|
Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Wednesday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind |
In computer news this week 04/21/2010 It’s time to convert all
those old family videos into computer format. How many precious
old family videos do you have of the family at holidays and special moments
in your life ?
I had dozens and was looking for an economical way to convert them. I
was concerned about the shelf life
of those old video tapes. I’d heard that they were only good for
about 10 years, 20 at the max, and I had some from the early 80’s. I had
access to one of the early VHS cameras and shot a lot of video, and in the
mid 1980’s I bought one of the first Hi8 cameras, and had dozens of Hi8
tapes too. So I was looking to convert these 2 different media into my computer,
and then burn dvd’s of them. I looked
into the cost of commercial Video services doing this, and many of them are
quite expensive; charging up to $ 50 per item converted - so ten tapes is $
500 – ouch ! Another problem most of us have
is that the video on these tapes is unedited, so I was actually looking to
get the video into my computer and then edit it. I used a commercial
company to convert several tapes and they did a nice job
and put them on DVD’s in neat packages, but then I had to read each dvd
into my computer and edit that video, a time taking task which used up a lot
of disk space too. One full Hi8 tape can be 20 Gigs of disk space. The
solution I found was Roxio Creator 2010
coupled with their Roxio
Easy VHS to DVD hardware device. Roxio Creator 2010 is a software suite
that lets you do just about anything in terms of working with and converting
music photo and video files.
Their new
hardware product - Roxio
Easy VHS to DVD – is a
hardware device in the form of a USB port that plugs into your computer, and
it’s attached to its own adapter which has both video and audio
connectors on it.. All you have to do is connect
your VHS player or Hi8 camera to your computer using their USB device, run
their software, and you’ll be converting all your precious video
memories into your computer ! Once I
converted all my old video tapes into my computer using Roxio, I then edited
them using Windows Movie Maker and then burnt them to dvds. Roxio has
a simple solution for everyone looking to convert their old family videos. They
also have a youtube
video showing you how to use it, in addition to excellent online and
phone tech support. So
don’t let your video memories crumble into dust – you can now convert
them yourself on your computer, and preserve them for generations. |
|
|
For Raw Bytes This is Frank Delaney (C) 2009 MTA Micro
Technology Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html PO Box 31522 Spokane, Wa 99223-1522 (509)624-7230 |
|
