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Converting VHS to DVD:Do you have lots of old VHS tapes that you haven't watched in years? Do you want to try and convert them over to a DVD format so you can actually view them. Old memories are great, but having them on a VHS format is really outdated and they may not even be good quality anymore. I recently went through my VHS tapes to see what was worth salvaging and what I should throw away. The problem, as I came to find out, is that older VHS tapes sometimes don't hold up very well past about 10 to 15 years. I had recorded some sports games from the late 1980's and through the 1990's and most of them had faded away. The thing that can mess up VHS tapes over time is LIGHT. The more exposure they have to light sources the worse off the tape quality will be. I kept many in a closet that was constantly dark but after 20+ years the tapes had become nonusable. I took them to a professional video guy who tried to convert them to DVD but the images and videos were grainy and some were not eve viewable.
 that allows you to do VHS tape playback and features RCA and USB outputs so you can record the video over to your computer. You can copy all your home VHS tapes to DVD using the Toshiba DVR620 DVD/VHS Recorder although not everyone has success with these consumer products. If you are not knowledgeable of video format types and running software on your computer, then you are better off leaving this for a professional videographer to handle.
How Much Does it Cost to Transfer VHS to DVD?:THe cost to transfer VHS tapes to DVD is actually pretty reasonable. I had 4 tapes done and the cost was $80. My problem is that most the people who do this for a living can't always tells you the quality of the video and how it will look on a DVD. A few of the tapes were really not watchable since the tape had degraded so much over the years and it was essentially lost footage. It would be best to be able to watch the VHS tape first (I no longer have a VCR) and then make that judgement call before paying someone to convert it over. In the future I will probably have the person doing the transfer call me and confirm the video quality before going through the process. I found a local guy who does this work and he has high powered video editing machines at his disposal since he works at a local film/theater production company. I assume that if his equipment was unable to save our footage no ones could have. He charges about $20/tape, but with a bulk order his rates do go down. As we note below, some people choose to bypass the pros and take on the project themselves. Other sources of VHS to DVD conversions are places like photo labs - many offer this service and it's not too expensive. I found the biggest hassle was not being able to take bits and pieces from 1 tape and add them to another so you have a full DVD of memories you want. Unless you are sitting there with the guy doing the editing, it's too hard to tell them what footage to keep. Like most of us, I had probably 20 brief moments of video footage on 1 tape, but only ended up wanting about 1/2 of it, but the entire thing was transferred over.
Can I Transfer My Own VHS tapes to DVD?:I know several people how have transferred their VHS tape video footage to their computers and then made DVDs or just kept the footage on their computer hard drive. It is a bit time consuming, but certainly worth it in the long run. Once you hook up the VHS player to play, the device does all the work and the footage is slowly transferred over. Once on your hard drive, you can convert the video file or just make a DVD. You can watch the video files on your system and see what is worth saving and what is potential garbage. Browse the best selling VHS to DVD devices on Amazon.com here . There is a little bit of technical know-how, but not too complicated. I suppose if you are still holding onto VHS tapes, though, you are probably not the most technological person and may be better off letting someone else do it.
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