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