Convert VHS Tapes to DVD  

Convert, Edit & Enjoy for Decades to Come

Do you have a large number of VHS tapes with back episodes of your favorite sitcom, memories from your adventure trips, or excerpts of family genealogy? Whatever the content, now is the time to convert your VHS tape to DVD. By keeping pace with emerging technologies, you are guaranteeing that your memories will be accessible for years to come. And you won't mind the picture quality either!

Once you have identified which VHS tapes you want to preserve, decide whether you want to do the conversion yourself or hire someone to do it for you. There is some investment in equipment required. If you have only one or two tapes to convert, it may be wise to hire someone to do it for you. Numerous companies will convert your VHS tapes to DVD for reasonable prices. However, if you have a large number and feel fairly familiar with your computer and DVD burner, converting a VHS tape to DVD can take only a few hours per tape.

Here's what you need to get started:

• Computer with a large hard drive with considerable free space - allow at least 2.5 MB of disk per minute of video; allow twice that per minute if you intend to edit the video file
• Video Capture Card - either a USB video-capture device or a PCI-based FireWire card
• Video editing software
• DVD Burner
• Blank DVD media compatible with your burner and DVD player

Here's how to do it:

1. Connect your VCR or camcorder to the 'Analog-in' ports on your video capture card.
2. Exit all other programs open on your computer except the recording software that came with your capture device. This will help your software run faster and minimize 'crash' risks.
3. Specify a video source within the recording software. Most software and devices offer several options - VHS tape, camcorder, TV show, etc.
4. Record video to your hard drive - Depending on the source video quality and the DVD quality you hope to make, this will take up a lot of space. Be sure you have it by checking disk space before you start, and moving old files off your hard drive onto CD or DVD backups.
5. Edit your video - if you use Windows® XP®, you may already own Windows Movie Maker, which is a free and easy-to-use program for beginners. Most G4 Apple® Macintosh® computers include iMovie editing software that is also very easy to use with many features for beginners and advanced users alike. More advanced video editing programs are available from Avid®, Adobe®, and Roxio®, among others, once you've gotten some experience.
6. Assemble ('Author') the DVD - Most video editing programs will allow you to create menus and prepare your video creations for burning. The burning software that came with your DVD burner will also aid you in this process, if your editor can't.
7. Burn that Disc - Get your masterpiece onto DVD by burning it. Use DVD-R or DVD+R, depending on your burner and DVD player, to make a permanent copy. If you're worried about 'not getting it right,' try a DVD-RW or DVD+RW disc - they can be erased and you can try again with the same disc.
8. After you've tested your DVD in your player, be sure to either erase your raw original transfer from your hard drive, or back it up to another piece of media if you think you'll want to edit from the raw copy again later (once you've got more editing experience!). This frees up hard disk for other transfers, and will help your computer's overall performance in other applications.
9. Similarly, always defrag your hard drive after performing a VHS to DVD transfer. Using Windows, shut down all programs and disable your screensaver. Then, click Start and select Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Defragmenter. This may take a while. On the Mac, you'll need to use a commercial utilities program, such as Norton Utilities, to perform the defragging.

Another Way to Do It Yourself

Several companies, such as HP and Sony, have announced external DVD burners designed to make moving VHS tapes to DVD a plug-and-play experience. While these units are also suitable for burning standard data CDs and DVDs, they are more expensive than 'standard' DVD burners for your desktop. However, if you have a lot of movies to transfer or want to avoid figuring out how to get video cards installed on your computer, these devices may provide an easy solution for you.