If you were in the habit of recording family films in the 80s or 90s, then chances are you have some camcorder tapes lying around. These tapes contain precious memories of your family growing up, and no one can watch them unless they have a working camcorder lying around that can be plugged into the TV. It’s a long process that most people will not bother with and requires you to have specific technology and cables that you might not own anymore.
Camcorders operate with 8mm tapes that are rarely used nowadays. While they took us into a new age of home video-making, their tape can deteriorate over the years, degrading to the point where the footage becomes unwatchable. That’s why converting your camcorder tapes to a digital or DVD format is crucial if you want to save your family films.
Converting at home may seem convenient, but many problems can occur if you attempt this yourself. In today’s blog, we’re looking into why you should leave it to the professionals and let us convert your camcorder tapes to USB at Video2DVD.
Why Convert Camcorder Tapes to Digital?
There are so many good reasons to transfer your camcorder tapes into a digital format. Here are just some of the reasons you should dig out your old videos for a conversion:
- Tapes deteriorate.
Your camcorder tapes have a limited lifespan, even if left in optimal conditions. Unlike digital files, they naturally degrade over time. So with each passing year, your tapes are more likely to become damaged or even become unplayable altogether, causing you to lose your precious family footage for good.
- Digital is more versatile.
Camcorder tapes can only be played on camcorders, which are fast becoming obsolete and tricky to get hold of. Eventually, it will be nearly impossible to find one or send yours off to be repaired should it break. Having family videos that can only be played in one format is very limiting. You need to keep a working camcorder around and lend it out to family members if they want to enjoy the footage.
Digital files can be played on phones, tablets, and computers and shared instantly with people worldwide with just an internet connection. When you have your videos upgraded to digital, you can access them more easily, share them with family and keep copies on many different devices as backups should the worst happen.
Why You Shouldn’t Convert Your Camcorder Tapes to USB At Home
While converting old camcorder tapes to a digital format is an attractive idea for the reasons discussed above, it should not be attempted by yourself at home. Take a look at some of these reasons below.
- You may not have the right equipment.
Converting tapes to USB is a complicated process and requires specific equipment. It is essential that the correct devices and wiring is used for successful results. Chances are, you don’t have this specialist equipment lying around your house.
- It will be expensive.
Regarding the previous point, the specialist equipment is expensive if you are purchasing it for home use. You will also have to pay for everything individually – this is where the cost starts to add up, and you lose track of how much you’ve spent. When you choose to use a professional video conversion company such as ourselves, there is a one-off payment, and the work will be completed in full.
- The equipment will clutter your house.
Once you are finished using the conversion equipment, it will take up space in your home. One of the benefits of converting your camcorder videos to USB is that they take up less space, and by owning the conversion equipment, you are filling the space up again.
- You could risk losing your family’s special moments.
By attempting to convert your special home movies yourself, you are risking losing the footage by damaging the tapes in the process. This could be devastating. Leave it to us, and rest assured that your memories are in safe hands.
Camcorder Conversion from Video2DVD
As you can see, doing your own camcorder conversion is never a good idea – it’s always best to leave it to the professionals and Video2DVD can help. We have many years of experience doing DVD and digital conversions of obsolete formats like Betamax, VHS tapes and camcorder tapes. Simply send your tapes to us, and we’ll convert them into your chosen format, whether it be VHS to DVD, video to MP4 or even Betamax to USB. We will then send your old tapes back so you can keep hold of them, along with your DVDs or USB stick with your new digital files safely uploaded.