One option to convert from VHS to digital uses a digital video camera as an intermediate device. It is required that the digital video camera permit appropriate input, either S-Video and audio or RCA type video signal separation, (left, right, video). It is also required that the camera have a direct feed to the computer. My way-old Sony digital camcorder (Hi-8mm format) has a USB connection that does not have the bandwidth to provide suitable connection but does have a Firewire™ data port. My computer has also this data port.
The VHS device would output to the digital camcorder, convert it to digital and pass it through the Firewire™ connection to the PC. The computer would have to have appropriate software to capture/record the video from the camera.
It is not difficult to find an inexpensive digital camera via craigslist or eBay and I cannot address today's technology in that aspect, but it's not as likely to contain such "old-time" connectivity.
For the software aspect, if you don't spend the big bucks on a brand name package, one could use a Linux machine running Kdenlive or one of many other options. I've used Kdenlive and found it to be intuitive and responsive on a Linux machine, somewhat buggy and crash-prone in the Windows version.
A quick check on eBay shows my old camera, dcr-tv350 running between one and two hundred dollars.
There are also devices which are a VHS tape player on one side and a DVD recorder on the other. The manuals are complex unless you are aiming for a straight dump from one medium to the other. Another quick search shows they are far more expensive than a used camera in the middle.
2Get a video capture card, start recording, and play the VHS? – psusi – 2018-01-11T20:16:13.583
Essentially any current generation video capture device will far surpass the quality requirements needed to encode the low quality mess that is VHS tape. As long as the capture device has an input that you have an output for then just go for it. Beyond a certain bandwidth, probably 2 or 3 megabits for VHS, and all you are going to be capturing is video tape noise and the abomination that is composite video encoding. – Mokubai – 2018-01-11T20:27:14.690
Also - with respect of terrible quality - you are not going to get fantastic quality out of these tapes, so looking for a high bandwidth low-disortion target is a bit of a waste - as the output you are dealing with is analog and low resolution. – davidgo – 2018-01-11T20:27:14.870
@psusi: I dunno. Apparently there's more than one hardware option. – einpoklum – 2018-01-11T20:41:34.640
@davidgo: Of course you're right, I just don't want to get more degradation beyond the already-low quality of the tape and what the player might be introducing. – einpoklum – 2018-01-11T20:42:08.213
@einpklum You may do better to ask or look for an answer to this question on the Software Recommendations StackExchange: https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/ (for your Windows Software), and then the Hardware Recommendations StackExchange https://hardwarerecs.stackexchange.com/ (for Hardware that works with your chosen software and computer hardware).
– leeand00 – 2018-01-16T19:29:23.393@leeand00: Ah, but here's the thing - you need both hardware and software, together, hence none of the two sites quite fits. Anyway, I've found a solution. – einpoklum – 2018-01-16T19:39:34.567
@einpoklum Glad you have; however, that's why I told you to look into software first (that will run on your computer) and then include that software in the question when choosing hardware on the other SE. – leeand00 – 2018-01-16T20:25:07.493