Over the years video formats have been changing and evolving through innovations in recording quality, and the subsequently greater demands placed on recording media. For a long time analog recordings ruled the market, until the past five years when the digital revolution began to gain steam. Digital formats allowed business and home users ability to manipulate, edit and direct they own footage and sound in real-time, avoiding expensive equipment whilst getting the results they were looking for.

But this revolution created a new problem – what to do with old analog footage scattered across ranges of different tape formats and systems? Most of the old equipment has begun to wear out, and the range of different tape formats complicate the situation further. One option is to install a capturing card on your PC, with the capability of capturing analog input; most of these cards are TV tuners as well, which will allow you to record TV programs. But recording quality will depend on how good your computer is, and will take some time to learn how to use it- what most of the people don’t realize is that it can be an extremely lengthy process.

The second option is much simpler; you purchase a standalone DVD or HDD recorder and plug in your analog tape recorder. This will allow you to transfer analog tapes to digital, but would not give you any comprehensive options for editing. All of these options are based on idea that your old equipment will still be in working order, or that you are able to source a replacement second-hand.

 

       Video to DVD Service at A1D

But for individuals that do not have days, or in some cases months, to transfer all of their footage there is a third option. The digital revolution created large range of companies like www.a1d.co.uk specializing in the transfer analog footage to digital, since they stock older equipment from S-VHS, VHS, 8MM, HI-8, Digital 8, Mini DV, 8cm DVD-RAM, 8cm DVD-R and many more.

What you get back in most of the cases is digitally transferred footage on DVD-R format, which is done on equipment that in many cases can slightly improve the quality of footage. Cost of transfer is specially good when you doing multiple tapes because your setup cost get lower, plus the DVD format will give you a good platform for future editing, and is an excellent way of keeping footage as backup after you done your editing.

For those who have some extra money to spend, there are full editing and mastering services which will incorporate all of your important footage into the finished product, with DVD menus, chapter search and custom artwork applied – as well as fully customized and printed DVDs and packaging.

Get in touch to learn more about video to DVD service at A1D.