Migrate your tape memories into the 21st century

In your home probably lie boxes of aging audio and videotapes containing music, records of cherished weddings, graduations, funeral ceremonies and other special family moments.

You haven’t watched or listened to them in years, but unfortunately, the years are still taking their toll.

The common enemies of tapes — heat, humidity and improper storage — cause videotapes to deteriorate, eating the magnetic particles that represent your precious family memories.

It’s time to convert VHS to digital files to preserve your memories safely. You’ll also be able to dump that box of bulky tapes and get rid of the antiquated VHS deck that takes up good space.

By converting those old VHS tapes to digital form, you can effectively stop the deterioration in its tracks. It also allows you to use your computer to edit out the boring and blooper moments, add music or narration, and make extra copies for your family and friends — effectively getting you into the digital world.

But how do you make this move? The basic requirements are easy: a computer and a camcorder or VCR which can play your old videotapes.

Other important items you’ll need include a device to get the video in and out of your computer (video capture), the software to edit it, and a DVD-burner to copy the video onto DVDs.

You need now to connect the tape deck to the computer through a common interface. Perhaps the easiest way to convert VHS to digital is to buy an A/V-to-USB adapter cable. This cable features a USB connector on one end, and at the other end, an S-Video connector, a composite video connector, and two RCA audio connectors.

VIDEO PROGRAMMES

Since most converter cables of this type are short tails, you will also need a USB extension cable to use with it. These cables come with a software but you might prefer using a different programme. Several video capture programmes are available and might also be included by default on your computer.

In conjunction with the hardware, you’ll also need special software to capture, compress and edit the video footage on your computer. The digital video software assists you in capturing the video from your video camera or VCR and also allows you to cut/edit the footage or add fun special effects such as narration, transitions, menus and background music.

In some cases, digital video software may have come with your video capture card or device. If not, there are a number of free video editing programmes, such as Windows Movie Maker, that can perform some of these functions.

It may not sound like a big deal, but the hard drive on your computer will need a lot of free space when you’re working with video — as much as 12-14 gigabytes (GB) of space for every hour of footage you import.

If you don’t have that much space to spare, consider purchasing an external hard drive. You can get a 200MB external hard drive which has enough room for plenty of video, plus a place to backup your photos and other files.

Working with such large files means that you’ll also need a powerful computer. A fast processor (CPU) and plenty of memory (RAM) will make it much easier to transfer and edit video.

When you finally finish you can treat these recordings just as you would audio files you’ve ripped from a CD. You can import them into iTunes, build a playlist around them, and then sync them to your device.

There is no better time to convert VHS to digital and start enjoying those home movies in a more convenient format that will preserve your cherished moments far better than analogue tapes. The world has moved; move with the times.

Sam Wambugu is a monitoring and evaluation specialist; [email protected]