Taking home movies as a family is something plenty of us remember as children. Parents would often bring out the video camera to film birthday parties, family events, playing at the park, and many other things. These videos are priceless and allow an entire family to take a trip down memory lane.
But over time, the film and tapes that these videos reside on will deteriorate. After enough time, they will essentially be unwatchable, and all of these family keepsakes will be gone. As a result, you need to do all you can to keep these preserved forever.
Digitizing Your Home Movies
If you truly want to preserve your home movies and pass them on from generation to generation, your best bet is to digitize the tapes. This converts them to a digital file which can be saved to a computer, to ensure it never loses its quality or deteriorates.
This can be done on your own, but can take a lot of time and may require the use of some tools and technologies you don’t have. Instead, it is often better to put your trust in a company that specializes in 8mm to digital conversion. They can ensure the job gets done right, and looks great, all for a fair price.
Once the tapes have been digitized, they can be multiplied and sent all over the world via email, as opposed to having the one single physical tape. You can also set up a website that only your family can see and use it to host the various home videos you have converted.
Preserving and Organizing Your Home Movies
While digitization is a great option, some may prefer to keep their tapes physical, or may simply want to keep the originals safe. It takes a lot of work to keep tapes functional for a long period of time, but it can be done.
A big part of preserving your tapes is storing them properly. They should be kept out of extreme temperatures, and away from direct sunlight. They should be kept in a spot that is dry, and be protected from things like dust and dirt.
Also, magnetic fields can wreak havoc on tapes, so keep them away from magnets and some electronics, if at all possible. Once you are done watching a tape, be sure to rewind it before putting it away. If you leave it in the middle, the part of the tape that is stretched can begin to sag over time.
As far as how you organize the tapes, that is largely up to you. You want to make sure that it remains easy to find the one you are looking for. Also, keep these organized vertically and side by side. You don’t want to stack tapes on top of one another, as that can contribute to their deterioration.
In conclusion, we hope this blog post has helped you learn a little more about organizing, preserving, and digitizing home movies.
