Only Unlimited Cloud Storage Is The Answer
We are at a triple-reason-stage in life where it made sense to convert VHS tapes to digital format and burn DVD’s besides.
First, we are moving, so everything is being brought out of basement storage and gone through, sorted, and either kept or pitched.
Naturally, things of value like home movies of the kids are a treasure to keep. But moving poses hazards and I realized that for the first time I really do have the resources to backup this data and to the cloud besides.
Second, it has become apparent that having a working VCR around and hooked up to the TV is going the way of the Dodo. In the new home we just won’t have one readily available to watch these old memories on.
And third, well, a couple of the kids are old enough that they could get married or move out just about any time now. So it makes one think about things like that.
Converting VHS and VHS-C Tapes To Digital
So I have been running marathon sessions of converting VHS to digital. Editing and burning to DVD will have to wait for now.
Each 2 hour VHS tape rips out to about 25GB of digital AVI format. Yes, that’s 25 GIGABYTEs each!
The VHS-C tapes are only about 30 minutes each so they are ONLY about 6.75GB each.
So you can see that a Terabyte of storage is required just for my 40 VHS home movie tapes.
Once these files are edited and produced to MPEG-2 format for burning to DVD, the size drops significantly, by about 75% or so (roughly 5 – 6 gigabytes per 2 hour VHS tape).
Ideally, because of upload speed considerations, my plan is to backup all of the large AVI files to a large external hard drive by Seagate. Then backup the MPEG-2 files to the cloud using my unlimited online storage account at MyPCBackup (see our full MyPCBackup Review here).
Viewing The Converted VHS Tapes
Once your VHS tapes are converted to digital format, you can burn to DVD as mentioned above, but you can also view the MPEG-2 or AVI files directly on your computer or play them through a game console (maybe directly on some new TV’s).
With a program like DVD Catalyst 4 I have even converted some of these digital files to play on my Droid X and your could do other mobile formats or iPad, etc.
When you add up all of this data, though, you can see why unlimited online storage is required. Unlimited because of the size, STORAGE because I need them to store the files regardless of whether they exist on my PC (they won’t, they will be on a NAS or a disconnected external hard drive) and I don’t want them deleted after 30 days like most online backup accounts will do.