| Many of us have boxes of tapes that were recorded | | | | method to transfer you home videos to DVD is to use |
| onto either VHS or 8mm. If stored properly tapes will | | | | a stand alone DVD recorder. A DVD recorder looks |
| last a long time. However there are some | | | | very similar to the DVD player in your home |
| considerations that make converting your home videos | | | | entertainment system. DVD recorders sell for about |
| to DVD a worthwhile process.--It is easier to share a | | | | $200 and up. Some manufacturers offer DVD/VHS |
| DVD with friends and family. They make a great gift. | | | | combo units which make transferring movies a piece |
| --You can create chapters to jump to your favorite | | | | of cake. Look for a DVD recorder with a built in hard |
| scenes. | | | | drive. These allow you to edit the movies once they |
| --You can easily add background music or edit out | | | | are recorded to the hard drives.Another nice feature |
| boring scenes. | | | | of units with a hard drive is that they have similar |
| --Many times the you can increase the quality from | | | | features to a TIVO device. You can record and store |
| the original source movieThere are many different | | | | your favorite shows and even allow you to pause live |
| methods to convert you movies to DVD. One method | | | | TV like a TIVO. Depending on the size of the hard |
| is to use your PC and the other is to use a stand | | | | drive and the quality settings you can easily store 40 |
| alone DVD recorder. The PC offers complete control | | | | hours or more on the hard drive.By carefully choosing |
| over editing the footage and creating professional | | | | the model you should end up with final product that |
| looking menus for the DVD. The DVD recorder is the | | | | looks better than the original. That's because certain |
| best solution for simplicity, speed and in many cases | | | | DVD Recorders by JVC and Toshiba, or any models |
| better quality.In order to transfer movies with your PC | | | | that have an LSI chipset, have filters to reduce grain |
| you will need a fairly powerful PC with lots of hard | | | | and chroma noise.When recording you will want to |
| drive space. Raw video footage can chew up to 13 | | | | record in the highest quality settings possible. This |
| Gigs per hour of video footage. You can transfer the | | | | means you will be able to fit about 1 hours worth of |
| movies to your PC with a dedicated transfer card or | | | | video onto a DVD. Since most VHS and 8MM tapes |
| an external device to convert the analog signal to DV | | | | are two hours you will need to split one tape into two |
| so it can be transferred through a firewire port onto | | | | DVD's. You can fit more than 1 hours worth of |
| your PC.Once the raw video footage is on your PC | | | | footage on a DVD if the footage is something you |
| you can use video editing software to edit the footage | | | | don't care too much about. However if you are |
| and create DVDs. Video editing software can retail | | | | converting treasured movies go for the best quality |
| from $50-$200 dollars. Some popular companies | | | | you can. |
| include Pinnacle, Adobe, Ulead and Sony.Another | | | | |