Common Mistakes To Avoid When Digitizing Old Video Tapes

 

A person holding a VHS tape

From your 3rd birthday party to the oldest version of Lion King you watched multiple times in a day at age 5, there are tons of memories stored in video tapes at home. These memories will always last, but sadly, the tapes they’re stored on might not.

This is why it’s time to preserve them while you still can. The best way to go about it is to convert it to a digital format. This way, you’ll no longer have to rely on appliances like VCRs, which are, more or less, already obsolete.

But when converting old home movies to digital, here are some mistakes you should avoid.

Getting The Format Wrong

The whole point of you transferring your video content to a digital format is so that you can still play the media, right? Because if you don’t, you may not be able to use a videotape in the future if you break your current VCR and aren’t able to find another one to buy because they’ve stopped making them. Also, your videotape could wear off eventually.

That said, you could end up damaging your video tape anyway if you don’t convert the media to the right format. You have to configure it correctly before you transfer it. The original tape can be damaged if it isn’t in the right format.

Using A Low-Cost Conversion Kit

This is another problem that can come up with DIY conversions. Many conversion kits are available, but not all of these are necessarily high quality. This means they have no processes in place for signal smoothing, i.e., time-based corrections. These are needed for stabilizing the signals.

As a result, your converted version could have skipped frames, or it could be entirely empty. For a cleaner digital recording, you need an external TBC and professionals that know what they’re doing.

A person holding a VHS tape

 

Burning Videos to DVD Directly

A few years ago, burning videos directly to DVD was the only option people had. But it wasn’t the most feasible option since DVDs have a lifespan of about 5 years, after which they start decaying.

This is why better approaches were developed. One of these is to convert the tapes into video files and store them on your cloud. You can then edit these or burn them to DVDs for sharing!

 

There are quite a few other hurdles one may run into when preserving VHS tapes. This is why it’s best to leave the job to professionals like the ones at Pictures 2 Digital. They offer VHS to DVD transfer services and can also help digitize your other home media.

Give them a call to discuss it all!

 

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