HowToDoThings.com Audio & Video Media

How To Convert VHS to DVD

Staff468 — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:04:00 -0600

There's more than one reason to convert your old VHS tapes to DVD. VHS tapes and VCRs are fast becoming an obsolete technology-many may argue that they already are. If there's any footage that you want to preserve that's currently in a VHS format, now's the time. VCRs are still available, as are services and machines that will help you convert your VHS tapes to DVD. If you continue to wait, you'll see fewer and fewer opportunities to make this change and save your VHS footage.

Another concern is damage. Even if your VCR doesn't eat your VHS tape, the film in it will slowly degrade over time-whether you play it often or you don't. VHS tapes can start falling apart in as little as 3 years, whereas DVDs can last anywhere form 20 to (some say) even 250 years. Whether it's your favorite blockbuster movie or a sentimental home video, you should make the switch from VHS to DVD sooner rather than later.

How To Remove Scratches From a DVD

Harry255 — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 13:22:00 -0500

So you are watching your favorite movie on DVD and all of a sudden it starts to stutter and skip or just plain stop dead. You eject the DVD and see that it has some good-sized scratches on the surface. You are worried this is the end of your favorite DVD, but have no fear -- there are some ways to get this bad boy fixed.

Understanding the damage. DVDs are like CDs in that they are read in a spiral starting in the center of the disk and continuing to the outer edge. The info is encoded in "bumps" below the surface of the disk. A laser reads these by passing through the surface and reflecting off the "bumps." When the surface is scratched or blemished, the path of the laser is diverted slightly and the player cannot read the disk.

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How To Repair a Scratched CD

Harry255 — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 08:11:00 -0500

These days while most of us are putting all our music from our CD collection onto MP3 players, we are finding that our old compact discs are not faring so well with the years. Smudges, scratches and spots can turn a CD into an unlistenable useless round thingy, much like a perfectly intact Michael Bolton CD. Even if it looks like there is a lot of damage to a CD's surface, there maybe an easy fix that'll have you back listening uninterrupted in no time. Let us investigate.