With the introduction of DVD, with greater video and sound validity, the VHS system fell into disuse and recorders in digital format became popular, especially hard disks, but also in physical format. DVD. The DVD was followed by current video streaming platforms. This is, basically, the story of Netflix.
If you still talk VHS tapes At home, you have free time and a Raspberry Pi that you can do like Alan Boris, a user who turned an old VHS tape into a standalone video player and recorder.
Give VHS tapes a second life
Boris came up with the idea of creating a video player and recorder because of a specific need he had. Instead of buying it, he figured the only way to find the product he was looking for was to make it himself and he got to work.
As we can see in the images that accompany this article, inside the VHS cassette case, Boris decided to keep one of the reels and make it move using a small DRV8833 motor when the device is in operation , although the result, as we can see in the video, is not the best of all.
At the other coil, for reasons of space, Boris used a Raspberry Pi 3 A+ because it takes up less space than the B+ model. Additionally, a LED screen where it shows what you are doing at that moment and as a configuration menu since, in addition, it also allows you to schedule the recording, although the latter seems to be an impossible mission with just one screen.
To send the signal to an external monitor, Boris implemented a few RCA connectors with audio and video output and several buttons at the top to manage its operation via VLC script without user interface. To record content, it added a USB capture device.
The only aesthetic difference of this project compared to a traditional VHS quote is that the tab that protects the tape has been replaced with RCA connectors.
When we said at the beginning that if you have a VHS tape you can also do this project, it’s because Boris was kind enough to make it open source. All the project code is available via GitHub so that any user can make it.
To compile the code and flash it on the Raspberry Pi, Boris recommends using Whalea platform that we can use for free and link it to the GitHub account where the code for this project is located.
In this other link to Hackster, you will find all the Components that you used to make it, except for the VHS tape.
