We live in a golden age of content. Granted, not all of it is great. But it takes little more than a phone and a few key subscriptions to access decades worth of films and television shows from the comfort of anywhere you can get an Internet connection.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for some of the most important videos in our lives that include recordings of birthdays, bar mitzvahs, graduations and other milestones that only live on in the form of aging VHS cassettes and DVDs.
“I’ve been converting 8mm videos to DVD for a while,” reader Milan Grozdanich in Indiana wrote in an email to the Help Desk. “Neither one of my children have DVD players at home or on their laptops.” I’ve gotten this question a lot over the years: How can I save some of them to the cloud so family members can watch remotely?
Finding the right solution for you can be trickier than it might sound. After all, you want to avoid anyone being able to stumble across those recordings. And there is a benefit to acting sooner than later, because whether you’ve thought about it or not, those home movies face a serious existential threat.
Beyond taking up loads of space, your old VHS recordings rely on magnetic tape that is known to deteriorate over time. You’re a little better off if you recorded most of your family milestones to a set of DVDs, but odds are those won’t last forever either.
Here is how you can start preserving those precious moments and a few ways you can make sure they are available to the right people in your life.
Convert them into video filesThis might sound like the hard part and, in some ways, it can be. But it isn’t difficult as it sounds. Really, it all depends on what kind of media you’ve recorded those milestone moments in the first place.
If you’re sitting on top of stacks of old DVDs, the process that has worked for me is pretty straightforward, assuming you still have a computer that still has the equipment to read them.
First, download and install Handbrake, a free video converter app. Pop the DVD with the recording you would like to transfer into the DVD drive of your computer. Then open Handbrake and click the “open source” button at the top.
Select the device you want to copy the video from. In this case, it will be your DVD drive. Handbrake will start scanning the disc, which can sometimes take a while. Pick a quality “preset” for the resulting video. For most people, the default option will work, though you should feel free to play around with other ones.
Then click the “browse” button and tell Handbrake where it should save the resulting video. Finally, click the “start” button and wait for the process to finish.
If you’re trying to preserve home movies that only exist on VHS, those little mini DV tapes, Hi 8 cassettes or something else entirely, you’ll need some extra equipment.
First, you’ll need something to actually play those formats, like a VCR or the camcorder you used to record them. You’ll also need the right connection. In this case, you want a cable that connects to your video player with one end and features those classic red, white and yellow RCA prongs on the other.
The last and most important bit is the adapter that takes the signals coming through those old connectors and turns it into something your computer can understand.
Some of them can be had for just a couple of bucks online, but it would be wise to get one from a company with some history in the field. The Elgato Video Capture and the Dazzle DVD Recorder should fit the bill. Both also come with software that teaches your computer how to capture the video playing on your VCR or camcorder, making that one less thing to worry about.
From what I’ve pieced together, though, just about every VCR connector is quirky in its own way, which can make getting the best quality transfers trickier than it should be.
If any of this sounds daunting, remember there is no shame in calling in the experts. Do a quick search for a reputable video transfer service near you, and don’t forget to scour those customer reviews before making your decision.
If you are a handy person and want to tackle the ins and outs of making those video transfers look better, the tutorial video by the YouTuber Notelu is a great place to start.
Ask Help Desk: What is the best way to save and share my old home videos?