VHS tutorial
When transferring your movies, the pluses of DVDs outweigh those of VHS tapes. VHS film can degrade over time and the tape casings are prone to damage also as well make the tape useless. Storage is easier with DVDs since they take up less space than videos. In addition the definition of the footage and audio is higher on DVDs.
So how does one convert VHS tapes to DVDs to salvage them for the future? There are many options. For starters, you could use a VHS to DVD conversion service that will do the transfer for you. We are one of those companies. Visit our conversion page today at http://www.vintagevhs.net/vintagevhs_services.html
But if you are computer savvy you can do it yourself, and even though we are in the converting business , we also like to help out where we can and share the info we know, so you know.
The computer savvy will probably use their comp to transfer their home movies to DVD. It requires copying the video to a digital file on the laptop using an analog converter. The file gets reduced to MPEG-2 format before being burned onto a DVD. This task takes some time, but it allows you to make changes to the footage , like special effects or music , before you burn it to the DVD . Depending on the burning software that you use, you could add a menu or other special options. The process can be quite slow because you have to transfer the file twice: first from the video to the computer and then again from the comp to the DVD.
To spare some time and effort, you can duplicate the tapes to a DVD without the use of a computer. There are two options to do this:
The first involves purchasing a DVD recorder that allows input from another source. Just connect your VCR player by cables to the DVD recorder and while the film plays, it records.
You could also purchase a combination DVD/VCR recorder. It does the same thing as the previous option without having to connect any cables.
If you do the conversion yourself, be sure that you have cleaned the heads of the VHS tapes between copying movies. Your old tapes could carry a lot of dust or other particles that could block up the VCR. And because you are duplicating directly from the video to the DVD, any picture quality difficulties you have with the video will show up on the finalized DVD. Knowing that if you have videos which are recorded at S.L.P. you will not get the exact quality of recording onto a DVD as if the video was recorded at S.P. If you find the definition is not acceptable for you, consider changing your method of converting.
For more do it yourself help visit our blog at http://www.vintagevhs.net/Video_Editing_blog.html
Converting family movies from VHS-C tapes present few problems. VCRs and VHS or Hi-8 camcorders are with R.C.A. modulation movie and audio outputs that can be easily connected to a DVR or a DVD Recorder as well as to a computer port such as U.S.B. using an adapter and video program.
Unlike VHS and Hi-8 tapes viewed on VCRs and camcorders, older 8mm reels of family movies present a different obstacle to convert them to a digital formats. The older 8mm projectors do not have film video output jacks. The old movie projectors never converted the movies to any analog signal, what they did was just to simply pass the photo images on footage in front of the projector screen. There's not really an simple way to directly copy this content to a digital format.
Consider using Vintage VHS conversion services to transfer the videos; just $10 a reel!
http://www.vintagevhs.net/8mm_conversions.html
Depending on how many 8mm reels you have and your budget, getting a professional to do it may be the best option . Family members might usually are more than happy to chip in for the conversion if they end up with copies themselves. Getting a group of contributors could make this option even more affordable.
