Video Archive

I spent a good deal of time today on a project I've been meaning to do since I retired eight years ago. We have lots of VHS video footage of the children going back over 25 years that I have wanted to get into digital format.

I made a start sometime back by copying some of the small tapes onto DVD, even editing them with titles and credits. There were still quite a few to do, then the other day Ann said I ought to tackle the rest of them. I did a quick search on Amazon to find technology had moved on and for just over a tenner I could buy a gadget that connected camcorder/VCR to the computer's USB.

After a bit of fiddling I managed to get the software working and dug out my twenty year old VHS camcorder which amazingly still worked and only chewed up one mini tape, luckily after it had been copied. So I managed to copy all the mini tapes dating back to 1991, only the large videotapes remaining, that will require me to dig out the VCR from the garage, tomorrow's task.

I used the software to do a few screen captures as it was recording and as I didn't do an official birthday portrait of Tom yesterday here are some pictures of Tom and Emma in the garden of the house we had in Temple Grafton back in1996, the DVD will be on sale later the year!