At one time VHS was a revolutionary breakthrough for the home moviemaker. VHS cameras allowed us to easily tape family events and play them on our TV sets, but like everything else, technology changes. In the case of VHS tapes, this can be especially threatening because they deteriorate with each passing year. Now, though, software programs and computer accessories make it easy to save what you have recorded and reformat it for the digital age.Today's project demonstrates how to convert old VHS home movies into new formats of digital tape and digital DVD videodiscs. In the course of doing this, we will condense home movies by editing down hours of tape to the highlights that are the most watchable. We'll also create a DVD with an opening menu and chapter points, just like the ones you rent from the video store. Finally, we'll learn an inexpensive way to transfer old film to digital videotape.
Converting VHS Tapes
The best way to save old, shaky-looking VHS footage is to bring the footage into a computer and transfer it from the original format to a digital format such as DV or DVD. This will also give you the option of editing movies together.
1. Before starting a video-archiving project, sort through the tapes to see what events will be reformatted.
2. To set up an editing system on a computer, you will need a computer with at least a Pentium-3 chip, 512 megabytes of RAM, a 60-gigabyte hard drive, a video card monitor and a firewire card and cable to bring the footage into the computer.
3. A large hard drive is needed because five minutes of video take up one gigabyte of space. If you have two hours of video, you'll need 24 gigabytes of space.
4. The majority of most new computers will have most of these capabilities, or they can be easily upgraded if purchased within the past two to three years.
5. If you don't want to use a computer, you can take a VHS tape player, hook it directly into the digital camcorder using RCA cables (figure A) and make a low-cost dub by recording the VCR footage directly into the camera.
6. If the footage is run through the computer, however, there are more color (figure B) and sound corrections available.
Tape Storage and Care
- Store tapes in a climate-controlled room to protect against temperature extremes, humidity and dust. If tapes are not protected, their life will be shortened.
- Keep them in the house, never in a garage or an attic.
- Always store tapes in their cases, which help protect against dust and insects.
- Label the tapes (figure C), noting the event and the date of the recording. This may not seem like an important step, but it can save hours of search time in the future.
- Use the tape save option (figure D) to prevent recording over events you want to keep. (On DV tapes this is a sliding tab located on the tape spine.) This is an excellent habit to get into -- remember, you can never retape a child's birthday party once it's over!
- Never place videocassettes near anything with a magnet: magnets can erase tape.
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