Digital Focus: Convert VHS Tapes to DVDs

Turn analog video into digital, fix a thorny printer problem.

Dave Johnson

Feature: Convert Analog Video to Digital

When I win the lottery or finally get around to discovering cold fusion, I am going to build a high-tech house that will put both NORAD and Bill Gate's home to shame. I'll have all sorts of high-tech gadgets, like wall-sized LCD screens that show photo montages of serene wildlife, kind of like Arnold Schwarzenegger's apartment in Total Recall. There's no doubt that I'll have a huge HDTV home theater, an Internet-enabled dishwasher, and a wireless network between the laundry room and the refrigerator. I'll probably get around to transferring all of my home movies to DVD, too.

That, and hire Dire Straits to play at my next birthday party.

Unfortunately, we not-quite-billionaires have to upgrade to new technology one step at a time. Converting your old analog VHS and 8mm videotapes to digital--and then burning them onto playable DVD discs--is a great way to start. By copying your old analog videos to digital format, you can ensure they'll still be viewable after the last VCR has been thrown into the incinerator. DVDs don't degrade a little every time you play them like analog tapes do. And DVD is just a lot more convenient than VHS. So dedicate a few weekends to making the transition from analog to digital.

Analog In, Digital Out

Before you can start copying all of that footage onto digital media, you need some way to capture all of the video in your PC. I'm assuming you already have an IEEE 1394 port (also called FireWire or i.Link) on your PC. Many new computers come with an IEEE 1394 port, but if yours doesn't have one you can buy an easy-to-install IEEE 1394 add-in card for around $70.

The IEEE 1394 port will help you transfer video from any Mini-DV or Digital8 camcorder to your PC and store it on the hard disk. Your old camcorder or VCR doesn't have an IEEE 1394 connection. So what do you do?

Take a look at your new digital camcorder. Many have analog inputs. If yours does, it's a snap to transfer the video. Just pop an analog tape into your VCR and connect its outputs to the digital camcorder's analog inputs. Next, plug the camcorder into the PC's IEEE 1394 port.

When you're ready to capture, set the camcorder to playback mode and press the Play button on the VCR. The video will go from the VCR to the camcorder, where it'll pass through the IEEE 1394 cable into the PC. If you start your video capture software and begin recording, you can capture the entire tape in digital format on your PC's hard disk.

8mm: Not Dead Yet

If your movies are in 8mm or Hi8 format, you have a simpler option: Today's Digital8 camcorders can play those older formats just fine. That means you don't have to rig a Rube Goldberg-style plumbing system from your VCR to your camcorder to your PC. Instead, just put your old Hi8 tape in the camcorder, press Play, and capture the video in digital format on your PC.

Unfortunately, you can't do the same for VHS. VHS and mini-DV tapes are so different that no camcorders can play both. Digital8 camcorders, on the other hand, can read analog 8mm tapes because Sony intentionally designed the format for backward compatibility. Score one for Sony.

Making Movies

Finally, now that the video is on your PC, all you need is some DVD production software to finish the job. DVD software can help you break the video into chapters, add menus at the beginning of the disc, and write the whole video to a recordable DVD using your PC's DVD-R drive.

To date, the only consumer drives capable of writing to the widely compatible DVD-R write-once format have been DVD-RW and the latest-generation DVD-RAM models. Soon, however, second-generation DVD+RW drives will offer the capability to write to DVD+R write-once discs. Industry experts suggest that movies on both DVD-R and DVD+R discs should be compatible with about 85 percent of home DVD players. Movies put on DVD-RW and DVD+RW rewritable discs, on the other hand, tend to work with only about half the home DVD players out there. Of course, compatibility is less likely with older DVD players.

Some good DVD production packages include Pinnacle Systems' Pinnacle Express (about $34), Sonic Solutions' MyDVD ($79), and Ulead's DVD MovieFactory (about $44).

But remember, even after you burn your home movies onto DVDs, they won't last forever. Those shiny little discs are neither indestructible nor immortal. Testing suggests that DVDs will degrade after 50 to 100 years, so you'll need to copy their content to memory cubes, neural storage, or your basement's holographic rumpus room before then. But that's a topic for another column in, say, 30 years.

Dave's Favorites: FlexHood Reduces Lens Flare

Every serious photographer who has come to digital photography from the world of 35mm SLRs has drooled over cameras like the Nikon D1, Canon D30, and Fuji S1 because they offer something you can't get from run-of-the-mill digital cameras: interchangeable lenses. With a Nikon D1x, for instance, you can use all the wide-angle and telephoto lenses you collected for your old 35mm Nikon camera.

These cameras are by no means cheap, but they've become a lot more affordable recently. If you have one, you may have discovered an ugly secret about using your old lenses with your new digital camera: lens flare.

That's right, the lens hood that came with your old 80-200mm zoom isn't effective with your digital camera because your digital camera magnifies the effect of the lens, effectively making it longer than it is on a 35mm camera. The Canon D30, for instance, has a focal length magnification factor of 1.6. So if you attach a 200mm lens to the camera, it behaves like a 320mm lens. The lens hood wasn't designed for that, so you can get unwanted light effects in your digital images.

That's okay, though, because I recently ran across an inexpensive solution. A company called TrueDigitalPhoto has created a $6 product called FlexHood, which is a flexible film that wraps around an existing lens hood to extend its range. FlexHood uses a nondrying adhesive that leaves no residue, so you can apply it for digital photography, remove it for film work, and put it back on again later without damaging your hood. It's available for a vast array of lenses from Nikon, Canon, Tokina, and others.

Q&A: Problems With a Printer Switchbox

Hi, Dave. I use an MP LaserJet 2100 through a parallel connection. I just bought an HP 1215 PhotoSmart printer. I have both connected through a switchbox, but I cannot get the new PhotoSmart to work correctly. I have USB 1.1 ports and wonder if it is possible to have one printer connected via parallel and one connected to USB.

--Michelle White, Memphis, Tennessee

Back in the old days, no one ever needed to connect two printers to the same computer, but today a lot of people find that having a laser printer for text and an ink jet for digital images is a smart combination. But you've discovered a problem with using the parallel port. Switchboxes, which let you connect two printers to the same parallel port and toggle between them, don't always work properly--especially with Hewlett-Packard printers, which I've found to balk at switchboxes more often than many others.

You've already thought of the solution, though. Yes, you can connect your older laser printer via the parallel port and attach the new ink jet by way of the USB port. If you later replace your laser printer with a USB model, you'll find that it's possible to attach any number of printers to your PC via separate USB ports.

Hot Pic of the Week

Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality, and technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize valued at between $10 and $100.

A gentle reminder, folks: We disqualify some really wonderful pictures every week because the submissions don't follow the rules. Be sure to include everything we ask for in your e-mail message, including a description of your picture and your complete contact information, or your entry is wasted!

Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering please read the full description of the contest rules and regs.

This week's Hot Pic: "Golden Still Life," by Lisa Tao-Yen, New York

Lisa writes: "Since I got my digital camera--a Fuji FinePix 1300--photography has become my new hobby. My goal here was to create a photo image similar to that of an Old Master still life painting; warm, golden and classical. To take this picture, I used no flash, just a spotlight and a candle. This is the original photo with no touch-ups done."

We want your feedback! Send your comments, questions, and suggestions about the newsletter itself to comments@bydavejohnson.com. If you have a question that you'd like to see answered in the weekly Q&A, send it to question@bydavejohnson.com.

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