Living in the age of technology has its distinct advantages. Gone are the days of scratched records and those funky 8-track tapes. We can now record our music, our movies, and even our family memories on DVDs. DVDs are stable, easy to duplicate and they take a beating much better than older media did.



While improving technology is fun to watch, there is one drawback to how quickly the change happens; what do you do with all of your old home movies which are on VHS and other formats? What happens to them when you no longer have a VHS system to play them on? The simple answer to this problem is the process of video transfer.

Companies who specialize in video transfer, sometimes also referred to as video conversion, can take you older format media and transfer the content onto DVDs. By converting your family memories from your old 8mm and Beta tapes onto a DVD, you can then watch them without requiring an older technology player to do so. As an added bonus, you can also share your family memories with others by simply copying the DVD and mailing it to your far away relatives. Since they are much more likely to have a DVD player, they can enjoy the family history as well.

One of the problems in the past with sharing your films has been incompatibility with formats. There now are four distinct international video standards. These different international video standards are NTSC, PAL, PAL-M and SECAM. What this means to you is that depending on what part of the world you are located in, the format for your media may be different than someone in another area of the world. This prevents your relatives in Europe from sending you a video tape here in the U.S. because your U.S. designed player is a different standard and is unable to play the European tape.

Any good video conversion company can help you with the problem of incompatible international video standards by adjusting for the differences between the standards. This adjustment will give you an end result DVD which can be played world-wide!

Another reason you may want to consider transferring all of your old home movies onto the newer technology DVDs is because the older forms of tape and film were not designed to last for more than a few years. Over time these older films become darker and harder to see. By transferring your home movies to DVD you are able to stop this natural age decomposition and preserve your family memories for generations yet to come. By doing this now, you can ensure it will be possible to convert your memories before they are lost to the aging process and to lack of equipment in the future.

One of the best things you can do to preserve your family home movies and tapes is to video transfer them to a more current media such as a DVD. By moving your images now onto DVD, you are able to have adjustments made to deal with the incompatibilities in the international video standards to allow them to be played by family members worldwide. You can also help to stave off the natural aging process and preserve the best images possible for generations to come.