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

[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.

[irby singer]

I have a sound problem with a VHS tape that is to be converted to DVD.

The tape is of a private stage production with the camera and the microphone approximately 30 feet from the stage. The resulting sound is inferior, with various rustling "crowd noises" drowning out the the actors.

The "expert", who was going to do the work, says that he knows of no way to remove the offending noise.

Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated.

[Chris Tumpach]

8mm to digital: I looked at a number of options but here is a cheap way to do it that has EXCELLENT results.

1) Get a very very white sheet of letter size or slightly bigger paper. Ordinary copy paper will work if it is 100 bright. The 84 brightness stuff won't do.
2) Attach the piece of paper to a vertical surface (wall, door). Make sure there are no wrinkles and the surface is flat.
3) If the 8mm film is old, gently wipe it with a special film cleaning cloth to remove dust and the various deposits.
4) Get an old 8mm projector and project onto the piece of paper.
5) Get a digital video camera on a tripod (mini-DV or similar) and record the projection.
6) Import the video onto your computer (iMovie works fine) and voila: you can edit it and burn it to DVD. Film everything and edit it on your computer, it is much faster that way.

I did this for old films that were about 30 years old and the results were very impressive. Because the white piece of paper provided so much contrast, the resulting DVD looked better than projecting the original film on a normal screen.

[Tom Turrentine]

I'm planning on converting quite family movies on old 8mm film to digital. I've looked at a few company websites that will digitize the 8mm movies and produce a CD. I'd rather have the mpg or wmv movie files or some other editable format so I can archive them on hard drives and a remote backup service - this is the way I handle all the family photographs.

If anyone has done it the way I propose, I'd be interested in hearding the details.

Thanks,
Tom

[Robert A. Winter]

I also would like to convert old 8 mm. film to DVD; I will be editing down the raw film beforehand to save on costs, but the ability to do postproduction edits would be a definite plus.

[FD]

Home movies - Super 8 and 8 mm - I'd like to digitize these family treasures without sacrificing the family fortune. 95% of them are without sound but are (were) of high quality. My brother-in-law also has 8mm from his days in the service.

I look forward to learning how to convert these into a format which will stand the test of time.

I think there are a lot of these movies out there, and they were generally taken of very special occasions. Don't forget about us "old-timers" when you do your analysis.

Thanks.

[Boyd 9]

I collect 78s, 45s and LPs, and over the years have put together a high quality stereo system with a professional Tascam CDRW Recorder. I physically clean the records with a good record vacuum (you wouldn't believe what a difference this makes!), and in some cases treat the vinyl with noise reducing compounds (I only use LAST products). If needed, the source material is lightly EQ'd, and then I record it to CD. After I'm finished, I download the CD to my itunes library..... I have the CD I can listen to (and make copies of for use in the car, safely storing the original master dub at home) AND on my desktop computer AND in my ipod..... the best of both worlds. They claim there's software that will clean up old LPs..... I prefer to get the best dub the first time around. I've dubbed LPs this way that sound almost as good CDs, IMO.

[David]

Don't toss the old analog tapes just yet. Save them as a backup. I have had numerous DVDs become corrupted, and often it has a lot to do with the quality of the blank DVDs that I used. Through trial and eroor, I have found Taiyo Yuden blank DVDs to be the most reliable.

[Ann Mc]

I have lots of my Dad's 8mm film reels that I want to put on DVDs. He put small reels together on larger reels but now each reel is made up of several tapes which are all out of sequence so I need to somehow get them in chronological order. Questions: is it possible to get these tapes in chrono order? If so, is it easier after they are digitized? What is the best equipment/software to help me do this? Thanks

[Ray Winbush]

Like others, I have 33s, 45s, VHS tapes and even my Mom and Dad's 78s that I didn't know what to do with. I bought a turntable that plays wax and an incredible little machine, the LiteOn All Write LVW-5005X and it digitizes *anything* and I mean anything to CD and DVD. With the help of the record player, I was able to digitize my wax to CD then transfer them to my IPod. The amazing thing about the LiteOn, is that it is so easy to use and is cheap ($129.95). It will also digitize VHS tapes by hooking up a VHS player to it and then burn them on a DVD. The same goes for HI-8 tapes and anything else.

A truly great product that does exactly what it says!

[Rick]

I to once struggled with the VHS DVD transistion until I discovered Roxio Easy CD 9 Deluxe Suite. I have been using this product since last August when I created a birthday DVD in celebration of my mother's 80th birthday.

Once the transfer to DVD has been completed Roxio provides a myriad of tools for enhancement, editing, cleanup, fades, narration and music overlays, etc. My family members now think I am a production guru - ha! ha! Just one that likes to create family members.

[George M.]

I have a fairly sophisticated video capture setup - AVTools 8710 time-base corrector, Canopus ADVC-1394 capture card - and it works beautifully. (I'm a detail nerd - just using a DVD recorder to dupe isn't for me.)

My problem is that I've worked through some of my laserdiscs and Betamax (yes, I'm one of THOSE people) tapes, and I'm looking at the VHS stuff I have... and my ancient VHS deck isn't anything I'd trust not to shred these tapes, or give the best picture possible within the limitations of the format. Trying to find reviews on currently available VHS decks has been incredibly frustrating - I understand it's a dying technology, but I would have thought that someone would have done a review of currently available models, at least from the point of view of people who want to transfer their tapes to DVD.

I suggest that as part of CR's coverage of analog-to-digital conversion that you look into this issue. A video capture card is great, but if one doesn't have the appropriate player to feed it, it's useless.

Several people have already mentioned USB turntables - I've got an interest there too, and I would love to hear if they're as good as some people say.

[Suzanne]

Frank B. asked above about converting audio from cassette tapes to digital format.

I'm not an audio expert by any means. But I have successfully used "Spin it Again" software from Acoustica to create audio files (which can be burned onto CDs or DVDs if you wish) from material recorded on cassette tapes.

In my case I have converted taped "oral history" interviews my sister did back in the 1980's - of our mother and other now-departed relatives - into digital audio files. Which I have burned onto CDs and loaded onto my iPod.

I found the Acoustica software easy to use. It includes instructions on how to hook up a cassette player to your computer for the conversion process. The software has a lot of features that I haven't yet explored, as I was satisfied with the quality of the audio files I created, but it seems that there are several ways to tweak and adjust the sound quality if you wish. (BTW I am just another customer who bought the software and have received no discounts or compensation for submitting this comment.)

[Janet]

I have 8 mm tapes of my son growing up and would like to have them on DVD. I have a Sony digital camcorder which can accept analog input and use firewire to send digital images to the PC. However the only way I could figure out to do this was to make a digital tape in the camcorder and then send that to the PC. Very time consuming since the tape has to be played twice. There must be a simpler way!

[Shelly]

I have hundreds of cassette tapes that I would love to put on DVD's but am not sure how. I was told that it was really easy using an ipod (which my son has) but have not been able to figure out how yet? Any suggestions?

[Frank B.]

I have a large collection of SONY 8mm camcorder tapes, and a couple VHS tapes, that I would like to convert to DVD, but I don't know how.What would be the EASY way to do that??

[Lorrie]

I purchased a USB turntable to record all my records to dvd and a dual dvd recorder/vhs to record my vhs tapes to dvd. i'll probably get rid of the tapes, but not my album collection.

[Another Rich]

I use my Sony DCR-TRV330 camcorder (about 4 years old now) to transfer my VCR tapes to digital format. It has the ability to accept analog input from a VCR and Firewire to transfer the media digitally to my Linux box via the free Kino software (http://www.kinodv.org). The transfer is sometimes problematic because this setup is only capable of sending the uncompressed type 1 AVI that I believe the Digital8 tapes store, so the files it creates are HUGE.

I initially created VCDs (MPEG-1) from them in order to watch them on my DVD player, but I now convert to the much more superior DivX MPEG4 format. (FYI, DVD is a variant of MPEG2 and an AVI is just a container -- it can hold any number of media formats, including MPEG4, which I use) Once burned to DVD-R, again using free Linux tools like k3b, I can play the DivX files directly on my Phillips DVP642 DVD player. It's a great setup for me and the price is certainly right -- no extra video capture device and no software to buy.

I'm not particularly concerned about the lifetime of DVD media burned at home, although I doubt it's as infinite as most are lead to believe (I would expect 20-30 years, based on trials by NIST -- Google it). My concern is about the viability of the DVD format in the future. I'm guessing in five years, we'll have this discussion again about transferring our DVDs to HD-DVD and/or BluRay. But then again, for those of us creating AVIs probably won't have too much to worry about for awhile.

Rich