We’ve been counting down the top 10 reasons to consider saving your home movies to DVD. Today is a recap of our past 10 days of why it is important to do a home video transfer:
In our first blog in this series, we shared some history about VHS and video tapes. But why should you care about transferring home movies to video and DVD? We get that question quite a lot when we are out talking to people and telling them about what we do in our studio. That’s why we created the “Top 10 Reasons to Transfer Your Home movies As Soon As Possible” to answer that question.
Top 10 Reasons to Transfer Home Movies As Soon As Possible
10. Editing –While “bloopers” can be funny, nobody wants to see the video accidentally shot with the camera lens cap on or the footage of the ground where you forgot the camera was turned on and still recording. By transferring your movies from VHS to disk, you can easily edit out the bad video and keep only what you want.
9. Sharing – think of all the fun your friends and family will get out of being able to see those great moments from decades ago. By transferring your VHS to DVD, you can duplicate the disks and share with everyone.
8. Ease of Use – VHS tapes can only be fast-forwarded or rewound. It’s time consuming to sort through 2 hours to find just the clip you are looking for. Once on a DVD, you can add chapter marks and scene selections to help jump to the exact spot you want to watch.
7. Family Entertainment – We all get so caught up in our day-to-day activities, it’s fun to spend an afternoon or evening unwinding around the TV and reliving old memories. Since JVC stopped making the standalone VCR player, it’s hard to find a machine to play your old VHS tapes. And even if you can find one, often the quality of the machine is lacking due to its age. Gathering everyone together to be able to watch those movies again is sure to be a blast. We’ve seen some pretty amazing moments captured on video tape that our many customers are so excited to be able to enjoy again.
6. Technology Evolution – as technology continues to change, machines used to transfer your videos are becoming harder to find. You should transfer our media while there is still an available supply of working quality transfer equipment.
5. Organizing & Space Savings – Just think how great it would be to free up all that closet space being taken up by videotapes. By transferring home movies to DVDs, they can be kept in a binder that takes up very little shelf space.
4. Risk of Natural Disaster – I live in Florida where every year, we have to worry about hurricanes. Just turn on the news and there is sure to be a story about a flood or fire or some other disaster that wipes out entire houses. We keep insurance on the stuff we own – our houses, cars, furniture and other household goods. But no insurance can replace what is truly important to us – our precious photos and videos. Transferring them onto disk allows you to make multiple copies that can be stored in a safe deposit box so you never have to worry about losing them.
3. Reconnecting with Lost Loved Ones – How great would it be to hear the voice or see the smiling face of a loved one who is no longer with you? While their memory is vivid in our imagination, nothing replaces the reality of seeing and hearing them again on DVD. This has been one of the most personally rewarding things we are able to do for families. Not too long ago a recently widowed woman brought us in all of her VHS tapes taken with her husband and children. Her tears of joy at being able to see her late husband touched us deeply, and we felt so happy to be able to give those memories back to her.
2. Deteriorating and Degrading – VHS has been around since the mid 1970’s and depending on how your tapes have been stored, the precious media contained on them may not be able to be viewed or even transferred anymore. Did you know that videotape deteriorates more and more each year, even if you don’t watch it? Dust and moisture can cause the tape to become damaged, along with any data stored on it. Since it’s been a while since this media was last used, the window for optimal recovery of the movies off of VHS tape is quickly closing.
Most VHS tapes can last up to 10-20 years if they were properly stored. How old are yours? If the memories contained on them are important to you, you need to get them transferred sooner than later, before it’s too late. A premium quality DVD can last up to a hundred years. Sure, even this format will be replaced with something else in the future, but if you wait until that happens, your timeline for recovering what is on your VHS tape may pass. The goal is to stop the degradation now and put the media into a digital format that will be around for a while. Once it’s digital, you no longer have to worry about it deteriorating anymore.
1. Archiving & Preserving your Legacy – This is the number one most important reason to transfer your videotape media sooner than later. Archiving your family’s personal home media should always be in the back of thoughts. No tape is safe from the passage of time, and you are always at risk of loss for many reasons. Saving those moments of your family history is so important. Think of it as your own personal time capsule to hand down to future generations.
Call Legacy Video Studio for questions about saving your home movies at 727-797-2720.
To Your Legacy,
Matt Pierce
Your Media, Your Memories, Your Legacy!
Helping you preserve those special moments of your life that have been captured on videotape, film, slides, & photos
