Make DVDs from old videos

Since my camcorder (one of the last reasonably-priced ones with an analog-passthrough that allowed me to run a VCR through it to transfer video) is no longer being recognized by my PC, I’m holding out at this point for the Ion VCR2PC, which is essentially a USB VCR with editing software. It looks promising, as long as it’s not too expensive.

The first batch of transfers from 8mm to DVD went quite well. It was 93 minutes worth of stuff (that cost $130 to convert) and looks good (well, as good as 40-year-old film that’s been stored in a closet can look). It feels good to have this stuff archived.

Next up: my dad’s side of the family. He’s currently working on gathering the film from my aunts.

Also: loads of VHS home movies from the 80s.

I’ve taken on the task of getting old 8mm films shot by my grandparents (on both sides of the family) onto DVD in an attempt to save them before they’re lost to time.

The first batch, from my grandparents on my mother’s side, look to be in good shape. I’ll be dropping them off tomorrow to have them professionally transferred. These date back to the 1960s.

The second batch will be from my dad’s side. My aunts are currently in possession of the films, but I’m sure they’ll be willing to lend them for the sake of archiving them. These are apparently much more brittle and date back to the 30s and 40s.

Once they’re on DVD, we’ll worry about editing them, adding music, and recording voiceovers.

I only have a few MiniDV tapes to go through and burn to DVD, and those are pretty easy to do. Right now, I’m about halfway through transferring all the videos to the PC and will then take a look at the individual clips and organize/edit them before burning them.

I also have a shopping bag full of old VHS tapes that my family shot from the mid-80s through the mid-90s of standard stuff (at home, graduations, baseball games, etc.). Fortunately, my camcorder has an analog passthrough which allows me to get the videos onto the PC relatively easy, it just takes a while, and will take even longer to edit the videos down and possibly touch them up. I’ve done a couple videos so far.

I also need to decide how much I’ll bother with fancy DVD menus.