June 23, 2012 @ 11:48 PM

Home Movie video transfer 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 vulnerable 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 film and sound is greater 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 business 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 organization , 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 desktop  to transfer their vids  to DVD. It requires duplicating  the video to a digital file on the desktop using an analog converter. The file gets reduced to MPEG-2 format before being burned onto a DVD. This method takes some time, but it allows you to make alterations  to the footage , like special effects or music , before you copy it to 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 save time and effort, you can copy the video  to a DVD without the use of a comp. There are two possible ways to do this:

 

The first involves getting a DVD recorder that allows input from another source. Just attach your VCR player by cables to the DVD recorder and while the video plays, it records.

 

You could also 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 replicating movies. Old home movies  carry a lot of dust or other particles that could block up the VCR. And because you are copying directly from the videos  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 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 info visit our blog at Editing Blog

 

Converting home videos from VHS-C cassettes present few problems. VCRs and VHS or Hi-8 recorders are with R.C.A. modulation video  and sound 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 cassettes played on VCRs and camcorders, older 8mm reels of family videos  present a different obstacle to convert them to a digital formats. The older reel  projectors do not have movie 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 film in front of the projector  bulb. There's no easy way to directly duplicate this content to a digital format.

Based on how many video reels or tapes you have and your budget, hiring a professional to do it may be the best choice . 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.

 

Consider using Vintage VHS conversion services to transfer the videos; just $10 a reel!

http://www.vintagevhs.net/8mm_conversions.html