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| Thread ID: 100461 | 2009-06-08 22:57:00 | Why are people putting VHS onto DVD | Trev (427) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 780736 | 2009-06-08 22:57:00 | I ask this question because as far as I know it is not known how long the media burnt to a DVD well last. The process that you burn a DVD is a different process to what a commercially produced DVD you buy from a shop is done. I have recordings on VHS tapes that are 27 years old and are still playable. I was going to convert all these tapes to DVD then got to thinking as I never play these tapes is it really worth it and am I ever going to watch them when burnt to DVD anyway, and the answer to that is probably no. Food for thought. :) |
Trev (427) | ||
| 780737 | 2009-06-08 23:05:00 | I can say the opposite -- I have several VHS tapes, that are failing, and when I put them on to DVD at least its easy enough to make another copy if required. Got two VHS tapes, that have failed, and I'm slightly pissed, as one was from years ago and I have lost some footage that cant be recreated. The VHS of my wedding got put onto DVD as well, lose that and the better half wouldn't be to happy. VHS can sometimes get tangled up in the heads and bugger the tape as well. Old story really, better to take precautions and back up than say "I know I should have done that" - then its too late |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 780738 | 2009-06-08 23:24:00 | Well true, but then you'll still have a copy on the hdd (if the dvd stuffs up). I've only got a few tapes (the planet of the apes lol). The original version - and the 4 sequels. Cant do much with those tho. Dont have a VCR. | Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 780739 | 2009-06-08 23:31:00 | Unless your VHS player is serviced every few years all the oil in the tape mechanism will have gummed up and it will probably turn into a tape swallowing monster. There aren't many places around that do that sort of work. | PaulD (232) | ||
| 780740 | 2009-06-08 23:56:00 | Yes I have found some of my VHS tapes have not survived well at all. Some have! All have been kept in the same area and I have no theory why some have lasted better than others, but initial cost of the tapes doesn't seem the reason. Anyway disks are amazingly cheap so making another copy in say 5 years may be the way to go - but with advances in copying etc I feel that the future means an external hard drive onto which all my disks would be put. Copyright tapes are probably the best for aging but are not the ones I really want to save. Its the private ones I like to keep and by private I include those off TV I saved because of their content. Tom |
Thomas01 (317) | ||
| 780741 | 2009-06-09 00:06:00 | tapes wear out with use, but even sitting they degrade. worse is mold which will eat the stuff the tapes up. big problem is you only need one bad tape which will foul the VCR head up and then it will damage every tape you play through it. the only the big problem with DVD's is they get damaged out of the DVD player. scatching them putting them in/out of the case, leaving them on top of player, dropping them on the floor etc. ideally they need a cover like the old floppy disks have but that would increase cost a lot :( |
tweak'e (69) | ||
| 780742 | 2009-06-09 00:24:00 | I ripped a VCR onto my hard drive the other day (in case your wondering, it was a tv recording, not a movie) so I could have a digital copy. Didn't go to well though, the quality stuffed up a bit, no matter... ;) | davidmmac (4619) | ||
| 780743 | 2009-06-09 00:30:00 | I have a collection of over 200 VHS tapes of Formula One motor racing that take up this much space <-------------------------------------------------------> Converting them to DVD will only take up this much space <-------> |
Zippity (58) | ||
| 780744 | 2009-06-09 00:33:00 | My Dad has gone through all our old home videos and put them onto DVD. He did for a few reasons: 1 - VCR machines probably won't be available for much longer (are they still available???) 2 - Their current VCR is pretty old so could die at any time 3 - Blank DVDs are so cheap so he gave all his kids (4 of us) a copy each 4 - There was a lot of crap on the videos as it was a lot harder to edit things out when recorded onto a VHS tape - putting them onto his DVD HDD recorder allowed him to edit them a lot easier and weed out the crap. 5 - Space required to store the VHS tapes as opposed to DVDs |
CYaBro (73) | ||
| 780745 | 2009-06-09 01:49:00 | I think converting to digital format is going to last a lot longer than leaving it on tape for another 10 years. Who knows if you'll even be able to convert your VHS to DVD in another 10 years. If you convert it to DVD, you could copy the DVD to a pair of RAID1 hard drives and just archive it there if you're worried about the longevity of DVDs. Besides if you're worried about keeping it long term you should be going straight to the newest format i.e. Blu-Ray. | Vecaren (14444) | ||
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