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