Converting old memories to new?

In a world of DVDs, CDs, and MP3 players, what do you do with your non-digital — but still very precious ­— VHS tapes, home movies, LPs, and cassettes? How can you enjoy that classic Janis Joplin tape if your new car lacks a cassette player? How long will it be before those family vacations and other precious moments captured on videotape decay into unwatchable static?

Many products and services are available to convert your old recordings into CDs, DVDs, and other digital formats to improve your access to them and, hopefully, extend their lifespans.

But how well do they work? Are they worth the effort? We¹re going to take a look at some of these solutions in an upcoming report. But in the meantime, you can help us by giving us your take on these digitizing products and services. Share with us your experiences, your questions, and even your horror stories on this thread in our Electronics discussion forum.

Please note: Our Electronics discussion forum is freely available to everyone — even non-subscribers. But you'll need to log in or register for an account using a valid e-mail address. We won't share that info with anyone, but will use it to contact you if we decide to use your story for our upcoming report.

Comments

[Doris]

I have some 8mm film for those OLD roll cameras only and I don't have that movie projector anymore. The movies were made in 1960. I have pictures of my children when babies that I would like to take off this film. Does anyone know if there is a device that I can do this with?

[Linda]

Has anyone used the product called "VHS to DVD 3.0 Deluxe-Honest Technology"?

[Lisa]

I just recently bought a Crosley Turntable CD recorder... I would like some feedback if anyone has any to give! I am still working with it... but want to know if it's a good buy... for 300 dollars... thanks!

[Rexxous]

In answer to the recent question about transferring 8mm FILM (not video) to DVD (do it yourself), here is a web page that describes several options: http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=003WXX
It doesn't look particularly easy, involving a projector, and getting it aligned, etc. Confusingly, several responders on the page discuss 8mm VIDEO (not film), but most of the responses are about 8mm FILM.

[John Miller]

I see hundreds of comments from people who WANT to digitize their 8mm film, but nobody says how. I've got over a 150 spools of film from 3" to 5" and to have it done in a "mill" will cost over $1500.00. Is there a more affordable way? I have tried using my camcorder but I get serious flicker on the digital image. I can't believe nobody has come up with a device for me to buy to do this. Help?

[Thelma]

I have about 800 slides that I want to put on DVDs. Does any one know of a Film Scanner that would do the job?

[Carol Cramer]

I don't want to transfer cassettes to CD's myself -- but am trying to figure out how I look for a service that does this locally -- not online? Thanks.....

[Betty Andress]

My sister recently copied a 20-year-old VCR tape to a DVD. The end product hoped for is to be able to extract segments of this video to use within Pinnacle Studio. When the DVD is inserted into the computer DVD player and loaded into the computer the files are in folders labeled Video_TS and Video_RM. These files are not recognized by Pinnacle. I would like to know how to convert these files to avi files so that they can be edited in Pinnacle.

[Ben]

I am finally looking to start making the switch from VCR to DVD. I actually don’t even own a DVD player yet: embarrassing huh! I promised myself I wouldn’t buy one until I was able to record regular tv programs on it, just like the old trusty VCR. I do own a DVR, however. I basically need a product, or combination of products, that will allow me to archive the programs I record on my DVR (I have DirecTV) and also convert my old VHS collection, which is substantial, to DVD’s. As I mentioned earlier, I do not have a DVD player, so the product Consumer Reports is suggesting (i.e., the Sony DVDirect VRD-MC3) doesn’t fulfill all my needs. The Panasonic DMR-ES45VS DVD/VCR Recorder (see http://about.pricegrabber.com/rating_getprodrev.php/product_id=19458252/id_type=masterid) sounds promising, but I’m surprised to hear that most of these DVD’s only get, at the most, two hours of programming on them. All of my VHS tapes were recorded in the EP mode, with six hours or more of content on them. Am I out of luck on this? Is it literally going to take three dvd disks for every one of my VHS tapes? This link (http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdrecorderfaqs/f/dvdrecgfaq7.htm) seems to say that there are 6-hour dvd disks out there, but is that length determined by the recorder itself or the disk?
I also use a labeling system to find specific episodes on each video tape. I simply use the “how much time remains on the tape” display to tell me where on each video tape a particular episode begins. Is this going to be possible on the recorded DVD’s? I know this is easy using the editing programs that usually use one’s computer to create menus and such, but I’m hoping to bypass my computer all together on this project.
Thanks in advance for your input!

[Todd Saalman]

I have a friend who has transfered old LPs to .WAV files suitable for copying to CD, using inexpensive software and hardware by a company called DAK, and swears by the results. They claim superior noise reduction and no hissing or hum added to converted files from their equipment on their website. I have not used these products nor heard the results (and don't work for DAK!), but I can refer your readers to the website to form their own opinions: www.dak.com

[Skip Fritze]

I am in the process of turning my old VHS 1980 era tapes to DVD's.
I purchased a stand alone DVD Recorder (after searching websites and reading many reviews)and using my old VCR. It has editing capabilities(though cumbersome). The only not-so-good is the EP recording on the VHS. Not thinking ahead in those days, we were cramming all the old camcorder recordings on the VHS tapes in EP mode to save time and use full tapes.. How I wish we had not! Clarity and quality were lost and that is what is turning up on the DVD's.

I am fixin to start turning old 8mm (1960 era) home movies to DVD as soon as I get a hold of an 8mm projector...should be fun.

I now use a digital (minidv) camcorder that I download via firewire (IEEE-1394) to my computer and burn the .avi file to DVD using a couple of freeware programs.

Any questions, e-mail at cannedpawn8@yahoo.com

Skip

[Al Girard]

Here's an observation that I made several years ago: Whenever you see a news report of the aftermath of a tornado, flood, house fire or other disaster, what's the first thing that people look for? Answer: Their photos.

With that in mind I scanned all of my photos and burned them onto CDs. I then put one copy into my safety deposit box, and about every five years I made a fresh backup copy.

[Paul Eng]

Hi all,

First off, thanks for all your posts here on the blog and on our discussion forums. We really do appreciate your input!

And as I mentioned in my blog entry, our "Go Digital" report (from the June 2007 Consumer Reports issue) is now live on ConsumerReports.org.

Check it out clicking the link below or by cutting and pasting the URL to your Web browser:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/digitizing-memories-6-07/overview/0607_digi_ov_1.htm

Feel free to send us feedback on the story, as well as continue the discussion here.

Paul Eng
Web Senior Editor, Electronics

[Rob O'Matic]

I've converted LP's (Those thin round plastic thingies (licorice pizza) that people used to listen to recordings from), reel to reel tapes, and cassette tapes to digital media. A few items:

There are somewhat automatic devices for doing this, you play your record, and the machine burns you a CD, but they have some kind of automatic means of detecting where the tracks are. They might not always be successful. For recordings you really care about, you need to spend some time or hire someone you trust to do make the conversion. I was surprised at how high quality magnetic recordings often had a significant bias between left and right tracks, or volume variation between one side and another.

Magnetic media (cassette tapes) of good quality and stored dry and cool will last a good long time (40 years plus).

Digital media such as CDs, DVDs have not been proven to last very long, because they haven't been around that long. They are also easy to damage permanently! Do not expect cheap store brand digital media to hold up as well as qood quality magnetic media. I resist bringing brand names into the discussion at CU's web site, but there are brands and places of manufacture that I avoid.

For rock solid iron clad digitization of your most cherished photos and recordings:

1) Digitize at a rate consistent with recording quality. There's no need to make a stereo digital rendering of an originally monophonic recording.

2) Burn a CD or a DVD from a quality brand.

3) Keep the information on your hard drive, in fact back it up to a hard drive you store separately.

4) Keep the original.

[Doug]

CR: "But how well do they work?"
CR: "Are they worth the effort?"

The succinct answer:
Conversion equipment I have used - personal and 'professional' work very well.

Yes: worth the effort.

Though still learning, I digitize 35mm slides, negatives and VHS tapes using my pc.

The 'low end' Epson 3490 film scanner meets my 35mm needs, producing satisfactory to quality digitized images. I generally do not use any 'editing' software after digitizing. The process with the Epson for 35 conversions is slow and time consuming. 'Editing' adds to this time. I considered using a 'service' for digitizing- cost prohibitive. Images are usually saved as jpgs jpegs and sometimes tif/ tiffs.

I convert VHS tapes-via a 'low end' TDK capture card. Time consuming with a 1.6 gig processor, but I am satisfied with the quality of the conversion. Again, the editing software can and is time consuming (learning it, remembering how to use it and editing the project is what i tend to forget between projects.) Saved projects vary: file extensions used: .avi; .mpg; mpeg2; other.

For LP's and cassette tapes, I purchase cd's.

I 'burn' these projects on effective media (cd's or dvds') and share or store as warranted.

Adios

[Laurie Swanson]

I have tons of pictures to transfer to DVD. Given time I can scan them and copy them. What quality of scanner should I use if I want the best results? I also have some cassette tapes of my kids and my parents (30-35 years old) that I would like to digitize. How do I do that? My biggest concern is all the slides that we have--they need to transferred to digital format. Last, but not least, I have 70+ year old 16 mm films of my father and WWII film shorts and cartoons that I would like to make digital.

[Jon_S]

For my Video8 and VHS videos, I wanted to go the convert-edit-render-DVD_burn via PC route. I also wanted to work with the existing 1-year old basic Dell PC's we have in our home. Therefore, I purchased a WinTV-PVR USB2 by Hauppauge for $130 during the holidays. The external unit can be used on either of the PC's via simple USB port plug in. The software that came with the product is adequate to get the job done. Install went smoothly with no problems to date. The rough conversion to digital .mpg file consumes about a gigabyte of disk space per hour of video. For HD backup purposes, I also acquired a Western Digital Passport 120GB drive ($90).
The other features of this Hauppage product (especially the TV tuner/recorder) will continue to be used long after the video conversion project has been completed.

[Gil Munk]

I have a large vinyl LP collection, some of which are very valuable to me (the most valuable of which were only played one time in order create a cassette tape for everyday use.) I recently purchased a pre-amp and connected the output of my turntable to the it and connected the output of the pre-amp to the stereo input of my PC's sound card - a Creative Research Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS - using a Radio Shack Y cable that converts two RCA jacks to a single mini stereo plug.
I purchased Sound Forge Audio Studio (now owned by Sony) to capture the entire side of the incoming sound stream from the sound card and then I manually separate each song or piece, saving them in a high bit MP3 format to a file named with the artist, Album, position number and title. I also remove as many clicks and pops that I can - clicks and pops are usually spikes of sound that can be erased by reducing them to a level that makes them unhearable. This can be time consuming but I don't have to do this to every album since about 1/3 were only ever played once and I took pains to be careful with most of them.
I calculated that If I did one album a week it would take me 15 years to convert my old LP collection to a digital format. Maybe some of them can wait...

[Dan]

I recently purchased a Crosley "Songwriter CD Recorder," designed for transferring LPs and cassettes directly to CD. See http://www.crosleyradio.com/prods/cr248.html It was a beautifully crafted unit, very simple and easy to use (makes recording a CD as simple as recording a cassette tape), but I was quite unhappy with the sound quality of the recorded CDs. It added a very noticeable fuzzy/tape-hiss type of noise in the background (even on recordings transferred from LP!) that was not present on the original recordings. I returned the unit. I've attempted analog to digital transfer using my PC and Nero Wave Editor... the results are not pretty. Depending on the device plugged into the sound card I'll get various types of feedback, the Nero software puts glitches in the recording, and it is very time consuming just to do a single track! I'm currently searching for other solutions to the problem, that do not involve using a PC for the analog to digital conversion.

[John Schneider]

I use various apps on a Mac for digitizing audio. I tend to use SpinDoctor (comes with Roxio Toast), as it offers a decent balance of flexibility and ease of use. You can get very good results with a little care.

#1: This process is very time consuming, especially if you want to break up & name tracks.

#2 Be VERY judicious with use of filters/EQ changes. Less is more. Don't adjust the EQ curve to make it sound good-adjust it so you have a flat sound. That way, when you play the audio back on another device, it will be normal because most people will have their bass/treble tuned to their preferences on that device.

If you make it sound "good" (not flat) in your digitizing program, you will get a double dose when you play it back on another device.

[Jozie T]

I too struggle with the conversion issues and actually logged on to check out CR's recomendations on a Lp (plastic) to CD-R/CD-RW recorder i saw advertised, wondered how it ranked. & now am quite stand offish on such a purchase. After reading all the various ways, products and purchases people have made, the lengths some people have gone to, My vote is Roxio software !
I have a lesser version then that mentioned, but i must say, its been a great help to scan in old family photos, even retouch some of the "oldies" & save/print them with great ease in a digital format. I've also used Roxio "drag to disk" feature with ease for music & sounds to then add to the cd/dvd. the plastic issue & 8mm is another deal,
but i'd be willing to check "Roxio 9" out, and see exactly what it can do in that regards! I hope the roxio tester
can give a few more details ... it is overall a winning product as far as i'm concerened.

[Gary]

Sorry, that last question was for Ray Winbush, not Rick!
- Gary

[Gary]

A Question for Rick who posted about the LiteOn All Write LVW . . .
How does this work exactly? Do you just plug the turntable into the device and record directly to CD? Do you need an amplifier in-between? What about turning the LP over - does the recording process "wait" while you do that?
Thanks for your help! - Gary

[mary ann caldwell]

My inlaws had many 8mm films with no audio. I put these in chronological order as best I could. Of course, back then some of it had been cut and taped together. I sent all the tapes through Walgreens. I recieved back 6 dvd's. Each dvd was complete and had 3 songs with short clips from that dvd. I then took all the dvd's and had my mother in law identify relatives and friends and created an index. I made 4 additional copies of the original dvds and gave the index and dvds to my husbands siblings. Cost approximately $300, not counting the hours of sorting and identifying the films.

I have some questions.
How long will these dvd's last before data will fall off?

How can I transfer my own vhs and 8mm cassettes to dvd's because I want to edit these myself?

[B F]

I've projected super 8mm films and then re-filmed then right off the screen with a camcorder. The quality may not be pristine but it is good enough. If you use a digital one then it would be easy to convert to DVD.