Video Transfer made EASY!

When transferring your movies, the pluses of DVDs outweigh those of VHS tapes. VHS film can degrade over time and the cassette 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 picture and sound is greater on DVDs.

So how does one convert VHS tapes to DVDs to salvage them for the future? There are several 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.  

But if you are computer savvy you can do it yourself, and even though we are in the converting organization , we also like to help out where we can and share the knowledge we know, so you know.

The computer savvy will probably use  their desktop  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 process takes some time, but it allows you to make alterations  to the film , like special effects or music , before you copy it . Depending on the burning software that you use, you possibly could add a menu or other special options. The process can be very slow because you have to transfer the file twice: first from the video to the computer and then again from the laptop or desktop to the DVD.

To spare some time and effort, you can duplicate the tapes  to a DVD without the use of a comp. There are two possible ways 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.

The second option is to purchase a combination DVD/VCR recorder. It does the same thing as the previous option without needing to connect any cables.

If you do the conversion yourself, be sure that you have cleaned the heads of the VHS tapes between copying films. 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 film  to the DVD, any picture quality issues  you have with the video will appear  on the finalized DVD. Knowing that if you have movies which are recorded at S.L.P. you will not get the same 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.