One of my constant “need to do” projects is to digitize our old home movies. As this is a daunting project (due to the shear volume) I tend to do it piecemeal, more often than not whenever a smaller project (like a retrospective slide show or movie) comes along. One such project lies ahead, so for all our benefit let’s review what’s involved with digitally preserving your treasured old home movies into posterity.

Film, video, and audio cassette tapes (basically any analog media) break down over time, and most people don’t store their “memories media” in conditions conducive to its longevity. Like a shoebox in a dusty, dank basement (yes, that’s me – guilty as charged).

So, the sooner you get your memories media off the 8mm film, audio cassette, VHS, or other analog video format it was originally captured in and into a digital format, the better. And, while today’s storage medium may well not be in vogue twenty years from now, once your memories media is digital it can move to newer storage without loss of quality.

The toughest memories media to digitize are “reel” movies. You remember. Celluloid. The only way to digitize movies on film at home is to use a film projector to project the movie onto a screen while filming it with a video camera (which can also record the audio). As you can imagine, controlling the environment (light, sound, etc.) to get good results using this method is very difficult.

Better to use a professional transfer service. They use expensive machines to turn celluloid into video. Some use a version of the method I described above, only in very controlled conditions. Others use hardware/software that scans each individual movie frame into the computer and then weaves them all into video. Whatever the method, the results will be better than doing it at home.

You can also use a professional transfer service to convert analog video (VHS, Beta, 8mm, VHS-C, etc.) to digital. The hardest part of using a professional service is choosing how you want your memories preserved. You may be faced with many choices. For example, most services will offer rudimentary editing and titling, with the end product being a DVD you can play on your TV. No muss, no fuss, but not the best option if you want to edit your video sometime down the road.

If you want the flexibility to edit your video later, you may want to have your digitized video delivered via some high-volume storage media (like DVDs) in DV (digital video) or Windows Media Video (WMV), whichever suits your computer editing plans.

Digitizing analog video can be done easily and relatively painlessly at home, provided you have the right tools for the job.

What tools do you need? First, you need a device to play your analog media. For most people that’ll be the original video camera or VCR, if they still work. Note that newer digital video camcorders cannot play analog tapes even if the tape is the same size or format.

Next, you need a device that can convert analog video into digital video. Most medium-to-high-end digital video camcorders have a built in analog-to-digital (and vice versa) “flowthrough” converter. You can also buy stand-alone converter boxes for around $200, as well as PCI cards for computers.

And, of course, you need a computer to receive, store and edit the digital video. The faster the processor the better, but more importantly you need as much RAM and hard drive space as you can afford.

With the pieces assembled, you’re ready to start digitizing. More tips and tricks next time.