Do you have some sentimental home videos on VHS tapes? Do you want to know how to turn your VHS to DVD? You probably should do it soon because VHS technology is quickly being replaced by other, better technology, such as DVD. Soon there won’t even be any VCRs or VHS tapes! Although the process to convert VHS to DVD may sound difficult and expensive, it is not! It is actually very easy.
So How Do You Do It?
There are many ways to transfer VHS to DVD. This article will explain a few of them.
- External VHS to DVD Converter If you are lazy and don’t mind buying a new peice of equipment, you can buy VHS to DVD recorder created specifically for this purpose! All you have to do is plug the converter into your VCR and you can easily burn DVDs and just as eadily make copies of them.
- Conversion Service If you are super lazy, there are places that will convert your VHS to DVD. Of course these services are expensive.
- Combination Unit If you have a DVD player that also has a VHS component and it has DVD recording capabilities, converting VHS to DVD is really easy. Just insert a blank DVD and insert the VHS tape that you would like to transfer, then you should just be able to follow the instructions that came with your unit. The only disadvantage to this method is that you can’t edit or modify the DVD. If you want to edit the video or create custom menus or chapters, do not use this method.
- Computer The first thing that you shoud do before you consider using this method, is check to see whether your computer can burn DVDs. This is very important because it is impossible to create a DVD if your computer can’t burn them. This method uses a analogue-to-digital converter to actually convert your video. A analogue-to-digital converter consists of VHS to DVD software and a USB input device with input plugs. all you have to do is plug the input device into your computer and into your VCR. Depending on which software and device you use, the rest may vary. Usually the software allows you to edit the video, add transitions, and burn DVDs.
- Video Camera It is possible to use your video camera to transfer VHS to DVD. You can do this by conecting your video camera to your VCR using the red, yellow and white cables (composite cables). To actually record from the tape to your camera you will need to read the instruction manual of your video camera. After you have recorded the video onto your video camera, you can then transfer the video to your computer. On you computer you can then edit the video, add custom menus and chapters and burn a DVD from the video.
There are many ways to convert VHS to DVD. Here are some final tips:
- Make sure that the tape heads are clean. If there are any flaws on the VHS tape, it will be more obvious on the DVD
- Finalise your DVD. After burning the DVD, you will need to finalise it otherwise it will not be readable to normal DVD players!
- Keep the original VHS tape. It is very hard to recover deleted files of a DVD, so make sure you have a backup just in case!
Using these tips and metods, you should be able to easily and cheaply create DVDs from your VHS tapes.
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