Transferring home movies from VHS to DVD
By ddhawkins63
@ddhawkins63 (682)
United States
July 1, 2009 6:55am CST
I recently took on the task of changing all of our old home movies to DVD. My mother was really always taking videos. A lot of those videos are of my kids when they were little. VHS tapes are really old and outdated. They also break with time etc. So, me and my boyfriend figured out how to transfer these VHS tapes to my computer and then I am going to edit and put them on DVD in a more organized manner. I have spent the better part of five days so far transferring these tapes over to the computer and haven't even scratched the surface. I also know that my brother has a bunch of VHS tapes as well that he is supposed to give to me to do as well. It's been interesting because I have found things that I forgot existed.
Has anyone else taken the time to do this? If not, aren't you afraid that you will lose use of the tapes after years or from it getting eaten in a Video machine. If you have done it, how long did it take you to do it and would you pay someone to do it? Would it be worth the money to preserve your old tapes? How much do you think someone would pay to get that done for them?
3 responses
@scififan43 (2434)
• United States
4 Jul 09
Hi ddhawlins63, I have a lot of old VHS tapes also but I have not converted anything to DVD. i do not have that capibillity. I am not sure if I want to go thur that truble. most of what have are moives that I could purches on DVD latter on if I wanted too. I have quite a lot of DVS's allready, more than my VHS i think. I do not have any home movies at all. only just reacenly I am able to do a that and it all goes on my compter then I can make a copy on a disk.
2 people like this
@ddhawkins63 (682)
• United States
9 Jul 09
I wasn't talking about movie tapes, you can get in trouble for that haha. I was actually talking about home movies that will be lost forever is something happens to the tapes. Tapes get very old and can break easily. The quality gets compromised over time as well. It's been a great adventure seeing all the old tapes from back then while I was transferring them to the computer. You can also purchase a dvd/vcr in one. That allows you to copy all old tapes to DVD without having to put it on your computer.
1 person likes this
@saw2207 (1359)
• United States
1 Jul 09
I too have been on a mission to get all my old VHS tapes onto my computer and then to a DVD. But it gets so frustrating figuring all the codes they are talking about. A few weeks ago Elgato (they make alot of software for video) came out with this Video Capture device. I have been waiting for enough people to post their review of this item before I may purchase it. . .It sounds as if you at least figured out how to transfer them onto the computer without a device like this .. What did you use?? Can you explain it?? Maybe I wont have to buy this 99$ item from Elgato . ..although if you have been doing it for days. . maybe it is worth the 100 bucks?? Cause I was thinking if I buy it when I am done with it I can sell it on ebay . .and that way someone else can use it. . ha ha
And YES is the answer to your question in regard to preserving these precious memories!
Happy Lotting to you!
2 people like this
@ddhawkins63 (682)
• United States
9 Jul 09
I actually found software that came with my HP computer to transfer it. It was a trial version of Cyberlink DVD Suite. I hooked up the VCR to my computer with a cable. Then I used windows media center to open up live tv. I don't have a cable connection to it, but it opened up the software, tough to explain, but anyway, I was able to capture everything. I did an article on it. If you send me a private message, I can send the you article that tells exactly how to do it. If the software came with your computer, it should be simple for you to do. I finally finished getting them all on the computer. I want to edit them though and I don't have software that does exactly what I want to do so I will have to wait until I have the money to purchase the editing software. I would like to have it done before Christmas so I can make everyone some really great Christmas gifts.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
3 Jul 09
This is awesome! I recently figured out that I could create really decent looking DVDs with menus similar to the commercial ones and created a mini documentary of my students talking about their experiences in my class. I also added slide shows and showed video of the kids taking part in coopertive activities. I was really impressed with how it looked on a larger screen.
I have a couple vhs that I wouldn't mind transferring if I knew how to do it at home. Commercially getting it done can be costly.
1 person likes this
@ddhawkins63 (682)
• United States
9 Jul 09
It can be very expensive. I thought though, if I were to do it for others, I could make some extra money without charging them as much as other places do. Simply to transfer the VHS to DVD isn't hard at all. It's the editing part that is difficult.
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
11 Jul 09
This is true and you could offer two different services; one transfer, one editing.
1 person likes this
