This follows up a post I wrote back in August 2025 when I tried to use an 'Honestech' DIGITNOW! video capture device with my HP laptop.
Back then I had a very frustrating time tying to get this to work so I could make a digital recording of my first edition Star Wars VHS tapes. Firstly the software which came with the device proved to be useless. At the time I did try an earlier version of Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) as an alternative without success. I can't remember what the issue was but it could have been my video converter card was not recognised within OBS. I resorted to a very long-winded process of using a very old video capture device and software on an equally old Dell laptop running Vista. Anway, that was covered in detail in my earlier post.
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| DIGITNOW! video capture card sold under the name 'Honestech' |
This whole issue recently came to mind once more and I had an idea to try a different approach using the latest version of OBS.
I began by searching for the official DIGITNOW! website and checking their software download page. To my surprise it linked to an OBS version 27.0.1 download (not the newest). So I decided to download the latest version from the official OBS website which was version 32.1.2. If the video card maker was recommending OBS then it must work, right?
I don't always have the patience to watch tutorials, so I dived straight into OBS. The user instructions which came with DIGITNOW! provided the device name for video as AV TO USB2.0 and the audio device as USB2.0 MIC. I plugged in the capture device into the USB slot and checked on Windows 11 device manager to make sure these were listed, which they were. I then went into OBS looking for those names.
I've added some screenshot steps below. I suspect this process could also work with other branded converters made in China. The hardware is probably made in the same factory and just packaged differently. That’s good news if you have a converter but no longer have the original software.
With the cables, I plugged the scart socket switched to 'OUT' into the bottom of the two sockets at the back of my VCR.
Once I inserted a VHS and played it, I could preview the playback in OBS. Previously, I had to playback the video on a TV screen to capture it. So it was recording the signal directly this time.
After a test run I found I also had the option to adjust some lighting and colour settings. I did adjust the colour slightly so the faces no longer appeared so red and now had a better skin tone.
The other significant improvement with using OBS directly with the VCR signal was that I had a far better replay with no lines and scratches as before. Also no 'Macromedia' copyright blocks. I even tested a Disney VHS and could now record ut without any copyright blocks.
This was very satisfying after the frustrations when I tried last year. I'm not sure if the success was due to a newer version of OBS or just that I worked out how to get the correct settings.
The final recording came out as 2.66GB.
Here's some step-by-step screeshots. This was a trial and error process for me but the settings I made seem to have worked. There's functionality to tweak these settings further and even make some direct changes to colour etc. I wasn't familiar with all these options or what they did so left most to default.
1. Start by clicking on the + symbol.
2. Select Video Capture Device from the drop down list.
3. Make sure the video capture device is plugged into the USB socket. Select create new and provide a name.
4. Select the video capture device which should be listed on the drop down list provided. In my case it's called "AV to USB2.0". Then go down this pop-up box and select the audio device which for me was called "Microphone (USB2.0 MIC)".
5. Your newly created profile name will appear in blue under Source on the bottom left side. This should give you a screen like this. You can move the red borders. With your new 'source' active in the bottom left, you can then right-click and get a long list of options.
6. I checked through these options to see if there was anything I should change. The only thing I found to change was to make the aspect ratio suitable for a square television 4:3. These VHS tapes were produced for the old style square televisions. Do this by selecting Filters.
I've now tested this successfully on all three of my Star Wars trilogy first edition VHS tapes. There was no 'scrambling' which appears when I previously tried digitally recording these same VHS tapes using an older video capture card via a television screen. See my previous post for how this went.
Star Wars A New Hope came to 2.66 Gb, The Empire Strikes Back 3.47 Gb and Return of the Jedi 3.07 Gb.
The quality of the VHS playback improved with each film. The first film being the oldest, may have been rented out significantly more tmes than the others, which may explain the poorer picture quality.
Looking at the following screencaps, you can see there's a black border on either side of the picture. I believe this can't be avoided if playing in VLC. I would need to check the settings again in OBS to see if it can record without the black borders on either side.
Episode IV screencaps
Episode V screencaps
Episode VI screencaps
