What Advantages Does DVD Have Over VHS?

If you have an old batch of VHS tapes, chances are they are full of treasured family memories and moments that you still would like to enjoy. While it is possible to view them in this format if you have an old VHS player still, transferring the tapes to DVD is a much better idea. But what specific advantages does having your precious footage on DVD bring?

DVDs

1. Better Picture Quality

This first point might sound technically incorrect as VHS does not have to be compressed as much with it being analogue technology. However, the issue comes with the fact that the tape in VHS cassettes will wear over time, leading to a loss in image quality. VHS picture quality also depends a huge amount on the equipment you watch it on and the strength of the TV signal in your region. With DVD, none of these problems will affect you. As it is digital technology, the disc will not wear out and the TV signal strength is not a factor either. This means that for the vast majority of people DVD will give a much better picture quality.

2. DVDs Last Longer

As noted above, the tape found in VHS cassettes can be an issue over time. Once you have watched the VHS footage a number of times, it will stretch and maybe even break. Naturally, this means that the footage on that cassette is lost forever. DVDs have none of these problems however as they contain no tape to become broken or warped. Relying on a laser reading the data on the disc, they will last much longer than a VHS tape.

3. Special Features

Another great reason to turn old tapes into DVDs is that they can be programmed with special features included on them. This can be anything from separate chapters within a DVD or different language settings. This can help make the footage even more special and interesting to watch for your whole family. The same cannot be said for VHS which only has the capacity to play back the recorded footage as is. The extra features on a DVD are also more convenient – for example, there is no need to rewind the footage manually to the start if desired as with a VHS.

4. More Accessible

Let’s face it – who has a VHS player in their home these days? Most people, however, will have a DVD player, or at the very least a laptop that can play DVDs. This means that having your family footage on DVD makes it easier to play at your home and other peoples. If you have that old footage of your parents on DVD for example, it is much easier to take it round to show them. With VHS, you would have to lug the whole set-up with you, if you still had it.

5. DVDs Fit More On

Due to their digital nature, DVDs can fit much more footage on. VHS tapes on the other hand would usually fit much less on. This is down to the way that data recorded onto a DVD is compressed down (or made smaller) when burnt onto it. All this means that you spend less on DVDs to hold your footage and have less around the house to store in a tidy manner. Compared to having boxes and boxes of old VHS tapes around, it is much better.

Get in Touch Today

Contact us on 0800 592 433 if you would like more information about VHS to DVD transfer. We are experts in video transfer and will be able to get that special archive footage onto high-quality DVD. Give us a call today and let us see how we can help you out.