Memories fade and so do VHS tapes, fortunately DVDs last longer. You may have many family memories on home videos on VHS tapes. Unfortunately these do not last very long. Over the years the quality of VHS will begin to become diminished. VHS tapes will start to wear out after being played many times over. If you want to preserve those memories you will need to convert your VHS to DVD. This is done in many ways. The process is a little more complicated that converting other formats, because most VHS videos are recorded on tapes and are not stored elsewhere.
The easiest way to convert VHS to DVD is to get an outside company to do it for you; of course, this will not be the cheapest way. If you choose to get an outside company to do it, they will convert all your VHS tapes and you will get them back in the form of DVDs. This makes it a more permanent memory and is easier to store.
If you want to make the VHS to DVD conversion on your own, you have many options. These options are usually time consuming. One of the most time consuming ways is to capture the VHS video using an analog-to-DV converter. This will capture the video on your computer. You must encode it to MPEG-2 and author a DVD. If you want to make edits to your existing video, this is the best option, though it will take you hours and hours just to finish converting one hour of video.
Another option for VHS to DVD conversion that is a little quicker is if you capture the VHS video using a hardware capture device that will convert the VHS to MPEG-2. This limits the options you have for edit-ing, but one hour of video is one hour of work. Once you have it on your computer as MPEG-2, you can burn it to a DVD.
If you have your home video on your camcorder then you can simply attach the device to a standalone DVD recorder. This VHS to DVD conversion is simple and straightforward and will copy your VHS and create DVDs for you. This version works best if you want your video exactly as it is, with no cuts or edits.
As you can see there are many VHS to DVD conversion options. The option you choose will depend on how much time you have, how much money you have and how many edits you want done.
