What to do with old VHS home movies?

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Piles of old home movies on VHS cassette tapes.
Piles of old home movies on VHS cassette tapes.

Do you have old VHS home movies that you haven’t seen in years? They might be worth watching again! Here’s an idea on how to preserve and enjoy these vintage memories, for life.‍

Ditch the VCR.

As an analog player, the VCR is a tedious way to rewind tapes and view home movies. Not only do VCRs go bad, but they add more stress when they mangle the tapes and destroy your priceless VHS memories. Worse, no company makes new VCRs or provides repair parts.

Videocassette recorder (VCR) blinking 12:00.
Videocassette recorders (VCR) are no longer manufactured.

Convert VHS to digital.

If you have old VHS cassette tapes lying around, chances are you can’t remember what’s on them. Why not convert them into a digital format so you can watch them whenever you want? There are plenty of ways to do this, such as using a VCR converter box or using a professional digitizing service.

A hardware interface to convert VHS to digital.
A hardware interface to convert VHS to digital.

Use a portable format.

Whichever way you decide to convert your VHS to digital, make sure you copy the video for portability. Do not copy your VHS to DVD which further delays more problems. DVDs are a proprietary format, saved on media which will ultimately scratch, crack, and go unreadable by your devices.

A cracked digital video disc (DVD).
DVDs are not portable, or enduring.

VHS to MP4 files.

There are multiple portable formats for digital video, but the MP4 is the most popular. MP4 digital files can be played on all Windows, Macintosh, iPhone, and Android devices. They’re easily shared with friends and family using the internet.

Icon for an MP4 video file.
Icon for an MP4 video file.

Store memories on the cloud.

All physical media, even flashcards & external hard drives, will ultimately degrade. Save your digitized home movies on the secure cloud, where data center redundancy ensures you’ll never lose a single file. Consider paying a small subscription fee to maintain access to your memories, for life.

Heirloom converts VHS tapes to digital for only $14.99 each.

Originally published at https://www.heirloom.cloud.

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Digitizer of Home Movies, Photos, and More!
Digitizer of Home Movies, Photos, and More!

Written by Digitizer of Home Movies, Photos, and More!

Heirloom converts home movies, photos, and any media to a portable digital format. Stream memories from your private network, for life. Satisfaction guaranteed.

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