Well, summertime is just about here. People are preparing for all those many details of their anxiously awaited vacations. Packing the family video camera is at the top of most of those vacation checklists without question. But how many home videos are going to end up on a shelf with all the other videos of family vacations and holidays? Just the thought of going over all of those darned VHS tapes and Super 8 films can be scary. However, we do not really need to be afraid of all our new videos we take today. Fortunately, they are not the media that is going to disappear tomorrow. It’s all that archaic magnetic tape and ancient Super 8 film about which we need to be concerned.

VHS and many other magnetic tape media formats can lose a lot of quality over time. To save the quality of these dear memories we are going to need to transfer them to a safe format before it’s too late. All of us will need to do this soon if these images are to survive for other generations.

Rather than do the complicated digital transfer yourself (it isn’t necessarily complicated to get it transferred – but it is complicated to do a QUALITY transfer), I would try to persuade you to use a pro transfer service. Professional transfer service companies, while possibly expensive, will be able to make it easier for you because they have already spent a lot of money on state-of-the-art machines to provide you with the best quality possible. They already digitize a lot of video and film every day and, as a result, they get very good at doing it.

These digital video transfer houses use very advanced technology compared to other companies – and compared to what most of us can afford. Just be sure to pick the best company you can afford for your digital transfer.  If you need help choosing either a local or national company, you can go to my site where I show the BBB (Better Business Bureau) ratings for many nationwide companies that provide these services.

Do you need all of your home movies converted directly to DVD disc or some kind of digital format on a hard drive? If it’s a direct transfer to DVD disc then one of the least expensive services is probably the best choice for you and your media. Home Movie Depot and Yes Video have a very good reputation for converting directly to DVD – and for some of the lowest rates. At the end of the process you will receive a DVD that can play in your home DVD machine or DVD/VHS combo machine. You will not be able to edit it on a PC or Mac but you can play it on a DVD player or computer with a DVD player/recorder built in.

But if you want to actually edit your home video, you are going to need to have the analog video converted to a high-quality uncompressed file format on a hard drive. The higher-end digital transfer houses are best for that kind of transfer service without question. In many cases the hardware they possess is equal in quality to that of the Hollywood movies that play on the big screen. The better the digital technology, the more expensive the digital transfer, of course. Some of these digital video transfer companies can even correct flaws in the tapes and Super 8 and 16mm film – whereas the companies with the lower rates cannot. It is just a matter of the right kind of digital transfer equipment. You get what you pay for – but paying more might be what you want and what you need if your goal is to preserve all of those family memories so they will last for generations to come.

 

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