I cleaned out a cabinet a few years ago and found a stack of old Super 8 tapes. I’ll never forget the way Mom’s face lit up after I digitized videos of her late brother Harold Jr.’s wedding. Tragically, he died in a car accident a week after his wedding day.
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Memories like those are precious, but when was the last time you watched your old family videos? If they’re on VHS, it can be a pain. Even worse, every year that goes by, those tapes degrade just a little more.
Satish from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, called my national radio show for help digitizing old tapes, and I figured he wasn’t the only one.
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Go the DIY route
To convert your VHS tapes to digital, you'll need a VCR or VHS camcorder. If you don’t have one, try eBay, OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace or another local sales platform. You’ll also need to transfer your VHS recordings in real time, so set aside a few hours, if you can.
After that, you’ve really got two options:
Option 1: Get a converter like this option from Elgato that digitizes video onto a computer. Plug it into your USB port, then connect your analog video source (VCR, DVD player, DVR or camcorder) using the included cables. The software bundled with your converter will guide you through the process.
DIY conversion cards and professional services are both viable ways of digitizing your old VHS tapes. (KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)
Option 2: Try a handheld video-to-digital converter. You don’t need to use a computer or any software. Connect it to your video source, and insert a USB drive or SD card into the converter. Hit the "Record" button and watch your movies get digitized in real time on the LCD screen. Sweet!
Have someone do it for you
Costco, Walgreens and Walmart all convert tapes, with prices starting around $20 a pop. Not bad. They’ll take VHS footage and put it on a DVD for you, and they’ll give you a digital copy, too.
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You can also try a service that specializes in this stuff. They’re more expensive for sure.
- iMemories: Starts at $29.99 per VHS tape.
- Legacybox: Starts at $60; the starter pack includes up to two tapes or 50 photos. (Score, I just spotted a 50% off sale on their website!)
- Capture: Starts at $29.99 per tape.
Getting this all done takes time
It helps to do it in baby steps. Gather your tapes, get the gear you need, or figure out the service you want to use. I put old digitized videos up on YouTube with a private link. This way, I can share that link with family and friends.
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Bonus: Don’t forget old photos
I’ve scanned a lot of pics in my day, but I love this quick and easy method when you want to digitize a print that’s hung in someone’s house.
Google’s PhotoScan is a free app for iOS and Android that scans your photos multiple times, then stitches all the images together to remove glare and improve the final quality. The app works on matte and gloss prints and photos inside or outside albums.
VHS tapes aren't the only thing you should digitize – there are apps that allow you to near-effortlessly scan old photos as well. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
Here’s how it works: Snap one image, then take four additional shots according to the app’s instructions. PhotoScan uses an algorithm to detect and crop the photo, automatically detect the edge, correct the rotation, and correct the perspective to show a frontal view.
- Open the PhotoScan app and hold your phone above a photo.
- Tap the capture button to take pictures, which will save to your device.
- Move your phone around to get the circle over each of the four dots.
- After the photo is processed, tap the photo thumbnail.
- Select a photo to rotate, adjust the corners or delete.
You can then use Google Photos to store and organize your scans. From there, you can edit your images and share them with others. So simple!
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