Is It Time to Digitize Your VHS Collection?

If it is time to digitize VHS, then there are a few things to think about that you don’t have on your mind every day. Why would you? That’s what I do!

The Enemies of Converting VHS to Digital

First of all, it is prudent to consider that to digitize VHS means more than just being able to watch your video memories again. Deterioration of the videotape itself is a serious consideration that affects the possibility of even being able to do so.

1. Even when we store tapes in a cool, dry environment, they deteriorate a little bit every day. The tape itself becomes a little more brittle every day.
2. Moisture in the air causes the videotape to stick to itself. The longer a tape sits without being wound/rewound, the more likely it is to happen. Mold can even start growing on the tape.  By the way, this is even worse for 8mm film and 16mm film – mold is their #1 enemy (Digitize 8mm Film).
3. Moving jostles the tapes, dropped boxes crack the tape cases, and loss is always possible.
4. When anything magnetic comes in proximity to a videotape, it is more likely that the tape demagnetizes. More on this in a minute. Tapes can also demagnetize when in proximity to electrical wires, which also have magnetic fields around them when current is live.
5. Just the act of playing a videotape wears them out a little bit each play.

The most common phrase that I hear is “I’ve been meaning to do this forever”. Well, almost forever!.  Some customers have been “meaning to digitize their VHS” for multiple decades! Just consider the enemies of videotape conversion that I listed above! In this case, time is not your friend.

Also Read – VHS to Digital: Revive the Past with VHS to Digital Conversion

OK, So How to Digitize VHS

No wonder the process is mysterious. Today, we accept that VHS, miniDV, Hi8, VHC-C, and microMV camcorder tapes contain video. Think back (for those of you old enough) to the days when videotape first came out. Really, this blackish/brownish tape that is like scotch tape, only not sticky, actually has hours of video on it that I can record and play with a special machine? It was really like magic, or voodoo, or something when we digitize VHS.

It wasn’t like film at all, where you can actually see tiny little frames that are actually a picture of something. Shining a light through film to project it made sense. And it even made sense that if projected through a lens, you could see a large version of the image on a wall or a screen.

Now, something on the tape, when run through a machine, will project a video onto a TV screen. Video that you can’t even see when you look at the tape. Hmph. To make this a bit shorter, the idea is that each individual frame of a video, similar to old projector film, consists of tiny magnetic code applied directly to the tape (yes, each frame). A magnetic coating creates magnetized videotape. When run through a VHS player, the machine reads every frame (at a breakneck pace) and then turns that magnetic code into electric code and sends it down the wire to tubes (very old), LEDs, and LCDs that turn the electric code into color and pattern on a screen.

Analog to Digital Converter Box

This magnetic way of doing video is called analog, representing the color in code and stored magnetically. Needless to say, there is almost nothing analog manufactured anymore. Hence, the question becomes: ‘How do I take these priceless videos so that I can play them on something that plays digital?’ Smart TVs, phones, computers, tablets – these are digital devices that have no connection to anything analog without first digitizing.

A bridge between the analog VHS tape and a digital file is needed so that an analog video can be played on today’s devices.  That something is an analog-to-digital converter. Remember that the VHS player interprets the magnet code on the tape and puts it on wires that go to a TV. To digitize this video signal, the cables are sent to a digital converter that interprets the analog code from the VHS and converts it to a digital signal that can be saved on a computer and then played back.

Practical Implications of Digitizing Videotape

This brings us to the equipment needed to convert VHS and other videotapes into digital files.

1. Videotape recorded with a VHS camera or through a VHS deck that has recording capabilities. (and has been spared the dangers listed above)
2. A VHS Player that still plays tapes (these are no longer manufactured, so the clock is ticking…)
3. High quality wires to transmit the analog signal to the converter box
4. A converter box that can accept the analog signal and output a digital signal
5. A computer that is powerful enough, fast enough, and has enough storage to record a digital signal.
6. High quality editing software to make the frames clean, cut out any blank tape, and even correct color, sound, and lighting as desired.

Of course, the quality of the digital video depends on the tape quality, the VHS player used, the quality of the wires, the power of the computer capturing the video, and the software that wraps up the project. A cheap converter box, for example, will generate low-resolution digital files. Poor quality wires are just like bad speaker wires.

VHS to Digital Conversion: Get Started

1. Call or text Jamey at 720 204-5464
2. Set an appointment (every project receives my individual attention)
3. Drop off your tapes (and records, cassettes, slides, or negatives, too)
4. In a week or less, pick up your new digitized video.