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Thursday, February 10, 2005

Transferring info between formats


This is from an email so there is no URL and I did not put in all the embedded URLs from the item.

Rescuing Old, Outdated Media



In general, my "State of the Art" column in Circuits generates only five or ten pieces of e-mail a week. This e-mail newsletter, on the other hand, routinely generates several hundred responses, both by e-mail and on the Pogue feedback board.

My column in the paper two weeks ago, though, reversed all expectations. It generated about 200 reader e-mail queries. The topic was hybrid VCR-DVD recorders, which you can use to rescue old analog tapes by transferring them to shiny new recordable DVD's.

Big Bunch #1 asked, "Can I edit the resulting DVD's on my computer?"

The answer: Not easily. Video on a DVD is stored in a format designed for playback, not for editing.

Still, if you have a computer and you want to edit the old tapes, you shouldn't be messing around with a VHS-DVD burner at all. Why not just play the old tapes directly into the computer and edit them BEFORE burning to DVD?

You'll find instructions below under "TRANSFERRING VHS (AND OTHER ANALOG) VIDEOS TO DVD."

Big Bunch #2 asked, "But what about all the copy-protected commercial VHS tapes I've bought over the years? Surely I don't have to buy them all over again on DVD?"

Answer: Yes, I'm pretty sure you do. Again, there's probably special software that can strip out the copy protection from a movie on tape. But if I'm not mistaken, that would involve playing the whole movie onto your PC first, then burning it onto a DVD, and the result won't have anything close to the quality of a new store-bought DVD. Frankly, I'd pay the $18 for the movie on DVD and save myself the headache.

But the vast majority of the questions all reflected the same thread of anxiety:

"But how do I rescue my old vinyl records/audio cassettes/VHS-C tapes/8mm film reels?"

That's a terrific question, a very common one, and, fortunately, one that gets answered frequently these days, online and off. Here are some links to just such tutorials, for your Web-browsing pleasure:

TRANSFERRING AUDIO TAPES TO CD:

If you have a Windows PC: http://www.g4techtv.com/callforhelp/features/

If you have a Mac, here are a couple of different approaches: http://www.wap.org/journal/digitizingcassettes/default.html
http://lowendmac.com/lab/03/0814.html

TRANSFERRING VINYL RECORDS TO CD:

Take your pick of free tutorials:

http://www.thelaughingpapillon.com/vinyl2cd.php
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=387506
http://www.cyberwalker.net/columns/feb02/150202.html
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,46164,00.asp

TRANSFERRING VHS (AND OTHER ANALOG) VIDEOS TO DVD:

Here are several sets of instructions, all variations on the theme. They're here for Windows: http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,97624,00.asp
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3000_7-5071953-1.html

. . . and here for the Mac:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=91153
http://www.macworld.com/2004/05/features/fromvhstodvd/index.php

TRANSFERRING OLD FILM TO DVD:

This one's not so easy. There is such a thing as a mirrored apparatus that lets you play your old films from a projector directly into a modern camcorder, but it's a royal pain, it's time-consuming and the resulting quality isn't so great. That's why most experts concede defeat on this one and recommend that you send your reels off to a commercial transfer service.

That's the conclusion by this online columnist, for example, which includes links to several such transfer companies (which I haven't tested): http://channels.lockergnome.com/windows/archives/

And here's a first-person account by Circuits's own Michelle Slatalla:

http://tech2.nytimes.com/mem/technology/techreview.html?res=9C01E4D61431F93BA15751C0A9649C8B63

If you've had good luck with one transfer house or another, would you mind letting us know by posting it on the Pogue feedback boards?

Thanks -- and happy rescuing!

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