Keep Your Family's Home Movies Alive By Converting VHS Tapes To DVD

If you have many VHS tapes of your family vacations, Christmases, etc., you should get them converted into DVDs. VHS tapes are still around, but they are going away. This will ensure you can keep the precious moments you have on these tapes for years to come. You can do this by hiring a video tape conversion service, or do it yourself.

Use a Video Tape Conversion Service

A video tape conversion service can convert not only VHS tapes, but also beta tapes, small tapes from your camcorder, and more. They are especially useful if you have a large amount of tapes to convert.

When you bring your tapes to the conversion service, they will clean them, if necessary. The company will then play back the tapes one by one to ensure they are working properly. The conversion service can trim empty areas of the video tape, and do color corrections. They can also fix any flickering problems, which you may see with camcorder tapes.

The conversion company can also enhance the audio on the tapes. Such as if you have some people speaking very loudly, and others speaking too softly on the tapes. Besides giving you DVDs for each tape, the company can also convert the files to a hard drive so you will them on your computer.

Convert the Videos Yourself

If you only have a few VHS tapes, or want to save money, you can convert the videos yourself. The conversion service can make the tapes a much higher quality, but you can still get a very good picture doing it on your own.

You can purchase an analog converter to transfer the VHS tapes to digital files to save on your computer, which can then be burned onto DVDs.  You can purchase an analog converter at most electronic stores. This method will take time, but you are able to make changes to the video once you get it converted.

For example, you could add music to the background or use special effects. This process is slow, as you have to transfer the videos to your computer, and then from your computer to DVDs. You will find complete instructions with the converter you purchase on how to use it.

To make the job quicker, you can convert the tapes without using your computer. Purchase a DVD recorder at an electronics store. Connect the VCR to the DVD recorder with the required cable. The recorder may come with this cable, or the instructions will tell you the type of cable you need. Put a blank DVD into the DVD recorder, and then start playing the video on the VCR, and as it is playing, it is recording to the DVD.

You should consider making more than one copy of the DVDs when you finish. This will ensure you will always have a backup if any of the DVDs are ever damaged. To learn more, contact a company like Prime Time Video Digital Productions with any questions you have.