Olive Tree Genealogy Blog: Preserving Old Family Movies ...

Oh those old family home video tapes! Remember them? Using a video camera the size of two large loaves of bread, we took dozens and dozens of VHS tapes of our children and grandchildren. But what's happening to those tapes now? Do you even have a VCR player to watch them?

If you're like me, you have dozens of dusty VHS tapes taken in the 1980s and 1990s in storage or on a bookcase in the family room. You don't have a VCR, you can't watch them and day by day, year by year they are degrading.

There are most likely movies of different family reunions and almost certainly many of the family members are no longer with us. There's a movie clip of little Joey taking his first steps. How about the movie of your oldest winning a medal at Graduation? So many family moments and if you're like me you're starting to worry that they'll be lost forever if you don't do something

One of my sons has been bugging urging me to transfer all our old home movies to digital format, preferably to a DVD so that they are preserved for a few more years. Why do I say "a few more years"? Because technology changes and a format that is viewable today will not likely be viewable in the future.

Earlier this week I finally got around to ordering something I hope will allow me to transfer the old VHS tapes to digital. First I did my homework. I read dozens of reviews. I compared capabilities of different devices.

I could have purchased a machine that played the tapes and burned them to a DVD at the same time.? Too much money for a one-time use to suit me!

So I opted for a one-touch capture, which basically forms a link from a VCR to your computer via a USB port, enabling conversion and transfer of a VHS tape, and then a burn to a DVD.

After reading many reviews I bought the top-rated Diamond One-Touch Video Capture unit from Amazon.com It arrived one day after ordering and today I plan to put it to use.

Thank goodness I have a mother-in-law who still watches old VHS movies on a VCR! I borrowed it yesterday to make the transfer.

I'll let you know how it goes and whether or not I am able to preserve and digitize those precious family memories.

Source: http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/10/preserving-old-family-movies-converting.html

lenny dykstra wilmington nc aspergers fleet week tcu big 12