Transfer:
What Makes My VHS to DVD Service So Good?
Well, best of all, you get to talk with ME! I personally do all of the work to convert your VHS to DVD project. With over a decade of professional experience, 10’s of thousands of videotape conversions under my belt, and the commitment to pay personal attention to what you want and need, you can bet on the very best digital conversion in the Denver Metro area.
Do you know that many of my competitors just deliver raw footage through a completely automated process? What does that mean?
- VHS video is analog data stored on a magnetic tape, old technology that uses most (but not all) of the available tape to store each frame of video. This leaves, at best, a black frame around the edge of the video. At worst, it leaves a blurry, uneven, fluttering border. TV crops VHS output so that you see a clean picture. If left in raw digital format, you see these unsightly edges when played digitally, whether converting VHS to a digital file or DVD.
- A second faux pas that many have done – they just put the whole tape onto the DVD. Almost all VHS tapes are less than full – very few have used up the full 2 hours. This leaves blue or black for large periods of time at the end of your tape. Unnecessary!
Always Edit Captured Video. You’ve Come This Far!
I have always edited the video I capture to remove these poor borders and to fill the entire frame with crisp, clean video, all the way to the edge of the screen. Discovering that I am one of the few that does this editing surprises me now that I convert older VHS to DVD conversion discs from other vendors. I edit their conversions so they can look as intended, trimming off any dead space at the beginning or end of each tape. (I even offer the option to clean up between segments of the video in the middle of the tape).
Finally, you don’t have to ship your tapes out of town or even out of state to get a great price. After over a decade in a retail location, I now work by appointment out of my home office, allowing me to offer really great personal, flexible service at some of the best prices!
How to Digitize Right
It takes extra time and an experienced eye to get a VHS tape ready for conversion. I call the first step ‘capture’. In order to capture a videotape at its best, a couple of things need to happen
- Do the mechanics work? Will the tape door open? Will the reels move forward and back? Is the tape actually in one piece? I see many broken tapes – no wonder they don’t play and can’t convert VHS to digital.
I simply check the tape guard, or door as I call it, to make sure that the tape is showing between reels. Then I make sure it will insert into a machine correctly, and then fast forward and then rewind. If I get this far, I can be sure that the tape will play through the machine.
- Packing the tape. Very few people rewind their tapes when they play them only partway. Even fewer play them to the end each time and fully rewind them. Often, a tape is played for a while, then the phone rings, and it remains at the same point for years in the ‘half-played’ position. Or if someone plays the tape partway and then rewinds it each time. The result of these processes is that the tension on the tape becomes increasingly slack over the years, resulting in poor picture quality, fluttery pictures, and sometimes it won’t play at all.
Packing the Tape is Simple
The fix for excess slack is to fast-forward the tape to the very end and then rewind to the very beginning. I call this ‘packing’ the tapes. For most tapes, this resets the tape to the best quality it can be. Other tapes (especially VHS-C to Digital projects) require the packing process to be repeated more than once. For example, I had one tape that I could tell had been video recorded, but it wouldn’t play at all – just an occasional flicker of a picture. Packed it once – same thing. When I packed it twice, the audio began to play. Packed it a third time, and the picture looked great – in black and white. Finally, I packed it a fourth time, and it played both sound and video in great (color) quality.
Combine these two simple steps with high-quality equipment, and you have a great chance at having your VHS to DVD done right!
Why VHS to DVD Now?
I don’t have to tell you, right? VHS tapes deteriorate with every play, with every day in storage, and can be accidentally damaged in unlimited combinations. I actually had one tape where the dog had eaten the case away from the tapes. It wasn’t even homework. And yes, I was able to convert it!
There hasn’t been a new VHS player since 2016. Once there are no more players, there will be no more playing OR conversions.
Sharing VHS to Digital With Everybody!
The coolest thing about converting VHS to Digital is that DVD is no longer the only option. You can also convert your memories into digital files. This means that they can be played on virtually all of your devices, such as Mac, Windows, laptops, tablets, smart TVs, and smartphones.
PLUS – they can be shared via the internet all over the world with your friends and family via email, cloud services, and YouTube channels. If you convert to DVD and to Digital at the same time, you get a huge discount on the second format!
Convert VHS to DVD– Next Steps:
- Call or text Jamey (About Jamey) at 720 204-5464
- Set an appointment (every project receives my individual attention)
- Drop off your tapes (and records, cassettes, slides, or negatives, too)
- In a week or less, pick up your new digitized VHS (and other).
