRC) is that the sync pulse is non-standard and can confuse some capture cards. (As well as back in the day, tape decks recording, that was the point of the copy protection after all.)

With the happycube software, that would not be an issue. I am sure there are other ways to "clean up" the sync pulse so you can copy VHS tapes with copy protection.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2017-06-07. Score: 0

VHS tape is an analog medium. It encodes information based on the strength of analog magnetic data and, as such, any copy is subject to generational loss. The reason we can make an exact copy of digital data is because the slight inaccuracies in a read of voltage can be corrected because they are close enough to either the value of a 1 or the value of a 0 that we can safely assume the real value.

Since analog signals cover an entire range of values, we have no way to make this correction (as we don't know have a way to determine what is noise and what is signal) and any inaccuracy in reading the original or writing the subsequent copy is unrecoverable generational loss.

This is one of the reasons why linear editing systems remained popular for a time after non-linear editing systems came on the market. If you wanted to edit from an analog medium to an analog medium, linear editing allowed a single generation of quality loss while converting to digital and back required two generations of loss to use a non-linear editing system.

As far as making as close of a copy to a copyrighted VHS tape as possible, you simply need a VCR that can run at a slow and/or accurate enough rate to deal with the various copyright techniques used on analog VHS. [Macrovision](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS#Copy_Protection), one of the most common systems for copy protection, used a sharp peak in the color pulse and/or vertical blanking interval of a video frame to make it so that the data was interpreted correctly on a read, but when a typical VCR tried to record the data again, the color pulse or the gain would get corrupted resulting in the image being scrambled.

This relied on the quality of typical VCRs and the auto-gain controls to work properly. With a manually adjusted gain and accurate enough duplication to reproduce the signal accurately, the copy protection would be copied over intact without harming the copy.

If the goal is simply to be able to archive the VHS content, many digital capture systems can properly transfer the actual video information, but consumer devices are required by law in many jurisdictions to recognize the macrovision pulses and disable recording if they are found. Many professional devices can get around this limitation by clicking through a copyright warning.


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